McIntosh Marketing Blog

Now this is a question that I hear over and over from client’s and co-workers alike.  Everyone wants to know if Affiliate Marketing is not only worth it but if it is really beneficial?  Or what the risks are of marketing for a company and then finding out their unethical?  Just like everything else, it really depends on what products your sign up for and how you market them.

One of the most important things you must do before deciding to market for a company is to inspect the website.  Take your time to check and make sure they have accurate contact information by calling them or looking them up in an online phone directory.  You can also take this time to verify their address.  If you notice the address varies with other listings online then this may be a flag that the business is not legitimate.  This is not always the case as others may be marketing this product as an affiliate as well but the corporate information, address and phone number should all match up regardless.

PAY ATTENTION!!!   You should always make sure their site offers details, images and a full description of the product or service that they are offering.  You are responsible for what you are promoting so it is very important that you educate yourself on the product or service prior to any affiliate marketing promotions.

Always check the sites disclosure on what the charges will be to the users/client’s.  This will show you that there is nothing the company is trying to hide and that it is not a scam.  If there is no disclosure on the site it may be a real good sign to take your business somewhere else.

Next you should search for their company name on Google.  This will show you how well they are ranking currently which can give you some insight on how easy or difficult it may be to market the product.  Like I said, this is just for insight and it may not be accurate for a product that is brand new.  Also at this time you can see what kind of feedback people are giving on the product prior to committing to selling it.  You can see if there are lot’s of customer complaints or satisfaction which can help you make your decision before investing any time or money into it.  You have to be realistic when using this tip to make a decision because many companies will have complaints, regardless of their legitimacy, so you may need to feel them out to see if the complaints are valid.

Allot goes into finding an legitimate affiliate with a good offer besides just how much they pay out.  Always make sure you feel 100% informed about your product so you are totally comfortable prior to selling it.  Confidence and believing in your product truly is the key to increasing your online sales and making your affiliate marketing really worth it!

Over the last few years I have been asked for my marketing glossary several times.  Truth is, I don’t really have one.  I do have notes with definitions here and there but have never actually put them all in one place.  In fact, when I try to explain these marketing terms to someone, it seems to me that most of the time they think these terms don’t really exist!  It could be due to many of them sounding very similar to each other but trust me they have very different meanings.  I really felt the following keywords should be listed as they tend to be used most often and more commonly but for the full list with detailed definitions go to http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/

deep linking – linking to a web page other than a site’s home page.

description tag – an HTML tag used by Web page authors to provide a description for search engine listings.

impression – a single instance of an online advertisement being displayed.*

interactive agency – an agency offering a mix of Web design/development, Internet advertising/marketing, or E-Business/E-Commerce consulting.

keyword research – the search for keywords related to your Web site, and the analysis of which ones yield the highest return on investment (ROI).

search engine optimization – the process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and ensuring that the site places well when those keyword phrases are part of a Web search.

By taking the time to learn these terms you will not only become more knowledgeable of Internet marketing but just by reading them you will start to understand more and more of what actually goes into your marketing.  I feel this list is pretty thorough list and can help even the beginning marketer to understand the terms of the online marketing world better.  Not only will you be able to learn more about the terms but once you start to understand them you will learn more about how marketing is actually done!

At no other time in Man’s history has there been such a challenge to make a better world. And at no other time has the playing field be leveled to such a degree to give a voice to those who want to make that change.

With the advent and proliferation of social media, those who want to bring about positive social influence have a powerful venue to find their voice, as well as access to an almost unlimited audience to hear their words of wisdom or dissent.

Imagine if Thomas Jefferson, Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. had access to this powerful medium. They would have not only embraced the technology, but the opportunity to reach tens of millions with their powerful message of social justice and equality.

If you are someone who is trying to bring about positive social influence, regardless of your cause or dream, you need to embrace social media, blogging and all internet marketing tools. One such example is The Route Out, http://www.therouteout.org/. They have come to realize that we need to have ethical leaders in order to get our country out of the many messes it now faces. At the core of our problems of our nation, The Route Out recognizes that we need leaders with integrity.  Using the non-religious book, The Way to Happiness, http://www.thewaytohappiness.org/ as their main text, they aim to bring about social reform at the very top with our Congressional leaders.

And the people at The Route Out are not alone. Hundreds of millions of people are members of social betterment, civic, political and religious organizations trying to bring about a better world. To truly be effective in delivering your message, you need to develop a comprehensive online marketing and social media strategy. And that strategy starts with a commitment to not only your cause, but equally to become a dedicated student, educating yourself on how to bring that message via your web site.

Suggestions: Read “The New Rules of Marketing & PR” by David Meerman Scott, subscribe to our blog, attend seminars on social media and internet marketing tools, read books and in general learn from those that are experiencing success.

If you are trying to change the world for the better, I salute you. Now take your commitment and as well become an educated denizen of internet marketing and social media.

We have been preaching to our clients for years to stop using flash on their websites.  A website makes less money to the degree of flash and animation it uses.

Users don’t need to see ‘spinning globes’ and ‘dancing flowers’.  They need to be told what problem you solve and given the to solve it by buying your services.

It is one thing when a car dealership puts up a huge blow-up Santa Claus to get you to come into their dealership (an online equivalent to an advertisement on a website).

You would NEVER see a dealership stick a blow-up Santa Claus in the middle of their rows of cars (the equivalent of using flash animation throughout your site).  That would just distract their customers from the real reason they are there.

And now with the wide adoption of the iPad and iPhone, which both don’t support flash, your site will be even worse.  You will have huge holes in your website where flash once was.  And if you were using flash for you site navigation, your site because unusable.

The reason we needed flash ten years ago, isn’t an issue anymore.  We as web developers have powerful tools to do the same animations as flash, without using flash, so that you can view them in every browser and device.  You still have to use caution to not distract from the main goal of your site, but this is being done every day using tools like jQuery, prototype and mootools.

I’ve been a huge baseball fan my whole life.  I follow the Chicago Cubs religiously and play Fantasy Baseball in my free time.

Baseball is the most highly staticized sport (possibly the most staticized anything), and the teams, players and coaches rely on and trust their stats completely.  If the game is on the line and your history and stats tell you that your best bet is to use Pitcher C vs. Batter A, then you put that pitcher out there and let him get to work!

The same goes for your internet marketing.

Your website, and every change you make to it, should be staticized.  You should know how many visitors you get, and much more importantly, how many conversions or clients you get from it.  You should be testing new things and constantly striving to improve the effectiveness of your site.  If you are using a blue button and change it to purple, you had better know exactly what the blue button had done statistically so you know if the purple button is better.  If your red headline gets 14% conversions and your green headline gets you 12% conversions, you know exactly which pitcher to send out there!

Continually try out new changes, keep a log of what changes were made and the statistics that go along with it.  But don’t just store the records, USE them!  Take a look back and see what was successful and what wasn’t.  If you are getting less conversions, you had better find out what changed and undo it.  And if you are getting more conversions, you had better find out what changed so that you can ensure it continues.  Then reinforce that change to improve your statistics even further.

I have always been a fan of Sun Tzu’s treatise, The Art Of War.  But when I recently watched the History Channel’s presentation on this world-renowned book, it made me think how most businesses do not apply it.

One would need to watch this TV version of the book as a good start, as well as read the book itself. ( I recommend the James Clavell version)  But one thing stuck out for me above all else and that was to attack an enemy’s weakness despite one’s size. In this case size does not matter. In other words, any guerrilla force can be effective if they are stealthy, consistent and attack the enemy’s weak spots.  And everyone has at least one.

In marketing, I hear to often about how they have a small budget, no sales people, lower revenue and on and on. In other words, they have not realized that they have to adapt and become a guerrilla marketer. And no where else can this be done more effectively than the web. This is because of two major factors:

1. The internet has evened the odds, more than any other factor in business. You may be operating from your home, or even while eating a muffin at your local coffee house, but your potential client cannot tell that by looking at your web site.

2. About 90% of the companies, big and small, are either not utilizing all possible methodologies and tactics or are making big mistakes that is costing them SEO and SEM potentialities.

The guerrilla marketer does not look at what he or she does NOT have. They look at their competition’s weakness and develop practical ways to exploit them.  Most companies do not blog often. This is a weakness. Most companies do not submit articles or use online PR distribution channels. This too is a weakness. There are hundreds of examples of weaknesses to be found.

Based on this knowledge, one can then develop tactics that would make Sun Tzu proud and your banker even happier with all the profits generated with your online marketing campaign.

Ancient knowledge is still as applicable as it was today, even in the world of internet marketing.

The Big Three has meant for decades, “GM, Ford and Chrysler”. But with their problems comes the next evolution of that term, particularly when talking about web marketing, SEO and SEM.

The Big Three in the internet marketing world is Facebook, Google and YouTube. Make it big with these three media giants and you will make it big in business. Let’s be real. Facebook is social media, Google is how you find almost anything and YouTube is the new TV. Hopefully you are gearing your mind-set, your marketing budget and how you interface with the world’s newest Big Three.

It is important that everyday you are becoming a smarter, more informed social networker and internet marketer.

To re-invent a business, a brand, or even yourself in this new economy, it is vital that you stay abreast of the information and rapid changes within the world of on-line opportunities. Here is a great video to give you vital insights from a Harvard business expert. Enjoy!

McIntosh Marketing, a leading website marketing consultancy, announced today the launch of its new local Internet advertising site at http://www.McIntoshMarketing.com.  This website provides ideas and strategies on the freshest ways for companies to create higher profits and traffic from their online presence.

Stanton, California, March 29th, 2010 – McIntosh Marketing, a leading online marketing company, announced today that they have launched their new local Internet advertising consulting website at http://www.McIntoshMarketing.com.

This website is seamlessly designed to provide businesses with an opportunity for a free local web market analysis and marketing plan to boost traffic and income.  Bill McIntosh and McIntosh Marketing have constructed more than 1,000 websites that garnered over $20 million in revenue.  It has gained over 40,000 Twitter followers and over 500,000 views of CEO Bill McIntosh’s YouTube videos.  The company has successfully weathered the dot.com bust, 9/11, and the recent recession to continue helping businesses’ websites generate increasing profits.

On the new website, companies can learn more about the many methods of creating an effective online presence while deciding if McIntosh Marketing will suit their needs.  Some of the categories available at this site include products and services offered, questions and answers, customer reviews, CEO Bill McIntosh’s blog, and much more.  McIntosh Marketing’s website gives a clear overview of each step to optimize the Internet as a marketing tool, especially affiliate marketing, creating loyalty, word-of-mouth online advertising, website design, pay per click management, search engine optimization, and new media such as social networking sites.

The website will be updated frequently and McIntosh Marketing plans to offer the newest information on Internet marketing trends.  Aggressive advertising for http://www.McIntoshMarketing.com will commence shortly.

About McIntosh Marketing:  McIntosh Marketing is an experienced, real-deal online marketing consulting company that specializes in improving businesses’ online presence, income, and traffic.

Contact:

Edwin Dearborn

12235 Beach Blvd. Suite 206
Stanton, CA 91505

(877) 797-6825

http://www.McIntoshMarketing.com

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McIntosh Marketing, a leading online marketing company, announced today the hiring of a new Chief Brand Officer, Edwin Dearborn.  Edwin Dearborn brings 24 years of marketing and business development experience for national and international corporations, professionals, and business owners.

Stanton, California, March 28^th, 2010 – McIntosh Marketing, a premier local online marketing and consulting company, has hired Edwin Dearborn as Chief Brand Officer.  Joining recently with McIntosh Marketing, Edwin Dearborn will be responsible for overseeing company branding and assisting local businesses with regional online marketing.

Edwin Dearborn joins McIntosh Marketing with 24 years of marketing and business development experience for professionals in many fields, including business, health care, and accounting.  He has a record of generating over $40 million in revenue from personally managing companies and offering training programs to CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners.

As Chief Brand Officer, Edwin Dearborn will tap into his successful career that began at age 20, when he helped bring a family-owned business over $1 million in sales. He has also served as an advertising executive where he traveled internationally and nationally to help companies and corporations with branding, advertising, and sales.  Edwin Dearborn’s last 20 years were spent helping non-profit humanitarian organizations raise millions of dollars for efforts to directly contribute to relief for 9/11, Katrina, tsunami and other disaster victims.

About McIntosh Marketing:  McIntosh Marketing’s Bill McIntosh has brought clients a combined $20 million in revenue.  McIntosh Marketing offers customized online marketing plans designed to increase website traffic, profits, and positive local Internet presence.  For more information about McIntosh Marketing, visit http://www.mcintoshmarketing.com/about-us/the-mcintosh-marketing-team.

Contact:

Edwin Dearborn

12235 Beach Blvd. Suite 206
Stanton, CA 91505

(877) 797-6825

http://www.McIntoshMarketing.com

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