Trust Relationships and Loyalty Programs – Did Air Miles Blow It?

Are you a member of a loyalty program?

Chances are you are a member of multiple programs because many major companies want you to return to their outlet to collect points you can later redeem for products and services.  The whole idea behind loyalty programs was to build ongoing relationships with customers.

Is there any real benefit of being a member of a loyalty program?Continue Reading

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Increasing Profitability Using Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing shouldn’t be looked at as a new concept.  It’s been around for some time but with the advent of Web 2.0 and social media prevalence in society it has become more important.

Successful businesses, organizations and bloggers have one thing in common in today’s social world.  They have recognized the value of long term social relationships and focus on establishing an open dialogue with those in the relationship.  Recognizing the power presented by social media they have moved from the intrusive advertising and sales message to one that’s more collaborative and social.Continue Reading

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Social Media Marketing is Crucial for Business Success

Have you heard the whole internet has turned social?  Being successful online means connecting with clients and customers on social level?

Being social is the new reality of having a successful business.  Recognizing the importance of having a website talking about products and services is a small portion of having an online presence.  To be successful companies must have a presence on the new social landscape.

They must reach out to an engage their customers through social interaction and have an effective social marketing campaign.Continue Reading

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Are Micro Niche Adsense Sites Viable Revenue Sources?

One of the most popular questions received through my blog is about making money online using Google Adsense.  Some of the questions has come from my series on building profitable websites while others have come from people criticizing me about the value some place on Adsense revenue.

There are many people having great success with Google Adsense and micro niche sites.  They target small niches with several advertisers and dominate search with long tail search terms.  Sites are designed to maximize clicks on ads and maximize revenue for the site owners.Continue Reading

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There is no Next Big Thing

Many people jump into making money online hoping to develop the next big thing or develop a strategy to help them get rich overnight.

In the online world there will always be something better, bigger and faster.  There will always be a new gimmick, new make money online method or a more profitable way to develop your online businesses.

Making money online isn’t impossible.  There will always be a new site, a new system and new technologies coming online.  However, as a blogger you will probably not be developing the next big thing or the next kill application.

Regardless of how many times you read about the 16-year old who developed the killer-app, the killer site or the next great social networking tool, there are millions of more failures you don’t hear about.Continue Reading

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Post Panda Blogging Realities

Many bloggers are lazy and try to take the easy way out when developing their sites.  They ignore their readers, have little or no focus and are blinded by high paying keywords.

In a post-Panda era, these are bloggers that are destined to fail.

The success of any blog comes from gaining an understanding about what your readers want.  Knowing how people are finding your site, what they type into the search engines and how they interact forms the foundation of a successful blog.Continue Reading

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Harnessing Social Media Opportunities

Social media has become the game changer in many aspects of life today.  Businesses and organizations have been reluctantly forced into using this medium.  Others have embraced the benefits offered.

In its simplest form, social media has changed how people connect with friends, family and businesses.  However, it has also changed the world by helping topple governments and shape society in an instant.

It has become the defining technology of our time and presents an opportunity like no other.

Some argue about the degree social media has impacted business.  Still, marketing trends show how consumers are willing to interact with and voice their opinions about brands they are familiar with.Continue Reading

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Why High Paying Adsense Keywords are Useless

You’re a blogger and you have a goal of making it rich.  You have found a list of high paying Google Adsense keywords on some obscure blog and you know the basics of SEO.

The rest is just hard work right?  You can develop some content around those keywords, do some link building and some basic on-page SEO and you’re in business right?

Wrong.

If your blogging to make money and Adsense is your primary source of revenue, you’re swimming upstream in shark-infested waters.Continue Reading

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Google+ was Dead Until Facebook Screwed Up

Are you using Google+ as your primary social networking platform?

Chances are you’re like many others.  You created an account on Google+, checked it out, and moved back to Facebook.

Google+ was dead.  Facebook had won the battle between social network giants.

That was right up until Facebook rolled out its latest set of changes tinkering with the way a person’s “News Feed” was displayed.

People had fallen in love with the “Most Recent” tab at the top of their profile.  They could click there and get the most recent list of updates from their friends.  It was an easy way to get a chronological list of updates from their friends’ social feeds.Continue Reading

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The Truth About Quality vs. Quantity in Blogging

One of the more popular questions I’ve been receiving lately has centred on posting frequency and how many times a day or week content should be published.

What’s more important, quantity or quality?

Many bloggers struggle with post frequency and there’s a desire by many to write and publish something new every day.  This is driven primarily by the mantra “Content is King” and the misperception around ranking in search results.

Sure, if you post numerous articles on a particular topic, your site will probably rank higher in the search engines.  Your Alexa ranking will improve as well.  However, if you’re posting article after article to satisfy the search engines, you’re probably doing it wrong.Continue Reading

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