Sorry for the title if it comes across rude or problematic in anyway but at this point I really care less. You know what they say - you can hold the water behind a dam for only so long and when it breaks, the water is going to come out full force wrecking everything on its path. Well, I certainly don’t have the power or the force but I do have some words that StumbleUpon admins need to hear and apply to their bullshit model and copycat attitude.

I have included the letter in this article that I sent to StumbleUpon using their contact form. I know I have wasted my time writing the letter cause as usual its probably dumped into their trash and marked as “Another banned user, LOL.”

Anyway, this is why I am so outraged. Well, first things first my StumbleUpon account has been under review for over a week. I am not pissed off at that because I might have done something that might be against their TOS, I wouldn’t know cause I haven’t heard from them. Did I promote my own sites on StumbleUpon? You bet I did, don’t you? Of course you do.

I have never used StumbleUpon to solely promote my sites. I spend a good two hours each day stumbling naturally using their toolbar and reviewing contents and participating. I am an active member within the community. I like their service. I use it to bookmark sites, images, articles that I like and at times there might be a few articles that I might “thumb up” or “discover” from the same site, not cause I am promoting it because I would like it to be seen by my friends on StumbleUpon who follow me and for bookmarking purpose. StumbleUpon team doesn’t seem to understand that I guess. Anyway, my anger isn’t about me getting banned. its about not getting a response after sending countless emails. I have talked to a few other users who are banned as well and they are going through the same ordeal. No reply what so ever.

StumbleUpon team, it can’t be that hard to lift up a finger and sent a reply and tell me “Hey, you are banned for doing so and so and you are banned permanently.” It’s your freaking site, it’s your genius idea (its damn good) but you do have a certain liability towards your userbase and replying to issues and concerns they might have should be a priority. You have failed and you can keep my account. Pimp it, junk it, kill it….it’s yours to keep. You have a great service but you have failed to keep your users happy. And like any other users I am not going to create another account. If you don’t have enough respect for me as a user who appreciates your site and service you sure as hell do not deserve the time out of my day. Have a good one and kiss my ass!

Here is what I wrote to StumbleUpon team,

Hi!

I haven’t been able to use my account for more than a week. I am not sure what triggered you to keep me from using my account and putting it “under review.” I am sure there is a reason behind your actions and a good one at that. but don’t you think it would be helpful if I got a response so I know what exactly is going on? It is my account and I use your service to bookmark and browse fun sites and contents. If I have wasted a year of my time trying to build a profile and maintain a good standing within a community, I think I have a right to know why I am not allowed to use the service anymore. I am not even sure if I am banned temporarily or permanently. An answer is much appreciated and I think running a service that is as popular as StumbleUpon, the admins should realize that they have a responsibility towards their users. Keeping me in dark doesn’t help and doesn’t really create a very good impression of you either. Whether or not you decide to reinstate my account is out of question at this moment. The question is - do you realize you are responsible to get back to your usersbase when there is an ongoing issue?

Would appreciate an answer regarding my account. If I don’t get a response (which I doubt I will) I guess a service that I have considered an integral part of my online life was nothing but a failed model and a copycat.

Sincerely,
Ritu

This includes things like age, schooling, hobbies and keywords.  When you set up an Adwords campaign, you are just stuck with keyword targeting and picking out sites you want to advertise on!

This podcast shows you how to set up Facebook Sponsored Ads from beginning to end.  If nothing else, try them out and see what you think!

mH 005 Shownotes:

• Facebook
• Facebook Advertising
• More Internet Marketing Training - Traffickd

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Marketing isn’t about selling products and services. Marketing is about creativity and strategies that bring results. You can try the age old methods time and time after and you will get the same results that others have been getting. The key to tapping into your consumers interest and buying decisions is by being creative and setting yourself apart from the competitors. Trust me, this is the time to make a difference. A difference by giving your existing product that holiday touch to separate yourself from your competitor. Every marketer jumps during the holidays to come up with an idea, a strategy and you certainly won’t be relaxing either. If you want to create some buzz during the holiday season, step out of the box and give people something to talk about. Create a buzz.

What will sell your product better? A nicely stacked shelf or an uncle who just bought his niece a gift who can’t stop bragging about it to her friends? Of course the latter one. Make people talk about your product, create something that would spark conversation during holidays and before you know it, you will be shipping your next order before you anticipated.

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Basic business models used for online marketing are search engine optimized websites, placement of banner ads on certain sites , direct marketing using emails, lead generation through websites and marketing using affiliate programs. Main reasons responsible for growing popularity of online marketing are:-

1. Making You Go Global : Imagine sitting in the comforts of your home in New Jersey and selling your product to a guy sitting in Birmingham UK. Or did you ever thought of buying an original Persian carpet without actually making a trip to the Middle East? All this and much more are now possible with the new technological advancements and growing popularity of online marketing. Now you are only a mouse click away from the global products or from promoting your services and goods to the global audience. All you need is an ecommerce website flaunting your catalogue and you can wait for the orders pouring in.
   
   To promote your business overseas you no longer need a physical connectivity with your client and with the VOIP and faster internet telephony now you can also save value dollars otherwise spent in making long distance calls. Most of the online marketing websites uses geo location software which helps in displaying the relevant content to the site visitor based on his location thus grabbing their attention instantly.




2. 24*7 Advertisement : Another benefit enjoyed by the advertisers using online marketing is the 24 hour availability of their advertisement over the World Wide Web. This enables the publicity of their product through out the day and also during the night.
   
   For example the marketing data of a popular electronic goods selling website reveal that most purchases are made by the visitors on Sundays between 9 pm and 3 am when the store is closed. This is a positive proof of the power of online marketing. Therefore online marketing helps in your products and service promotion even when you are resting or on vacation. Also for the customers, they no longer have to rely on the store opening timings to make their purchase. Nothing can get better then this!




3. Detailed Product Catalogs : The first thing you want to check before buying a digital camera is to know the details about its picture quality , name of the lens manufacturer , information about the optical zoom , different modes and also what are the different vendors which are into this arena. All this and much more detailed information and also the ability to compare the features of two similar products are now being offered online. Unlike a printed catalog more details can be packed into an online catalog by the advertiser which helps the customer becoming aware of the different products which are out there in the market making customers’ selection process easier.




4. Pocket Friendly : When compared to the traditional marketing, means like television advertisements of publishing ads in the local or national newspapers, online marketing scores again by being most inexpensive. To get started all you need to do is own a website and with website creation softwares, developing a website is a child’s play. You can even make a one time investment and take the help of professionals in coming up with a SEO website which will give it a more professional look bringing in more user hits. With the availability of the cheap hosting space online marketing is finding many customers.




5. Accountable and Improved Return on Investment (ROI) : Online marketing has another advantage in offering in terms of ease of measuring statistics with the helps of numerous web analytics tool available like google analytics. By deploying various means like pay per click or pay per action or even pay per impression, you as an advertiser can determine what catches the audience’s fancy. Tracking of website traffic can also be a testimonial of your surging popularity. Also more number of visitors will result in more business thus resulting in huge ROI.




6. Faster Communication and Larger Reach : Faster and effective communication plays an important role in promoting business in this competitive world. Online marketing helps in faster communication of news and advertisements to the customers. Also an advertisement displayed using traditional marketing means of television ads and newspaper ads would only be targeting a specific audience whereas by sending promotional emails or setting up your website you can catch the attentions of a wider audience. Using direct marketing technique of emails you can read the pulse of the customer and also keep them updated about the new arrivals in your stores or the latest release of your product.




7. Making Customer Feel Truly Like a King! : Online marketing is a truly enriching experience for the customer as he is quickly directed to his items of interest based on the keywords he had entered in the search engine. Also a lot of warranties and money back guarantees are being offered to the online customer in case he is not satisfied by the product or service. Customers also don’t feel pushed around by the vendors and retailers promoting their goods as a customer can take his own sweet time making a selection. You can make a purchase irrespective of the place and time if you have a credit card. Always ensure an authentic payment gateway is being used while making online purchases. Also because of extensive competition over internet customers can get the product of their choice at very competitive prices making them the ultimate winner!

With hectic work schedules, more and more people are getting dependent on internet to make their purchases which help them in saving time by avoiding a trip to the store and also help them in striking good deals from the confines of their homes. Online marketing with its multifaceted advantages have changed the way the world does business.

Shhhhh…. I will let you guys in on this but make sure it stays with you and nobody else.

People like to talk and share ideas, views and opinion. I am sure you have heard the above statement quite a few times. What happens when someone tells you that they will share a secret with? You get curious. Unveiling something that is supposed to be a secret is a definite conversation starter. You know what they say, if you want everyone to know about something, tell one person and say “Don’t say it to anyone,” chances are it will spread like a wildfire. Hopefully this is not the case with everything and every conversation you have but when it comes to marketing the “it’s a secret” message sure does work.

I can almost bet you can’t resist on clicking something that says “Secrets Unveiled” or “The Secret to Losing Fat Within two months.” You get the idea. Keeping things secret is a tool, a skill and if used properly it can create quite a bit of buzz among people who share it. It starts from you and passes on from one ear to another. It becomes a conversation starter among people. People love to gossip and people love to be the first one to break the news to someone else who might have not heard it. That is one of the main reason why pushing the the secret button works wonders when it comes to marketing.

Sometimes the best approach is to keep things under radar cause it creates a buzz. People wonder what it is, what it might do and most of the times because of this curiosity they get ready to jump in and try out. And thats when your marketing effort converts into results.

The secret to marketing is keeping secrets….well, atleast one of the secrets.

The best way to learn is by watching others do it and then implementing it ourselves by adding a twist, a little spice to what has already been done. Sometimes you just have to rock the boat.

The above statement is true for pretty much everything. When it comes to marketing the same rule applies. There are not a whole lot of examples where we can say “Wow! That was genius marketing.” But today I bring you a story that will not only surprise but hopefully will give you an idea that sometimes you need to rock the boat to make it to the shore.

Today I want to talk about a company, Half.com which was founded in 1999 and was later acquired by eBay for roughly around 350 million US dollars. The way Half.com operates is similar to how ebay works. Although I would like to go into details of the service that is not my purpose for this post so we will spare all that details. Its the marketing strategy they applied when they were getting ready to launch this site in 1999.

When Half.com was preparing itself for a launch they had quite a few competitors. Everyone was coming out with services similar to theirs and of course eBay itself was a prime competitor at the moment. They needed a plan to create some buzz for the opening day. Of course they could have applied every marketing tactic out their and could have tapped into every conventional marketing strategy, but they decided to go a different route. A different route that some might think is crazy as hell and some might think a product of a marketing genius. Creating a buzz was the main goal for Half.com so as to gain as much publicity and exposure during their launch.

Half.com literally put their name on the US map with their marketing plan. So what did they do? When Half.com was getting ready to launch they approached a small town in Oregon named Halfway. They proposed the town to change their name to Half.com. Yes, it is crazy and the most unconventional marketing that you might have ever heard of. Oregon halfway at that point in time had only 300 plus residents which was a perfect town for marketing geniuses at Half.com because they knew if they could get them to change their name, not only would Half.com be on the map but the town would be known all across the nation as well.

The marketing group actually convinced the city to change their name to Half.com for a year. The company was literally placed on the map and Half.com got a huge, huge exposure with this marketing tactic. Every major media was covering this with titles such as City changes name to Half.com. It was one of the best marketing strategy ever carried out. Half.com was successful in getting the small town of Halfway to change its name which gave them a huge boost and great exposure on their launch day.

Try some keywords and give it a whirl on google to find more information on this if you would like. At that time this marketing tactic implied by Half.com was one of the best marketing gig ever carried out. It was amazing, refreshing and simply genius. I wanted to point this story out because this is a perfect example of buzzmarketing. Creating buzz, making people talk about your product and services is key to letting others know about your product/services. I tell you, you tell your friends and your friends talk about it to their friends - that is the central concept of buzz marketing. What Half.com did was a  very well done case of buzzmarketing because by changing the name of the city first they made everyone living in that town talk about it. It must have been one hell of a conversation starter at that town back then. Second, they were literally placed on the map and everyone was talking about a city changing their name to Half.com. Third, every major media channel covered the story so it was being talked about around dinner table, across cubicles at work and while waiting for the bus. It is one of the best examples of buzz marketing.

The essence of buzzmarketing is simply to create buzz. Have other people talk about it. You reach 10 people and those 10 people reach 20 and so on and on. We will talk more about buzz marketing in the coming days. As for today, we just wanted to set the context going by giving an example on how Half.com perfectly launched a marketing campaign.This is a prime example that sometimes you just need to rock the boat. The saying “don’t rock the boat” might work very well for somethings but when it comes to marketing just remember : Rock the boat, rock the boat baby!

• Show you how to set up a Twitter account (because there are still a ton of people who don’t know how or what Twitter is..)
• Set up an automatic direct message after someone follows you (through TweetLater)

The beauty of the automatic message is that you can use that opportunity to thank a new follower for taking the time to check out your tweets, and you can ask them to check out your blog or your free report!

Keep in mind - it needs to be 140 characters or less!!

So check it out.  Let us know what you think!

Before we get into the marketing aspect, I would like to say that I am glad the election is over and the verdict is here. Although Obama won the election and I personally wanted Obama in the White House, I applaud John McCain for his gracious speech last night. November 4th 2008 will be remembered forever as this is the first time a black president has been elected to the White House. Its a proud moment for all of us as this marks the end of segregation which still prevails among many. We can proudly say that we are now The United States of America, despite color, gender, race and sexuality among many other things.

Sorry for the rant. Lets get to the marketing aspect of this article now. Most people think that social media simply doesnt work for certain businesses. They don’t seem to figure out how to tap into social media crowd to promote their products and services. Well, if a politician can market himself on social media I can almost bet any business has a chance to make it on social media. The fact is that there needs to be a clear objective. A definite set of plans. Barack Obama’s social media campaign was one of the best internet campaign that has been ever done by any politician.

Here are 5 ways on how Presidential - Elect Barack Obama’s marketing team carried out one of the best social media marketing campaign ever,

1. Wiki ( please note that this has either been closed or is a private team workspace ) : The team used Wiki’s to organize volunteers and update each other on new happenings and such online.
2. Twitter : Twitter which is considered to be one of the best communication and social tool was used to update the twitter community. Considering the fact that twitter has a huge user base, this platform was used very actively and effectively.
3. FaceBook Application : FaceBook is one of the most popular social networking site. Boasting more than 1 million users and sitting right behind MySpace, not using this channel would have been a big loss. The campaign created a Facebook app for users to share  the news items, blog posts, speeches, and videos that most inspired you to support Barack Obama.
4. Social Network : Barack Obama’s team created their own branded social network where people could collaborate and network with each other. This allowed them to build a sense of community among their supporters.
5. Blog : One of the best way to tap into the social web is via blogging. The team made the best use of it by staying connected with supporters and informing them what was going on behind the scenes.

Those were some of the ways our 44th President Barack Obama utilized social media to his advantage. Seriously, if politics works on social media your business most certainly will. Give it a try. Create a presence, incluence and build a network so as to reach out and promote yourself.

Today I just wanted to share a few things that I personally think works better both in terms of building followers and for marketing. Remember if you are marketing on a social platform on the web, you can’t just send links to your product and services and expect results. That’s a fast road to being labeled “spammer.” The biggest misconception that I find on Twitter regarding building a presence or a massive following is : Follow everyone and atleast 75% will follow you. What is the point though? I don’t see a real benefit of this sort of mentality. If you want to network like crazy and follow 10,000 people’s tweets that swarm in like a group of bees, go right ahead. But if you are looking at Twitter as a marketing platform I just don’t see how it serves the purpose by doing mass following.

The key to any marketing campaign is to know your target market. A thorough research is vital for any marketing campaign and the same rule applies on Twitter as well. What is the point of promoting your products to 50,000 users on twitter when your actual target market might only be 2% of that. I hope you see my point. I personally think that if you want to promote your products, blogs, services or whatever it is, you need to find a way to create interest among users to build a following. This will create a “following” that is actually based on people that are interested in what you have to offer. That “following” is your target market. That following is who you want to reach.

If your comapny sells products only in US why the hell should you promote in Germany. It just doesn’t make sense. I think the key to marketing on twitter is to create a presence, a presence that compels others to follow you. A following that will welcome your messages both personal and business related.

Those are my personal opinion. Let me know what you think through your comments. Also if you like my thoughts and enjoy my tweets you can follow me here : ritubpant. Once again, follow only if you like what you see otherwise it just defeats the purpose of using Twitter.

The most important thing that you can capture from a customer is NOT his money. It’s…”

Aweber is an amazing tool for email marketing - especially if you want a hands off experience.  You set it up, people subscribe, and it takes care of all the work for you!

In this weeks video podcast, we take you through Aweber, from setting up a list to doing your followup messages to techniques that will get you the most leads for your campaign.  Below the podcast, you will see links to more information!

Shownotes:

• Email Marketing Software - aweber.com
• Great Copywriting techniques - copyblogger.com
• More Internet Marketing tutorials - traffickd.com