Learn how to build a Facebook landing page, how to use “like”, which Facebook applications to use and how to use them, how to promote your page, how to get traffic, and even how to get tracking to see how it is performing.

If you don’t want to read through the incredibly detailed list, here are three resources you should start with:

• Part 1: The Super Simple Guide: Getting Started
• Part 2: The Super Simple Guide: Enhancing Your Page
• Part 3: The Super Simple Guide: Using Photos and Videos

I encourage you to view the full Ultimate Facebook Guide.  There is no way to digest it all at once, but even if you get through a fraction of it, I think your page will be pretty successful.

Over the years I have heard complaints about people spending so much money on marketing and not getting any sales.  The traffic is there, the product is great and they even put the time and effort into blogging and article marketing.  Sometimes they even go the extra mile and actually pay an online marketing company to drive more traffic, yet still the same results.  So these site owners continue to rack their brains as to what could possibly be the cause of such results?  Or should I say, lack of results?

Poor site navigation is usually the key!

I was reading this article in the “Search Engine Journal” about how imperative it is to have proper site navigation on your website.  It not only explains the obvious reasons of why it is so important to have navigation on your website that works properly but also why it is so important on the back end ranking with the search engines.  I really like how it breaks down how you wish your pages are given authority to the search engines.  With a simple chart to show an example of the break down you don’t even need to know everything about navigation to understand all of the aspects of this article.

Not only does Alan Bleiweiss break down these important factors of integral site navigation but he goes into immense detail of the huge role the user experience plays in this aspect.  In his section “Navigation As a Means of controlling UX”, UX standing for user experience, he covers some really important tips on how your navigation can find users information as well as being able to dictate where people go on your site. It also mentions what not to do on your landing pages for organic visitors and these are just a few things he covers that can start making a difference in converting your traffic into sales today.

So now you understand the dire need for navigation for your online business to successfully convert traffic.  Unless of course, you would rather just pay a reputable online marketing company to do all of this navigational design work for you.   : )

CRM management applications exist in great numbers, but Gist has brought to the forefront a simplified website application that even the relatively untrained small biz owner can use to keep track of clients and important contacts, such as vendors, bankers, local bloggers and community leaders.

As Paul Greenberg states:

“CRM is a philosophy & a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.”

With the access that Gist can give you to all the social media that your client or potential customer is connected with, you can only connect with them in a much more organized format, but you can really what more and more sales professionals are going to need to do to become more successful in sales: Truly understand the mindset and needs of the client.

Just as important as product knowledge is a heightened sensitivity to the reality and needs of the person you are trying to engage and ultimately sell. Gist provides a format to start that process and so you should look to the benefits of their application for developing the relationships you need to make your sales objectives.

The 2 advertising platforms that are currently on the rise are Facebook and LinkedIn. Since they are pretty new, they are not saturated with advertisers yet, which might give you the first mover advantage, depending on your industry and niche. In addition, since they aren’t very competitive yet, the advertising costs are so far pretty low, thus affordable to everybody.

Which one should you choose? Well, it mostly depends on your target market.

Facebook, as you may already know, is now a leading online presence, with huge traffic, but it is mostly populated with the 20 to 40 year old crowd. One of the big advantage of their platform is that you can target your audience very precisely, whether it’s in terms of demographics, personal tastes, etc …

On the other hand, LinkedIn focuses on professionals, which will allow you to reach a wealthier and more educated audience. This is, as  a result, a great marketplace for higher-end products.

As you can see, Facebook and LinkedIn cater to different markets, allowing to reach a wide spectrum of potential buyers, thus providing a cost-effective alternative to the saturated Adwords and Overture platforms.

There is nothing wrong with demanding internet marketing help.

To remain ignorant, while also being so frugal that you never engage, is both folly and self-destructive. I am not telling you anything new when I say that the world is rapidly employing more and more small business SEO strategies and technologies to not only communicate and connect, but to reap billions of dollars annually in revenue. And these factors will only grow – rapidly

Search engine optimization strategies are highly effective when engage in them correctly and consistently. According to this blog post from Husbpot, small business blogging builds SEO value beyond most expectancies.  And what it takes to set up one, as well how to post blogs effectively, is really not that difficult to learn. This can be easily learned by attending a internet marketing seminar or reading books, such as The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott. The real barrier is getting started and staying consistent, which is a self-induced barrier.

So the question becomes, in actuality, a choice of which route to take. I suggest a little bit of both. While educating yourself and engaging in the usage of internet marketing tools, I suggest that you hire a search engine optimization expert to at least consult you on major decisions, strategies or changes. When you have a trusted source to bounce ideas of off, as well as learn new technologies and emerging opportunities and trends, you will stay ahead of about 95% of your competition.

By networking in your local community and with fellow business connections who are successfully engaging in internet marketing, you can find the help you need. But do not forget that the basis of your success will be established on your own knowledge and certainty of the basics of internet marketing.

Writing effective press releases may seem more difficult than it really sound. Press release services used to be a method utilized  mainly by public relations firms and media giants. But since the advent and proliferation of the internet this, has changed dramatically and now press releases are available to any small business professional or entrepreneur who wants to use them as an effective way to grab some publicity. More over, online news releases and press releases are very SEO friendly that can generate positive back links to your website or blog.  Online news releases are now completely integrated into news streams, such as Google News, so their reach is now greater that it ever has been in history.

If you’re a home based business, small business or a new start-up you more than likely have a meager marketing budget, then the online press releases just be the guerilla publicity tool that you have been looking for. Whether the home based business is just getting off the ground or it’s a going concern and just needs some new clients and customers, the press release when properly written can get you that sought after attention that you are desiring.

Now that press releases have become a marketing tool, they are heavily used by marketing professionals. Don’t let that deter you as you can create one of your own. The essential aspect of a press release is that a good one has to be an attention grabber. Press releases are not an advertisement. In other words, you cannot simply announce to the online world the presence of your new website, unless that announcement is somehow couched in the context of an attention getting story.

A common theme in a press release is that there is a common industry problem that needs resolution. Your online press release should state the problem and then transition over into the solution, which of course your business is able to provide. If that transition is made without sounding like a blatant advertisement, then you could have a winning press release.

How does one write a press release?

• Spend the majority of your effort and time on the headline. A great title increases your chance to sell the news to your targeted audience. The subhead/summary should enhance the headline.
• The body of the release should answer the 5 key questions: Who – What – Where – When – Why.
• Include at least 2 quotations from principals, three is better.  The media and bloggers find these interesting.
• Write in a journalistic tone.
• Do not attempt to sell; a release is not just another advertisement.

The online press release represents a powerful tool and effective means to reach people. Moreover, a press release positions yourself as a savvy thought leader. They connect you to new audiences on the internet and build valuable SEO back links to your internet marketing efforts and so should comprise a vital part of your marketing strategy.

This is why I refer to this as The Fuzzy Tail. We do not yet have it in focus, and so we see it as fuzzy at best. Unlike the long tail which has an exact measurability, The Fuzzy Tail is untapped territory.

With real-time analytics, we have the power to track these searches as they are happening. And while computer technology may be bordering on the ability to extrapolate this information to predict what may be searched for in the future, there is one thing that we cannot fully predict: The human experience.

What these searches represent are the intrigue, hopes, desires, dreams, fears, ambitions, curiosities and innovation of the human experience. And for a marketer that can tap into emotional and sometimes logical stream of human consciousness, there is much to be gained. And not only in terms of new online traffic, but also new adherents that recognize your ability to communicate effectively and to connect like none before.

So how do we go about getting into better focus these Fuzzy Tails?

Without question, the one factor that is the weakest point in all marketing is research. No one factor can make or break one’s marketing success, and so too is there no one subject in the field of marketing that elicits more confusion nor speculation. Unfortunately, the field of market research is rife in false information from the fields of psychology and social sciences. These experts are not such and have only confused the subject.

The simplicity of market research is:

1. Targeting the right market that one wishes to sell or influence. This requires being in front of people and asking relative questions to the matter that one seeks to discover more information about.

2. Using various methods in which to gain information. This requires listening.

The internet is a literal world. You type in Super Bowl, and you will get content with those words. Through surveys, focus groups, studying relative industry reports and blogs, you can gain insight as to what people are thinking and feeling. I doubt that most marketing people attend industry conventions and talk to the competition, particularly those whom are successful. If they are successful, they are to some degree finding and fulfilling a need.

Additionally, who is coming on strong within your industry that is experiencing insane expansion? Intrinsic in their success is the fulfillment of a need. In other words, success indicates clues to insight of the needs and wants to your potential market. By finding these type of people, one can then go further and ask them questions, have them fill out surveys and other types of market research methodologies can be engaged upon to gain insight into the human experience.

Many companies do not listen to their sales people, just issue more quotas and brochures. Yet imagine what these sales professionals listen to on a daily basis when they make their phone calls and visit people at their companies. This is a great source to find the ruins and challenges of the buttons of their potential clients. Or what about going to coffee houses where business professionals go for a breather or even a business meeting. Coffee is the drink of conversation, so why not utilize this natural concourse of discourse to tap into the experiences and feelings of people in your area.

Our forefathers gathered at taverns and eventually started a revolution. Conversations bred into ideals, which lead to a nation. It is time that you develop and implement a form of market research to help you discover and utilize the Fuzzy Tail to drive more traffic to your website and thus build your reputation as someone who understands the needs of the human experience.

You can listen to his interview here.

Here are some tidbits I found interesting:

• The duplicate content problems that WordPress creates with the default install aren’t a big deal, and Google can find their way around it and should not penalize you.
• If you think you have been penalized, your first stop is the Google Webmaster Tools, then go to the Google Webmaster Forums.  If you still can’t figure it out then try to talk to some prominent SEO’s and  try to contact Matt Cutt’s himself.
• 301 redirects do lose some pagerank, but a miniscule amount for you not to be concerned with it.  But if you are moving a page that is linked by high authority sites like the New York Times, you may want to contact them and have them update their link.
• Matt personally finds All-In-One SEO’s plugin not really needed anymore and doesn’t use it on his blog.

But he is struggling financially as he is not converting website visits into loyal clients and qualified sales leads. I did a rapid analysis of the situation and I am sharing with you what I found missing that resulted in his sales conundrum.

1. The phone number on the website was very hard to find. This should be much larger than the other type of the page and at the top right hand corner of the website. Have some type of action such as, “Call NOW to Download a FREE Report”, or “Call Today For a FREE Quote.”

2. There was no lead capture box that prominent that gave something in return. Again, now offer and no way to interact to let the potential client to give their information so that they could be followed up with emails, or better yet, a sales call.

3. There was no PDF brochure and price list featured. What if one of those 60,000 were ready to buy. There was no way to get the list of products and their prices, so most people leave the website thinking, “I probably couldn’t afford it anyway.”

4. Their social media buttons were hard to find. You must get them to join and follow you, much less sharing with others.

5. This is the most important and most frequent reason: Their sales person was negative as a person and was actively prohibiting the selling of the product. Certain people PREVENT sales, turn customers away and refuses to close the sale. These type of “sales” people are dedicated losers. They are more of a liability and you need to get someone who is positive and likes to make money. A lot of it.

If you are not sure why your hits and not converting, then contact and expert and get it remedied right away.

Even though it is not a full on Firefox Browser it is a pretty impressive iPhone approved application.  If you are not a big Firefox user then this may not interest you as much OR may convince you to become one.  This awesome new application allows you to sync up with the Firefox Browser on your home or office PC.  It is 100% free and can be uploaded onto your iPhone or iPod Touch.

My favorite thing is the ability to be able to pick up at any time and stay connected with exactly what you were already doing.  This is really neat because it allows you to be working or playing on your PC and then literally you can pick up your iPhone or iPod Touch, sync up to the browser you were just on and now take what you were doing along with you by mobile.  This is great for a number of reasons like when you loose track of time and are running late, now you can literally just pick up and go!  Also handy for those last minute appointments or emergencies that tend to come up when you are in the middle of a really important project with an upcoming deadline.  Now you can take the urgent work with you and get the that appointment or handle that emergency all while staying on top of and completing your work.

My favorite things about Firefox Home is the ability to take your favorite bookmarks with you anywhere you go.  Have you ever gone to meet up with friends or co-workers and wanted to share something you were just checking out online?  Or wanted to pull up an informative page during an important business meeting or conversation?  Or even just want to compare prices before making a large purchase?  Just search for what you want on your personal or office PC and then sync up with your mobile phone and take it with you while you go shopping.  I really love this ability and think it has been a long time coming.  So don’t delay and download it for free and see how it can make your life easier today!