Reasons Why Smartphones Are A Privacy Nightmare

For many people looking for mobile phones for sale in Sri Lanka, the privacy it offers may be a problem. It is always good to be aware of the issues that could arise, so that you are ready when something happens.

Here are a few of the more common privacy issues that you may across when using a mobile phone, together with some simple solutions to avoid them.

Privacy Issue 1

The fact that your phone’s microphone can be remotely activated without your knowledge or consent by an application installed on your phone or by a hacker who manages to break into your phone.

Solution: Turn off all voice recognition features unless absolutely necessary; do not install any apps that request permission to use ‘microphone’.

Privacy Issue 2

Your phone stores all your personal information, including sensitive data. Storing your personal information on your phone can cause a lot of problems if it gets into the wrong hands.

Solution: Lock down access to sensitive data on your phone and limit what you store in general by using password protection and encryption.

Privacy Issue 3

You can be tracked with GPS technology that is built into most smartphones. Most people think this location tracking is not really a problem however the reality is that location tracking can be used for a lot of things that are not always the right ones.

Solution: Turn off location services when you do not need to use them. You should also never share your location with others unless it is necessary. For example, if you are meeting someone at a place then sharing the address would make sense but otherwise there isn’t any reason why you would need to share your location.

Privacy Issue 4

There is a risk of having personal data scraped by an app or even malware that can scrape contact lists, calendar events and more to send spam emails on your behalf.

Solution: Use the basic apps that come with your phone for contacts and calendars as these are likely less targeted than other options you might find in the Play Store or Apple App Store. If you really want to use something outside of these then make sure it’s from a trusted developer who has been around for years rather than someone new with no reviews yet, because this reduces the chance, they will be collecting information about you without telling anyone else what they are doing with your data.

Privacy Issue 5

Your smartphone tracks everywhere you go.

Solution: Make sure that location services are turned off unless you’re using a map or something similar. This will stop your smartphone from tracking everywhere you go and also save on battery life as it won’t have to use up power keeping the GPS active all the time.

Privacy Issue 6

Mobile apps track what you type, even if it’s not in an app.

Solution: A lot of mobile apps that require access to your device can collect data about everything that is typed into them even when they aren’t open, showing how dangerous these permissions can be for privacy needs. If this bothers you then uninstall any one of these apps immediately because there is no way for them to secure their own information without some major changes being made by developers themselves.

Privacy Issue 7

Smartphones are constantly under attack from viruses and malware, which makes them a privacy nightmare.

Solution: To avoid these issues entirely, never download an app or give permissions to an application unless you know exactly what they do and how they work. If there’s no explanation given then don’t install the app because most likely they’re trying to take advantage of its users by stealing their private information for profit. Smartphones have a lot of bugs that can lead to hackers stealing your data. It is true that smartphones have a lot of vulnerabilities that can lead to your data being stolen. In 2017, over 45% percent of all apps available in the Google Play Store had at least one security issue which is pretty astounding when you think about it because this means hackers could easily access just about anything on your device with little effort.

Other issues related to mobile phone usage and privacy are:

Companies like Facebook track everything you do online and sell it for profit – This is a bit of a controversial topic and it’s easy to see why. Companies like Facebook track everything you do online, from where you go on the internet, what websites you visit and how long your average time spent on these sites is for. They then sell this information to advertisers who use it as a way to target their advertisements at people much more accurately than ever before.

It’s not always easy to delete the content from your phone if you want to get rid of it permanently – Permanent deletion of data from a smartphone is not always easy and may require you to do multiple steps, and still will not be 100% complete.
It is more important than ever to learn how to protect your privacy when using a mobile device. You can start by making sure you have all of the right permissions on your phone, including location services and internet access. By making sure these little things are looked into, you can have a safe and secure experience when using mobile phones. So, if you are looking for mobile phones for sale in Sri Lanka, but are worried about the privacy issues that everyone is talking about, don’t be. There are many ways in which you can avoid these problems if you know how.

What Is The Impact Of Smart Phones On Society As A Whole?

The world has changed drastically in the past decade or so, with more and more people wanting to own and looking for mobile phones for sale in Sri Lanka and around the world. Today, it is common to see people walking around with their eyes glued to their phones. This can be dangerous because many of the users are unaware of what is happening around them and they may bump into other people or walk in front of traffic without even noticing. On top of this danger, there have been some incidents where someone has fallen off a cliff while using their phone on an elevated platform. It would seem that smartphones have made society more disconnected than ever before! However, these devices might not be so bad after all.

The first benefit for mobile technology being available everywhere is simple; convenience. When you need information at work but your computer isn’t handy, just whip out your smartphone and look up the answer quickly. No longer do you need to go to huge cumbersome libraries to do research, you can just plug in a couple of words and find everything on the internet.

The second benefit is safety. We all know that texting while driving isn’t safe at all, but many people still do it. However, if your phone has a hands-free mode then this may be better for you as you won’t have one hand off the wheel. What’s more, mobile technology could save lives by sending out an SOS message when there is danger nearby. In fact, some phones now come with an app that will alert loved ones or emergency services if something bad happens, preventing crimes from happening altogether. There are also apps which help those who suffer from mental illnesses like depression or anxiety disorder, allowing them to seek instant medical advice immediately rather than waiting until the next day. They can also send an SOS message if they feel like something is wrong, which would be perfect for someone who suffers from agoraphobia.

Communication has changed for ever with the advent of the mobile phone. While there are many positive aspects to it, one negative aspect is the reduced level of interaction that people have with each other. With mobile phones, people can chat to their friends online rather than going outside and meeting them. This reduces the possibility of making new friendships as well as strengthening existing ones.

People are spending more and more time on their devices now than ever before. This has led to many people feeling isolated and alone, as it is easy for them to communicate with whomever they like online rather than having the need to go out of their way to meet someone face-to-face.

Mobile phones have had a huge impact on how we work, play and interact with others. However, the most notable effect is that people are constantly checking their devices for messages or news updates rather than living in the moment. People are distancing themselves more and more from the real world, as it is easy for them to communicate with whomever they like online rather than having the need to go out of their way to meet someone face-to-face. It has led to a decrease in the number of people going out and socialising as it is much easier for them to spend their time at home on their phone, rather than meeting up with friends or family or even just taking part in some form of real-world activity such as sports. The same applies if someone who wants to buy something; instead of having the need to go out and search around different shops before finding what they want; all that’s needed now is an internet connection and then any product can be bought online without too much fuss and this certainly helps save time. People can even search for mobile phones for sale in Sri Lanka and make their purchase online!

Changes happening in society due to increased mobile phone usage is impacting all aspects of life, from children’s education to healthcare and other aspects of everyday life.

Education: Smartphones are being used in classrooms to help engage with students and increase accessibility for learning resources outside the classroom; this helps save time when it comes to looking up information, rather than having to wait until school or college is back in session before doing research or finding out more about a certain topic. This also leads on perfectly into how smartphones can be beneficial when studying at home; why waste hours upon hours reading through textbooks if any form of study material you need is available online instead?

Healthcare: Apps designed specifically for healthcare professionals have been created due to demand from doctors who want something that’s easier and quicker when it comes down to getting patient reports across, making communication between healthcare workers and their patients much easier.

Gaming: Smartphones have had a huge impact on the gaming industry, not only do they provide gamers with new and exciting games to play (which would have taken years for them before smartphones were available), but they also make playing these games possible anywhere.

Entertainment: social media has played an extremely important role in society since its creation over 20 years ago; it allows users all around the world to connect no matter where their friends are based. This is likely due to how mobile phones allow people to use social media sites like Facebook or Twitter easily while out and about without having to wait until you get home first.
People’s lives are being impacted by the use of smartphones in many ways, both positive and negative and it is difficult to see if the good outweighs the bad. In the future, we may need to be more aware of how sociological effects are amplified because of smartphones and social media. We will have to consider these things in our own lives as well. It’s up to us what direction we want society (or at least ourselves) to go in.

TIPS FOR A MORE ECO-FRIENDLY KITCHEN

Let us see how we can all make small changes to make our kitchens eco-friendlier at home.

An eco-friendly kitchen should have tools and equipment made using sustainable materials such as wood, bamboo and glass. Such kitchen items in Sri Lanka are readily and easily available in many stores around the country. Handmade items in Sri Lanka such as coconut shell spoons, clay pots etc are ideal for such a kitchen.
While you can make any type of floors or counters eco-friendly by replacing them with bamboo, there are some other things that you can add in your home to help reduce greenhouse gases like installing low flow faucets and shower heads, recycling used household items instead of throwing them out, cutting down on car use by walking or biking when possible to the grocery store, reducing hot water usage etc.
One of the greatest things you can do is to replace some electric appliances with their gas counterparts while saving on energy costs at the same time, such as an oven or range top, dishwasher and clothes drier. You can also use solar powered products for lighting in areas that don’t get much sun light during certain parts of the day.
Another way to reduce greenhouse gases is by using recyclable kitchenware and eco-friendly home items in Sri Lanka, instead of disposables like plates made out of paperboard, styrofoam cups etc. This will help reduce waste going into landfills which contribute methane gas when they decompose over time.
One way to reduce waste is with compost bins for food scraps so those do not end up as landfill waste where they decompose very slowly, releasing methane gas into the atmosphere which contributes to climate change.
Lastly make sure that you recycle whatever you can when it comes to the kitchen, such as used cooking oil or empty soda bottles.

These Direct Marketing Tools Will Fill Your Trunk With Cash

As a copywriter, as a marketer or entrepreneur, it’s important you take this lesson on board. The results will astound you. When we can’t have a thing, we want it more… and you can easily apply this concept into your marketing. That’s why “Take Away Selling” is so damn powerful; you make them hot for what you’ve got and then you tell them they can’t have it! This makes them explode with desire; they want your offer even more when they know they can’t have it. I knew a guy once lusted after his secretary for years.

Couldn’t have her because he was married… and anyway, she was half his age. Well you know the story. He leaves his wife, moves in with the secretary, and within 3 months he was on his own. He realised real quick he did not want to spend the rest of his life with this bimbo, he missed his wife and realised he made a big mistake. Alas, too late. However, the lesson is clear. You see, he saw what he wanted to see in his secretary… blinded from the truth by his desire. And because he couldn’t have her it drove him insane.

It’s the same thing with our marketing. Be very aware, when limiting your offer in any way, or when you’re using Take Away Selling, of this “we all want what we can’t have” concept. Realise the sheer power of it as you write the copy, or when you’re instructing your copywriter. You remember what it’s like when you couldn’t have something right? Well this is how your prospects will feel; so you’ve gotta make them feel this loss even more in your copy.

Template:
1. Make the offer urgent and limited.
2. Make them feel the pain of missing out.
3. Come from a position of strength with plenty of Take Away language.
4. Make them realise if they miss out it’s their loss, not yours.

TVI Express – Making Money Through Direct Selling

If you ever wanted to just make money from the comfort of your own home, then direct selling in the TVI express market is something to consider. Travel and tourism makes up $7 trillion in revenue annually, so why not get into this market and make a lot of money easily from the comfort of your home or wherever you happen to be at the time. The best thing about TVI express selling is that you get the chance to tell people about fantastic travel deals and accommodation you have used. If they make a booking through your recommendation or directly from your website, you will receive a percentage.

This TVI express idea is similar to affiliate marketing, where you will earn money making sales for a parent company. With so many affiliate sites and programs out there, it is good to know that you can make money easily through direct selling, which, in the travel and leisure industry, is very easy to do.

Promoting free holidays and discounted travel opportunities are products that people love and will be interested in without you needing to say that much. With most of these opportunities you will receive your own website which you will promote and this is how the parent company can keep track of your progress and sales.

The best thing about making money through direct selling with travel ideas like TVI express is that you will be able to do this no matter what your age or experience level. Anyone can join up and become a direct seller which is great news for those students needing some extra cash, a stay at home mom supplementing her income, or a retiree looking for something to do whilst getting paid.

Was Article Marketing an Inevitable Web Based Technique?

It is almost hard to believe that article marketing as a means of promoting a business is still relatively new. For many online entrepreneurs it seems as though search engine optimized content has been around for decades. Yet even the internet and world wide web itself is still relatively new. Looking back over the past decade and a half it becomes easy to see why not only has article marketing flourished as a way of marketing online businesses, but was virtually an inevitability as the web grew ever larger and more encompassing.

In the first few years of the web’s emergence as a global means of communicating and carrying out business it was relatively easy to attract an audience, since there were so few websites that finding a niche market was little more than simply choosing a market in which to work. All markets were niche at that time, and simple web directories were enough to allow the serious contenders to be found by anyone interested in their services or products.

As the web grew, exponentially, it became increasingly hard for web directories to be kept up to date and relevant, with some moving toward a more automated system. But with automation came corruption, with business owners quickly realising the ease with which they could become dominant within a particular field. Looking for information or businesses on the web quickly became more difficult, and early search engines were an inevitable replacement for all but the most thorough and incorruptible directories.

But search engines were inherently flawed, relying almost solely on the combination of established web directory libraries and automated evaluation of websites based, to a large degree, on aspects such as meta tags and website names. To guarantee a top listing within any particular market it quickly became known that the best method was to stuff web pages full of relevant keywords, and create bloated meta tag descriptions and keyword descriptions which would rival any thorough entry in even the most comprehensive thesaurus.

Online marketing appeared to be a seesaw, with businesses weighing down their side with techniques designed to boost their visibility and dominance within a market, and then search engines devising ever more sophisticated methods to redress the balance and improve the relevance of their results, and the appropriate categorization and ranking for sites irrespective of their attempts to twist the search algorithms to their own advantage. It seemed that the early days of the world wide web were witnessing a battle between the advertisers and marketers on the one hand, and the librarians and custodians of the digitized world on the other.

Today, the major search engines, perhaps especially Google, have developed fiendishly complex algorithms and methods of scanning, evaluating and cross referencing web content that any method designed to fool the search engines is more likely to result in a website being blacklisted or at least demoted towards the oblivion which is anything below the first three pages of results.

There are many ways in which an online business can help to promote its name, attract customers and boost profits, and any entrepreneur will be keen to employ most, if not all, of these methods. These include, for example:

· Web content optimization

· PPC advertising

· External listings & backlinks

· Article marketing

It is only through the careful and appropriate application of each of these four areas that full success can usually be achieved. Marketing a website requires a holistic approach, and omitting to spend adequate time on any one of these areas is likely to see less impact or eventual success than considering all of them as aspects of a single marketing initiative.

Article marketing derived from a number of factors all of which occurred at around the same time as the search engines became wise to the many less savoury optimization techniques being employed by increasingly sly marketers. By being able to analyze web pages and online content search engines were able to identify the relevance and context of any particular page. It is for this reason that entering a search phrase such as ‘cordial orange’ will not generate results offering websites focussing on friendly fruits. The search engines’ algorithms are able to scan the words on a page and make assumptions, based on previous experience, as to the likely context.

For example, if the keyword ‘cordial’ was discovered on a web page then this could mean either a drink or a friendly manner. If the remainder of the page contained words such as ‘orange’, ‘glass’ and ‘ice’ then it would be reasonable to assume that the page related to the type of cordial which you drink.

On the other hand a web page which contained, besides the word ‘cordial’, words such as ‘invitation’, ‘party’ and ‘etiquette’ it would be more likely to be based on manners and social entertaining.

It is by taking on board these contextually related words that search engines are able to build up a picture not only of how relevant a web page is within the context of any given subject, but also how well it compares to other web pages based on the same or similar subjects.

A well written article will not just push the basic keyword, ‘cordial’, since this gives the search engines little clue as to the context. With too many keywords comes the risk of demotion or blacklisting, and with too few contextually related words, the less relevant or meaningful the article will be, and the less likely it is that it will appear in the search results listing.

Effective article marketing helps ensure high ranking articles for any given subject by using this method of contextual language appraisal – known more commonly as latent semantic indexing, or LSI.

But what is also important to consider is why article writers try so hard to ensure their articles are seen by the search engines as contextually meaningful and highly relevant for the particular search being carried out. There are two reasons why it is important to create well written, effectively constructed search engine optimized articles. Both reasons relate to the use of the author’s resource box included at the foot of the article.

The first benefit from having a highly ranked article is that if you have written it well, you will naturally lead your readers toward your article box, providing them with a reason to click the links which you will have included. This will help direct a high volume of traffic directly through to not only your website, but the specific page of your website most appropriate to those arriving from any given location.

The second benefit is that by providing anchored keywords – hyperlinked keywords – you are helping to provide ‘votes’ for your website. Let me briefly explain.

Because of the issues relating to online marketers abusing search engine algorithms by force-feeding them with keywords, the search engines use a second tactic in order to determine the relevancy and appropriateness of any given website for any given search query. Content rich and keyword relevant content is not everything. The more websites of good standing which link to your website, the more likely it is in the eyes of the search engines that your site is reputable, relevant, trustworthy and suitable to list for the given keyword search.

By using the specific keywords you are looking to promote as the anchor text within your author’s resource box, the more tightly you are helping the search engines log these external links, and the more likely it is that your website will be ranked higher for those keyword searches.

All of this directs us to the conclusion that not only is article marketing an inevitable part of what the web has become today, but it is also fraught with issues, misunderstandings and errors.

Three Email Marketing Tips to Get More Sales

Use these three email marketing tips to improve your email open rate and conversion rate. The higher the open rate, the better you chance of converting readers into buyers, and making more money.

Tip 1: Choose a Short and Intriguing Subject Line for Email Marketing Campaigns

Subject lines are the hardest part of any email marketing campaign to get right. Most companies test various subject lines to see which lines improve open rates and response rates. Customer decide within a few second whether or not the email is of interest to them by the subject line. Email preview programs in such popular software as Outlook, handheld devices, and many other programs often display only the subject line, making the subject line even more critical to success.

To write compelling subject lines, try the following:

Wait until after you’ve written your entire email message before writing the subject line. Sometimes it’s only after you’ve written the entire message that a great subject line jumps out from the body copy.
Focus on the customer’s wants, needs and desires – the benefit. “XYZ’s Best Sale of the Season” is succinct and immediately tells the reader that there’s a sale inside this email and it creates a sense of urgency – if I don’t open this email, I may miss the best sale of the season.
Avoid words such as “Free” which can be marked as spam. Also avoid double entendres and mysterious subject lines – these can feel like a bait and switch to the customer.
Keep subject lines within 50 characters to make sure they are displayed on the majority of devices.
Test, test, and test again! If one subject line works for you right now, test new ones against it. Use it as your control. Do not remain complacent. Don’t wait until the numbers start to fall before trying new ideas. Always keep things fresh and interesting but measure, monitor and repeat success.
Tip 2: Focus on One Major Point in Email Marketing

There’s so much to read in today’s world. Books, magazines, newspapers, journals, websites, articles, emails….people are overwhelmed, including your customers. Make it easy for them to read your communications. Stick to one major point in your emails. What will you focus on? That depends. You need to understand what motivates your customer. Is he looking for information? Then focus on the information only you can provide which makes you indispensable to him. Is he a bargain shopper? Focus on special events and sales. But give customers one major point to focus on. Having too many points in an email scatters the message too much and makes it hard for people to respond. When there are too many choices in one communication, people tend to put the email aside and promptly forget about it.

Tip 3: Don’t Send Too Many Email Marketing Campaigns

Over mailing or exhausting an email marketing list is rampant these days. Be very careful when increasing the frequency of emails. If you notice your unsubscribe rate increasing, try tinkering again with the frequency and taper back on how many emails you send out.

Your customer list is your gold mine. Customers who trust you enough to hand over their email address are likely to be better respondents than those who you contact cold through advertisements, paid search and other online marketing methods. Because email marketing is so low cost, the temptation is to keep sending it out until you get a response. Don’t drown your customers under a deluge of emails.

Email marketing is rapidly outpacing direct mail and other forms of advertisement as a great way to retain loyal customers and gain sales. To make money through email marketing, give your customers a reason to care. Focus your message, and send them just enough to keep your company and products fresh in their minds. With judicious use of data and testing of messages and subject lines, you can refine your email marketing campaigns until they are the most profitable marketing method for your company.

How to Increase Your Website Traffic With Article Marketing

If you’re trying to earn an income, or even just make a little extra money, by building websites, then you know how important traffic is. Without traffic to your site, it doesn’t matter how good it is – nobody’s going to see it, and you’re not going to make any money. Article marketing is a great way to increase your traffic, and best of all it can be 100% free. Let’s look at how to use articles effectively.

First, understand that there are lots of different ways to use article marketing. You can write articles and submit them to directories like EzineArticles.com and GoArticles.com. You can write articles and offer them directly to other webmasters with sites related to the topic. You can even offer to write guest posts on other people’s blogs or websites.

The method that most people think of when they hear article marketing is the first one, however – submitting articles to article directories. Other webmasters can then take those articles and use them on their own websites, as long as they leave your “resource box” intact, with the links to your website.

There are two ways to use this type of article marketing – for direct traffic and for backlinks. Direct traffic comes from people reading the articles on the article directory and clicking the link in your resource box to visit your site. Backlinks are of more value for increasing your website’s ranking in the search engine, driving traffic through those sources.

Direct traffic is quicker – in fact, it can be practically instantaneous in some cases – while backlinking is a longer-term benefit. Ideally, you should be considering both when you submit your articles.

When you’re doing your keyword research for your own website, you should be planning your article marketing action plan as well. You can target different keywords in your articles than on your site, or you can target the same ones. If your website ranks well in the search engines and your articles do too, you could wind up with multiple links in the top 10 results that all ultimately point back to your site.

When writing your articles, it’s best to give enough information about your topic to be helpful to the reader, but leave enough on the table that they will want to click through to your website. That is, after all, where the rest of that information can be found, right?

Video Marketing – So Hot Right Now

Video Marketing: Efficient and Effective

Video Marketing is possibly the most effective marketing strategy that you could use right now. Think about it: your customers can see and hear what your product or service is about.

This works especially well when there is something you want to explain or demonstrate about your product or service, or if you want to communicate a personal message to your potential clients.

If you’ve seen the power of video marketing in action and definitely want to get amongst it, but lack skills, software, equipment or time, then you can always outsource this to a well-priced Video Marketing firm, preferably one that has a variety of good testimonials.

Video Email Marketing is the New old-school Direct Mail

A video email marketing campaign is in some ways the same principal as old fashioned direct mail – a personal delivery of your message right into your customer’s inbox, for them to read at home or work, at a time that’s convenient to them.

However video email marketing uses new technology to speed, leverage, and automate delivery – plus provide more information in the form of audio and moving images plus text – that is available just using plain printed direct marketing.

Video Testimonials

These days, it’s just not a testimonial unless it’s a video testimonial. People stopped trusting those non-video testimonials on websites long ago – they’re too easy to fake.

However, a good video testimonial offers the all-important social proof – proof that an actual human has been happy with the product or service they are endorsing.

The internet has been all about social proof and peer referrals these days, specially since everyone has got used to Web 2.0 properties and uses them like mad. (think Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.)

YouTube: the new search-engine

Google is still number one, sure, but Facebook is #2, and YouTube is #3 – though they can swap places on any given day.

And as YouTube is actually a search engine in it’s own right, it’s worth just as much time targeting YouTube in your website’s SEO (search engine optimization) efforts as it is to concentrate on Google, since people are spending so much time on YouTube these days.

And it’s growing! (no wonder Google bought YouTube…) Video SEO has even got it’s own term these days – VSEO.

Google Loves Video – Apparently…

Although all we marketers can do is speculate, by running various tests and observing what happens – because Google doesn’t publicly divulge most of their their ranking algorithm criteria – experts believe that if you have video on your page, you will get an extra search engine results brownie point or two.

Which helps your rankings.

Video Marketing does not have to be expensive

Video Marketing does not have to be expensive. In the old days – sure, specially if you went the whole hog and shot on 35mm, with lights, multiple cameras, a sound recordist, hair, makeup, and an expensive edit, with possibly even some animation and special effects, done by rows of mac boffins – oh – and an original score – then, yes. It was, and still is, big bucks to make films.

Advertising agencies regularly spend a ton of client money making them expensive television commercials, costing into the millions in some cases – but these days, there is an alternative.

Nowadays, even bootstrappers and SMEs can afford video marketing.

YouTube video quality is improving, but right now, footage shot on an iPhone on a 2 megapixel camera is still perfectly acceptable – though this of course depends on your market, what you’re selling, and who it’s for.

Message over Medium

Your valuable and authentic content, that has a message, or conveys information – is way more more important than the camera quality.

Case in point: Mobile phone video footage is often broadcast on the global television news, if some person at the right place and the right time got an exclusive piece of footage of an important event that the network news crews didn’t capture, with all their fancy equipment.

The point is: If you want to connect with your customers with video marketing, over-producing your video may actually have the opposite effect on your customers.

Don’t risk putting your customers off by overproducing a video that could alienate your potential clients rather than making them feel a bond with and ready to do business with you. You got to keep it REAL.

Overspending is not justified online

Spending big bucks for broadcast quality video may be overkill for internet video marketing and video email marketing purposes.

You want your customers to watch your video marketing and think “Wow! I was just looking for something like this in a search engine, and look what I found! These guys seem like the perfect thing for me right now! I think I’ll even forward this video to my associate!”

One of the best case scenarios for video marketing is that it goes viral – that the recipients think your content is so good and so relevant or interesting or entertaining – so valuable, in other words – that they forward it to friends and associates all by themselves.

Mistakes made by companies using video marketing

A lot of companies who spend a lot of money on video marketing and don’t do it right.

I have seen well-meaning companies mailing out physical DVDs as a video marketing tool – often of a lengthy and sometimes boring presentation, filmed with one camera at the back of the room and inferior sound.

As a result, their prospect loses interest – even if they did view the video.

Too often, the gap of time between the customer requesting the information and then receiving the physical DVD in the mail means that their interest may have waned, or their desire for information is no longer at the peak it was when they requested the information.

A better solution might be to edit your content to under ten minutes, post it on your website, and offer clients a chance to sign up and view the entire presentation.

This means you can deliver your video marketing information at the exact time when the customer is available to view it and their desire is at it’s peak, and they can review the material and respond to your call to action immediately.

Automating your Video Email Marketing

Video email marketing can be automated, which has the following benefits for your company:

save on manufacturing and shipping costs
save on staff processing costs
the prospect gets the content instantly
streaming content is secure and very cost-effective
automated content delivery using an autoresponder saves time and money
grow a mailing list of interested leads

Keepin’ it REAL

What video marketing done correctly should do is bridge the gap between a complete stranger watching your video on the web, and someone who may want to do business with you – right now! Keepin’ it REAL.

That’s what works today.

We’re in the era of authenticity, where BS artists will no longer be tolerated.

Video marketing shows your customers some very important non-verbal clues that will give them a ‘feeling’ about you and your company. They can come to their conclusions about your company in private, without you being there to hassle or hard-sell them.

These days, people don’t like feeling that they are being ‘sold to’, however they love purchasing – the difference being, they want to gather information and make their own self-empowered decisions on what to purchase.

Social Media Internet Marketing – What is One of the Most Common Reasons Beginning Marketers Fail?

Do you agree with the following statement? Anything you can do once you can do twice as long as you did it on purpose. That just makes sense. If you know what you did, did it intentionally and got the result you were looking for then you can repeat the process and get the result again…and again…and again…

The same concept can, and should, be applied to your social media internet marketing efforts. You need to know what you do and the result so that when you achieve the desired result you can do it again. For example, you have your web site based sales process all ready to go. Now you need someone to visit that web site who may be interested in what it has to offer. You pick your method or methods of marketing and execute them. You get your first visit to the web site. Does it make sense that you also now know how to get a second visit by doing the same things a bit more? Yes!

Of course, you know (or will know shortly if you are very much a beginner) that visits to a web site do not directly translate into sales. It simply does not work that way. For simplicity let us say that for every adequately targeted 100 visitors you get one person who takes an action on your web site that demonstrates continued interest in what is being offered there. An example of that would be signing up for your newsletter. Now you have a way to continue the communication with that person. You have your first lead. Now that you were successful in getting one lead do you think you know how to get a second lead? Yes!

A working marketing equation on the results in this example so far would be:

1 interested lead requires 100 targeted visitors.

It is unlikely you started your business just to send out free newsletters every week. You want your leads to buy something from you. Over time you figure out that for every 100 leads your efforts generate you get one sale. Again, you are aware of what you are doing and if you get one sale you know how to get two sales…and three…and four…

Now the marketing equation becomes:

1 sale requires 100 interested leads.

1 interested lead requires 100 targeted visitors.

So…

1 sale requires 10,000 targeted visitors.

These examples are not far off from how it really works for beginners who do not yet have a firm grip on optimizing their efforts and automating everything they can. These things take practice, experience and resources. Let’s say it takes 10 sales before you are getting good enough and your business is generating enough resources for you to experience a steady increase in the effectiveness of your efforts.

Going back to our working marketing equation you now see that you need to generate 100,000 targeted visitors with your marketing efforts before you will know what you are doing well enough to steadily increase your rate of success and get your business the traction it needs to get where you want it to go.

Now we have come around to the original question for this article. What is one of the most common reasons beginning internet marketers fail? Is it because they cannot get a visit to their web site? No. Everyone I have ever talked to has been able to get their first visit. In fact, the lion’s share of them were able to get all the way to their first sale. So, by extension, most internet marketers do know how to get two sales…three sales…100 sales. But they never get there…

So, why do they fail if they know exactly how to succeed? They do not see that they know how to succeed already and they lose their morale and motivation. They see it seems to take way too much work to get a sale and the cash flow is far too slow to keep them going. They do not accept that practice is required to get good at marketing just like everything else worth doing. They never make it to where their skills, repeat sales and word of mouth kick into gear and accelerate their business beyond the direct results of their own personal effort. They need to get to where they start to see that and get there fast to retain their enthusiasm. If 100,000 targeted visitors are needed before a beginner really starts to understand and get their business some real traction and that has to happen relatively quickly in order to remain motivated, what does the beginner need to do?

Most beginners start real slow. They are skeptical and have not made their new business the priority it needs to be at first. They just put their big toe in to test the water. This is the perfect approach…for failure. You absolutely must act massively and get your 100,000 targeted visitors, your early successes and your business momentum up before you lose your enthusiasm. Period. There is no shortcut. Whether you want your new internet business to just generate a few extra dollars to play with or you want to be the next internet millionaire you must start with massive action. Note that this entire article assumes you have access to the basic fundamentals of an effective marketing strategy and an effective sales process. Those are beyond the scope of this article but there are many of both available out there these days (and they are likely to be the subject of future articles now that I thought about it for a minute…). If you do not have effective marketing strategies and an effective sales process in front of you do not market. It will be a waste of your effort and resources. However, even with those two things being perfect…you will not experience the success you came into this for unless you act massively…now. Commit to doing your homework to ensure you are using strategies and sales processes that are effective. Commit to doing whatever it takes to get those first 100,000 well targeted visitors to the front door of your sales process. Commit to doing that as fast as you possibly can through massive action.