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Create Your Own Unique Online Brand - Page 1 Create Your Own Unique Online Brand - Page 2

Discover and Communicate Your Passion

Branding has evolved from nonsensical trademark names to descriptive words that tell people who you are and what your passion is in life. Take, for instance, Xerox: this name had no real meaning until the machines came out and people used them as a common meaning for photocopying papers. While the brand is now known worldwide, the brand has been completely diluted into a generic meaning that is hard to defend as being unique and expressive of a company brand. In order to create a brand name today, you want to give special attention to the qualities that make this name unique and how it is descriptive of what you do or who you are in business or life.

PERSONAL BRANDING

In a way, we all come into this world with our own personal branding: Our names. This tells members of our family and the people we meet who we are, but doesn’t really express our personal qualities. Sometimes, people acquire nicknames or make up their own to help express more of their own unique qualities, and this is used as a form of group personal branding. If that personal branding also expresses what your passion in life is, you can use it to help promote yourself to others. Personal branding, as well as business branding, is all about conveying your self-image to others in a way that what they perceive is identical to what you are projecting to them.

BUSINESS BRANDING

If you have a domain name, that’s a form of business branding, just like your business name is. These tend to be more expressing of the products and services offered rather than of the personal qualities of the owner. In the past, in conventional advertising, you would know the business name before you learned the owner’s name. However, with so many people using social networks these days, personal branding is becoming as equally important in business and company branding.

PROJECTING PASSION

Whether you choose one, the other, or both to promote, the idea is to project your passion to a bigger audience. If your passion is connecting others to their soul mates, then you might use a business or personal name with the word love in it. That’s your passion. It’s not as hard as it seems to think up a few choice brand names to try out. What is hard is reserving them online when so many have already been snapped up by others.

Brainstorm and Research Your Brand

That’s why in order to get a good one, you have to start to brainstorm early. It’s going to take a while to come up with a brand name that you love and that is also available as a domain name. One thing is certain: most two-word-phrased domain names are already taken. You will probably have to go with three words or more, or you might try purchasing a smaller domain name from someone who is squatting on it and waiting for a buyer to offer him/her some money.

DO RESERVE YOUR PERSONAL NAME

Even if you’re not going to use it for business, you will want to reserve as many profiles and even a domain name with your name in it. Celebrities with established careers already have lawyers who do this on a regular basis for them. However, if you start your business brand and then you suddenly achieve fame in the middle of it all, you’ll probably end up paying someone else to give back your personal brand name on the Internet. There are many opportunists out there who go out and try to reserve names like Paris Hilton or other notables with large followings. If your following increases, so will the number of fake spammers out there, and you want to be ready by having already reserved your name on the biggest sites like Facebook, Twitter, and a personal branded .com name.

RESEARCH AVAILABILITY

Hop online now and check to see what’s available for your domain name possibilities using Whois.net. You can check a variety of different extensions besides .com sites. If the domain is already reserved or bought, you will see the owner of the domain name. It will also tell you who you can contact should you want to try and buy the name. Otherwise, you can get onto popular hosting sites of your choice and try to register the domain name. Whois.net will also tell you (when it’s not available) what other names you might try to reserve instead that are available. Typically, they are prefixed with the word my or something similar, but are slightly different. You can even register the domain name right there for a charge of $9.95/year.

Promote Your Brand

Online, if you want to be known as an expert, all you have to do is to claim to be an expert and then help others with your expertise. People learn who you are by interacting with you and can make up their own opinions about you and your company. The interactivity and the ability to reach people all around the world for very little money is what levels the playing field between companies and individuals. Information isn't as segregated as it once was, and it's also quite a bit more transparent. Now, no matter how much a big company spends on promoting some defective product, odds are that there will be numerous online complaints that are easily accessible and that dissuade new customers from purchasing a defective product. In the same vein, if you have a spectacular brand and some wonderful product or service, you can promote the brand and the positive vibes by sharing that information online to attract new customers.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO ONLINE

There are a few places online that you can leverage to get the most positive publicity with minimal effort. You could spend a lot more time plastering the World Wide Web with your own press release, but ultimately, as a business owner, you just don't have the time to do too much promotion. Even if you can do the following list, you should seriously think about hiring a company or an individual to help you publicize your offerings online in a manner that will get you more exposure.

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HOW EFFECTIVE SALES PAGES WORK

For those Internet marketers who have steady traffic coming to their websites but lack sales, it may be in the delivery where the problem exists. A sales page is the medium you can use to convert visitors into paying customers.

It is common for many Internet marketers to struggle at this point. They have worked hard to build up their traffic and they feel that that should be enough. The problem is, people are still too easily able to leave the website. They have not learned what is in it for them. A sales page can help you to do this.

There are several ways to use a sales page. One of the most effective methods is to develop one page for each product you are selling on your website. For example, if you have four different eBooks you are promoting, you could develop a sales page for each one. When visitors get to your website, they are able to follow links to get to the sales page of the eBook they are interested in.

You can also create sales pages that work as landing pages in that visitors will come directly to this page in order to learn more about the product or products you are offering, and hopefully, purchase them.

There are several key benefits to using sales pages:

1. They have a sales message that is usually frowned upon when used on most other forms of Internet marketing, especially in social marketing areas.

2. They present your product in a direct way. People know what the product is.

3. They aid you in letting the customer know what is in it for them. People want to know what they are getting from your product before they buy.

4. They give specific detail of what is included in the product or service that you are offering. These details will win the readers of the sales page over.

5. They ask for the sale: do not forget this part!

DOING THE WRITING?

Most people cringe at the idea of writing sales copy. Most people do not have the ability to write this type of copy without first learning how to do so. You have several options.

You can invest the time needed to learn how to write sales pages. This is highly recommended if you will be writing many of them. The good news is that there are many resources available both online and offline that can help you to learn this skill. Tutorials online are specifically helpful since they are designed to help you learn how to write sales copy for the Web in particular.

Another option you have is to hire someone to do the work for you. Professional copywriters for the Web are readily available. You will need to pay a decent amount of money for their services, but this can help to make the process a bit easier.

DOING IT JUST ONE TIME

One thing to keep in mind when you have multiple products to offer on your website is that you can create a basic template of a sales page to use and then customize it for each of the products you have. For example, the structure, the pictures, and even some of the headlines can remain the same from one product to the next. The difference is simply in the wording.

Customizing pages in this method is actually quite easy to do. With some basic copywriting skills, you will be well on your way to developing sales pages that convert traffic.

WRITING YOUR OWN

Let's assume that you have a decent understanding of what sales copy is. You understand that this is the type of content that is designed to sell the product or service you are selling. Whereas on other areas of your website you will be using a non-sales tone, this is the location where you need to sell.

There is no reason not to write your own sales copy once you understand what it is. Take some time to review quality sales pages at other websites online. You can even search some of your competitors’ websites to get an idea of what is available. The question to ask yourself: Does this page convince you to buy the product or service?
Now, learn what it takes to write the best sales pages for Internet marketing.

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WHY BEING AN EXPERT CAN HELP YOUR IM SALES

Internet marketing can be a whole lot different than retail sales. For one, when people shop in a brick-and-mortar store, they are greeted by a sales person and sometimes shake their hands. It may seem a trivial thing, but people tend to trust someone who they have a personal relationship with more than an anonymous sales page on the Internet. However, there is a way to establish a relationship with the visitors to your website in a way that impresses upon them that you also are trustworthy: By presenting yourself as an expert in your field.

There are a number of reasons why people tend to trust experts more than just someone off the street. They are seen to have an air of authority over other people. They tend to be viewed as being more knowledgeable than other people. The credentials that they have also shows up as a rubber stamp from other organizations that give that person the perception of having a higher standard of ethics to uphold. Whatever the reason, you can use the same psychological triggers to build websites and sales pages that get your visitors to instantly trust you and to want to do business with you. That's the power of being an expert.

If you think it is not possible to be an expert without having gone to a graduate program, written a book, or done something extremely remarkable with your life to prove your expertise, you are wrong! The Internet has made it extremely easy for you to show your stuff without having to spend tons of money getting someone else to certify that you are an expert. In this short report, you are going to learn the secrets of building an online presence that will establish your credibility and expertise in ways that cost very little money. Once you have that strong presence, you will find that people will flock to you for advice on how to solve their problems if it relates to your niche, and this will be a natural and organic way to generate customer leads and repeat sales without having to give the hard sell.

We're going to provide you with numerous methods to build your online expert profile in such a way that you can generate a web of good publicity for you and your products. If you find that one method is too time intensive or not working for your niche, you can try another. There's no set formula that you have to use. As long as you try several different strategies to see which work best with your audience, you will be well on the road to generating an online presence that awes and delights your visitors. That popularity will naturally rub off on your company and be the source of great referrals and product sales.

THE ABOUT US PAGE

One of the easiest things to do to get yourself recognized as an expert is also the most commonly missed element of a website. It's the “About Us” page. Are you telling your customers who you are and why they should buy from you? If not, don't assume they are going to figure it out on their own. A good “About Us” page can be a way to introduce yourself and your company in a way that frames your Internet presence in the way you want to be known. If you don't write up your own “About Us” page, odds are that someone will do a review on you and people will Google it and get their information from someone else. To make sure that doesn't happen, include a detailed “About Us” page and let people know that you are an expert in your field and totally trustworthy.

ELEMENTS OF A GOOD ABOUT US PAGE

- You And Your Partners Give the names of you and your business partners. Let the visitor become acquainted with who you are and your role in the company.

- Your Expertise Don't be coy about letting your audience know what your passion and expertise happens to be, as well as that of your compatriots. The more someone can relate to those interests, the more they will feel as if they are getting to know you.

- Short Bios Back up any claims as an expert by giving a short biography for the principal players. Using personal anecdotes and storytelling can be a great way to bring the reader into your lives and to help them to identify with the members of your team.

- Books Written Has anyone on your team authored articles or books that you can display as part of your credentials? If so, be sure to mention that in the biography related to that person as being an author of that particular group.

- Awards Received Nothing impresses people more than knowing you or your business has received recognition from other sources. It doesn't even matter if it's an Internet award or an award from some prestigious organization, be sure to list it.

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Introduction

Email marketing for businesses isn’t a new concept. In fact, compared to other online marketing channels like social media, mobile device applications, and even search engines, email marketing might seem a bit outdated.

A lot has been happening over the past few years with email marketing, and the discipline is still always in motion. Altered behaviors and expectations by consumers call for new email marketing methods. Approaches like personalization and segmentation are transforming company newsletters from anonymous bulk emails into customized emails.

Today, most consumers read their emails on their mobile devices, and checking for emails has become the most common activity carried out by smartphone users. The competition for attention in consumers email inboxes is forcing more companies to attach increasing importance to well-designed emails which are personalized and have relevant content, ensuring that the emails will be opened and read.

Statistics show that email marketing has a broad reach, as well as being one of the best marketing tactics for return on investment. Just about everyone has an email address these days, and the majority of users prefer to receive advertising messages that way. Plus, with smartphones, emails are always right in the pocket of consumers and can be retrieved at any time. According to recent estimates, the importance of email marketing will continue to grow over the next few years. It’s clear that any online marketing strategy your company employs should include email marketing campaigns.

Email marketing requires more than just sending out the occasional newsletter. Today, marketers also need to set up and maintain subscriber lists, create and design relevant emails, and send these out systematically.

For your email marketing strategy to be effective and successful, it is imperative that you utilize the technical options available

continuously optimize the process through the use of modern analytical tools.

Despite the widespread use of the digital juggernaut that is email, many entrepreneurs have yet to implement an effective email marketing strategy for their business because they don't know how to do it or haven't yet recognized how powerful it can be.

Email continues to serve as the core communication platform of the Internet and will only continue to grow. Currently, more than 3.7 billion people have access to email, and more than 3 billion non-spam emails are sent and received every hour of every day. If your business isn’t already taking advantage of this powerful and massive marketing channel, you're missing out on an effective way to reach your target audience.

Chapter 1 – What’s Email Marketing and Why Your Business Needs It

Email marketing is a kind of Internet marketing that allows the user to send customized messages in the form of an email to their readers to inform, advertising, or to solicit certain actions from their readers.

There are certain essential components of email marketing that include:

• Message automation
• HTML responsive layout
• Advance list maintenance
• CAN-SPAM compliance built-in
• An easy integration
• A dedicated IP address
• Help for deliverability

Message Automation

The message automation is the feature of email marketing that allows you to send different emails in response to a particular action. If a consumer just signed up for a discount, they will receive an automatic welcome message that will serve as a confirmation of the subscription. Message automation can also be set up to send proof of orders when someone makes a purchase on your website.

HTML Responsive Layout

The HTML Responsive layout will allow you to send customized emails in plain text or HTML format. It also allows you to make use of HTML and CSS to create responsive templates that can adapt to all devices in the world.

This makes email marketing campaigns capable of being read on mobile devices. The good part is that you don’t have to learn how to code HTML because this feature is automatically loaded with the software.

Advanced List Maintenance

This feature allows you to add and remove email subscribers from your list quickly. You can use this feature to automate subscription and opt-outs. It helps you keep your email lists updated.

CAN-SPAM Compliance

This is a feature that is designed to check compliance with the unsolicited pornography and marketing, CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. This act has given the United States Federal Trade Commission the right to enforce all necessary standards to protect email owners from unsolicited contents like pornography.

Easy Integration Feature

This feature allows for the integration of other services into your email marketing campaign. You can incorporate your e-commerce website with your email campaigns through this feature, and you can also include several mobile apps, loyalty programs, and social media apps to your email marketing campaign.

You can connect Google analytics to your email campaign through Easy Integration feature so you can track the clicks on your email, as well as incorporating product recommendation features into the email, through the use of this feature.

Dedicated IP Address

A dedicated IP address is incredibly essential for the integrity of your email. This IP address should be one that is solely dedicated to your business, and it should be the only one used to send emails to potential customers. Your email recipients will have peace of mind when they receive your emails with this dedicated IP address.

Deliverability

Deliverability is a feature that is included in an email marketing software that ensures that your emails are delivered to the right place. If your emails aren't delivered, then your marketing strategy just won't work. This features constantly deploys the tools that you need to track down deliverability issues with your emails.

Why Your Business Should Implement Email Marketing

Email provides you with the opportunity to send a message to your audience for any purpose on any day of the year that costs you next to nothing. This makes email an incredibly powerful way to communicate with your target audience.

When you are able to create a solid email marketing campaign and send the right messages to the right people at the right time, you are sure to build an audience of highly engaged fans that can't wait for your next message to hit their inboxes. Additionally, they are ready to buy whenever you have a product or service to promote. There are several compelling reasons why you need to start implementing email marketing for your business.

Generates Massive ROI

A recent study conducted by the Direct Marketing Association found that businesses will earn an average of $43.00 for every dollar invested in email marketing.

In fact, marketers have consistently ranked email marketing as the single most effective strategy for generating awareness, acquiring leads, generating sales, and improving customer retention, compared to the other marketing strategies most commonly employed.

Generates Long-Term Results

In 2010, the company MarketBeat first started collecting opt-ins for their newsletters. Almost two decades later a good number of subscribers that signed up during the first year continue to read their content, engage with their advertisers, and buy products and services from their business.

Your email list is a long-term asset that will continue to generate revenue and social capital for your business well into the future.

Most Customers Want Email from Companies

MarketingSherpa conducted a study that showed that 72 percent of U.S. consumers say that email is their favorite way to communicate with the companies that they do business with.

They also discovered that 61 percent of consumers like to receive weekly promotional emails from their favorite brands, while 28 percent of consumers would like to receive promotional emails more frequently.

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Make no mistake, Facebook Messenger has revolutionized how marketers can access and grow their audience on Facebook and websites that use many of Facebook’s extensions. Please understand that Facebook is not just one platform, it is actually a set of related properties. It also shares key parts of its functionality with third-party websites.

By doing so, Facebook extends its reach throughout the rest of the Internet. In fact, the Facebook ad network is second to Google’s ad network in terms of reach and size. If you want to drive a lot of free traffic to your website, you need to have a coherent Facebook strategy. Now that Facebook has launched Messenger and allowed it to operate with bots, this has presented a tremendous opportunity for online marketers as far as traffic generation and sales recruitment go.

In this book, I am going to teach you how Facebook Messenger works, how you can create bots that would work with Facebook Messenger so you can grow your audience, and most importantly, drive qualified traffic to your website.

An FB messenger bot is a piece of software that uses Artificial Intelligence to simulate conversations with potential and existing customers.

Using FB messenger bots enables ANY BUSINESS to possibly engage some of the1.3 billion FB

Messenger monthly users

By 2018, FB had 300,000 active messenger bots, this is several times larger than the previous number and the number of bots is expected to multiply further. What are YOU doing to take advantage of this great opportunity to automate your enagement with your audience.

What is Facebook messenger and how can it help your business?

A few years back, Facebook announced that it was launching its new Facebook Messenger service. What was really interesting about this reboot of what was its internal messaging device is the scalability of the new messenger.

It can be automated, it can use scripts and, most importantly, it lends itself to bot technology. Usually, when people use messenger, they would click on somebody's profile on their messenger application and initiate a text, voice or video chat with them.

In this respect, it's not much different from other third party messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat and others. What really distinguishes Facebook Messenger, let's face it, is the fact that it is attached to Facebook. Facebook has billions of active users. It is a gateway to tremendous online visibility.

If you want your business to thrive, you only need to look no further than Facebook. Whatever interests your business caters to no matter how arcane, obscure or little known, there are sure to be people on Facebook who are interested in whatever it is you are promoting.

This is why Facebook is non-negotiable when it comes to online marketing. Whether you're trying to generate traffic to the website of your local dental practice, or you provide a national service to people located all over the United States, Facebook can help you market your business.

Facebook Messenger is an important part of this marketing mix because it enables you to automate your engagements with people trying to get more information about your business.

Facebook Messenger allows for instant communication

When people find your business' Facebook page, they can get basic information like your hours, whether you're currently open or closed, maps and directions, as well as an overview of what you offer to the general public.

But you know and I know that for your business to close the deal, there has to be some sort of personal touch. The person seeking your business' services and/or merchandise would want to reach out. They may want to get more information or they may have certain questions that you page simply can not anticipate.

Whatever FAQ you may have up may come a bit short as far as the wide range of questions, queries and concerns people may have. This is where Facebook Messenger comes in.

Facebook Messenger gives you “stop gap” and “catch all” communications option Unless you have doe extensive consumer intelligence, there's really no way you can anticipate all the needs and concerns of your customer base. That's just not going to happen. You need a tremendous amount of resources, time and energy to be able to pull that off.

The good news is you don't have to. Thanks to Facebook Messenger, you can be accessible to people with a wide range of questions and then message them back. Once you detect a certain pattern in the most common questions people ask, you can automate Facebook Messenger so it can answer questions based on a decision tree.

In this respect, it's not much different from your potential customers calling a call center. Now, if you own a small business in middle America, you know that hiring a call center is not exactly within your budget.

But the good news is with Facebook, you don't have to. If you set up your Facebook Messenger bot correctly, it can anticipate or it can filter inquiries people have and break it down into finer points so your prospective customers can get the information they desire.

If anything, they can get enough information to satisfy them until you follow up and give more detailed and specific information.

The bottom line

By using Facebook Messenger and automating it through Facebook Messenger bots, you enable your brand to distinguish itself from the competition. Let's be honest here. More and more American businesses are moving online.

Having a website and having a robust presence on social media platforms like Facebook are no longer optional. They are absolutely necessary. In fact, they can make or break your business. This should not come as a surprise because most Americans already have mobile phones. When people have mobile devices like tablets and phones, the moment they think about buying something, they quickly check online resources.

The same goes with finding a local source of the merchandise or service that they are interested in. if your business is not part of that mix and is not visible enough online, you're going to lose customers. Now, with this as a background, when you set up Facebook Messenger to engage with your prospects, your brand stands head and shoulders from your competitors.

Your competitors might just be unavailable or people who would otherwise be interested in what your competitors would have to offer would not do business with them because they can't get the information they need at precisely the time they needed it.

With Facebook Messenger automation, you can get this information to people interested in your business. If anything, you can hold them with enough basic info until you can follow up with more specific information.

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Why Write Articles?

The catch-22 of Internet business is how to drive traffic to your site, even if they've never heard of your business at all. Most people who visit an online site will either find it through a search engine, hear the URL from an offline business that is online too, or have a friend tell them about a new website. In general, there are so many different sites out there competing for everyone's attention that to get noticed by new potential customers, you actually have to create content outside your website, preferably in high traffic areas, with links that go back to your products and offerings.

That's where article marketing comes in. The purpose of article marketing is to gather attention from high traffic areas and bring them back to your site. Instead of relying on your website to attract people to it via the search engines, article marketing is a method where you actually go to places where large crowds of online viewers congregate and offer them valuable information that makes them want to learn more about you and your business.

DON’T RELY ONLY ON YOUR WEBSITE COPY

Your website copy is great for converting customers once they arrive at your site, but it's not enough to draw people to your website all on its own merit – even with good search engine optimization techniques. Instead, you want to find multiple article directories where people are interested in reading various topics and submit your own articles to target the audience that might be interested in your products so that you can convince them to visit you online. After all, your website copy may be spectacular, but if no one reads it, you're not going to make many sales. You have to get people to your site first before you can actually sell them anything online.

INCREASE YOUR TRAFFIC TO INCREASE YOUR PROFITS

The best way to increase traffic to your site is to actually go out and find areas of high traffic and then drive some of that traffic back to your site. Article marketing does this exceedingly well for various reasons. One, people are always looking for fresh content, and article directories provide just that. Two, you are allowed to put backlinks to your website in the resource box, providing a conduit where traffic can flow back to your website from high traffic areas. Three, article directories provide a large audience to start, and it's easy to harvest some of that traffic. Finally, article marketing lets you market a niche via topics, keywords, and categories, making it easy to attract highly targeted traffic that will be interested in your products and services and not just random traffic.

Make Yourself An Expert

Most business owners are experts on the products they are selling; however, they don't always have the time to sit down with each new customer to go over the wonderful benefits of each product. Yet, if people understand the benefits, they will be more likely to want to buy. People buy products because they're looking to solve some problem or to improve their lives. If you're the person who can show them how to solve their problems or improve their lives, then you take on an air of authority and credibility as an expert that can help you to gain trust and to sell more products.

PULL OUT YOUR CREDENTIALS

If you happen to have them, you should flaunt them, especially in the resource box that is available for authors to say more about themselves. People believe people more when they have some level of authority that makes them credible. That's why if you have a higher degree in a specific niche, have written a book, or can lay claim to expertise based on some remarkable accomplishments, make sure to mention some of that in your resource box.

MAKE YOUR ARTICLES INFORMATIVE

Another way to impress people with your knowledge is to make your articles informative, as well as entertaining. People don't have much time these days, and when they take time out to read your article, they want it to count. If instead they reach the end of your article and feel like it is a “puff piece,” they are likely never to read another article by you again.

PICK TOPICS RELEVANT TO YOUR NICHE

Write numerous article topics in the same niche, all on various aspects of that niche. The more articles you write on the same niche, the more people looking for information on that topic will get to know you and your expertise. If people don't find the answer to their problems or issues in one article, but they found you credible as an expert, they will look at the other article that you've authored to find one that does answer their questions. If you have many different articles, and they take the time to read several of those articles, eventually, they will also want to learn more about you personally. Since the resource box allows you to put two links to your presence online, you have two opportunities to show them more of who you are and what your business can do for them. Once they've read a few of your articles, they will have some idea of who you are and are more likely to visit your site with some set opinion about you that influences them, hopefully favorably, to buy something from you.

How To Write Good Articles

In article marketing, you may end up taking the same article and submitting it to different sites in order to get more traffic. You will want to use the same mechanics of article writing that you would use to draw people to the content on your site and to make it people and search engine friendly. Article directories are highly indexed by search engines to begin with, but adding keywords in the right density can really boost your exposure with them in your targeted niche. Meanwhile, you also want to concentrate on making the articles easy to read, informative, and entertaining.