Are you socializing? A better question would be are you socializing correctly?

Social Media has turned into big business.

Catch a few of these statistics.

Facebook is approaching 600 million users and translates into 70 languages. It’s users spend an average, and this is amazing, of 55 minutes a day on the site. Think this is a marketing audience? You bet.

Twitter is adding 15 million new users every month last count, and is fast approaching 200 million total. Can you tweet a marketing message in 140 characters or less? Better learn.

Without a doubt Social Media is growing leaps and bounds as people begin using the internet for what it was intended. Branding, spreading visibility and massive interaction.

Social media marketing is advancing to the front and center, and major brands like Coke, Sony, Nike and even Oreo Cookies (16 million followers – those aren’t crumbs folks) are using it to market like crazed snake oil salesmen.

Have a look at the following chart depicting a portion of the social media landscape. A bit overwhelming isn’t it?

Now obviously you can’t be involved in all them. There aren’t enough hours in a hundred lifetimes.

But…

You better be involved in some of them, and you better be involved in Facebook and Twitter for sure.

Here’s what you need to understand. These have evolved way beyond saying hello to a few friends. These are active and profitable marketing platforms.

How are you using Facebook? Are you branding yourself with a Business Page, Fan Page, or Vanity Page?

Are you using your Facebook page to actually generate and capture leads?

What, you ask? Didn’t know you could do that?

Here is how to properly market on Facebook. Have a look at a few of our client’s pages. There are set up to actively market, collect leads and names and automatically add them to a mailing list. This is a prime example of how to use a social media platform to actively market to consumers.

Here are just a few, take a look and see how it is done:

Chick Lingo
Be Golf Fit
Mental Golf Confidence

Getting the message? Using the power of the Social Media Gear, and using it properly, to drive your marketing effort using some of the most dynamic marketing platforms in the world can and will pay you big dividends.

We haven’t even discussed the power of Facebook or Twitter advertising….I’ll save that for another lesson.

If you aren’t using Social Media to your advantage yet, you best get started – using it the right way.

Let us help you use some of the most powerful marketing platforms available to put your business in the limelight.

Google is the biggest fish in the ocean!

As you can see above, Google themselves are geared into everything; Google Search, the Android, mobile advertising with Admob, YouTube and Google Chrome to name a few.

But we want to focus on Google Search..

Google gets 35% of all web traffic, think about that. It’s New York, Paris and London all rolled into one.

Get on the front page of Google and you become a winner in the online marketing war.

And it is a war.

Why?

Because there are only 10 spots available on Google’s front page. If it were easy, everyone would be there.

It is the spot you want to locate your business, because millions of customers are strolling the streets of Google everyday looking for businesses just like yours.

It’s a simple concept, locating your business in the busiest venues of a city or town.

McDonald’s built an empire this way, as did Starbucks, as did many name brand businesses. It’s a simple formula for success.

Put your business in the middle of the busiest crowd and customers will stroll into your door.

Traffic=Customers=Money makes your cash register go kaching!

Google is even better than that though. It’s not normal foot traffic passing by your store. On the main streets of Google these aren’t just any customers, they are TARGETED customers, specifically looking for you using keywords in Google’s search engine.

Now then, you ask…

Why the front page of Google?

Simple answer, maximum visibility and because studies show 95% of all Google searchers never go past the front page.

Google provides such relevant results for their search they don’t need to go further. This is why Google controls 85% of the search market, relevancy. People trust Google, and they trust the businesses that Google puts on the front page – it’s a transference thing, and incredibly powerful for your business. You gain immediate trust and authority with your prospective customer when you are on the front page of Google.

Below you see the results of a Google eye study showing what we call the Google Golden Triangle. This illustrates where people click on the front page of Google. The heat map readily shows that most people click on the listings closest to the page top…while few if any go to the second page.

Ultra competitive, ultra profitable. Google is main street USA for businesses, and if you aren’t there, your competitor is literally stealing money from your pocket and customers from under your nose.

So how do you get on the front page of Google?

It begins with your being properly optimized for the keywords people will use to find you. Rich keywords and long tail keywords in the title, tag line and embedded in the copy.

Next comes a powerful backlinking strategy and that is accomplished by re-purposing the content on your website and putting it out through the multiple channels available online: Video, RSS feeds, PDF repositories, press releases, a strong social media marketing plan, Web 2.0 marketing, article marketing and more. All of these activities serve a dual purpose. They provide powerful backlinks to your website to show Google your popularity is spreading as well as placing your content in other highly visible and popular places online to spread your marketing message.

We specialize in this, and you can view some of our client success stories here.

In fact, at MichaelBelba.com we can take you from Main St. in your local city and put you in the National limelight.

What are you seeking for your business? Local Dominance or National Prominence? We can provide the expertise you need for your business to shine and give you the ROI every business deems important.

Want to know how many people are looking for your business online? Want to see what you are missing out on? Want to get an idea of the potential?

Use these tools and then give us a call.

Visit our Online ROI Calculator and test the results yourself. There is a video giving you complete instruction on it’s use.

See how profitable real marketing online can be for your business. Then give us a call. You can be our next success story.

YouTube is a powerhouse, of that there is no doubt.

24 hours of video uploaded every minute. The average American spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube. 20% of Google searches are for YouTube videos. More video is uploaded to YouTube every 60 days than all the major Television networks created in 60 years.

Are you using it for a marketing platform and one of the integral gears to drive your business?

Data has shown us to be visual people. Can there be any doubt?

How many televisions in your home? That should answer that question for you.

Most people would rather watch a video about a product or service than read about it. Are you taking advantage of this simple fact and using video in your marketing efforts to showcase your products and services on your website and on YouTube? If you can show what you are offering in an entertaining and inviting way, odds are your potential clients will receive it and return for more.

How can you showcase your services and use video to draw in customers? Unless you are doing an educational video, keep your videos short and snappy. 90 seconds or less. Studies show that viewership falls off dramatically after the first 60 seconds so the snappier the message the better. Instead of doing one long video, segment it into several different marketing messages.

Using the YouTube Gear and branding yourself on YouTube is like putting a TV on your website to advertise and sell your product or service! It’s not only a tremendous savings over advertising on Television but you gain unending airtime in front of your prospects 24/7. It’s a marketing message constantly working for you day and night.

In addition to YouTube, we also use mass video distribution to other video sites with our Video Marketing programs.

It’s an exciting and effective way to advertise. The advantage of YouTube and video marketing in general is that with mass distribution, you are not only gaining additional viewership but also building important linking mechanisms to your website.

Branded video optimization offers several distinct advantages.

1. Cost effective. With a little creativity and imagination you can make them yourself.
2. UNLIMITED air time..on YouTube and your website, your message is available 24/7.
3. Allows your customers to see your actual product or service before they buy – speeds up the sales cycle.
4. Allows you to use powerful messages such as video testimonials. Nothing sells new customers like hearing from happy old customers – it’s a 24/7 referral system.
3. With Video Marketing your message is mass distributed for wider coverage through many different video mediums.
4. People are getting to know you BEFORE they do business with you. This is extremely powerful. You can build trust and rapport before they come through your door. Remember, people do business with people they like and trust. Be yourself in front of the camera and speak directly, sincerity shines through, so does insincerity. Always have your customers best interests at heart.

More Video Marketing Tips For Small Business From Mashable

Call us for powerful YouTube and Video Marketing strategies? Get in touch with us, let us help you dominate your business niche with your video message.

As you can see from this graphic, there are 5 total gears in this main gear called mobile marketing.

This is about moving away from a traditional and centralized website and taking advantage of the move to everything hand held. Mobiles, IPhones, Androids, IPads and Apps.

As I mentioned, mobile technology is being adapted by the consumer at an astonishing speed – 8 times faster than PC’s were adapted. There are 4.5 billion mobile devices in the marketplace. Think about that. 3/4′s of the world’s population is carrying internet access in the palm of their hand.

Wired Magazine recently devoted their cover to a screaming headline which read, “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet”.

Click To Read

Now, did they really mean the Web Is Dead? No, what they meant is that people are accessing information differently with the use of portable devices.

What does this mean for your business?

It means that people are spending less and less time in front of their PC’s because they have portability in the palm of their hand.

Think about it. You may be lucky to get someone in front of their PC 1-2 hours a day, but they have their mobile device with them all the time. I mean heck, people sleep with them.

Google, the giant fish in the ocean, just swallowed Admob for 750 million dollars. Admob was the leader in mobile advertising and Google just devoured them. That should tell you something.

Google is building their entire business model around the fact that mobile devices will surpass PC’s in use by 2015 at the latest. If a giant like Google is planning their business empire around mobile adaptation, shouldn’t you be considering it?

How is Google promoting Admob – through Google Places.

When you buy mobile advertising, you get a click to call link in your listing, and all people with Mobiles have to do is click it to automatically call your number…this is going to change completely the advertising model for Google, and for you!

The other gear in the Mobile cog is Foursquare. It is a mobile social site like Facebook or Twitter and your business needs to be signed up for it. It’s where mobile users hang out for coupons, contests and just to check in. If you are on Facebook, you may have seen messages saying, “Checking Into Business Name”. That is Foursquare. When mobile users enter a place of business, they earn valuable points with Foursquare for checking in with businesses registered there – and you get a free mention, how cool is that? Free advertising just by joining.

Are you represented there, you need to be. Foursquare is on its way to being the next Twitter among mobile users.

Do You Know What This Is?

This is a 2D Barcode, and you may have seen them in the grocery store or on labels for any name brand product. This is the wave of the future and smart business owners are using these in their business in many ways.

What a 2D barcode does is create an instant link for anything you want to send people to. It could be your website, your mobile site, a video or even your Facebook page. Smart businesses are adapting these hand over fist in their offline materials. What a simple way to direct people to your stuff.

Mobi users just snap a picture of a 2D Barcode with their mobi and are instantly directed to where you want them to go. Think of how you might use these in your business for letterhead, business cards, etc.

There are even restaurants using these on menus and when you snap a picture of it you are directed to a video that shows a chef preparing that particular item. How creative can YOU get with 2d Barcodes for your business?

Let me ask you a question..

Do you have a .mobi domain and a mobile presence yet?

If not, you better get one, or be left in the dust by a competitor.

We can help you. We will show you the correct way to integrate the Mobi Marketing gear into your business for maximum results.

Put your business in the palm of people’s hands the right way!

In the month since Bing’s release by Microsoft the internet has been
abuzz with rumor about how Microsoft was finally going to overtake
Google. NOT!

MS has been running advertising up the ying yang, television,
internet, etc., talking about the wonders of their
“decision engine”. What the heck is that? It’s just a fancy marketing
term for search and we all know it. More “Ballmer Wonder Words” I
guess. Did he do one of his crazy Ballmer wardances over this thing?
I’m sure he must have.

But listen up – the stats are in, and all should bow to the only true
king of search, King Google.

StatCounter released numbers this week that might suggest Bing has
taken a bite, albeit a micro baby bite, out of Google’s search
dominance. Their statistics showed Bing securing 8.23 percent of all
web searches in June, the month of their launch, up from 7.81 percent
for MS the month previous.

Oh My, Google catastrophe. Think again. Like most people, even I went
to check out the buzz and did a couple of searches through Bing to see
what the Bing Buzz was about. I would venture that any increase they
saw is temporary in nature and just the curiousity of people looking
at a new online tool. Not that the increase was substantial, to say
the least. It certainly doesn’t indicate they are actually acquiring
new search users.

Now, check out Google’s stats from StatCounter. For June, Google had
78.48 percent of ALL US searches. That is what is called Dominance
folks. Granted, Google slipped a measley half percentage point in
June, as other people like me tested the waters for a brief moment in
time, but trust me, there is nothing on Bing that would ever convince
me, and likely not the other curiousity seekers, to switch to Bing.

After all, Microsoft is still a much hated company – so why should I
like Bing or even give MS the benefit of the doubt?

Now here’s the interesting stat from StatCounter. Google fluctuates
regularly on a month to month basis averaging between 76 and 79
percent of all US searches, so a case could even be made that it
wasn’t even Bing at all, just normal variation in the incredibly
dominant numbers Google puts up.

I know this, I won’t be switching – and I seriously doubt other Google
users will either. So keep pumping money into your “Decision Engine”
MS – and maybe if you want to increase your search market share, you
should look at buying Yahoo again – that’s probably your only hope
from where I sit.

By the way, I found this cartoon that illustrates perfectly the
dominance of Google, enjoy!

Holy Taxpayer Batman!

Did you see what Barack Camaro, the new President of GM did the other day?

He came up with a powerful risk reversal strategy, at your expense I might add, but what the hell, it’s only your money, right? By the way, did you read today that the average government worker makes 30% more than the average private worker?

Is it time for a revolution yet?

But I digress…

…back to the risk reversal thingy.

Risk reversals are one of the most powerful strategies you can use.

Many business owners confuse “guarantee” with “risk reversal”.  While they are certainly related, they are different.

I think of guarantees applying to the product or service itself. Like a 30 day guarantee against failure typically associated with any product. There is a 30 day guarantee on pretty much everything and there is nothing special about it that will induce a sale, it’s an expected benefit, at the very least. Now a 90 day, or 1 Year guarantee is special, and of course a lifetime guarantee is the ideal.

Many business owners are afraid of giving longer guarantees because they are afraid of more returns. That’s really not how it works though. If you are confident in your product or service then offer the longer guarantee.

Here’s a little secret for you. Most returns that will take place will take place within the 30 days anyway. With the longer guarantee, you will entice more people to buy your product which will more than make up for the few additional returns you may have. You attract more customers in the process which you can sell to over and over again. Tricky, eh?

Now risk reversal is – hmmmmm – let me put it this way.

You do whatever it takes to get the customer to say to himself, “I would be dumber than a tree stump if I didn’t buy this today”! You want to turn the light bulb on in his head.

Now, what did President Barack Camaro just do?

He authorized his new company, which you bought for him and are paying for, to issue a risk reversal that promises to make people’s car payments for them if they lose their job. Isn’t that just great?

Well…let me re-phrase that.

Isn’t that a terrific strategy? Try to separate yourself from the fact you’re paying for it and look at it strictly as a business strategy.

It is great… we all know people haven’t bought a new car since Moses parted the red sea. Why? Because everyone is AFRAID. They feel they have no Job Security.

Presto, Chango, sign an executive order, wave the magic wand, and suddenly, they don’t have to worry about it any more. Does this mean GM will sell more cars? Who knows, but it is a hell of strategy to remove the primary objection people are having.

Now granted, it does nothing to remove the “Crappy American Car” objection – but that’s another problem they have attempted to risk reverse also.

The “Guaranteed Trade-In Value” risk reversal…yep, that’s in there too!

Lucky us!

But, it is one damn fine selling strategy.

What can you learn from it? How can you risk reverse your product? Is the government in its almighty stupidity doing other things you as a business can take advantage of?

If you are a heating company, a seller of efficient furnaces and heating systems, you are in luck. This new cap and trade proposal adding $3,000 a year to the average cost of heating a home has the potential to make you look like a hero.

I’m sure you can figure out how a new efficient furnace will pay for itself over 3-5 years making it seem to the customer he is getting it for free!

How about an Insurance Company? Any bright insurance executives in the reading room today? How about coming up with a warranty policy you can sell to businesses that will cover their customers payments on major purchases if they lose their jobs? Seems to me, you could come up with a 1 year policy for $50-$100 per purchase based on a sliding cost scale and sell it to merchants of every type and make a killing.

We are in the job trough right now – things can’t possibly get worse, President Camaro said so.

Have no fear!