Online Business Marketing

If you would ask this question, 'Which one is more important the mailing list or the product?' any savvy marketer would answer you, 'The mailing list'.

Principally, any wise business person puts the importance of hungry demand (and not just any demand) in front of the product. In other words, there is no product if there is no demand! And a mailing list represents the demand or your business if you would like to call it.

If you frequent the Joint Venture forums and membership sites of any kind, you will find that product and service owners need mailing list owners more than the other way round. This is because the mailing list owners have the prospects that the other type of partner is looking for to sell to.

And if you are a mailing list owner, you do not have to necessarily make money from selling your own product. You can sell advertising space or craft a Joint Venture with product owners in return of commissions, recurring or not.

Most of the biggest success web businesses on the Internet today often establish the mailing list (or subscribers) first before the product. One fine example is Facebook.

Facebook, in the nutshell, is a website that connects friends and potential friends from around the world through a free membership access.

While Facebook does not make money from the number of members who join the site, the business makes money from selling advertising space and partnering with other big time merchants and businesses, owing to the established number of members Facebook has recruited.

This business is perfect example that demonstrates why every business should establish a need or demand before the product itself, and why you should do the same, whether you run a friends site or not.

There are social networking platforms that you can participate in today like MySpace and linked In, and they all have their pros and cons. The best way to choose a social network site to participate in is to see what kind of people who have already joined. In my opinion, Facebook is certainly one of the best websites for networking, both socially and professionally. I also use Linked In and Myspace. Of all the social networks, Facebook is the real deal when it comes to all around marketing and networking.

I have been using Facebook for the past two years, and it is an excellent marketing tool to add to your marketing arsenal. Following are 10 tips you can use on Facebook to introduce new people to your online business for FREE!

1. Create a Desirable Profile: This is the FIRST thing that you must do to make an impact on Facebook . Think of your Facebook profile as part of your branding. A strong profile will include a picture of you. Don't use the one of you dressed as Santa Claus, unless that's what your selling. Make sure your new Facebook profile is complete. It should include your contact information, your website address (this is very important), education, work experience and your personal interests. A complete profile is the only way to go.

2. Add Friends: This is what makes Facebook a unique social marketing platform - the ability to make friends, build relationships and sustain them. The more friends you have, the more profitable your marketing efforts will be. You can use Facebook's own tools to search for friends that have already joined Facebook. Once you add your friends, you can search for kindred spirits. Make their acquaintance, become their friend, build a relationship. One great thing on Facebook is that you can see friends of your friends. This will help you build a vast network in no time.

3. Join Groups: You can join groups within Facebook that are affiliated with what you do. There are groups for doctors, schools, and instructors. Almost every thinkable kind of professional service provider has some kind of group on Facebook. I belong to many Facebook groups and have made many new contacts this way.

4. Create your Own Group: Can't find a group that really makes sense? Create your own! You can add members, publish articles, launch some great discussions, and more than likely pre-qualify quite a few prospects. And even if you find great group to belong to, start your own. This gives you the platform to be the leader!

5. Syndicate your Blog Using RSS: You can syndicate your blog on your profile page. This above all means that every time you make a post, it will automatically show up on your profile page. More Exposure leads to More Readers leads to More Leads creates More Business. And the bonus is the back links to your site. I syndicate headlines from three of my blogs on Facebook.

6. Comment on Other Peoples Profiles: Are you a fan or devotee of someone's work? Reach out to them on Facebook! Lots of my friends check their Facebook messages more repeatedly than their email. They are also more likely to answer Facebook messages. Don't feel quite right messaging someone you don't know? No worries! Leave them a "just saying hi!" blurb on their wall. All profiles come with "virtual walls" where friends and acquaintances can leave comments. The more comments you leave on your friend's Facebook profiles the more exposure you get!

7. Add an Event: Hosting a Live Event? Make an events page and invite all your friends and acquaintances. You can even see who RSVPed and get feedback from your attendees. Marketing doesn't get much simpler (or cheaper!) than this.

8. Send Virtual Gifts: Want to show your appreciation for someone? Send them a virtual gift. You can choose from Diamonds to a potted plant that actually sits on the your friends profile and grows over time (plus hundreds of others). With all the Facebook applications for gift giving available, what are you waiting for. This is a sure fire way to build and nurture new relationships!

9. Use Some Cool Apps: Facebook has literally dozens of applications that were built just for the site. Quotes, quizzes, games and more. When you use an application, you get to invite your friends to use these interesting little applications (Apps). So just like number 8 above, this allows you another way to interact with your friends on Facebook. Again, this helps you maintain and nurture new relationships.

10. Create a Community: Perhaps Facebook's greatest benefit is that it allows you to create a community. It provides you a group of people who are perpetually linked to you, and these friends are open to hearing your message. Write on people's walls, have conversation, and introduce them to each other. Start building your brand and leveraging Facebook for social networking!

Facebook is a wonderful place to meet new people who may also become customers and/or clients. Just remember one thing: don't get too carried away and spend all your time there. Facebook is a tool, part of your online marketing plan. Use the tips above, use them wisely and have a little fun at the same time.

FreeMarket Media Group is dedicated to helping individuals and small businesses generate leads, convert those leads in customers/clients and build a web presence that works for them. We can show you how to make your online business profitable - IMMEDIATELY.

Zaadz is a social network like Facebook or Friendster. People can create an account, network with others, build blogs, add friends and lots of other things. What Zaadz does a little differently is that they given a new meaning to the concept "Social" in the social networking world. Social in the sense that they are concerned with our world and it's people. Social in the sense that are care about the environment. The Zaadz community is concerned about the many cultures of the world. The mission of Zaadz is to make Mother Earth a better place in every sense and it's motto is: "Zaadz: Connect. Grow. Inspire. Empower."

Zaadz is an alternative to the usual Social Networking sites. They go so far to have a button on the bottom of every page proclaiming themselves "100% Organic"! You can tell the differences immediately between Zaadz and sites like Care2 (another "green" site) and Friendster when you start the process of registering for a Zaadz account.

When you click "you! (join now)" link (there version of register for an account), you must in mind agree to the Zaadz concepts. These concepts are: Harmony, Integrity, Peace, Trust, Truth, Unity and Finally, Love. You agree to these concepts by clicking each word in a series of circles that resembles a flower.

In their own words: "We're a little different than most of the communities you'll find online.

How? We're committed to the principles in the circles above, and we expect those in the community to uphold these principles.

Before you can join, then, please take a minute to express your own commitment to these values, indicating your agreement to the principles and your understanding of our terms. Starting with Harmony, proceed clockwise around the flower until you're invited to click the center, opening the gateway that'll allow you access.

Ready? Take a deep breath (we're all about remembering to breathe!), and when you're ready, proceed. We'll see you inside. :)"

Once you click the 7 circles, you can join.

So, is there a way to both serve this community and grow your business? You bet there is. Zaadz is the place to take advantage of the growing green economy. Never has there been a place where so many socially conscious and active individuals gather together in one place. The new Green Economy, which I will here officially name Green 2.0, is becoming more important every day. Some experts are predicting that the green economy will make the dot com boom seem small.

Here are 5 things you can do to guide these socially minded people to your business:

1. Create a Complete Profile - Just like the other social network sites (Plaxo and LinkedIn for example) you get to create a profile. The content you add to this profile is very important. Remember this is the first thing other members will see about you and your business. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Make your profile complete. Add a cool title for yourself. Hard to explain but they will give you some examples like (Philosopher or Thinker), just go with it. Add a good description about you and your services in the about me section. Remember be complete.

2. Join a Pod (Zaadz Group) - Browse Pods or use the Pod Tag feature to find a couple of pods that you fit into. Join and share your plans, your dreams, your products with the other members. Share consciously, no one wants to be beset with a sales pitch on the first meeting. That's not the goal here. The goal is to create a network of like minded individuals, who, once you earn their trust, may very well become some of the best emissaries for you, your message and your products/services.

3. Post a Blog - With your Zaadz account, you get a blog. Here is the place where you get to add really powerful and thought-provoking content brimming with staggering insight for your fellow community members. This doesn't have to be directly about you or your business but rather about the bigger picture that your business products/services address. For example, if you are a auto mechanic, don't write about the services you offer, write about the benefits of keeping your car well maintained.

4. Add an Event - Debuting your new Product? Build events page and invite all your new friends. Here you can add a link to your site and it even add a link to a Google Map. Marketing doesn't get much easier (or more inexpensive!) than this.

5. Add Some Friends - Like the other social networking sites, you can add friends. Click the "Zaadzsters" link and use the search feature to find people with similar interests or musical tastes. By adding friends, you increase your network. Remember the seven Zaadz principles, you are not here just to help yourself, you are here to teach others. By adding friends on Zaadz, you are connecting with a myriad of new people that have like interests, goals and dreams.

Since the day Zaadz started, Zaadz has been tagged with a "New Age label. In my opinion, this is not a bad thing. After all, we are in a New Age of Green and Social Consciousness marketing and business. Go Green 2.0.

Lennie Appelquist is the Owner of FreeMarket Media Group. FreeMarket Media Group is dedicated to helping individuals and small businesses generate leads, convert those leads in customers/clients and build a web presence that works for them. We can show you how to make your online business profitable - IMMEDIATELY. Wanna open a FREE account on Zaadz? Click here to join me on Zaadz!

What's the average site conversion rate for a typical merchant today? About 2.4%. That's pretty depressing when you think about it.

That's the Lead question and answer in this intriguing article on TheMultiChannelMerchant.com. If you aren't sending the right message, you Small business (or any business) will suffer the consequences online.

This really well thought out article talks about visitor personality types and how they respond to your website architecture. Pretty great stuff!

Before you begin analyzing the effectiveness of your content, you need to understand your visitors' frame of reference. Every visitor does things for specific reasons. These reasons translate into four distinct preferences that explain the how and why behind what people do.

Once you understand the four basic personality types - emotional, logical, fast-paced, and disciplined - you can build perspectives or snapshots that give you insight into how your customers might want to purchase your products. From there you can adjust your site design, content, and creatives.

Your visitors fall into certain profiles that give you a better understanding of who each group is and what their mode of behavior is going to be:

* Fast-paced or spontaneous visitors: Hip, stylish, and fun-loving, these people look for impulse buys and in-style products and services.
* Emotional visitors: These people think in terms of family and relationships, and will look for what everyone else is buying, or whatever will most help them be socially involved.
* Logical visitors: This group wants to drill down into the details of your products or services and compare and contrast options.
* Disciplined or competitive visitors: These folks know exactly what they want and are on your site only to get it in a quick, methodical, and straightforward way.

The article go deep into the idea of designing a site for different personalities. Have a good read here.

Once you understand the four basic personality types - emotional, logical, fast-paced, and disciplined - you can build perspectives or snapshots that give you insight into how your customers might want to purchase your products. From there you can adjust your site design, content, and creatives.

Alright, not sure exactly what social bookmarking really is? No worries, the guys at Common Craft have created a short movie that explains the basics. So if you want to get an understanding of the concept of Social bookmarks and bookmarking, have a look.

Now for the purposes of marketing your small business online, with a little help from a whole gaggle (I think that's the first time I've actually used that word in a sentence) of social bookmarking sites, you can increase traffic and increase ranking.This movie walks you through the sign up, bookmarking, tagging and retrieval process on the social bookmarking site del.icio.us. This is a great start, but did you know that there are literally hundreds of social bookmarking sites. In addition to del.icio.us, some other great bookmarking sites include: propeller, Digg, ka-boom-it and more.Now for the purposes of increasing business, you follow the same steps as described in the video, only you are using the description and tagging features to force your keyword (tags) to begin showing up in searches. The real beauty of this isn't simply getting your own page to show up, it's getting multiple pages to show up on google's front page for your terms like this example below:

All the links marked in red ultimately lead to the main site. Wanna find out how to accomplish this? Go here and sign up to receive my FreeMarket Media Group Starter Kit.