What do backlinks and signposts have in common?  They point the way; give us direction, showing us the path to take.  Without the proper direction, we would find ourselves going around in circles, never finding our desired destination.

Pointing potential customers to your website is every email marketer’s goal, big or small.  Without website traffic, there can be no conversions, without conversions, there will be no income.  You cannot remain neutral; you must have some definite goals in mind, with specific and carefully researched strategies, with which to carry them out.  Like a wise investor, you need to incorporate a diversified portfolio, knowing that one marketing plan, will never be enough.

Welcome to the World of Backlinks

If you have any knowledge about Search Engine Optimization, you have no doubt come across this term.  Backlinks (also termed Inbound Links) are links that direct traffic back to your website, or a particular landing page on your website.  As more and more people rely on the Internet to promote their business, backlinks are now considered one of the main building blocks for smart SEO website strategies.

Why are backlinks so important?  Because search engines like Google give more relevance and credit to those websites that have more backlinks than the others, when they do a search query.  We need to insert a caution here.  Search Engines also consider the quality of the links.  Inbound links should come from other sites whose content is relevant to yours.  The higher the relevance, the great their quality is considered.  For example, if a website is all about health related issues, and you are promoting travel, that backlink would be assessed as having no relevance.

Don’t try to fool the search engines.   Many webmasters do whatever they consider necessary to influence the search engines with as many external backlinks as possible which has been termed “Link Farms”.  Because of these deceptive practices, a search engine’s criteria for quality inbound links has become even tougher.  Those pages that are determined to be link farms are negated and can put your site in danger of being banned entirely!

Reciprocal Linking.  When web sites link to one another, either directly or indirectly through different website pages, a search engine considers those links to be reciprocal links.  As a person is judged by the company they keep, your backlinks will be judged by your reciprocal partnerships.  In other words, don’t hitch your wagon to a bad apple.  When you apply your personal rules in friendships to your reciprocal links, you will become more cautious and choosy on whose company you want to keep, making sure that webmaster is using white not black-hat SEO techniques.  For further reading on this, please see Google’s explanation on Link Schemes.

Some handy tools for your backlink building campaigns:

• Domain Stats Tool:  Displays the backlinks of domains in Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
• Backlink Builder Tool:  This tool searches for websites that have relevant themes and content related to your site.

Web Directories

Web Directories are like an Internet phone book.  Filling out a web directory, as in a phone book, helps you get found.  You can list your services, information or products for sale.  With each directory, you choose a category under which you want your business to appear.  Another great advantage is that a Web Directory lets you pick your own keywords, also called tags.  These tags are used like search phrases when someone searches a directory for a particular service or product.  This is another way of creating a backlink to your website.  Most directories are free and do not require a reciprocal link (a link back to their site.)

Article Directories

Writing and submitting articles to articles directories are another great source when creating valuable backlinks.  Most article sites are free.  The only drawback is that it can be a tedious process.  While some submission sites just ask you to submit an article, on the fly, the better ones will require a double opt-in sign up, with a required step-by-step article process submission form.  The good news is that you are allowed to put your website and email as a signature in each article.  It is a great way to get your name, company, and personal voice out into cyberspace.  For further reading…

Forums

Forum signatures are an easy way to obtain backlinks from topic related discussions. Adding your backlinks to a forum signature when posting your responses is another way of getting your company noticed.  Make sure that your responses are valuable and real.  Do not try to sell yourself on a forum.  Many forum moderators constantly scan the communications for spammers, and will quickly blacklist you if they see a sell in your response.

Blogs

Blogs are not only a great way to get backlinks, but give you a chance to write about the industry, product, or service that you represent.  They open dialogues with your clients and give prospects the chance to exchange ideas and thoughts with you directly.

This is not an exhaustive discussion.  They are many doors and roads to follow when growing your ROI.  Research, read, check, test and prove what works for you.  Perhaps in your future blog, you will be able to share some valuable information with us.   Understanding and apply SEO is a continual learning process and experience, in which we are all students.

Once considered a luxury, (hey I am dating myself), cell phones are now falling out of everyone’s pockets, including kids.  Having a cell phone is like having a watch; you can’t leave home without it.  How exciting it once was to receive a call outside the home!  You felt important, privileged, and singled out from the crowd.

In 2010, from Nextel to Blackberry to IPhone to Android, the transformation of that little cell phone, coupled with the latest state of the art technology, has overwhelmed and excited even us die hard techies.

Nope, it’s not just for texting and taking pictures anymore.  Cell phones are being used to help people in developing nations, bringing global awareness of their needs, raising their living standards, along with diagnosing their problems!

Mobility and literacy
“A variety of other applications for cell phones in remote areas are also being developed, including some aimed at improving coordination in areas where transportation both for people and goods is often unpredictable. One such system, called Transport Link, also developed in NextLab, is a way for people who rely on infrequent bus service to get timely updates on when the next bus will come through their area or to arrange informal transportation with others in the area who have private vehicles.”  Read Entire Article

Predictions for 2013
“Yet, personal mobile devices with Internet connectivity encompass a broad array of devices and with a wide range of functionality that continues to evolve and expand rapidly.  To put this in perspective, the number of mobile devices accessing the Internet is projected to reach 1 billion by 2013 based on research by IDC.  Say “mobile” to most marketers and they think cell phone, maybe SMS (define).”

Mobile E-Marketing Strategies
From an e-marketing perspective, this leads to increased complexity and expense. In order to integrate a mobile strategy to take advantage of this evolving market, here are some basic suggestions:

Conform your e-marketing campaigns for mobile surfers. Make sure your mobile campaign can be easily read on a mobile smartphone.  Most mobile shoppers are looking for high priority items, quickly scanning the surface in between meetings and travel.  They want to find what they need quickly.  As with any email marketing campaign, use brand name they will recognize, with a visible call to action.  Don’t forget to include your phone number, e-mail address, or Web site on the bottom.

Mobile Demographics

Before starting a mobile-oriented marketing program, gather your demographics.  Survey your customers and prospects, finding out which devices they use and what type of mobile content they’d like to receive from you.  Don’t forget to find out what your competitors are creating and sending.

Create a Mobile Website

“Think of where customers are when they access your information and include critical information like phone number, store hours, location and/or directions,” recommends Microsoft Mobile Solutions Specialist Steve Siegel.

Register and Index your Mobile Site on:

• Yahoo.mobi
• msn.mobi
• Google Mobile
• aol.mobi
• 4info.mobi

Based on Nielsen tracking, mobile search grew 102% in 2009.  Remember you can’t be found if you aren’t there.

Mobile Metrics
* Count the number of impressions from mobile Web sites.
* Track your mobile marketing advertising results.
*  Monitor social media stats related to mobile communications.

As the variety and power of mobile devices continue to grow, marketing strategies need to evolve as well.  Remember, whether or not you have a mobile strategy, your prospects and customers are already receiving your competitor’s marketing messages via these devices.  Don’t be left behind.  Your ROI is depending on it.

Whether for your own company or the one you work for, beginning your adventure in the social media world of digital communications is a good decision.

Social Media has become one of the most aggressive ways to promote your site or business, increasing back  links, resulting in additional website traffic.  For any business counting their costs, while weathering a bad economy, social media has become a lifesaving path.

Social media is all about conversation.  It is a very appealing way to create relationships online – giving a face and voice to small and large businesses.  This strategy can easily add to an email marketing campaign, whose name and brand begin to take on a more personal and widespread public recognition.

Beginning your SM Campaign Strategy – Before jumping in head first, you need to know what tools you will be using, as well as the information you want to share.  As with any email marketing campaign, research, time, and strategy must always come first.  Here are a few tips:

Preparation and Research

• Create an audience persona. What does your target audience look like?  As an email marketer, demographics is a survival word.  Get an image of your audience, age, gender, spending and surfing habits, what sites they visit, and how they use the Web.  This forms your foundation.

• Check out your competition. Find out what your competition is doing in the social media arena.  What are they talking about, what are they writing about.  See what kind of responses they are getting.

• Policy Guidelines. Make sure your company has a social media policy in place.  Guidelines are needed for any employee that engages online conversations representing your organization.

• The Designated Blogger. It is very important to designate a blogger.  Whether you hire a freelance blogger, or give someone in your organization this opportunity, this is a serious commitment.  Blogging needs to be consistent, live conversations need to be monitored.  Give this serious thought – you need the right person creating the right voice and conversations.

• Goals and Meetings. Have your plans and strategies clearly defined.  Make time for follow-up meetings on the outcome and results.  This is a learning process.  You can easily modify ideas and content along the way.

• Interesting and Relevant. Whatever message you put out there, cannot be taken back.  People are stressed, quickly skimming through titles and bits of conversations, as they surf.  Take the time to surf around at what your target audience is talking about on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.  Do not let stress or urgency make your efforts sloppy.

Don’t forget to have fun. Social conversations should have some lightness about them.  We are not engaging in metrics or behavioral sciences.  Bring a bit of fun into this.   The very fact of the enormous proliferation of social media, proves that people want a more personal relationship and voice with those they do business with or buy from.

Here are some of the top SM sites in which to get started – Click Me!

Statistics is not a dirty word.  We all remember taking that boring class in college – no offense; maybe some of you actually enjoyed it.  Funny, how things change.  Now that very word takes on new meaning – it is the key to our survival in our email campaigns.  We need to maintain our edge  in this stress filled, highly competitive world we call internet marketing. Knowing what works and what doesn’t, determines it all.

If you are like me, you may not enjoy dealing with numbers, stats, and results. But such is life.  If you don’t track your e-campaigns,  or your mass direct mail marketing, your future efforts may just go down the toilet.

Without obtaining specific results,  measuring campaign to campaign, how can we ever hope to be succeed?   We need to make the necessary changes needed to move on a continuous and positive path.

Faith and prayer may soothe the soul, but only knowledge and statistics increase our bottom line.

There is no better tool than email campaign software when wanting a first-hand and professional tool to measure our stats and progress.  There are no easy alternatives, and no shortcuts.  You need the best technical tools available in order to be a successful marketer.  This is our expertise, offering our clients the best options and teaching them how to optimize their results.

We are always on the move to help our clients improve and grow.

For some strange reason, people think that by sending out hundreds of newsletters someone will eventually join or click through within the newsletter.  Unfortunately, that is not true.  You newsletter may not even reach the inbox and even if it does, may end up in the trash bin.  There goes all your hard work – doesn’t make any sense and definitely is an unproductive approach.  Don’t you want to know who opened up your email, and if any of the links or call to action were clicked on?

Why would you want to repeat a failure?  Can you afford to play Russian roulette with your business and livelihood?  I don’t think so.  I certainly can’t. Tracking your email marketing campaigns results in campaigns made stronger, resulting in better focus and visibility.

Tracking lets you see:

• who opened your email campaigns

• what was the percentage of opened mail?

• what links did they click within your newsletter or email campaign?

• how many people opted to subscribe/unsubscribe?

• if you are attracting new subscribers?

• subscriber comments

Active Trail believes that an informed client becomes a successful one.  Isn’t that what it’s all about?