Online marketing, is not the easiest thing to learn, especially if you are not familiar with the terms that are used and you know nothing about online marketing, other than the strategies of the old school.

Some marketing strategies that has been around for awhile, but might be new to you, are as follows: SEO, (search engine optimization) when I decided to put a halt to all the marketing madness and develop a business from the ground up and throw all the old school marketing out the window, it became abundantly clear to me, that I had a lot to learn.

It all started by my inquiring about marketing on the Internet and one thing keep coming up was, search engine optimization, also known by “SEO”. I soon realized that this was the way to go, if I wanted to build a business on the Internet. I also understood that I had to have my own website, that is, if I wanted to implement search engine optimization in my marketing plan.

So, I was faced with a decision to make, do I get a website or a blog? After careful study I opted for a blog for the following reasons; a blog is very popular with search engines, because they are designed for fresh content articles, articles about your personal life or a subject that you are a expert in or a authority on the subject, this is what the search engines look for. Fresh content is king!

Now the question is, since I know nothing about search engine optimization, how do I start my marketing plan? I started by subscribing to all the SEO newsletters I could, in order to gain as much knowledge about the subject as I could, this was very helpful in understanding the concept of Seo marketing. While reading and studying all the new found information from the Seo companies, a subject that caught my eye, and that was on “Google branding”.

Google branding might not be a phrase with which you are familiar in the home based business industry. However, this idea can teach the home based business person a valuable lesson when it comes to creating a brand for your business. Because Google is the most recognizable business of the decade, you might be wondering how your small home based business can learn from a multi-billion dollar company. You can in the way in which they made a name for themselves.

There is a reason that the current marketing students are learning about Google in their college classes. There is a lot they can learn from the giant. The first thing that is important to note about Google branding is that the way in which the search engine works these days is that it puts a lot of emphasis on branding. Because of this, how can a small home based business such as your own compete with the giant brands of the world? The first step to competing is to create a brand for your home based business.

You want to do this by promoting yourself over your business. You want people to feel as if they know who you are. You can do this through blogs and social media sites.

The whole point of branding your company is that you want people to see you as the only place to go for that particular business. It is not about beating out your competitors, it is about making a name for yourself and your company.

Once you have established a brand for your home based business, you can be successful with Google branding. The reason they felt the need to run their search engine this way was because it basically is a way to weed out companies with irrelevant content that could not be trusted.

Because Google is the most popular search engine, you need to do everything you can to get to the top of their search engine results. This is the best way to drive traffic to your site.

They constantly are changing the way in which their search algorithms work, and the newest change as been toward Google branding. You can use this to your advantage just by letting people get to know you. The more they feel they know you, the more likely they are to trust your home based business. It can get you to the top of the list.

About the Author: Hello, my name is Dan Atkins, I have worked from home for the last five years. I have an one online health and wellness business blog, and nine Squidoo lenses, five Hubpages and five Wetpaints. I enjoy Internet marketing and helping others to be successful in business. Sign-up and get your free information in “starting and marketing your own home based business.” http://danatkinsbiz.com “Success comes to those that get the most traffic.” To your phenomenal success, Dan Atkins danatkins62@yahoo.com

Many small business owners have not used the web beyond just having a website. This is a huge mistake. web marketing is an effective tool for increasing small business sales and profits. Plus, it's here to stay. So, embrace it! Below, I've listed 3 ways small businesses can use web marketing to increase sales and profits.

1. Build your list. The key to successful web marketing is having a great list to market to. How do you develop a list? Well, there are many ways to do this. One way is to write articles that you publish on article websites. In these articles, you can create links that offer free valuable reports to people who visit your website and join your list.

2. Create a newsletter. Give potential clients real value by providing them your expertise and timely information free in a newsletter you provide. All they have to do in order to get the free newsletter is give you their email address. Once you have their email, they've agreed to a relationship with you and you can continue to expose them to you and your offerings.

3. Social networking. Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in. All of these tools are part of your online marketing arsenal. Join each of these sites with your business persona and keep them updated at least weekly (daily is even better). Watch your followers and your business grow.

Small Businesses who have applied these techniques have increased their sales and profits. You can experience the same, along with stronger branding of your business, greater awareness and increased customer counts. To learn more about increasing small business sales and profits, visit the Association of Small Business Marketers website.

About the Author: Darryl Mobley is the founder and CEO of the Association of Small Business Marketers. Darryl L. Mobley invites you to get the free audio report for small businesses, “5 Things You Do That Stop You From Increasing Your Business Sales” at http://Free.TASBM.com The Association of Small Business Marketers provides you access to the world's best small business marketing experts and their proven business-building strategies so you can increase your sales and profits. Get list of benefits at: http://www.AssociationOfSmallBusinessMarketers.com 2009 Darryl Mobley. All Rights Reserved.

The basics of search engine marketing, including search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC), from an expert in B2B search engine marketing.

A friend
sat me down recently and asked me to explain what Internet marketing is. In one
respect, it's marketing your site by getting exposure, but in another respect,
it means using the Internet to help people find the site–what we call search
engine marketing. I told her about improving the search results for her site,
about how the search engines work, and how page content was probably what
needed to be fixed. She was nodding all along, but then she asked "But why
spend money on the Web site when what I really need to do is increase my
sales?"
This was one of those EUREKA!
moments. "You need more prospects to get more sales." Suddenly, I
realized that she really didn't understand how the Internet works, or that she
could literally drive prospects to her site. She simply didn't know that this
practical, common sense approach–Internet marketing–is the most productive
marketing investment she could make, for the least amount of money, with the
fastest return on the investment.

By tapping into the power of search engines with a freshly optimized site, you
use the Internet to deliver prospective customers who are actively looking for
a solution right to your door, and can do so without ANY incremental cost. You
can also advertise on the search engines, paying only for people who actually
visit your site. It's an exciting time, because search marketing can often
eliminate the cost of advertising.
Even a small business can be the #1 result when people search for your solution–and
today, 85% of people with Internet access find new products or services by
searching the web (even for well-established brands!). Here's another
interesting (or scary) fact: if your site isn't on the first page of search
results, 63% of people won't find you…they just don't look any further. On
the positive side, visits from top rankings are up to 4 times more likely to
convert into customers.
Making It To The Top
So, getting to the top of the search engine results list is important. On the
other hand, there are billions and billions web pages. What do you do to get
your pages to the top? Here's a quick overview of the search engine
optimization process.
The ABCs of SEO
There is a four-step process to search engine optimization (SEO), understanding
that search engines look at meta tags in the HTML document, page content,
internal link structure and external link popularity to determine your ranking
in the results.

1. Brainstorm, research and analyze the key words and phrases that will draw
profitable traffic to your site. Try wordtracker.com to do your research, and
use their keyword evaluator tools to select keywords with the highest Keyword
Effectiveness Index. These are the terms you can optimize effectively.

2. Optimize your content against these key words and phrases
a. Create pages specific to three or four terms
b. Include key words/phrases in title tag
c. Write meta descriptions around key words/phrases
d. Develop or improve headings and text tailored to key words/phrases
e. Incorporate links and alt image tags appropriately

3. Register site with directories, submit optimized pages to search engines
a. Free directories and search engines
b. Pay-for-inclusion on Yahooc.
Optional: pay-per-click to quickly increase traffic

4. Monitor the results, tweaking as needed to increase traffic and improve your
position in the search results. SEO is a long-term process…commit to a full
year of activity. As you add content and continue your keyword research, you can
succeed.What To
Do In The Meantime

Paid search, or pay-per-click advertising, can
be very cost-effective, especially if you target a single geography. Using
Google AdWords to gain experience and setting up a free Google Analytics
account to see where your traffic comes from and what terms convert well, you
can gain a lot of insight into search marketing. This data can help you make
good decisions about the "why" of your organic SEO work, at the same time it
drives customers to your site. I recommend you set your bids high enough to be
in the #1, 2 or 3 position. These are the positions that get the clicks.

About the Author
Specializing in technology-based companies since 1987, and active in
Internet marketing since 1992, John Rasco's skills as a marketer, team
leader and strategist are key to successful client engagements. Founder and president of RefreshWeb, John has an entrepreneurial gene, a
creative bent and a passion for challenging projects. He has been a
client-side marketing director, a principal in a graphic design firm,
president of an advertising agency, and senior vice president of the
Southwest's largest business-to-business agency, responsible for
Science and Technology.