Low Investment Internet Marketing
One of the biggest problems for new internet marketers is learning how to advertise their products, affiliate products, or websites without spending a small fortune in PPC ads. Luckily, there are several fantastic ways to go about this, some of which can help you to lower the costs of your PPC campaigns while others require no investment at all. Let’s take a look at some of these methods for lowering the amount of investment you need to make when marketing products or services.
First, there are a few great methods for reducing the costs of your PPC ad campaigns. Poorly constructed campaigns can drain your money faster than almost any other form of online marketing, and if you are a beginner, chances are you are making some crucial mistakes that are costing you big time!
Keyword-targeted campaigns are the most commonly used campaigns, so keywords are either your best friends or your worst enemies. Many sources of internet marketing “knowledge” seem to state that giant lists of general keywords are the best route for pulling traffic. While this does pull lots of traffic, short, general keywords are more often than not the downfall of an otherwise good campaign. Lots of traffic equates into lots of per-click costs. General keywords, however, do not generally bring converting traffic. The thing to remember about traffic is this – one highly-targeted potential buyer is worth thousands of non-targeted non-buyers.
** Hey Why not check out My NEW Membership Site - Zed-Turbo ** Trim your keywords and remove general, slightly-related terms that are only meant to pull more people in. These keywords, in almost every case, will not convert. They will also cost you quite a bit more per click. Go for the long-tail keywords and the highly-targeted keywords. Allow me to explain.
Long tail keywords are keywords that consist of four or more words. Let’s say you’re selling a product to teach people to make money online. “Make money online”, “make money”, “earn money”, and similar search terms are some of the most awful keywords you could possibly use, as these are some of the most over-used and therefore over-priced keywords possible! Use some keyword programs and sites to get some long-tail keywords however, and you may end up with a list with keywords such as “earn more money online today”, “make money as an internet marketer”, “how do I make more money online”, etc. These terms are going to pull less traffic, but if you put together a good number of long-tails, you will still pull a substantial number of hits. The great part is that long-tail keywords are going to cost you substantially less than the general keywords, and therefore you get twice the traffic for half the price.
Highly-Targeted keywords are keywords such as “Buy product”, “Purchase product”, and “Order product”. These terms are very specific, and will bring in those searchers who are ready to purchase a product right now. This is some of the best traffic your site will see!
Site-Targeted campaigns in Google are an often overlooked but highly profitable way of running a campaign. Find the sites at the top of an organic search for your keywords, put them into your site-targeted campaign, and watch those sites’ traffic filter into yours for a fraction of the cost of PPC.
Finally, one of the most effective marketing methods is also free! Article marketing has proven to be one of the best ways to drive quality traffic to your site. The best part about article marketing, aside from being free, is that your articles can bring traffic for months or even years! This is a cumulative effort – the more articles you write and put out there, the more traffic will continue coming to your site. It’s brilliant, it’s easy, and it’s free – give it a shot!
You should now have a few new ideas about lowering your marketing costs and improving the quality of your traffic. Good luck!
Jack Zenert
Marketing Solution Specialist
Best Free E-Book
What is the best kind of E-book? A free one, and John
Delavera offers you exactly that! "The Best Free E-book" is
a collection of not one, not two, not three, but eighty-two
free E-books that you can brand for your own use for your
website and your customers!
www.tmzed.com/bestsellerebookAlmost all of the links listed inside "The Best Free
E-book" are affiliate links, which means you make money
every time someone clicks and buys. "The Best Free E-book"
Everyone loves getting something for free, and when you
people start downloading your E-book, they will either give
it away to someone else, or brand it for their own use.
Either way, more distribution through more people means
more money for you!
When you order "The Best Free E-book", you also get:
* Immediate customization rights - customize the E-book for
your use, with your name, email address, website, etc.
* 61 different pay scale sources, including - Turboziner,
Blog-Times.com, Software4Profit.com, and many more!
* 9 different pay per month resources for monthly residual
income for you
* Your own 4 different links to - one residual monthly
program of your choice; one affiliate program for a hosting
company of your choice; one affiliate program that you
suggest; and one suggested website
* 5 suggested personal resources
You also get the master rights to the E-book, that lets you
redistribute the file you receive, plus you get all the
marketing materials you need to re-sell the E-book. The
best part of this E-book is that it comes in PDF format,
which means ANY computer is able to read the E-book using a
totally free program called Adobe Acrobat Reader. Everyone
being able to read it means more chances for you to
generate income!
www.tmzed.com/bestsellerebookOrder today! With a 90 day money back guarantee, there’s
nothing to lose…go on, what are you waiting for? Start
bringing in your income today!
www.tmzed.com/bestsellerebook
Spotlight: Management Consulting by Allan Hoffman
by Allan Hoffman
In today's globally competitive market, corporate strategy is often intertwined with technology solutions. To respond to customer needs, management consulting firms increasingly seek tech professionals with business know-how to help their clients.
"The vast majority of what is considered consulting these days is technical in nature," says Tom Rodenhauser, president of Columbus, Ohio-based Consulting Information Services. "That trend will continue. The future bodes well for the techies."
Management consulting firms frequently specialize. Some are information technology shops like IBM, while others are strategy specialists like McKinsey. But all consulting companies, from major players to niche firms, expect most employees will have solid IT knowledge, if not in-depth tech expertise, according to experts. "The demand has moved toward people who have the business experience coupled with the technology experience," says Eileen Raymond, director of talent acquisition and management at McLean, Virginia-based BearingPoint.
Rodenhauser puts it this way: "Understanding technology and how it affects business processes is fundamental to both sides."
Breaking In
Both techies and IT majors who think their technical skills are the ticket to a management consulting job offer will likely be disappointed. Consulting companies, especially those specializing in strategy, seek candidates with top-notch educational credentials, a record of achievement and excellent communication skills. They want smart people who are quick learners.
The candidate interview process at many consulting firms reflects this -- they want to assess a candidate's analytical skills. Kurt Salmon Associates, a global consulting firm specializing in the consumer product, retail and healthcare industries, uses a business case set in an IT environment to get a sense of how a person thinks, rather than her specific technical expertise. "It's not so much did they get the right answer, but how did they get there," says Lori Cox, the company's manager of recruiting.
Looking for Ms. or Mr. Well-Rounded
For BearingPoint, Raymond says she looks for well-rounded candidates who have proven their leadership through internships and other activities. Because consultants work with a variety of clients, being able to work on a team, write well and handle presentations is crucial.
"We have found that you can train a smart person to fix a widget, but it's more difficult to train someone in people skills," says Dena Rafte, president and CEO of Rafte & Co., a consulting company in Houston specializing in legal technology.
Solid academic credentials are crucial. Major strategic consulting firms continue to seek consultants from the Harvards and Stanfords of the world, notes Rodenhauser. Other firms look for candidates who are among the top students at their schools.
Blending Technology and Business
IT-specific consulting firms are more likely to value tech experience over an academic pedigree. But even positions emphasizing technical expertise require an outlook that extends beyond .NET and Java.
"We look for people who have an understanding of business, an appreciation of the finer points of office culture, a focus on people and process rather than simply hardware and infrastructure," says Rafte.
Rodenhauser suggests consulting firms focusing on strategy may "be pushed to a think tank-like niche" in the future. "It behooves people to look beyond narrow technical applications and understand the underlying business problems that must be solved."
Consider the Lifestyle
Consulting firms readily concede the consulting life is not for everyone. Consultants often travel three or four days per week, says Cox. "It's a difficult life to adjust to," she says. "It's something you really have to want."
Consultants may work on multiple projects for a variety of clients, requiring them to switch gears without much notice. And while an in-house staffer might see an initiative through several phases, consultants often leave projects behind for others to implement.
These considerations are among the reasons why it is difficult to break into consulting from another industry unless you are bringing in-demand industry expertise. Even so, consulting firms will want to be sure you can cut it.
"You are working for clients," says Cox. "You are not the end-all decision maker. Sometimes the transition from being a decision maker to being a consultant is difficult."
Brainteaser or Interview Torture Tool? by Thad Peterson
by Thad Peterson
Jeremy Solomon sat across the table from a well-known national consulting company's interviewing manager, grappling with the question just posed to him. Suddenly, the $70,000 education he received from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government was momentarily useless. This topic hadn't popped up in public policy, economics or stats classes. In fact, the vexing issue was one few ever think about: How many quarters -- placed one on top of the other -- would it take to reach the top of the Empire State Building?
You might think that's an odd question for an interview -- unless, of course, you're one of the many prospective employees who have contended with such brainteasers while trying to land a job.
This genre of interview questions has gained popularity in technology companies, consulting outfits, investment banks and law firms, and includes questions like:
- What does all the ice in a hockey rink weigh?
- How do they make M&Ms?
- How many gas stations are there in the US?
Sometimes the questions literally have no correct answer, like “If you had to get rid of one state, what would it be?”
This technique has become so prevalent that William Poundstone decided to write a book about it. How Would You Move Mount Fuji? was first published in May 2003 and is now in its third printing.
“Ever since I was a kid, I was really into puzzles,” explains Poundstone. “A few years ago, I started getting these emails from friends saying they'd encountered these types of logic puzzles on job interviews, and they were basically asking for the answers to know if they had said the right thing. After I got about a half dozen of these questions, I figured there'd be a book in it.”
Poundstone researched the topic and its origins at Microsoft. The company has used these interviewing tactics for decades, going back to when Bill Gates personally vetted every prospective employee before the company made an offer. Gates felt these puzzles were a good way to gauge a person's true intelligence and thought process.
Poundstone went into the book interested in the puzzles themselves but skeptical about their effectiveness in evaluating prospective employees. But his views changed as he learned and thought more about it.
“The more I talked to people who explained why they did this, [I] sort of realized that hiring is not a very scientific thing anywhere,” explains Poundstone. “If you don't judge people on the basis of something like these puzzles, you're probably going to be judging them on the basis of how firm their handshake is or whether you like how they're dressed, which are even less relevant. At least in the companies where you can say what you're doing constitutes a kind of problem solving, I think this is a very good idea actually.”
Poundstone also explains why the origins of this interviewing approach can be traced back to the technology field. “I talked to a lot of people [at technology companies] who use these types of questions. They usually mentioned that it has to do with the pace of technological change. It's very hard to hire someone for a specific set of skills today, because some of those skills are going to be obsolete in a few years.”
For many folks making hiring decisions in the technology field, puzzles became accepted as a way to assess what cognitive scientists call “noncontext-specific knowledge.”
Poundstone points out that while various industries have glommed onto this interviewing trend, it makes little sense for many types of workers. “I think the phenomenon has been -- in the past year or two -- maybe oversold a little with some companies and some fields. Certainly, whether you're a counter person at Starbucks or a brain surgeon, the skills you're hired for are still going to be valid, so I don't see these [questions] are necessarily an especially good way of evaluating those people.”
Even so, the question being used to evaluate you at your next interview may be one that doesn't even have an answer. Encouraging? Not exactly. But if you prep yourself mentally, you might end up giving a wrong answer that lands you the job.
