Have You Heard Of The Social Media Day?

Social Media is becoming a very important component of overall marketing strategy in any kind of business (online or offline). In fact, it is so important nowadays that almost every website/blog you visit, there bounds to be few social sharing buttons/icons spread across the site (the main "culprit" will be non-other than Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the more recently Pinterest).

Talking about Social Media, do you know that there is actually a day being coined as "Social Media Day"? It is an annual event launched by the authority Social Media Blog, Mashable since 2010. So, this is the third year and it happen on every 30th June of the year. The original idea of this event is to recognise the digital revolution happening right before our eyes. What it does is to invite you to join fellow social media enthusiasts by hosting or attending a Social Media Day Meetup in your area. 

For more details of Social Media Day Event, check out the links below:

Mashable Social Media Day's Official Page

Social Media Day's Facebook Fan Page

Social Media Day's Twitter Page

Social Media Day's Meetup Everywhere Page

It is a day to learn and share with the social media enthusiasts around your area (physically or virtually). So, mark your calendar and go ahead to check out any Meetup event(s) in the area.

Cheers! 

Facebook VS Google+ [Infographic]

I am sure you folks are aware by now that Social Media is getting more and more critical when comes to internet marketing. It plays a major role in Public Relation, Customer Service, and Traffics/Leads generation. More and more companies and entrepreneurs (big and small) are aggressively making their social presence in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ etc...

Even though Google+ is not very new in the market but it is still the latest heavy weight social media comes into play. Thus, it is common that we will compare it with the existing giants like Facebook or Twitter. I managed to source for an infographic depicting the key comparison between Google+ and Facebook. So, if you are still clueless about the important differences between these two social medis, check it out below:

Cheers!

 

History Of Marketing, Social Media and Mobile Marketing [INFOGRAPHICS]

Marketing has a a very long history, to be exact, it was started way back in 1450 in a form of printed advertising. From then on, it's just natural progression and evolution to find possible ways to reach the masses. Internet made it possible and cost effective to perform the marketing strategies globally and instantly (with lower costs).

Today, I am going to share 3 informative infographics on "The History Of Marketing", "The Email Marketing And Social Media Marketing" and "Mobile Marketing" (last two are the craze at the moment and will be here to stay for many many years to come).

Enjoy...

1. The History of Marketing (this is a very LONG infographic, click on the image for the enlarged version):

2. The Email Marketing And Social Media Marketing:

3. Mobile Marketing (this is a very LONG infographic, click on the image for the enlarged version):

Cheers!

The Only Two Broad Ways Of Earning Money Online!

In the internet/Online Marketing arena, there are many ways to earn money online, in fact new methods/ways are springing up every now and then. However, if we examine it in detail, you will notice that effectively there are only 2 broad ways for earning money online.

In short, regardless of what you do in your online venture, it will fall in either or both of these ways. Don’t believe me? Read on and let me explain why…

First, let me start with the brief explanation of the two broad ways that I am referring to:

1. Earn Money from the advertisers/network providers (advertising, affiliate marketing and MLM marketing effort etc fall under this category). I know what you might be thinking, ultimately the money is still coming from the consumers right? The answer is "Yes" and "No" as there are networks (for example: TradePub) whereby it provides absolutely free content to the consumers and at the same time allow you  (as a publisher) to earn some commission out of it. 
2. Earn Money from the visitors/consumers (selling your own products, services and times fall under this category). In this way, you are getting paid directly from your visitors/consumers.

So, whether you are a professional blogger who earn online money through your blog via advertising/affiliate marketing placements or an e-entrepreneur who sell your own products/services, you venture will fall into either one of these ways. Of course, it doesn’t prevent you from getting into both the ways i.e. earning from both the advertisers/network providers and the visitors/consumers.

As most pioneer internet marketer will tell you, as internet marketers, we are here to solve problem(s). It is true but the BIG question is whose problem are we resolving? Thus, depending on which target audience (advertisers/network providers vs visitors/consumers) you are serving, you need to channel your more effort/time towards their needs. In short:

1. If you are earning money from the advertisers/network providers, you need to solve the issue of the advertisers/network providers, which is usually the sales/leads/registration etc…
2. If you are earning money from the visitors/consumers, it means that you are possessing something that the visitors/consumers don’t have/lack. For example: the knowledge, skills, time etc. Thus, you need to ensure that your product/service matches their requirements/expectation.

Do you agree with me on my viewpoint? Feel free to comment if you have any differing view.

Cheers!

P/S: Ticketamerica.com has MLB Tickets and MLB maps for the Cleveland Indians and the Colorado Rockies as well as the Detroit Tigers storied franchise. For more details, check out the links here:
cleveland indians tickets
colorado rockies tickets
detroit tigers tickets

SPECIAL: Easy Self Publishing Book Templates

If you are into internet marketing arena long enough, you will agree with me that one of the highest level of internet marketing hierarchy is to generate your very own online product and one of the online product that most internet marketers aiming at the info-product. It could be a physical book, ebook, technical guide (for professionals or hobbyist) etc.

Such publication can be used as marketing tool as well (if your ultimate goal is to sell some other physical products or services). Of course, writing a book for publishing is not an easy task but if that's your goal, I am sure you would want to spend more time in the actual writing instead of being bogged down with the formatting, the design and layout of the book. Recently, I've chanced upon a  book templates provider called Bookloops Premium Book Templates which will take away all the nitty gritty and let you focus on the actual writing itself.

At a low price of $34.95, it provides you with a wide collection of ready-to-use master templates for professional publication (every section within the template are customisable). Also, all the templates can be used for eBook or physical book publication. The master templates are in MS Word format but it can be seamlessly converted into other file types like PDF, ePUB, MOBI, Kindle, iBook and more.

Not only that, this site provides tons of valuable publishing information (like ebook security, ebook marketing etc...) which will be beneficial to you self-publishing venture.

If professional looking publication is what you are looking for in your next info-product (who doesn't?), do check out Bookloops Premium Book Templates as I am pretty sure that it will come in handy to save you time and money in your venture.

Cheers! 

How A Simple SEO Image Optimization Step Send Me 1 To 2 Thousands Traffics A Day?

Recently, I’ve made a surprise (but pleasant) discovery of how a simple SEO (Search Engine Optimization) step can made such a huge difference in the traffics to my blog. And I am talking about the difference between tens vs thousands.

There is no secret that I am a movie buff and thus I have another blog on 3D Movies. As in any movie websites or blogs, it bounds to share many images (movie posters/stills) and clips. Same thing applies to my blog (ultimate 3D Movies). Initially (Nov 2011), I just upload the media (images, video clips etc…) without any image optimization and the traffics then were just merely about 50 to 60 hits a day.

However, it changed drastically from mid-April 2012 onwards as I’ve put in place a very simple image optimization step with the images and BOOMZ, the traffics gradually gone up to 1-2 thousands hits per day (see screen below). So, what is the magical touch? I believed many of you with SEO background would have already known it. It’s non-other than typing in the relevant and keyword rich “Title Text” and “Alternate Text” (Alt Text) in the images. Yes, this is an additional effort but it sure worth your time and effort.

Of course, if you study the above statistic in greater details, you will notice two things:

1. The traffics drop subsequently and pickup again the next few days (I didn’t drill into this too much as organic search result is very dynamic and it could simply due to the reason that it’s weekend! ;-))

2. The most popular post is “Marvel’s The Avengers Assemble” which is the HOTTEST movie at the moment.

From the Google Analytic tool, I also noticed that most of the new traffics were from the Organic search result via Google Images Search (to be exact, it constitutes more than 60% of the new traffics). With this finding, I deduced that there are more and more people searching the images directly from Google Images Search. Thus, if your niche provides load of images, do make sure to apply this SEO step without fail.

In summary, following are the Image Optimization steps that I’ve applied in every image that I’ve uploaded into my blog:

1. Write the “Title Text”
 

2. Write the “Alt Text”
 

3. The description (in “Title Text” and “Alt Text”) should be relevant to your image or blog post
 

4. To include the right amount of keyword(s) in the “Title Text” and “Alt Text”

One more thing to highlight is that you might not be able to see an immediate effect to your traffics if the blog post (and its relevant images) is not a popular search topic(s) at the moment. Thus, prior to this, it would be worthwhile to search for the hottest topic(s) in your niche and write something about it. Just think about what is the “The Avengers” equivalent in your niche?.

Bonus Tip: 

If you are using Blogger, you can incorporate the “Title Text” and “Alt Text” by following the simple steps below:

1. When you click on the uploaded image, the following options appear, click on “Properties”:


2. In the pop-up box, input the relevant “Title Text” and “ALT Text” and click “OK”:

 

3. That’s it! Just follow the same steps for every image.

I know this is nothing new and most probably you’ve already applied it to your website/blog but just like to share my joy of discovering its true “value” (in traffics sense). Do you have any great tips on simple on-site SEO to share? Feel free to share them in the comment section.

Cheers!

Recommended CPM (Cost Per Mille) Network for smaller size blog/website

Updated on 5th Aug 2012: ALERT ! CPM.biz is a scam site!  Through my experience, your withdrawal through Paypal will never be materialised, so please avoid this site at all cost 


(I purposely retain this post to ensure that any new comer is aware of this scam site)

If you are just commence your online venture (either via blog or website) and are looking for ways to monetize it, one of the obvious option is through placement of the CPM (Cost Per Mille) advertisements. If you are totally clueless about CPM, following is the definition from Wikipedia:

“CPM is also called cost per thousand (CPT) (in Latin mille means thousand), is a commonly used measurement in advertising and online advertising can be purchased on the basis of showing the ad to one thousand viewers. CPM reflects the cost per 1000 estimated views of the ad.”
For example, as a publisher, if the CPM network offers a rate of $1.50 CPM, it means that you will earn $1.50 per 1,000 views.
Usually, the CPM rate varies from country to country (typically the rates for traffics from US, UK or Europe are higher).
There are many established CPM networks like Tribal Fusion, Casale Media, Value Click Media etc…in the market. However, the bad news is that most of these established networks have stringent requirements on traffics volumn. In short, usually your existing blog/website must have already with ten of thousands (or even millions) Pageviews Per Month before you are eligible to join the network.

Fret not! Today, I am going to share an established smaller CPM network caters for smaller size blog/website. With this network, you can take advantage of the CPM advertising channel without having to worry about your traffics volumn (in short, traffic volumn is not one of the pre-requisite to join the network).

CPM Network Name: CPM.Biz (what a great domain name!)

Some of the great benefits of this network:
1. Quick and automatic online registration allows you to self-register into the network within minute and start to place the ads into your blog/website immediately.
2. Very low minimum payment threshold: $5 for Paypal (and the payment is processed on daily basis i.e. most of the time if you requested the payment via paypal today, you would receive your money the next working day)
3. Offer both CPM and CPC (Cost Per Click) ads format in various sizes (300x250, 728x90 and 160x600). So, you can pick and choose the suitable ad size for your blog/website.
4. Almost real-time online reporting that refreshes every 10 minutes or so.

Do check CPM.biz out as it could be a great alternative for your online passive income stream (on top of whatever monetization channels you are using now).

If you have other similar CPM network(s) to recommend or have any prior experience with CPM.biz, do share your view here. 

Cheers.

P/S: Being a movie buff, I like to share resources about movies (especially 3D movies) as well. Recently, I've spent a few days to compile a list of upcoming 3D movies to be released from May to July in a colourful and catchy presentation. Thus, if you are into 3D movies, feel free to download the following “2012 Upcoming 3D Movies guide”, which is hot from oven. (click on the image or hyperlink to download the FREE guide in PDF format):

2012 Upcoming 3D Movies (May to Jul)

Also, do remember to provide your feedback after reading!