Archive for Powerful Tools
Can a Press Release Drive Quality Traffic to Your Internet Business?
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Traditionally, press releases have been one of the most powerful tools that a business or organization had in order to increase exposure and generate interest. However, as the world of media and technology has changed, there has been a change in the way that press releases can be used as well. It’s important to understand how press releases have changed and how they can be utilized today for an effective marketing program.
In the past, a press release was used solely as a way to promote a product, company, service or event through the media. Perhaps you released a brand new product with some fantastic features that customers have been looking for. Your company writes up a press release, sends it out to all of the major news providers in your area and hopes that it sparks their interest.
If a journalist or reporter sees your press release and thinks that it makes for a good story, they will follow up and either write an article on it, do a television segment for it or in some other fashion highlight the information that was given to them. In this way your company gets free exposure in a major media outlet all for sending out press releases to various sources. It worked for the media because they got new stories and information and it worked for businesses because of the coverage they received as a result.
Today with the Internet though press releases have changed. Yes, there are still traditional press releases being used everyday in standard media outlets. However, there is also a new class of press releases, the online press release. An online press release is made specifically to be distributed to online press release websites, as opposed to traditional outlets. How do these really work and can they be effective tools for driving high quality traffic to your business?
There are actually several different benefits to distributing an online press release. The first of which is that you are going to be including links back to your business. The major press release sites are all high ranking, meaning that the links that you include on these sites will help boost your PageRank and search engine standing. The result is more traffic driven to your website from searches as your site enjoys an increased reputation.
Another benefit to the online press release is the power of search engine optimization. When you create an online press release you get a chance to include links back to your website, as mentioned. However you also get to control the anchor text of those links, and you also get to fill the press release with the keywords and phrases of your choosing. By doing this, you can get the press release highly found in the search engines.
When somebody performs a search for a topic, sees your press release and then clicks through to your website you’ll be gaining a great deal of traffic. This traffic will be highly targeted when you make use of effective SEO techniques, and your website will receive a big boost as a result.
For example, let’s say that you’re developing a new line of cheap workout clothing for runners. If you optimize your press release for that term and related phrases, then people searching for those items will come upon your press release. Reading about your company and their new release, they’ll follow through to your site and you’ll have a highly interested prospect that’s primed to be converted.
Don’t forget that with an online press release you can still potentially gain traditional media exposure. While their main benefits lie in SEO and traffic generation, online press releases are still official press releases that media outlets will pour through to try to find stories. Therefore if you’re lucky you will enjoy all of the above advantages and you’ll still receive traditional media coverage as well.
As with every other area of marketing, advertising and promotion, the realm of press releases has changed and evolved over the last decade. While traditional press releases are still powerful, online press releases are quickly growing in importance. You can increase your presence, improve your ranking in the search engines and send high quality traffic to your website.
When you’re considering opening up your own online business you of course need to learn how to develop a successful online business plan and Jay Kubassek’s InsideOut DVD is a great place to start. An online business plan is all about researching your potential niche and making the connection between which markets are accessible enough to gain entry into but still popular enough to lead to substantial profits. A successful online business plan may take even more research than a traditional business plan, however it will be worlds easier and less expensive to execute.
Starting with the broadest goals, you first have to consider the industry that your business or service is going to fall into. Within that industry you then have to find a smaller niche where you can really find a home. Sporting goods would be an industry, tennis gear would be a niche and tennis rackets would be an even smaller niche.
The more narrow you make the niche, the less potential traffic and prospects you are going to come across. However, you will also be eliminating a great deal of competition as you make your niche more targeted. Therefore, as mentioned, you need to find the correct balance in terms of the scope of the niche that you are planning to go after when developing your million dollar game plan. You obviously will need a strong customer base but you would ideally like to eliminate as much competition as possible.
This is where all of the research comes into play. There are many powerful tools available to you that can help you develop a successful online business plan. Even free keyword research tools such as the Google Adwords tool will allow you to see how many searches are performed related to your niche. You can then manually search for the niche in Google or another search engine to see what the first page of results looks like. Combining these two methods you’ll get a very general idea of what the strength of the customer base is as well as the strength of the competition.
From there the next step in developing your online business million dollar game plan has to be how you plan on turning your site’s visitors into revenue. Are you going to be selling a product that you personally create or manually distribute and ship? Or will you become an affiliate warehouse for another company’s products? If you’re an affiliate you won’t have to worry about any hassles such as inventory or shipping, and you’ll be making your money as commission when someone buys a product for somebody else.
Other potential ways to monetize your new website include advertisements as well as memberships and information products in which Carbon Copy Pro will show you how to do. With memberships, once you build up a traffic base you could offer an exclusive area with more information and guides that people have to buy to gain access to. With information products, you can place a collection of tips and resources in an eBook and then sell and distribute that product through your site. Once again, you won’t have to worry about inventory or any other logistical issues.
Another step in your million dollar business game plan will be how you plan on releasing and marketing your website. Even in narrow niches, the web is still extremely competitive. You are going to need a full marketing plan that will allow you to exploit the openings in the marketplace and reach out to as many potential visitors as possible.
Today, the best marketing plans are going to combine search engine optimization, social networking and social media outreach and potentially PPC, or pay per click campaigns. Analyzing the strengths and disadvantages of each of these areas for your particular niche is another crucial component of a successful online business plan, and another one in which you will have to conduct a good deal of research.But the great thing about starting a business with Carbon Copy Pro is that much of this research is already done for you.
A successful online business plan is going to guide you through the entire process of creating a new website. From picking your niche to focusing it, finding out how you are going to monetize your website and how you are going to market it, research is the most important factor along the way. If you take the time to research every step accordingly, you are going to end up with a site that is excellently planned and will have a great chance at succeeding.
