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Social media marketing is probably the biggest thing to hit the Internet since the search engines. But like any form of marketing, there are bound to be "No No’s" that can destroy your strategy and even your reputation in social media. It is important to be aware of these before you make the same mistakes! Some things readers and customers won't forgive you for include: 

Using Misleading Headlines and Images – A great headline can certainly attract traffic. But it is quality content that will make people stay. Make sure your headline or image is always related to your content and the business in general. If it isn't, then all your social media efforts are just wasted.

• Ignore Valid Criticisms – It’s impossible to please everyone. As you become more popular, you’re bound to encounter more fans…as well as haters. While it’s certainly important to focus on the positive, look into the relevance of negative comments too. However, don’t let this discourage you or sap your energy. Certain users just can’t be satisfied no matter what you do.
• Forget the Option to Share – Every website has countless widgets, extensions, and plug-ins that are easy to install. Be sure to include these, especially on blogs! People won’t make the effort to submit your site or share it with friends if you make it difficult for them to do so.

Another common SMM mistake that’s committed by even the most experienced marketers is targeting only one social network. Sure, it is definitely important to concentrate more on sites that actually deliver. But by doing so, you are ignoring other sites' potential. Keep a noticeable presence, at the very least, on other sites so you can take advantage of their social media marketing opportunities as they become available.

Credit Line: © Michael Brown | Dreamstime.com

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is otherwise known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Basically, this advertising method involves paying a certain amount to appear on the search engine results page. Unlike SEO, this strategy provides quick results. When implemented properly, it is possible to generate thousands of click-throughs within a short timeframe.

Early in your PPC efforts, it is important to recognize that success in PPC advertising lies in your effective choice of keywords and ad copy. The key to determining a response rate is to start small and to experiment. Identify the ads as well as ad groups that provide the best results; eliminate those that generate poor response rates. This analysis will help you to maximize the return on your investment. Another important consideration in PPC advertising is the “Quality Score.” Once you become more familiar with this advertising method, you’re bound to hear this term over and over again because quality score will determine whether your ad will be displayed prominently on the search engine results page (SERP).

Remember that in PPC advertising, not everything comes down to money. The business model used by search engines relies on delivering relevant results to searchers. So while sites like Google would definitely love your ad money, their long-term feasibility depends on their ability to display quality advertising. If you intend to become successful in PPC advertising, improving your quality score should be your focus.

Without a doubt, the current economic environment requires businesses to be more careful with and more demanding of their marketing budgets than ever before. If you want your company to survive and prosper, you must maximize your business marketing return-on-investment. So how do you calculate your business marketing ROI? What factors are the most important?

Most forms of advertising and lead generation are invested in terms of how many pieces or leads you receive for your money. For direct mail, it is how many pieces you send out; for pay-per-click, it is the number of prospects that click through to your site, and for Internet leads, it is how many actual leads you receive. When calculating expected business marketing ROI from an advertising campaign, it is important to recognize the difference between leads and revenues. It really does not matter how many leads or calls you get on your toll free numbers if none of them are converting into actual customers. In fact, too many contacts not following through will actually begin to cost you more money. While most lead generation companies will shy away from giving you any hard figures on what you can expect in actual closing ratios, the prospective close ratio is still the most important figure when calculating business marketing ROI. However, smart marketing companies and lead generators, who offer direct marketing like direct mail and use toll free numbers for tracking, should be able to show you real numbers from what similar campaigns have generated in actual prospects and incoming calls. These historic results help close the gap between your marketing pieces and actual business marketing ROI, but in the end, it still comes down to your staff to ensure conversion.

When calculating business marketing ROI, what you really need to look at is cost-per-action. In other words, what is it really costing for each new client and each dollar in revenues? Compare these numbers to your other advertising options; then strive to achieve the lowest cost-per-action possible and hone your campaigns to maximize business marketing ROI. This strategy includes doing a better job of targeting your ideal customers and improving the conversion capability of your phone staff or website.

Credit Line: © Dmitry Baevskiy | Dreamstime.com

Setting up phone systems and business phone lines for a new operation can be confusing, frustrating, and, of course, expensive as well. While negotiating business phone lines with multiple different providers may not be at the top of any entrepreneur or manager's fun list, it is a critical part of setting up shop and can be a big factor in your corporation's future viability and profitability.

At last the much anticipated release of the 855 toll free numbers is here!

Clients are waiting with bated breath to hear if they were one of the 85% of premium requests that were successfully acquired by Custom Toll Free on day one of the rationed 855 code release. Additional numbers can still be reserved for only $500!

As you are most likely aware by now, the release of the 855 toll free number prefix was delayed last week from its expected launch date at the beginning of the month. The good news is that according to the FCC and the DSMI (Database Service Management, Inc.), the official designated toll free number administrator, the launch of 855 numbers is still on for October 9th, 2010 at 12:00 pm ET.

It is possible to be successful in affiliate marketing with little or no cost. Thousands of people have been able to do it, and there is no reason why you shouldn’t also. Some people made a lot of money because they entered the market at the correct time; others just entered it through luck. But for most affiliate marketers, it is about strategizing.

With only days to go before the release of the new 855 toll free number prefix, the race is on to reserve the best 855 vanity numbers. This is a fantastic opportunity for new businesses and established ones alike to lock in their success for the coming years. In fact, few events are as important for businesses as the rolling out of a new toll free number prefix.