We cover all sorts of topics on the HodgesNet blog. You may sometimes think we cover too wide a range of subjects, or perhaps you don’t see the link between them. However, the reality is that everything we write about here – SEO, blogging, social media, email marketing and so on – are interlinked and form part of your internet marketing hub. However, when there are so many different aspects to consider internet marketing can sound confusing. Here’s a clear cut guide to how to build your internet marketing hub.

At the centre of your hub is your website. This is where people can find out about you, the services/products you offer and how they solve problems or help people make more money. Your website is full of useful information but without some help, it’s unlikely anyone will find it in amongst the billions of other websites out there. This is where the other elements of the hub come into play.

If you want to make the most of internet marketing having a blog is vital, and blogging has many benefits. It drives traffic to your website through featuring useful articles, often on niche topics. It helps your website rank better in the search engines – through on-page SEO, fresh new content and by increasing the size of your website quickly. It also gives you the chance to demonstrate your knowledge and builds your profile as an expert in your industry.

Having a blog also means you have something to talk about on social media sites. Every time you add a new blog post you can send the link and some details to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a multitude of other social networking platforms. You can also bookmark your blog posts on sites like Digg and StumbleUpon. If your posts are interesting, entertaining or informative other people will retweet your tweets or share your posts. And what’s the point of all this? To bring more traffic to the centre of your hub – your website.

Another part of the hub is email marketing. Having a blog requires people to come to you, either by checking your site every few days, or via links on social media sites. With email marketing, you contact people directly and can control who you contact and what you say to them. You can reuse blog posts in your email newsletters, or you can write original material. Again, the result you want is that people will visit your website and, ultimately, buy your services.

There are other elements in the internet marketing hub like affiliate marketing and article submission, but the final links are SEO and linkbuilding. While Google places less importance on SEO expertise these days, it’s still important that you make sure your website is properly signposted through using relevant keywords. And linkbuilding – where other websites link to you – lets the search engines know that your site is worth visiting.

When you get all those elements right – your website, the blog, SEO, linkbuilding, and social media – you get ranked higher in the search engines, you demonstrate your expertise and you build up a following – and all this results in more visitors to your website, more sales and more profit.

If you need any help with any of the elements of your internet marketing hub give the team at HodgesNet a call on 01793 608777. And look out for our next blog post, where we’ll be introducing some workshops where you can learn more about the internet marketing hub and how you can build and develop yours.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What sort of marketing do you currently do? If you’re not yet harnessing the power of the internet to find new customers, your list may well look something like this:

• Cold calling
• Direct mail
• Trade shows
• Telesales
• Print advertising
• Email mailshots

Traditional marketing tools like the ones above have one big problem – they all play the numbers game. Because you are targeting people randomly, and those people are likely to have no prior knowledge of your products/services, you have to contact huge numbers of people to get enough responses to convert to sales. Though traditional marketing can be successful, it’s more likely to be expensive, time consuming and an inefficient use of resources.

Traditional marketing could be described as “outbound marketing” – where you reach out to cold targets via a range of tools, and persuade them to buy from you. Wouldn’t it be great if your targets came straight to you – and were already warm leads because they understood your company and were interested in your products?

It can happen. It does happen. It’s known as “inbound marketing” and it happens through using the power of the internet.

What is inbound marketing?

Quite simply, inbound marketing involves raising awareness of your products so that interested people come directly to you. There are a number of tools you can use for inbound marketing, for example:

• Blogs
• Social media
• Articles
• SEO
• Webinars
• Videos
• eBooks
• Opt-in email newsletters

Inbound marketing tools are designed to bring potential customers to you, rather than you having to find leads. The best inbound marketing brings people – traffic – into a central hub, which is normally your website. Because people have arrived of their own will, you already know they are interested in what you’re doing and by engaging with them you have a much better chance of selling to them.

The big advantage of inbound marketing is the tools – blog sites, social media networks etc – are inexpensive, or even free to use. The disadvantage is that you need to commit to an inbound marketing campaign and it takes time both to fully understand the tools and to implement them effectively – time that you may not have.

That’s where HodgesNet comes in. We understand inbound marketing and we can build you a bespoke inbound marketing campaign that works. If you’re interested in finding out how inbound marketing could work for you, give us a call on +44(0)8432 894 402 or fill in the contact form on the right, and we’ll arrange a no-obligation chat.

Hub photo (c) Graphican

An Important Update on how Google Ranks
the Authority of Your Website

Google always likes to keep Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) companies like us, on our toes when it comes to changes to their algorythm.

Over the past week or so, updates and been finalised to enhance the way in which authority is given for websites.

There have been some minor tweaks that do not affect any of the websites that we manage or run SEO campaigns for, and none of the changes have affected current rankings.

However, there are two things that will affect things moving forward – for everyone. These will have more of an impact on SEO than they did before:

1. The first is is the impact of regularly updated content, such as a blog or news page. This has always been seen as a good thing for a website to have, but this will now be playing a more important role in your search engine rankings.
2. The second is the importance of having social network buttons on your site, such as a Facebook Like button, Twitter retweet button and a Google +1 button (just like the ones at the top and bottom of this page). These buttons, when pressed, are now seen more of a vote of authority to the site.

Whilst these two changes do not necessarily increase your rankings for a specific keyword, they do help raise the profile of your website in Googles eyes, and therefore will be beneficial in your overall ranking and authority in the search engines.

Talk to your web team today about this update, request them to add a blog and the social networking buttons to your website. Failing this, if we can help, please get in touch with the office on 08432 894 402 or use the contact form on the top right hand side of this page.

Please also check out our Social Media and Professional Blogging Packages here.

Many businesses struggle to understand how to present themselves as credible experts online.

Two of the many barriers are

1. People think that their knowledge or expertise is just not good enough to share and do not value it highly enough themselves
2. They produce content that is of no real value because they have a fear of giving too much away

It’s time to start sharing your knowledge with the world. Watch this quick video from our MD Ant Hodges, for some starter tips on how to position yourself as an expert.

If you struggle to keep in regular contact with past, present and potential customers, using autoresponders will make the job much more manageable.

Basically, autoresponders are emails that are sent out automatically, to a timed schedule. Once someone is placed in your autoresponder system – maybe because you add them to a database, or they fill in a sign-up form on your website – they receive a series of emails from you at time periods you specify. It could be that you send them an email once a week, or every three days, or once a month over the course of a year. Autoresponders give you complete flexibility to set up the series of emails to suit your needs.

So how could you use autoresponders to enhance the relationship between you and your customer, or to increase sales? Here are three reasons to use autoresponders.

Use autoresponders to build a relationship with your customers

It’s a well known fact that we need to be made aware of a product up to 7 times before we’ll consider buying it. If someone expresses an interest in your product or service it’s often difficult to find the time to follow up with them once, never mind seven times! You can use an autoresponder to send your warm leads a series of emails that will build a relationship and keep your product at the forefront of their mind. When the time is right for them to buy, they’ll come to you – because they already have a relationship with you.

You can also use autoresponders to maintain the relationship with existing customers – and to upsell.  For example, if you sell widgets then you could set up a series of emails with: a message thanking them for their purchase; tips on how to get the most out of their new widget; a voucher for money off future purchases; news of a new product launch or an upgraded widget. Make the emails useful and of benefit to the customer and they’ll keep coming back for more.

Gain valuable data with autoresponders

Traditional methods of marketing are useful, but it’s not always easy to monitor how effective they are. You can’t tell how many people noticed your newspaper advert or were interested in that flyer, or whether the direct mail letter you sent was read or recycled. Unless you ask all your customers how they discovered your company, you’ll never really know which bits of your marketing are working.

With autoresponders, however, you get access to a wealth of data that will show you what people are interested in, and you can use that information to tailor your marketing for maximum impact. When you send out emails via autoresponder you can see instantly who has opened your email. If you’ve attracted their attention enough for them to read what you’ve got to say, you know they’re a warm lead! And if they click on one of the links to get more information, you know they’re really interested! You can then tailor the emails you send to give them exactly the info they want – which will make the sale that much easier to achieve.

Use autoresponders to showcase what you do

You know your business inside out; you’re an expert in your field. But how do your customers know that?

Demonstrate your knowledge by using an autoresponder to send a series of weekly hints and tips to people who sign up on your website. For example, accountants could send weekly tax tips and reminders of important tax return dates. A gardener could send regular emails with recommendations on what to do in the garden each month. A food supplier’s customers would love to receive recipes every week. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, there’s plenty of information you can share. Showcase what you do and when people need what you offer, you’ll be the person they go to.

These are just three reasons to use autoresponders. How could you use autoresponders in your business?

If you would like to find out more about how autoresponders can benefit your business, please call HodgesNet on +44(0)8432 894 402 or use the contact form on the top of this page to get in touch.

At a networking event this week, boss man and MD Ant Hodges, was chatting to a couple of business owners that had some preconceived ideas about Internet marketing and how they were writing it off almost immediately. After spending over an hour with them, it seems that their eyes were opened somewhat and we have agreed a trial period of combined offline and Internet marketing for their businesses. During this trial we will measure the effectiveness of Internet marketing and implement other items to help the get even more from the Internet in the future too.

On coming back into the office “Morning all! Time to get the camera out” was the first thing that Ant said to us. Watch the video below that we put together to address some of the issues that were talked about. If you think that Internet marketing is not for you and your business, if you haven’t got the time or knowledge to do it, or even the budget to outsource it, listen to Ant’s responses to exactly these thoughts for using Internet marketing in business.

If you would like to know any more, or would like to grab a coffee with us, visit www.hodgesnet.co.uk/coffee or call 08432 894 402 and we can get a date in the diary to meet up.

Affiliate marketing is a huge part of the Internet marketing puzzle. Essentially, it is all about marketing other people’s products or services for a commission – Not selling.

Literally 1,000′s of businesses (merchants) enlist the services of bloggers, social-media-ites, pay per click marketers and many more (affiliates) to promote their products and services in return for a commission of the sale.

Affiliate marketing – a cost effective way of marketing

Over the years affiliate marketing has proved to be a cost effective and highly measurable method of delivering long-term results. Many people who want to make some extra cash, dive into affiliate marketing. Every day there are new sign up’s for many different affiliate campaigns, but in most cases these new affiliates do not fully understand how to make it work for them properly in the affiliate world – some even make costly mistakes.

On the flip side, many merchants don’t understand what work is involved to keep affiliates motivated to keep promoting their products and services.

The biggest and most common misconception that is associated with affiliate marketing is that of ‘selling’ – though selling is an important activity of affiliate marketing and the central function of a business operation, an affiliate does not sell on behalf of the merchant. All the affiliate is tasked with doing is sending interested people to the merchant’s website for a commission of any lead, sale or transaction that will then follow. Different merchants pay out in different ways:

• A percentage of the initial sale
• A recurring commission for the lifetime of the customers subscription
• A fixed commission for a lead generation form to be filled in

A quick run down on how affiliate marketing works

We have taken a slide out of our affiliate marketing training day and will walk you through this to give you an idea on how it all works.

1. Firstly the Affiliate, after deciding what they want to promote, will join an affiliate System to look for merchants who sell that product or service.
2. After building a website with relevant content, they will apply to joing an affiliate scheme through the system of their chosen merchants.
3. The affiliate then uses graphics and content produced by the merchant to add to their website.
4. Using SEO, social media, email marketing or PPC (internet marketing methods) the affiliate will promoted their website to targeted people on the internet.
5. After this work takes ground in the search engines, potential customers will come to the affiliate site and read the content.
6. Hopefully they will then click on an affiliate link or advert to go to the merchant’s website.
7. If the customer makes a purchase, the source of that customer is tracked and then the merchant pays the affiliate system.
8. After clearance, the Affiliate system will then pay the affiliate the commission as promised.

There is a bit more to it, that’s why we spend a day looking at all of this with client and those wanting to earn money as an affiliate, but that is it in a nutshell.

Making affiliate marketing work for you

Affiliate marketing is a great way if using Internet marketing to help earn an extra income, but also for merchants to create a team of commission only sales people for their products and services.

Making it work for both the affiliate and the merchant can be a tricky balancing act though. We can help you get that balance right.

To make things really work, affiliates need to understand:

• SEO and Web Marketing Techniques
• How to build sites that visitors take action on
• How to continue to communicate without looking like you are spamming people with affiliate links all the time
• Where to find the right merchants to sign up to

Every merchant needs to understand:

• Affiliates want you to do the hard work to create content and graphics to use
• Tiny percentages don’t work… otherwise they wont bother marketing your products
• How to promote your super affiliates and encourage the smaller guys
• Where to get your affiliate marketing system set up to protect you from scam artists

If you would like to know more about how you can get a team of commission only sales people to be marketing your products for you, or indeed if you want to learn from our team about how you can generate an extra income online, please call HodgesNet on +44(0)8432 894 402 or use the contact form on the top of this page to get in touch.

Many businesses today still don’t really understand what Internet Marketing is all about. They might see some new ‘expert’ pop up on the Internet promising to make them rich beyond their wildest dreams, all for buying one $17 ebook or a $97 system that will enable them to do this with just a couple of clicks of the mouse.

Some of these work – most of them don’t.

The team here at HodgesNet have been working in the Internet marketing industry for some time now. We have all been helping these product launch marketers with getting their product to market, helping them to build a list of interested subscribers to send daily emails to and helped with the design and set up of membership websites.

We have seen the good, the bad, the ugly and the ones that border on immoral – these are the ones that are seen as scam artists (the immoral ones not the ugly ones…).

Some of the businesses that we work with have been asking the question “What if I get tarred with the same brush? I want to protect my reputation.”

This comes from a fear of being seen as the same as those guys that are just trying to trick people into buying some push-button solution to make oodles of cash overnight.

You don’t have to be the same as them if you operate from a point of credibility and as a true expert, then you treat your subscribers and customers EXACTLY how they want to be treated… like kings and queens. But the one thing you can do that is the same… use the same tactics and methods they use.

Internet marketing for the traditional business

Using the same techniques used by the Internet marketing ‘gurus’ of the world, you too could make more profit for your business on the Internet. You can use these tactics to:

• Build lists of targeted, opt-in subscribers to communicate with about your products or services.
• Engage on a real level to help solve problems that your customers and prospects might have.
• Make money online without having to think about it.
• And ultimately, use a much more profitable form of marketing to win new business and retain existing contracts.

Internet marketing is no longer reserved for the ‘make a million bucks overnight’ scam artists, use the tactics they implement to attract people interested in your business, provide them with theinformation about how you can help, sell them your product or services and keep them as life long customers.

Do you want this kind of a strategy in your business?

If we can help, please call +44(0)8432 894 402 or use the contact form on the right hand side of this page to send a message directly to our team of Internet marketing specialists.