Sunday, January 31, 2010

Effectively Promote Your Website With These Tips

Graphic representation of the WWW.Image via Wikipedia

By Julie Johnson

A few years ago, advertising your business was a simple task. Businesses utilized billboards and newspaper ads to get their name out into the public. Back then this was one of the most successful marketing strategies that a business could use, today it is not as profitable. Instead of looking towards billboard and newspapers for a service, customer now log onto the internet and everything they are looking for is right at their fingertips.

This means essentially that no matter what business you are in, you will need to stake a claim on the web for your business or get plowed over by your competitors. Creating an internet marketing plan for your business should include at least the three following players, Yahoo, Bing and of course internet giant Google, because if people are going to look for you on the web, they are more than likely going to look you up under one of the three major search engines.

Many companies create a great website, but do little to improve their rankings on the major search engines, which mean that they are missing out on potential business. The research supports that when people search something on Google at least 50% of them will click on the first site that comes up under those search results. And so if that isn't you, then you may be missing out on potential business.

There are two main factors that go into making your website visible by others. The first has to do with your content links. You want to make sure that the link you are including are relevant to the information and link to well maintained sites. The second factor is making sure that the content on the website is not only fresh but informative. You want the the visitors to your site can be properly informed and you also want the content to attract the search engine spiders to your site, as this will increase your web rankings.

Doing these two things can really help enhance your website and help move it to a higher ranking for your chosen keywords. Search engine optimization is something that can be accomplished by any company willing to put forth the effort and understanding the importance of good links and relevant, keyword rich content.

About the Author:



Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Why Market Research Surveys Are Essential

By Bart Icles

Before starting up any business, market research is always essential. Studying the target market helps companies get information as to the market size, what they want in a particular product, how they react to different kinds of promotions, or basically just about everything that they need to know about the target market. The result of the market research generally dictates the feasibility of the products or services that the company is planning to provide. It also gives the company an idea on what marketing strategy to apply in their products or services.

Market research is usually done through market research surveys. Companies spend a portion of their resources in conducting market research surveys. Usually they hire market research specialists to do the market research surveys for them. The market specialists in turn develop the surveys and conduct them.

Usually what they do is pay qualified individuals to take the market research surveys. Paid market research surveys are usually available online. This is also a venture that people who want to earn extra cash while giving out their opinion could take advantage of.

Before they give out the survey they make sure that the ones who will take the survey fits their target respondents. Information such as age, gender, educational background, average household size, average income, etc. make them determine if the person to be given the market research survey to is what they are looking for.

Paying people to take their market research surveys ensures them that the ones taking the survey would finish the surveys (which are usually long) and they are more likely to get their in-depth and honest opinions on the surveys. This actually works both ways. The company get their much needed information while on the other hand, the people whom they get information from is compensated for their opinion and their time to finish the survey.

The success of market research surveys always depend on how effective the surveys are formulated and of course, the number of respondents. Every question asked in the survey should lead to relevant information and it is important that all information that the company needs to know should be obtained. Having too few respondents might not be indicative of the overall opinion of the target. The more the respondents, the better. But of course the more the respondents, the more the company would pay out. Determining the respondents, therefore, should be studied first before conducting the survey.

Hiring good and experienced marketing specialists is very essential if the company wants their market research to be successful. Investing in market research is always a smart move since the profit of a company always depends on its marketability.

About the Author: