TBST Discover Elearning Blog: Blended learning in plain English

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TBST Discover Elearning Blog: Using Google reader to keep up to date with e-lear...

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TBST Discover Elearning Blog: Blended Learning Trends, Benefits and Challenges

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http://e-learningindicators.flexiblelear...

TBST - Part 1 - Google AdWords Campaign

Designing Keywords -
A keyword phrase like “used widgets” can also draw visitors who search for the following terms:
- Used widget
- British used widgets
- Used widgets dealers
- Widgets used in making tractors
- Used tractor dealers

Phrase Matches -
Place your keywords inside quotation marks so that you limit the spread of your ad into unrelated areas.  The quotation marks tell Google not to add words in between what’s in the quoted phrase:
- The phrase “used widgets” will make your ad show up in search results for used widgets, old used widgets, used widget, and used widgets for sale.
- Your ad for “used widgets” won’t show up for searches for widgets used in making tractors or used tractor dealers.

Exact Matches -
The use of square brackets [ ] tells Google to match your keywords exactly before letting your ad appear. If your keyword is expressed as [used widgets] your ad will not appear if someone searches for:
-  Used widget
-  British used widgets
-  Used widget dealers

Modified Broad Matches -
You can add a plus sign before any of the words in your keyword phrase so that Google knows the word itself must be present in the search term, with some variation but without unrelated things.

If your keyword phrase becomes: +tinted +widgets, Google will show your ad when people look for:
-  Tinted widgets
-  British tinted widgets
-  Tinted widgets in Canada- Used tinted widgets in Britain

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TBST - Basic Internet Marketing - Part 3

Understanding Search:

 

Spiders, Crawlers, Bots (or Robots) - These are automated processes that search engines use to visit all your sites and index what they find there. 

 

Natural and Organic Searches - These are the lists of unpaid advertising sites that are generated after you do a keyword search. They are the result of the search engine’s algorithm (a set of mathematical rules). They are different than a non-organic result (which may include paid advertising).

 

Paid Searches - If your search for something more specific, like “Benjamin Moore Paint,” the results show a paid ad first (with a very pale yellow background) and even a map with the nearest location, before the natural leads follow.

 

Uniform (or Universal) Resource Locator (URL) - This is the address of an Internet page. For example, www.velsoft.co is the URL, or Internet address, for Velsoft Training Materials’ hub site.

 

Pinging - This is a process where you can advise the search engines that a change has been made. You can start pinging with a third-party service, or you can set up your website, blog, and so on to do it automatically.  For example, large blogging sites such as WordPress, Blogger, or TypePad have pinging built in to their service already.

 

For other sites, you simply have to submit the URL of the page you updated, the name of the page or
title of your article or information, and then click Submit. The service you are using will broadcast a
message that your URL has been updated.

TBST - Basic Internet Marketing - Part 2

Extending Your Influence:

Consider what your products and services are.  Position your messages to tell a story about who uses your product and how it helps. Stop yourself from just explaining features and benefits. 

Marketing over the Internet, and through social media in particular, allows us to connect and share stories much more easily than print media used to.   If you think of this in terms of influence rather than selling, you can start to consider how you can share what your company does, what it stands for within the context of a community, and how to present  yourself.

The community is a big part of marketing and social networking today. You can create connections to your community and influence their decisions without having to sell directly. Sponsoring a team, helping out a charity, or offering people information instead of commercial advertising all help to create an atmosphere of influence. These approaches reflect the successes of relationship building and
consultative selling rather than direct sales.

As Seth Godin has said in several of his books, what we really need is to be remarkable. So go ahead and get away from your ordinary way of doing business, step out of the proverbial cubicles and boxes, and entertain something different. Get your message out by daring to do it differently than everyone else, including yourself.

TBST - Basic Internet Marketing - Part 1

Popular Strategies:

Web Design and Development - Make sure all sites contain good content and motivation for people to visit.

Affiliate Programs - You can position yourself as the company selling through affiliate memberships, or you can sell for others.

E-mail Marketing - Create a list of subscribers and create an e-mail that goes out periodically and engages readers.  Always check the terms of service!

Using Social Media - Which services fit with your marketing strategy?

Search engine optimization (SEO) - Make sure that people can find you.