My friends Vic and Lisa Johnson are doing this crazy marketing
test where they’re giving away Napoleon Hill’s "Think & Grow Rich."

I’m helping them with their big giveaway and wanted to make sure
you got your copy before they take this offer down.

Get the details here:

http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/rapidsuccessnow

Feel free to pass this on to friends. They can get one too if they
act right away.

This is one of my favorite books.  I know you’ll love it!

Tina Ferguson

P.S. Vic and Lisa are actually shipping these so you need to give
them your address before they run out.

Details here:

http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/rapidsuccessnow

I often get asked by business owners about Online Marketing Strategies. Many of my customers find information about MLM or Network Marketing when searching in Google for Online Marketing Strategies, and then ask me what a “real” business needs to be doing to drive Online traffic.

I am here to tell you – the 2 business models have no difference when it comes to Online marketing.

Here is a marketing strategy that I use in my business: 

• Write a Blog post
• Create an article
• Go to Hellotxt.com and make an update
• Bookmark your blog post
• Create a Squidoo and Hubpage on a similar topic

When you create your Blog post keep in mind that people generally skim blogs and remember to keep the post brief. Be sure to include lists and headings to make the post easier to read / skim. This also gives you an outline for a more in depth article for either EzineArticles, Squidoo, and Hubpages. After completing your post/articles go to HelloTxt.com and make an update referencing your post. This will send your message throughout the social sites that you participate in. Bookmarking your posts is best accomplished by participating in a Digg or Del.i.ous group so that you are not bookmarking (spamming) your own content. Bookmarking sites frown upon listing your own content and you risk the site deleting you account if you get caught bookmarking your own content.

All of these steps will help to drive traffic to your website or blog and it will also get more of your content listed in Google when people are searching for your topic. Be sure to do some deep linking to more of your content as well as relevant content produced by friends/colleagues. 

Setting Up Your Online Strategy    

To follow the above Marketing Strategy You need to have a Hellotxt.com account set up. Go to HelloTxt.com and register for a new account. Set up your profile with an image of yourself and a short bio. Then link all of your other Social Sites to you HelloTxt account through the registration form. Make sure that all of your usernames and passwords are correct. Once this account is set up then all you have to do is log onto your HelloTxt account and send a short (140 characters or less) update – it will be distributed throughout your Social Sites. Be sure to include a link to your new content within the HelloTxt update.

HelloTxt will cover Social Sites that allow Profile Updates like:

• Twitter
• MySpace
• FaceBook
• LinkedIn
• Plaxo
• Tumblr
• Flicker
• FriendFeed
• Total of 42 Sites

What is missing from the list are sites like Ning Social Networks, Blogs, Modular Type Sites and any other Social site that you have some control over the content.

Examples of these types of sites are:

• Any Ning Site
• Blogs
• Websites

For these type of sites use the Twitter Widget to reach these sites at the same time as the Profile updates. The Twitter Widget can be found in the Settings of your Twitter account. There is a link half way down the settings page that references adding Twitter to your blog. Click the link then follow the steps for the “other” type and then just walk through the setup for the Flash Widget. At the end you will get code to copy then paste it into your various Social Sites, Blogs, and Websites.  Taking this extra step will greatly expand the HelloTxt strategy to include your entire Online social network.

Dotty has spent the past 2 years building her brick and mortar web design business online as well as offline. She teaches other business owners how to get their businesses found on the Internet and gives them working strategies for building traffic, sales, and clientele on the Internet. To find out more about her business you can visit her website at Premium Websites or her blog at Attraction Internet Marketing

Facebook is an Internet marketer’s dream, if used properly. This article focuses on financial advisers who may be starting out or who want to expand their online marketing strategies.

If you’re wondering how to become a financial adviser, the info at the end of this article will help you evaluate your business options.

Note: I’ll assume that you already have a free Facebook account. If you’ve been living under a rock somewhere, and don’t have a Facebook account yet, head on over after reading this article and set up your account. It’s free and it’s a no-brainer for any business owner. I’ll also assume that you’ll begin searching for your existing client base on Facebook, and that you’re actively inviting them to be your friends.

Another note: Make sure you check with compliance about your company’s rules for online client interaction. If your compliance department is anything like mind was, they’ve got a book on it.

Let’s get started:

Strategy #1: Start a Facebook group. The advantage of starting a group is credibility. Set up a group that’s relevant to the area of being a financial adviser, that would appeal to clients. Make it a Getting Wealthy Club or an Investing for Great Returns Club.

When you set up the group, clearly state your ‘credo’, which is a statement of purpose for what this group is all about.

Once you start the group, invite your clients to join the group.

Then, visit the group daily, posting your comments, ideas and/or wealth building strategies. You’ll gain credibility and your clients will gain knowledge and a closer connection with you…which means more money. Financial planning success is built on relationships.

Strategy #2: Comment daily on your own feed with your meaningful thoughts. That means to go daily to your own Facebook page and post a meaningful thought for the day-one that will appeal to your clients.

As a financial adviser, you want to stay top of mind to your clients. This is a great way to interact with them, without selling something or seeming pushy.

Important Note: Do not post what cereal you’re having for breakfast or any of the other minutiae of life you’ll find on Facebook. That’s not effective marketing. You want to make your posts meaningful to your clients.

Strategy #3: Keep your clients on a separate list on Facebook and respond meaningfully to selected posts. Creating a list is easy, and it means that only those who are on the list will see the feeds for that list. You don’t want to mix your friends.

This is very important!

Keep your clients separate from your friends/family! Business is business and play is play. Keep this boundary in place. Then, when your clients post things that are going on in their lives, take note. Comment when you feel inclined too. Otherwise, keep the info in mind, for instance, a kid’s graduation, or a client who’s preparing for a marathon.

People share all kinds of personal info on Facebook with their friends, and you can use that info to create deeper bonds, because you care.

Strategy #4: Search for people in your niche market and invite them to be your friends. Facebook folks don’t seem to mind who invites them to be friends, it seems that most people on Facebook are open. There are some who are picky about friends, but they are by far the minority.

Facebook is one big party, so invite people who are in your target market to join your party. That way, they’re being exposed to your skill and expertise as a financial advisor on a daily basis. Sooner or later, they’ll connect with you personally.

Hint: you can find people in your niche market by the droves by searching the existing groups on Facebook.

So there you have it, 4 Facebook marketing strategies that are easy, and the best part is, you can begin today!

I wish Facebook had been an option in the days when I was getting started as a financial adviser. It wasn’t. But today, you can use this powerful medium to market yourself effectively, for free, and add to your client base, while solidifying existing relationships.

Good fortune to you!

Valerie Love is a Wealth & Prosperity Coach who teaches the art and science of wealthy living, personally and in business. If you’re looking for a unique and powerful way to add an additional four figures of revenue to your monthly income, visit: http://www.WealthCreationInternational.com or connect with Valerie via e-mail at: valerielove@liveyourdestinytoday.com.

Today, every business tends to have a strong advertising campaign for its product. In simple terms, advertising is a process of promoting and endorsing a product in the local market. The various advertising techniques include newspapers, Internet, pamphlets, and hoardings.

What is a campaign?

An advertising campaign refers to applying the various promotional skills for popularizing a product. These skills work on the sole motive to make profit and display the single message for advertising the product. A strong and faultless campaign is a part of the marketing plan that helps you in achieving long-term goals and profits. Therefore it is very important for a business to have an effective promotional campaign.

An effective campaign

An advertising campaign will only boost up your business if it is designed in an effective way. An effective promotional campaign should be prepared by keeping in mind the following aspects-

Marketing plan: Advertising is an integral component of marketing. Therefore for an effective advertising campaign, it is very important to have a planned marketing plan. This plan helps in knowing about the competitors and long-term goals of the company.

Campaign theme: For a successful promotional campaign, the theme is very important. A campaign theme refers to basic message that is promoted through the various advertising techniques.  

Advertising budget: The plan of action depends a lot on the advertising budget. The campaign is designed; as per the budget therefore it is advisable for a business to take wise decisions while planning it

Target audience: One of the primary components of an advertising campaign is to reach the suitable audiences. It is very important for a business to know its target audience.

Thrashing competitors: There are chances of the similar products in the market before your product is launched. Therefore an effective advertising campaign should be designed by keeping in mind the various competitors existing in the market.

Combination of content and creativity

Advertising is a combination of content and creativity. The content of the advertisement should contain all the chief features and aspects of a product. Whereas creativity refers to the different promotional skills used. These skills should be proposed in a new and unique design to the target audiences. The creative promotional skills along with suitable content will help in hitting the audiences in a more significant manner than any other regular advertisements. An advertising campaign includes the amalgamation of content and creative skills that works on the sole motive of promoting the product.

A clear message

A successful advertising campaign should have the ability to promote the clear message about the product. The various techniques and tips will only be fruitful if the audiences are able to grab the basic idea and features of the product from the advertising. An unclear message may confuse the content of the product and thus leave the audience unimpressed.  A true superior advertising campaign should be designed with a compelling message so that people choose your product by overlooking the similar products of your competitors.

James Copper is a writer for the big agency

Do you ever imagine yourself lying on a beach enjoying the sun or hiking in the most beautiful forest imaginable, or spending the holidays relaxing and sharing good times with your family and friends? We all daydream and picture ourselves in places we would like to go or doing things we enjoy, but can that daydreaming bring us success in business?

What do you do next if you want to make your daydream a reality? When you want to take a vacation you start by thinking about where you want to go. You look at pictures, you surf the net and you see yourself in that place. You reserve your hotel, you buy your plane tickets, mark you calendar and dream of the day you will leave. When the date arrives you head off to enjoy all of your daydreaming and planning.

We hear all the time how athletes do this before any game or competition. They imagine themselves sinking that 3-point basket from half court or sinking a “hole in one.” As they prepare, they see themselves doing each move to perfection and then standing in front of the crowd with their trophy or a medal around their necks.

Visualization may apply to planning a great vacation and to winning athletic competitions. But can it help you succeed in business? Yes, I believe it can.

Did you hear about the Harvard Business School study where recent graduates were asked to write down their goals and then surveyed ten years later? The result of visualizing their success and writing down their goals was incredible. Graduates who had clear goals in mind were making two to ten times more money as their classmates who did not visualize or write down their goals. Well according to some this is a true story and according to others it is totally false. Either way, it does make sense that what we concentrate on most will manifest. Because as the saying goes, “be careful what you wish for, as it just might happen” can very well be the most powerful statement yet.

You probably have heard about “The Secret” and the powers of the Law of Attraction. Visualize it, feel it as if you have what you want, and before you know it, it shall be yours. True to some, hearsay to others, but isn’t it better to concentrate and “see” the positive things you want to happen in your life than the negatives.

I say “YES” absolutely…YES!

So why not put this strategy to work; do some “daydreaming.” Picture yourself there, feel yourself having it, engage yourself in the power of as if it were happening now.

Your Goals

Create a vivid image in your mind of what success means to you. Write down the answers to the following questions about your image of success:

• What will you be doing with your time?
• Who will your clients and customers be?
• How many clients and customers will you have?
• How much money will you be making?
• How much can you afford to give to your favorite cause(s)?
• What will your lifestyle be?

Your Objectives

You will need to identify a few specific marketing goals:

1. How many clients or customers do you want or will you need to be working with each month?
2. How many new clients do you want to add per month in order to bring in new clients?
3. How many prospects do you want to target each month?
4. How will you find them?

Your Marketing Strategy

You need a plan. Most small businesses owners struggle with this and don’t make a plan other than wanting their plan to be to make a lot of money. Making money is great, but how? Begin by asking yourself:

• What can I do to attract attention and prompt interest by potential customers?
• What can I do to increase the number of qualified leads I generate each month?
• How can I build the credibility of my company so customers will trust that we will deliver?
• How can I ensure they remember my company when they have a need and are ready to buy?
• What are the decisions potential customers need to make to become clients?

Your Marketing Tasks

Just having a marketing message, or an advertising campaign or a web site does not ensure you of anything. Each of these needs to achieve the specific goals and objectives that you have set. The best way to evaluate these efforts is from your prospects perspective. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What are my prospects concerns?

2. Are my marketing messages interesting to potential customers?

3. What would my response be to my own marketing calls?

4. Without mentioning the name of my business, its credentials or products, is what I provide clear to potential customers?

5. What do I want people to do when they visit my web site?

Just visualizing your success will not get you there over night, but it is an effective way to begin planning and seeing the big picture of what you can accomplish. Determine your marketing goals, your strategy, your objectives, and the tasks from this big picture and you will create a plan that will lead you to success.

Visualizing is VERY important, BUT writing down your goals is the key! By putting them down on paper, you will be giving your subconscious a clear vision of what you are wanting to accomplish and putting it out to the Universe. By visualizing it, writing it down and believing that you can accomplish your goals, the Laws of Attraction will take over, and anything is possible. Spend about 15 minutes each morning and about 15 minutes each evening “daydreaming” and seeing yourself in whatever place you want to be. Think it, believe it, live it.

Marketing certainly has its roots in large and expensive campaigns intended to reach as many people as possible. This type of ‘mass marketing’ helped develop corporate branding but was completely ‘product focused’ and treated all customers as if they had the same needs and buying preferences. Compare this to what the direct marketing folks are now doing with target marketing, relationship marketing, permission marketing, event-based marketing and even location-based marketing.

It’s interesting to see how these different strategies actually evolved.

Mass Marketing – The goal here is to reach the largest number of people and ‘hope’ they have interest in your product/service. Mass marketing uses mass media such as TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, etc.  This type of marketing is (was) characterized by big budgets, national campaigns, and very little actual data to measure marketing efficiency.

Direct Marketing – Mass marketing was flipped around when direct marketing started directly contacting consumers (using direct mail, telemarketers, etc). This new evolution (around 1960) also was the start of test-marketing to gauge the effectiveness of different advertising campaigns.

Target Marketing – Soon after computers became widely used, marketers began gathering data on who was buying their products and why. This led to targeting their promotional strategies directly towards consumers who are most likely to purchase their product. This market segmentation divided up customers and prospects according to their demographics, age, income, etc. 

Relationship Marketing - Many businesses realized that it was just as profitable to ‘sell more to each customer’ as it was to ‘sell to more customers’. This led to (around 1990) marketing that communicated with customers ‘as individuals’ with tailored information geared towards their unique buying experiences and preferences.  Obviously this requires lots of data on customer behavior patterns, profiles, etc. which helped launch the development of new business CRM applications and marketing automation tools. 

Permission Marketing - As consumers began to get bombarded with email spam, many businesses realized the benefits of spending more time marketing to consumers who have specifically shown interest in your product/service and (effectively) have given you permission to market to them (in a way they want to be marketed to)! This is most commonly done when consumers sign up (i.e. give out their email address) to download product information or receive a newsletter. The importance of having good customer data to personalize your marketing is critical since these prospects can remove their permission anytime (by opting out).  

Event-Based Marketing- Imagine someone just supplied their personal information and downloads information about a new vacation resort. This event triggers an marketing automation tool to send out a targeted promotional offer that is customized, timely, informative, and useful. Everyone potentially wins. The consumer gets something they were actually looking for – when they want it!  This type of marketing is heavily Internet focused and relies on good automation tools. 

Location-Based Marketing – Now that cell phones have Internet access AND they have embedded location devices (i.e. GPS locators), we can expect to see mobile advertising based on location. Of course this will also be personalized and permission-based but imagine you are leaving work for lunch and you receive a text message with ’2-for-1 lunch deals’ at restaurants in your immediate area. Over time the system also realizes you prefer Chinese over Mexican, etc. 

Take-aways from this marketing evolution …

• Mass Marketing is moving to Relationship Marketing
• Few Large Campaigns are moving to Many Customized Campaigns
• Product Focus is moving to Customer Focus
• Short-Term Revenue is moving to Long-Term Customer Loyalty

Resources …

The CRM Handbook – great book on CRM implementation, especially read Chapter 2 (CRM in Marketing)

Post from BNET on the subject of Broadcast Marketing and why it doesn’t work anymore.

Steve Moore – Business Growth Consultant (http://www.SPMsolutions.NET)

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_E_Moore

“Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game, client service wins the game.” Lately, I have been thinking about aspects that differentiate one vendor from another. While expertise, experience, affordability, and ease of communication featured high on the list, client servicing made a distinct appearance.

Effective client servicing is very often what differentiates the winner from the plodders, in today’s highly competitive business landscape. Exemplary client service practices can give your product/service the extra impetus it needs to outshine rival product/service. And since finding new clients is much more expensive than retaining existing ones, the need for superior client servicing gets amplified. Also, a lost customer would mean lost revenue and an unhappy customer can damage your reputation.

With so much at stake, I don’t believe any organization would not want to service their clients well. In view of this, I would like to share some quintessential aspects of effective client servicing.

Honesty is the best policy

Honesty and sincerity go a long way with clients. Do not pretend that you have answers to every problem they have, if you don’t. Admitting a weakness in your knowledge or process is better than outright lies. The genuineness of your concern to formulate an effective solution to your client requirements will win you their loyalty and long term partnership.

Foresee you clients’ needs

Your business plan should be built around understanding and anticipating your clients’ needs and aspirations. Make sure you offerings are in sync with your clients’ expectations and delivers on those expectations satisfactorily. A mismatch would lead to unpleasant experience.

Listen to your clients

Effective listening entails truly making an effort to absorb and comprehend what is being said and acknowledge that understanding. Learning to listen is a key skill that will serve you well in all aspects of your business. Attend to even the smallest details. Try putting yourself in the client’s shoe and endeavor to understand their point of view.

Resolve conflicts in time

Don’t allow issues to remain unaddressed and mould and fester. Prompt and timely resolution holds the key to good client servicing. Don’t shy away from tendering an apology even if you are not necessarily in the wrong. Intervention by a senior member to placate an important client and seek effective solution can be effective at times.

Communicate and follow-up periodically

Your client service initiative should not stop with completion of sales process. The endeavor should be to maintain a free flow of information between you and your clients. The communication should be designed to educate clients about your product/service and organization. Newsletters, interactive forums, and other forms of social media are effective tools to communicate key messages.

Seek to build long lasting relationship

It is imperative to build long lasting relationship with your clients and not just perfecting a singular non-repetitive client. Building an effective relationship involves being responsive to client requests. Every effort should be made to accommodate client requests or to explain options that are available. A client, who feels appreciated, cared for and understood is less likely to leave in pursuit of better service and/or price. Effective relationship can compensate for poor performance, but it cannot be used or rather abused to justify low grade performance.

In short, superior client servicing is critical to your survival in the market place. It should be the cornerstone of your business and will help you retain a loyal client base.

Kneoteric is a leading online marketing company providing PPC Management Services, online marketing consultancy, SEO services and link building services.

“I’m a writer and I blog.” This sentence, posted at the end of a consumer complaint to any business should strike fear into the heart of its recipient. Note to self: You’re about to be fricasseed. Time to take action: yesterday.

Faster than a polymorphic virus, more powerful than a super computer, it’s [strike up hero's leitmotif] Today’s Blogger! TB’s golden prose (heck, it doesn’t even have to be good writing), shot off the keyboard with a click, is rocketed into cyberspace, multiplied across social media platforms, posted in ezines and consumer complaint sites, and comes back to bite the recipient in the arse. Hard.

The world has changed, and we business owners need to wake up and smell the quadruple Venti nonfat latte. What once would have been a matter between a consumer and a business now can bring down that business, even a Goliath-size business, permanently. David’s stone? A laptop and a WiFi connection. Here are …

10 Tips on Surviving Today’s Blogging Community

1. Get real with yourself. Online reputations can make or break your business. Nowhere to run to, baby. Nowhere to hide.
2. Pay attention to complaints. They’re not going to go away until you do something about them.
3. Give good service in the first place. Even after a complaint is satisfied, the complaint has proliferated across multiple platforms. Prevention is the best remedy to any complaint.
4. Read and respond to e-mail quickly. (Hint: if you’ve assigned the task of reading and responding to e-mail to someone who either isn’t married to you or doesn’t have at least a 51% stake in your company, you might want to rethink that decision.) Same goes for phoned-in complaints and letters via snail mail (does anyone actually send those anymore?)
5. Have an ongoing dialogue with your consumers. If you have a solid relationship in the first place, it’s unlikely that one error will make someone call in the dogs. (Until they e-mail your underling and don’t get a satisfactory response.)
6. Monitor the Web. You should regularly scan for your company name, especially on consumer complaint sites. What you don’t know can hurt you. Badly.
7. If you screw up, admit it. Admit it on the same blog you’re blasted on (even if you continue to get blasted, hold your temper).
8. Offer to make it right. Be unreasonable with yourself. That means going above and beyond what the situation calls for.
9. If the blogger was mistaken, ask politely for a retraction. If you don’t get one, post the truth without sounding defensive. You can assign this task to the same person who failed to answer the original complaint in a timely manner, but I wouldn’t.
10. This one you learned in business school: the customer is always right. Don’t put being right ahead of being in business. The online community is large, but very, very close-knit.

Yvonne Buchanan’s company, epublisher Knowledge Base Publishing, does joint ventures with authors of ebooks to edit, publish and market their products, some of which are promoted on her free article submission site,800Muses.com

How would your clients and prospects describe your marketing personality?

Every small business person has a number of qualities and characteristics that make up their unique marketing personality. Are you conscious of what kind of marketing identity you’re projecting… in other words, how people see you?

This really came to my attention in observing behaviors at a recent Home, Lawn & Garden Show in Kansas City. I spent some time supporting my friend and business partner’s booth at the trade show.

Now trade shows are a little bit of a different animal, but it was unmistakable observing the various marketing personalities. For several of the small business owners displaying, trade show marketing is no doubt an important piece of their overall marketing efforts.

Before I cover some of the marketing personalities that were observed, let’s discuss why this is even important.

One of the ways I’ve always encouraged small business clients to think about marketing is to picture a wall. There is the side that you see because you’re inside your business. But, there’s also another side to the wall that your clients, prospects, and potential referral partners see.

Are your marketing efforts designed from the outside in, or from the inside out? If you only focus on what you see and what you like (i.e., your side of the wall) in your marketing efforts, there’s a decent chance you won’t connect with all the prospects that are possible. Because they’re looking for what’s important to them, and not what’s important to you.

I’m not saying to try and be something that you’re not. It’s more a matter of being conscious of your marketing personality so you can set your marketing processes & systems up to best leverage it.

OK, here are some of the marketing personalities that I observed at the Home, Lawn & Garden Show:

• Extreme Introvert – One individual sat in his booth and I never saw him engage a single person unless he was spoken to or asked a question first. It appeared to be a “Field of Dreams” approach. “Well my display is beautiful. If people want what I have, they’ll come and ask me for it.” It was as if he didn’t want to impose on anyone, not even the people who clearly stopped to learn more about his service.
• Look at ME! Look at ME! – OK, I didn’t see the rainbow colored afro wig. But, you do see some things that are clearly set up to try and draw as much attention as possible. What strikes me is the lack of focus on a clearly defined target market. It didn’t seem to matter whether people needed the product/service or not.
• Extreme Extrovert – Everyone was a friend. Smiles and, “Hello, how are you?” were plentiful. This was different from the Look at ME type. I suspect some these folks did well assuming they focused on engaging in conversations with visitors that fell within their target market.
• Oblivious – Ever been involved in a one-way conversation? It was wild. Questions were not answered and a dialogue was clearly not engaged. He had the things on his mind he wanted to communicate and that was that.
• Attentive – This was my favorite to observe. This person was clearly mindful of the traffic. Smiles, nods and hello’s were given, but not necessarily with the intent to stop anyone. When someone stopped at the booth, if the hesitation was appropriate then he engaged. The conversation was polite, but focused with a clear call to action at the end of the discussion.

There is no scientific conclusion here to say who did better than anybody else at the trade show. It was just observation of the various marketing personalities I noticed.

The things is how does this marketing personality carry over to other marketing tactics like networking, direct mail or social networking? Something to think about.

And now I’d like to invite you find more FREE articles and resources to increase your own small business marketing effectiveness at http://www.MarketingActionClub.com Just come have a look around to see what all is available.

Kevin Dervin is co-founder of the Marketing Action Club and creator the the Get More Great Clients marketing system.

Clustering is a methodology used in many aspects in today’s societies. Typically, it is used to tie similar, but different systems, functions, or ideas together into a single structure while each piece of the structure stands on its own merits.

Strength in Numbers

The old axiom, “Strength in Numbers”, best defines the basis of clustering. People have been using clustering since the dawn of man by gathering in groups to establish a community and utilize the strength of the community to overcome their adversaries. Likewise, they have used that strength to produce food, tools, clothing, and other material items for the use and survival of the community. Countries have even joined together for a common goal and defense. During disasters we often see countries and organizations joining together to help the people to overcome the destruction that has been caused. All of these groups and organizations working together have formed clusters for “Strength in Numbers”.

Today we can see many examples of clustering in the business world where companies join together to form larger and stronger companies. However, today we often term such actions as mergers and acquisitions. Never the less, such actions are still a methodology of clustering.

Cluster Marketing

When the techniques of clustering are applied to marketing methods the effects can produce some pleasing results. For years, internet marketeers have been applying the methodology of cluster marketing in their everyday marketing practices. When they launch a product they join forces with several key marketeers to advertise the launch.  Now, if you were to be a member of each marketeer’s opt-in e-mail list, you would receive an e-mail about the same event from several marketeers instead of just the originator of the launch.  This act of joining together is the very basis of cluster marketing.

When marketeers launch a product they don’t just use e-mail as their only medium of advertisement. In addition to e-mail they will use press releases, direct mail ads, webinars, tele-seminars, etc. All of these different types of advertising are pointing to the one web site that the marketeer wants you to visit. The one limitation to cluster marketing is that it is a one way methodology. Cluster marketing in itself can be very powerful if the advertiser wants to throw enough money into the advertising campaign to sustain it long enough for the general public to catch on to the message it’s trying to deliver.

With cluster marketing techniques you get one way links to your site as that is the direction the methodology is designed to support. The cluster methodology of marketing with the one way design has been very useful and powerful over the years as it emulates the human desire of pointing people in the right direction. Search engines have also found the one way links to be popular in ranking the popularity of a web site.  Within the last few years we’ve even seen the introduction of three-way links and have found how popular they can be with search engines.  However, setting up three-way links between various sites can be extremely time consuming unless you already own many sites where you can add all of the links required for three way linking.

For years, marketeers have been experimenting with ways to build more links, with more “link juice” from authority sites. For the most part the results have been the same, the more advertising and the more articles that are produced the greater the link popularity. It has all boiled down to “Strength In Numbers”.

Clustering Articles

A few years ago I started to experiment with the broader technique of clustering articles. Soon, this method started to take hold within the internet marketing community as its ease of use became evident. This technique involves using a group of topic related articles to create back links to the target web site. These back links would not only relate to the target web site, but to other related locations. This inter-relational organization technique showed that over time, the link popularity increased while using fewer resources than the conventional one way link or three way linking methods.

One of the more popular aspects of clustering articles is that it can be accomplished using free internet resources instead of extensive paid advertising. Also, back links can be established in a shorter amount of time using variations of the original related topic articles. While it is possible to use un-related topic article groups, the link popularity isn’t as good as using related themes throughout these groups.

It’s important to note that these groups should be created from original content instead of copying someone else’s work.  The article directories and search engines are smart enough to know when you’re faking it with copied content.  Original content and variations of the original content in clusters have been found, in all cases, to produce the greater desired results.

Social Networking and Video Sharing

With the introduction of Social Networking the ease with which this technique can be implemented has increased over time. Additionally, the introduction of video sharing sites, do-it-yourself video production software, and camera systems with enhanced video production techniques has also enhanced link popularity when coupled with clustering articles. In future articles, I will expand on the “Techniques of Cluster Marketing” and “Proper Creation of Variations for Clustering Articles”.

Gregg Sterner is the author and developer of the Article Clustering and Cluster Marketing systems. Please visit http://www.ArticleClustering.com, to discover the in depth techniques used to increase the quantity and authority of back links for your web site. View our YouTube video “Link the World” at http://www.youtube.com/articleclustering As a former Director of Marketing Support for a major division of a Fortune 200 corporation, Gregg has developed and written numerous marketing strategies for the corporate world.