Win $100 Gift Card from BeddingStyle.com
My friend and colleague Stephanie Lichtenstein hipped me to this contest being held by one of her clients, and I love their products! So, I’m sharing the contest with you too. You can enter to win $100 gift card from BeddingStyle.com – just by tweeting, sharing, liking, and pinning! My personal favorite is the Nicole Miller City Square Blackberry collection! I want that for my bed so bad – the hubs will just have to deal with it. It’s purple, and looks so comfortable I can’t even take it.
Use the handy Rafflecopter widget below to enter right from this page:
Read MoreBOE 232 Tutorial for California Affiliates
I created this video after chatting with my co-workers here at Snow Consulting about how to make filling out the affidavit as painless as possible for affiliates. I hope this helps my fellow CA affiliates!
Read MoreIs Online Marketing Outpacing Traditional Marketing?
Online accessibility has completely revolutionized the way people shop, and traditional advertising methods no longer justify the cost. Savvy Internet users can research products, study companies’ reputations, and find goods and services more quickly. Even people who shop locally check the Internet to find local businesses that carry the products they want. Credit card sales offer tremendous convenience for retailers, and online ordering allows companies great cash flow benefits. Interactivity gives companies feedback on new products, polls customers through surveys, and creates loyalty with quizzes, public service information, and trivia games.
Companies get many advantages from online marketing such as interactive features, 24/7 marketing, and the ability to target consumers more efficiently. Software connects warehouses and sales departments to improve customer shopping experiences. Managing the complex processes, however, could present some companies with problems. Fortunately, web-based solutions include multichannel marketing, advanced database technologies, and Contract Manager software which offers flexibility to manage mobile applications, a variety of hardware devices, informational access points and customer service.
Systems such as Click-2-Talk allow customers to contact companies by phone when websites fail to give them the answers they need. Tailored advertising campaigns let companies offer coupons on their sites designed specially for each viewer. Contract management software helps organize responses, handles inventory and contracts, and saves time during business negotiations. Company representatives can create contracts with simple templates that cover standard terms and unique arrangements. Owners can limit authority to change contract language, and easy mobile accessibility allows negotiators access to company resources, libraries, and existing contract terms and specifications.
Contract management allows executives to keep contracts in one place, and timely alerts warn representatives when existing contracts expire or conflict with new business initiatives. The Internet has made the greatest impact on marketing within the past century, and social media allows direct participation between consumers, manufacturers and retailers. Direct website marketing has replaced mid-level distributorships, and sales forces have cut back on staff in all types of industries.
The Internet marketing model makes salespeople accountable for their time, but the system also replaces many traditional duties of sales representatives. Historically, sales reps spend a great deal of time cultivating relationships, delivering information, and handling customer service issues, which online applications now handle with greater accuracy and efficiency. Contract software solutions give marketing teams easy access to a vast amount of data, and salespeople can concentrate on presentations that convert to returns on investments.
Social media networks can move products and services automatically. Online marketing allows companies to reach people globally, craft interactive campaigns that respond to customer input, and offer details about customers’ buying habits. Online services manage repeat orders, order tracking, information requests, financial reporting, and routine sales quotations. Contract manager software tracks compliance, makes contract creation simple, and allows company sales forces to make higher profits with fewer staff members. Global marketers can research cultural differences and update their websites to make them more friendly for conducting foreign business. Companies that fail to create Internet strategies will inevitably lose business to their competitors in the electronic age.
Read MoreA Beginners Guide to File Sharing Software
Guest Post by Sam Mauzy.
Using the internet for more than checking email and reading the latest news is not a new discovery, especially when it comes to sharing files. File sharing software includes programs that offer the ability to share any type of files with other people from around the world–ranging from movies and music to PDF documents and full books. Although much of file sharing is viewed in a negative light with the recent controversy of internet freedom, file sharing is not illegal altogether, depending on what is being shared and the rights of the person who has chosen to share the files as well.
What are File Sharing Programs?
File sharing programs give you the opportunity to easily share files with people anywhere across the globe. Programs are commonly known as “P2P” software when file sharing, also known as “peer to peer”. Users are able to use the software itself to search or online “torrent” websites to find the content you are searching for (whether it is a very specific video or if you are browsing for tips and free recipes).
Once you have verified the download for safety purposes (to avoid saving a potential virus to your computer), the P2P or other type of file sharing software will begin to download the file. The download’s speed varies based on the number of people who are virtually sharing the file and also have the file downloaded on their own computer. The more “seeds” and “leeches” each file has, the quicker the download will complete.
After a download has completed downloading within your file sharing program, it will state that it is “seeding”. Seeding represents the re-distribution of pieces of the file you just downloaded to newcomers who are also interested in saving it to their own computer. When you are “seeding”, your IP address is available to those who are also downloading and seeding the file–which can increase your risk of being fined or finding trouble with the law if you are downloading illegal or copyrighted material.
Is File Sharing Illegal?
Yes and no. File sharing itself is not illegal, as long as the material being shared is copyright-free or distributed by its rightful owner. Although most torrent websites offer movies, entire music albums, and other copyrighted material entirely free, it is still illegal to download and share them with others. Once you begin downloading illegal material, you are at risk for copyright infringement, especially if you are “seeding” and sharing your completed downloads. Before you chose to share files or download them, ensure you are abiding by the law and only downloading free files that have no copyrights attached to them to avoid any issues with your ISP (internet service provider) or the legal system itself.
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Sam is a blogger with a background in marketing. He prefers to use the eMule download for his personal file sharing.
Read MorePinterest: An Effective Marketing Tool to Attract Young Consumers
Guest Post by Samantha Gray.
Facebook and Twitter are still the most popular social media platforms that internet marketers like to use in order to win over young consumer (who are often said to be the most difficult target audience to attract because they’re “picky). But if they’re smart, internet marketers should now be investing a little bit more of their time and effort using a new and upcoming social media site called Pinterest—aka “a marketer’s dream.” That’s because young consumers who love to shop (mostly women but some men too) flock to Pinterest on a daily basis ready to spend their disposable income.
Ok, so the social media/image bookmarking site isn’t that new (it was established late last summer) but with every passing month the site just continues to get more and more users. Currently there are about 10.4 million registered users, according to the most recent statistics available. And like mentioned earlier, most of the users are young— the same young users who refuse to succumb to your marketing techniques on Facebook but fall for them on Pinterest. It’s not really sure why this is the case, but the fact that Pinterest is bit more transparent might be the reason. Users know that its purpose is to connect buyers with sellers.
So how does it work exactly?
Like the name suggests, Pinterest is a digital pin board that requires users to scour a collection of highly attractive images called “pins.” These pins can be of any item that interests them. For example, if a user thinks a dress featured in the database is extremely cute then he or she can pin it on their profile/ “board.” If they think the couch is to-to-die for and would love to own it one day, they can pin it on their board too. It’s great when looking for inspiration for weddings and other events too.
So where does the cash flow in?
A smart marketer will make sure that the image is linked to the coinciding store or blog where that specific item in the photo can be purchased or at the very least taught how to make—recipes for example are also extremely popular on the site. Since users can pin whatever they like, marketers don’t seem so pushy because in a way the users are coming to you—unlike Facebook where marketers are invading a user’s Timeline with updates and can be easily seen as annoying.
Of course, it’s your job to make sure you have the most aesthetically pleasing photos of your product and/or services available so someone will want to pin you on their board.
How else can it be effective?
While a user can purchase the item they pinned directly, a user’s friends can make purchases too. Firstly, they can take a peek a specific user’s pin board so they know what items their friend might like come Christmas or their birthday. Secondly, Pinterest integrates with Facebook and Twitter so that users can post their pins on these sites as well. This means that even someone who doesn’t have Pinterest (but has a Facebook or Twitter account) can see a Pinterest pin. If they like what they see, they can purchase the item too. This means you get to expand your target audience without doing too much. Pinterest users will do it for you.
In sum, Pinterest can be a really useful marketing tool to invest in.
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Samantha Gray is a freelance writer based in Houston, Texas, who offers college advice to those interested in furthering their studies and careers. She also enjoys writing about various business-related topics like marketing. She can be reached for questions or comments at samanthagray024@gmail.com
Read MoreAffiliate Summit Reviews Coming Soon – Promise!
Everyone who’s ever handled multiple clients at once knows that the end of the month is a nutty time. Reports! Preparations for next month! ACK!
So in that spirit, I WILL post my notes and reviews from Affiliate Summit East AND Affiliate Summit Central soon. Sure, that was at the beginning of this month… but lots of client stuff takes priority! In the meantime, take a listen to the inaugural episode of Affiliate Marketing Fanatics on QAQN – our rebooted podcast with Daniel M. Clark as my co-host!
In that spirit, stay tuned… some awesome resources from the likes of Chris Pearson, Wil Reynolds, and more are coming soon!
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