With the astounding number of visitors that use the basic search engine each and every day, the ability for Google to expand into a real power house loom large. It is in the best interest of every online business presence out there to recognize the value to be had from developing a Google+ profile now. With all the buzz being created around the newest offerings, the ability for a company to rise above the pack, to reach out and connect with a large number of willing consumers is a true achievement that will echo for many years. From their consideration of the smallest facet of the network, to their further and continuing commitment to future development, the Google team has taken the art of Social Networking and turned it into a very viable tool for any business or corporation to make use of now and well into the next decade. It only remains for the savvy owner to reach out and make use of these amazing tools.

Your business needs to be on Google+

Social networks have taken on a new value in the world of online business. With updates arriving daily, the ability for a group of consumers to connect with and influence business has never been greater. Conversely, the opportunity for businesses to connect in a meaningful way with their customers has been a component not fully realized until now. Recognizing the incredible opportunities available to the innovative company, Google, long a front runner in the world of technology and social networking has once again expanded their impressive list of achievements to include the online business community. Their presiding goal of allowing the independent business person the tools to make their small businesses competitive with world-wide conglomerates is a breathtaking advance in technology. Beginning with the original rollout of Google+, which with dedicated service has begun to rival Facebook and Twitter, the parent company Google set out to realize their vision. Continuing their strong tradition of forward thinking and understanding that laying the groundwork with business required several different components, not just the social communication aspect, Google set about constructing a series of Apps that overlapped and all worked together to guide a business through any needed activity. With the online business community clearly in mind, the available opportunities for positive growth potential on Google+ is abundant and full of developing avenues.

With the timely arrival of Google+ the moment is now for the savvy entrepreneur to make these newest tools available to their own enterprise. By joining the Google+ network and establishing a web presence, the available rewards will soon become apparent. Not only will the business cement its name and trademark early on, but the ability to link with the ever emerging newer Google+ clientele only increases. By riding the forefront of developing technology, the savvy business will demonstrate the wide range of knowledge and attention to detail that every successful operation depends on.
Taking care to move in meaningful steps, until recently businesses were restricted from using the Google+ network, only individuals were allowed to take advantage of the social services, still the network thrived. Now, with Google releasing the latest updates, businesses are beginning to get a taste of what the individual customer experiences. With increased ease and regularity, the average consumer can now take advantage of the complete set of business Apps online.

With an eye on future applications and geared directly towards the interaction of the customer and the business, the client will be able to navigate with ease from the search engine, to the available businesses and their profiles, all the way through the payment process. These advances herald a milestone in the way online business will conduct day to day operations. Now, more than ever it is the owners opportunity to reach out and make use of these tools to conduct a superior level of business in a timely, economically sound and above all intelligent manner of business.

Google+ integrates easily with a multitude of Apps

One of the greatest accomplishments with Google’s latest offering of Google+ for business is the forethought that went into the entire production. Google, along with its previous Apps, now have a very impressive intertwined series of programs that are available to the business person at any time of day or night.

Google’s full suite of business applications help to exemplify the ease of use that is the standard with Google+. Directly connected to the tools that include calendars and a very effective word processor, it is also connected to the extremely popular world of third party Google applications. With such a diverse and constantly updated market available the astute business will now be able tailor the Google+ page to fit their needs precisely.
With the prior groundwork coming to fruition with well over three million online users taking advantage of the already existing Google Apps, it is no small stretch to suggest that many of these same consumers will see the benefits of using Google+ as their primary web presence. With over one hundred and fifty million consumers using their Gmail service every day, Google has a very strong base with which to build. Still in in its infancy Google+ has a degree of potential that neither Facebook nor Twitter currently possess, they are poised to enter and then lead the next great wave of technology.

How Google+ outperforms other social networks

Google approached the Google+ network with a new and innovative philosophy. Instead of viewing the Google+ network as a resource alone in itself, from the outset, they designed it to interact with their entire field of services. This feature alone helps to set Google+ high above the other social networks in the arena of successful consumer satisfaction. By contrast, networks such as Facebook or to a lesser extent Twitter, many of the available services such as payment, are farmed out to a third party. One of the best examples of the developing capacity for Google+ to meet and exceed the needs of the business is the integration of the Google Checkout payment system. With this single application, the need for outside services like PayPal will diminish dramatically.

Perhaps one of Google+’s strongest selling points is the search ability of the business. With the +1 reference method, consumers will now have the new ability to search the business data base directly. With the Google tool Adwords in place and very successful in assisting business to generate income from advertising, the owner can begin to see real results from the many different advertising methods.
All of these advances, long with the basic search service that Google already has in place, allow the businesses visibility to become a whole lot better, a significant improvement over other social networking sites. This is a shining example of the forethought and planning that not only preceded the Google+ rollout, but continues to guide the future development of the social network.

Creating a Google+ Business Account is easy

From the initial offering of the Google+ service, Google has been very aware that any successful new App must be user friendly. The business layout for signing up to Google+ is no exception. With ease and much planning the sign up process has been narrowed to just a few simple steps outlined below:

A) The new user must have an established Gmail account already in use. A good rule of thumb here is to not use a private email account. Be aware that many users will have access to this business account and create accordingly.

B) Next visit the Google+ page for business registration and create the desired account. This will cover the basics including the locale, products and the company name.

C) Get to work on your company’s look. This step involves fine-tuning the visual aspects of the businesses home page. There are a multitude of tools available.
D) Promotion and advertising of the business. Being sure to make use of the full range of tools available to the owner, the many Google Apps make advertising simple.

With the basic outline of a successful business in place, the remainder of the work becomes apparent to the savvy owner. It takes the continued presence and use of many tools, all centered on a consumer and a buyers web presence, that allows the Google+ social network to grow at an impressive and continued manner. In the end, the most vital step of all is for the savvy owner to make themselves familiar with the wide range of very useful Apps available to them. The benefits of being informed will pay generously.

Which Google+ Apps are the most useful to a new business?

Drawing from the long time tradition of fitting Apps to the needs of the consumers, Google has made a strong case for the Google+ social networking integration methods. With a mixture of cunning and tried and true experience, the availability of several top tier Apps work to dramatically improve and streamline any companies online business experience:

A) Google has addressed the usability dilemma head on by providing a how to App for businesses to get their profiles going in the form of Google + Your Business.

B) Direct Connect. This stellar feature allows the owner to connect directly with the social aspect of the network using the +1 reference on their profile page, or through the use of +1 buttons, which allow potential customers to search the business section of the Google search engine directly.

C) Direct Payment App. This is a revolutionary App that will strike into the revenues of many of the standalone PayPal style businesses. Using the Google+ Checkout payment system service, the business owner is able to free the buyer from the often complicated and tricky methods of paying securely for a product. It is all now centered in the Google Apps.

D) Google Places. This is a true stand out for the Google+ service, in that the link in the App allows a consumer to instantly find the physical location of the business. This is absolutely sure to increase a consumers ease of use.

E) The entire Google Apps for Business collection. This groundbreaking addition to the average Google+ site, will add irreplaceable tools at the tips of the owners fingers. By using the already available word processors, built in calendars and many others of the readily available services, the owner finds that the time and energy involved in the creating and upkeep of the site is vastly decreased. The overall stream lining of the Google+ system has been a real hallmark from the beginning of the roll out.

F) Hangouts and Circles in the existing Google+ format allow the business to contact the consumer easily and directly. By using the available options included with each interface, the ability for the business to distinguish, add and update consumers on any potential issue is increased considerably.

G) Primarily for the business that requires a team effort, or collaborative work the Google app Sites provides the perfect online setting for many of the team projects.

H) Google comes to the aid with advertising in the form of the long time successful App Adwords. Using the targeted advertising model established for the savvy owner, clients can embed advertising in the various searches across the internet. Combined with the search element in Google’s arsenal, the effectiveness of Adwords becomes even that much more apparent.
With so much background work having been accomplished before Google+ ever began to roll out the business portion, the availability for effective, applicable software is large and growing larger practically each and every day.

How Google+ for Business works with an Existing Google+ account

Of the many advances that the Google+ trumpets successfully, is the application of the already existing Google+ profile tools to enhance the business communication experience. Google has went to great lengths to build a social network that reaches out to the business community in such a way that it becomes ingrained with every day social interactions. With the inclusion of the business owner in the Google+ arena, the tools that were once the domain for individuals alone now stand to prove their value to the owners of many businesses.

Specifically citing the development of the Hangouts, companies can use and maintain their own Circles that pertain to the topic of their choice. These forums provide a much needed area for employees to come together and accomplish even the most complicated projects. Using various Apps such as Google Docs, working as a group becomes easy, the App Ripples allow an online user to monitor a conversation, making keeping up or referencing a conference commonplace, or using Whats Hot, the employee is at once alerted when their choice of relevant topics and threads have been updated. Each of these advances endeavors to make the job of staying in tune with the latest developments a reality.

Google’s overall goal has been to tap the business into the same social network system advances that the individual user already uses every day. By reaching and using the same tools that have so radically changed social networking for the individuals, Google has provided the ability for the business to take on a complete personality all of its own. In a sense, Google+ has provided a platform for the business to truly come alive in every sense of the word.

Like the personal accounts that the average Google+ first rolled out, business owners will be able to take advantage of the simple more common place tools. It will become second nature to share photos and videos of all kinds, allowing links to be easily set up between business and consumers, businesses and other businesses and anyone or any entity anywhere. The Google+ platform allows for the business to act as an individual in many forms.
Perhaps the most noticeable difference, that many businesses will take advantage of, from the original Google+ individual accounts is the added ability for the owner to create more than one profile. With this, the chance for any entity to diversify increases rapidly.

Adding to the depth of their overall platform is the inspiring development of the local options, using the Local Google+ pages. Using these easy to access features, consumers, both locally and from across the globe, will have immediate access to the entire array of basic information that is needed in many day to day operations. Being able to use Google+ in place of the older more traditional services will now be easier and more convenient than ever before.
Taking just these few innovations into consideration will prove to the consumer that Google is here to stay in the social networking industry. The ability for further development is only limited by the vision and technology that stand behind the research. Considering the strong performance of Google so far in the marketplace, the potential for further advances seem clear.

Choose your advertisement strategy judiciously

Advertising for a product requires thorough research based on demography, social demand and location of the market. Using a uniform marketing plan will not allow the business to reach out to the complete potential consumer base. Use YouTube as a video diary to reach out to the younger demography that spends a considerable portion of their browsing time on the website on a daily basis. Have a Facebook page which is easy to find using relevant keywords for the header title and allow anyone to join it. Generate new podcasts every day and post new articles on the blog every week to allow users of these interactive media to gain fresh content of your business on a regular basis.

Web marketing as a dynamic tool for advertisements

Oracle is one such company that started with a home page that allowed consumers to put in their comments and generate a sense of community with the company. After its initial success with this tactic, the organization switched to the Oracle Open World.

if you are a regular coffee drinker at Starbucks you may want to tell the CIO something that will improve the services and products of the company. These suggestions are attended to by a sound technical group of individuals who try to incorporate them into the company activities to the best of their abilities.

Although Wal-Mart wasn’t quite successful in building an interactive online community with its customers, the company’s determined efforts in this field gave way to the Wal-Mart Check Out which definitely improved things for them.

Use various modes of marketing to reach out to a wider audience

If you are looking to raise online sales of your product use the website to describe all items offered by you in great detail that is easily accessible to visitors. Link the home page to the rest of the web pages with simple text links instead of image links. Make sure that there are no repeat links between two pages as search engines such as Google usually disregard the second link in this case. If the first link is an image and the second is a keyword rich text link then your website may be losing out on valuable search traffic since search engines will only pick up on the image link.

Use the blog as an interactive session between your business and its customers. Allow everyone to leave comments on their experience at your website and address specific consumer complaints promptly. Publish fresh content regularly to allow visitors to find something new every time they visit your blog.

Twitter is a great mode of keeping in touch with your customers in real time. Not only can you update them on the new things that are happening to your business but you can also ask them for their feedback on new ideas that you are working on to understand the potential of their success in the market. Tweeting also lets you receive responses and suggestions from them instantly.

Face it, a 15 year old teenager has all the things you have. So, in order to make the best out of Social Media marketing, you need resources which can effectively manage them. With the massive growth of Social Media, the importance of these resources too has been inevitable. Making the most out of these resources can save you money, time and bring out some ground breaking results.

Let us see about some of the well known social marketing resources:

MediaFunnel – simplicity is the key

This is simply an interface which will allow you to manage your Facebook and Twitter accounts simultaneously. The growth of MediaFunnel has been remarkable and over the past years, it has grown into a massive force with additional options and applications. It has a team of expertise who will manage the brand of your product through both the networks. It also allows your guests to be a part of your network by making them contribute through SMS and E-mails.

The most intriguing factor about MediaFunnel is that anyone can submit a subject to your network which can be reviewed and published to Facebook and Twitter. It organizes the members in your network as “contributors”, “publishers” and “administrators”. The contributors can publish news even without being on Facebook or Twitter.

The Brand Monitoring is another superb application. When you click the Brand Monitoring tab in your dashboard, you will get to see all the latest news regarding your brand and you can publish them to Facebook or Twitter just by a click.

Hootsuite – integration at its best

Have you ever wondered how Twitter is much simpler than other networks like Facebook or MySpace? Now, you have the liberty to have your Facebook and other accounts in a Twitter page. Yes, Hootsuite is a social media resource which will integrate your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts and it will treat them similar to your Twitter account. You can create all the things which you did in the original interfaces but all of that are a tad bit easier now.

When integrated with Facebook, it also offers on-line commenting option. Unlike other managers, it is not software based. You can operate it on the internet and it will not consume any of your hard disk space. If you use the URL shorting option given in Hootsuite (ow.ly), you will be given statistics of the traffic you get to your links in Facebook, Twitter and other pages.

One of the very important features about Hootsuite is that it will allow you to schedule your Twitter posts. Nobody can be online all the time, similarly; nobody would want to post all their Tweets at the same time. So, if you schedule a particular tweet for a specific time, Hootsuite will post it for you!

Similarly, there are other resources like KeenKong, Mutual Mind and Objective Marker as well and these are known to be effective in managing your Social Media Marketing Campaign.

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But Hold on!, Only a good social networking website can help you out and be your best buddy. So let us now find few top social networking website and why they are rated best. A social networking is rated best according to various features like how friendly the user interface is, its security features, its networking features, technical help/support.

Facebook

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It is one of the most famous and popular social networking website. It was launched in the year 2004. Because of its user friendly features within a short span it has got more than 500 million active users. The overall rating of this social networking website is excellent because of its excellent security, technical help/support, legitimate friend focus and it has a very good profile, networking and search facilities. Facebook provides a wide range of services including messages, instant messaging, creating groups etc.

MySpace

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It is one of the popular website in USA (United States of America). It was launched in the year 2003. MySpace is one website which boasts of almost everything,  right from personalized URLs for its users to browsing without registration. The overall rating for this social networking website is excellent because of its ability to share and upload video, audio and image files as well as a blog. When compared to facebook it has excellent profile, networking and search facilities. Some of the most popular activities on MySpace include MySpace TV, MySpace forums, a wide range of applications, etc.

Hi5

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Yet another very popular website especially among the youths is this hi5.it was launched in the year 2005. Recently as the hi5 acquired the social gaming company, Big six, it has evolved as a social gaming website. The overall rating for this social networking website is very good with small lag in technical help/support, search, networking features when compared to facebook and myspace. Other than staying in touch with your friends, this website also allows you to play online games, listen to music, etc

Orkut

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This is the most popular site in Asia and south america. It was launched in the year 2004. It was developed by Google Inc. Orkut has more than 100 million users all over the world, 70% of which comes from India and Brazil. It is a website which is still in infancy among the other social networking websites. The overall rating for this social networking website is very good. It has a very excellent and promising security features when compared to other social networking websites like facebook, hi5, etc. But on the other hand its search option is not too promising. Orkut scraps and communities are the most popular attributes of this website.

Mistakes Which May Cause Unprofessional Appeal

Sending message without subject line

A E-mail without a subject line straight away gives a unprofessional look. In fact a email without subject line itself reduces its importance. So while writing an email, when the subject line is made catchy it will definitely kindle the interest for the recipient to read the email.

Avoid  Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) option

While writing an E-mail when you put a person’s email addresses in the BCC leaving the CC window empty, it gives an unprofessional look. Normally BCC is used in professional mails to avoid accidental ‘reply all’ spams. On the other hand if you are sending mail out to a different group of people, confusing BCCand CC raises some serious privacy and security concerns.

Being Trigger Happy with the “Reply All” button

Sometimes the mistake isn’t in deciding between CC and BC: but between clicking “Reply All” instead of “Reply”. When you click Reply All; your email message is sent to everyone included on the original email and if you didn’t intend to include the information, it can be disastrous from both a security and personal humiliation perspective.

Keeping Hackers At Bay

Holding onto Spammed-out accounts too long.

It is a fact of life that email accounts will accumulate spam over time. This is especially true for the account you use to sign up for newsletters and the accounts that you post online.  When this happens, it is best to simply dump the email account and start afresh. Unfortunately, however, many new email users get very attached to their email accounts and instead just wade through dozens of pieces of spam every day. To avoid the problem, prepare yourself mentally ahead of time for the idea that you will have to dump your ‘catch all’ account every six months.

Forgetting to Delete Browser Cache, History & Passwords.

After using your E-mail account in public terminal, it is important that you remember to delete the browser cache, history, and passwords. Most browsers automatically keep track of all the web pages that you have visited, and some keep track of any passwords and personal information that you enter in order to help you fill out similar forms in the future. If this information falls into the wrong hands, it can lead to identity theft and stolen bank and email information. Because the stakes are so high, it is important that new internet users be aware of how to clear a public computers browser cache so that they can delete private information before lurking hackers can get a hold of it.

Using Unsecure E-Mail Accounts

Using unsecure email accounts to send and receive important and sensitive message such as company  secrets , business secrets and sensitive data can undermine the security measures in place. So make sure that you don’t risk your company’s security by using unsecured email accounts

Failing to Backup & Encrypt Your E-Mails.

Emails are not just for idle chatting, but can also be used to make legally binding contracts, major financial decisions, and conduct professional meetings. Just as you would keep a hard copy of other important business and personal documents, it is important that you regularly back up your email to preserve a record if your email client crashes and loses data.

It is important to encrypt your emails to make sure that if someone else is monitoring your account, at least they can’t understand what you’re saying and hence can avoid hacking of sensitive data.

Mobile Internet

There was a time when mobile phones were used to make calls and send text messages. Today’s age is different. People use mobile phones for web browsing. The slew of smartphones with big touchscreens has made phones a popular web browsing media.

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The number of users that accessed the internet via mobile devices was 59.5 million in 2008. In 2013, this number is expected to touch 134 million and surpass the number of desktop internet users. This means more people will be accessing the net on the move rather than sitting comfortably at their homes.

We are already starting to see the phenomenal growth in the US mobile space. Apple sold more than 3 million iPhone 4s within 2 weeks of launch. Google is currently activating a little above 160,000 Android devices per day. These figures are mind-boggling.

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Mobile Applications

This growth has caused a flurry of mobile applications, especially for Android and iOS. Many of these applications are social media services. Many are informative applications, like score updates for matches. Both of these types of applications are great ways to advertise to users.

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We have already seen why Foursquare and other location based services are more important than conventional social media sites like Facebook. Other mobile applications also allow you to target specific user groups.

Also, think about this – Adblock Plus for Firefox has been downloaded 88 million times. Considering the percentage of US users, quite a few million have been downloaded in the US itself. This means you are unable to reach this chunk of population. How do you reach these people? By using their mobile phones, of course.

Marketing Apps

Designing and selling apps will continue to grow as a market in the years to come. As current OSes continue to improve and new OSes hit the market, there will always be a need for new applications. This gives you a great opportunity to design and give away an informative that quietly markets your business. For example, if you a merchant account provider, you could give away an app that gives information about merchant accounts, and put in your link somewhere so users know where to apply for an account.

The new apps will also give you more advertising opportunities. So if you are trying to sell a recipe book, you can advertise in apps/games related to cooking!

It is clear that the future of marketing depends on the future of the mobile market. If you intend to expand your business in the future, you need to learn to advertise and publicise on mobile devices. If needed, you might want to build a team of people who can handle this for you.

Forget spam comments

“Ohhh this is soooo funnnieeee hahahaha. See my video also HERE!” – Typical spam comment on Youtube videos

If your idea of Youtube marketing is to visit hundreds of videos and leave a comment like the one above, you might as well log off and get a job at your local McDonalds. It just doesn’t work. If you think your video is really related to the current video and will serve to enhance its value, add a video response. Do not use the feature if your video is totally unrelated.

Annotations are good, but don’t make people turn them off

People don’t really mind annotations for the most part. What annoys them is when they occupy a good chunk of the display area. If the annotations interfere with their viewing experience, they will turn them off. A good idea is to add them at the beginning and end of videos, before anything interesting has begun. If you keep them in between make sure they are related to the scene that is playing. That way you inform the users rather than distract them. Whatever you do, your annotations shouldn’t last the entire length of the video unless absolutely necessary. Also, keep them short and precise. You don’t need to add too much fluff to your messages in annotations. Lastly, try to make them the transparent sort, which are less irritating than those with a colored background. That way, you can get the most out of your annotations.

Use the ‘More Info’ box well

Make optimum use of the ‘more info’ box. If you have a link, try to keep it at the beginning, so that users see it even without expanding the box. Add relevant information in the box and do not make it look spammy. If you have added a music video, adding lyrics in the box is a good way to keep readers on that screen instead of heading off to a lyrics site. Giving users additional information makes them like you!

Don’t lie to users in your videos

If yours is a straightforward marketing video, make it informational rather than a sales pitch. Provide users with statistics rather than exaggerated claims. Above all, make it look professional. Get some real faces in there rather than simply text and images. Get some video reviews and combine them with your video. Users are more likely to be impressed by a well made video with visual effects and real people. And with the amount of competition on Youtube these days, you can’t afford to upload anything by the best.

These simple tips should help you leave amateur Youtube marketers eating your dust. As a final note, remember to make your video light hearted and, if possible, funny. Give users a reason to share the video with their friends.

“The last time a friendly tourist asked you to take their picture with an impressive new camera or an attractive woman at the bar said you could buy her a drink; they both may have been working.”
-LifeStyleTom.com

Astroturf originally refers to the fake grass that is often used on sports fields to replace grass. In the marketing field, astroturfing also goes by the name of undercover marketing, stealth marketing or buzz marketing. These words are enough for anyone to figure out that whatever methods are involved, they are not too pretty, and probably border on unethical.

This sort of marketing involves advertising to people in a way that they do not think of it as advertising. The best example, as listed by Wikipedia, is Sony Ericsson which, in 2002, hired actors to accost strangers on the street and ask them to take their pictures with their Sony Ericsson phone. This automatically showed the stranger how good a device it was, a fact further driven in by the hired man continually talking about the great features of the device without making it look like marketing. There are no statistics to show how effective this was, but it is easy to imagine how successful this campaign must have been.

We, of course, are not worried about marketing on the streets. We are concerned with what goes on online.

How effective is it?

The mesh of wires termed the Internet affords marketers and anonymity level not provided by offline marketing. This can allow undercover marketing to be used much more effectively.

Probably no one knows how to use astroturfing better than Apple, whose products always generate a hype of a level unmatched by products of any other company. While it is unlikely that you will be able to get your message out to as many people as Apple, the tactics employed by them are still worth studying. The leaked prototype of the iPhone 4, for example, is considered by many to be a deliberate attempt to generate buzz.

But how do you market services effectively? Or how do you market your products? Surely, a leaked product by some little known manufacturer will be of little consequence, rendering Apple’s tactics useless.

How do you use it?

“I was with a bunch of hot girls and we would just walk into bars, whip out our BlackBerries and try to get guys to look at them by flirting.”
-Julia Royter (source)

To make undercover marketing work, you need a team. It is virtually impossible to do it alone.

One of the most effective methods to do it is to ghostwrite a few blog posts positively speaking about your product or hiring freelancers to review your product/service on various forums.

Another tried and tested method is to use sites like Yahoo! Answers. You might have yourself noticed people giving a link in the “source of answer” field. Sometimes, they are honest individuals who really did get their information from there. Most times, they are marketers who have probably even hired someone to post relevant questions so that they can answer with their links. The average man is none the wiser.

Sites like Wikipedia are also widely used. Since it is so easy to create/edit a page on Wikipedia, numerous marketers use it to create a page for their company, making sure to use a positive tone throughout.

Is it dangerous?

You bet it is! While the dangers of undercover marketing online are much lesser compared to offline marketing, the dangers still exist. In many cases it can backfire. For example, if someone realizes you faked a Wikipedia page and if that someone happens to be a popular blogger, he/she can bring your reputation crashing down with one blog post. You can forget selling your product/service after that.

Astroturfing, undercover marketing, stealth marketing or buzz marketing – whatever you call it, there’s no doubting the fact that it is extremely effective. Used correctly, it will generate huge profits with very little investment.

It’s too technical.

Describing your complicated technical product in all its glorious technical detail may make your CEO happy—but does it make sense to your customers? If the product you sell is very technical, think about who makes the decision to buy it. If it’s a middle manager with no specialized technical training who cares more about cost-savings than technical specs, make sure you emphasize in simple, easy-to-understand language how much money they could save by buying the product.

It’s about you — not them

Your website talks about your company—what it does, how many years it’s been in business, its list of industry awards. But your readers don’t care. They care about their own problems—and effective sales copy explains how you solve those problems with your product or service. Go through your website copy and count how many times you use the words “I” and “We,” as well as the word “you.” If you use the former more than the latter, it’s a sign your website copy is too self-involved.

It’s missing key information

Businesses sometimes leave out crucial information because of a simple lack of planning—or knowledge of how their visitors are using the web. Many prospects go online to quickly and easily find out as much about your product or service as they need to know—well before they’re ready to buy or hire. Make sure you’re including all the information you need to move them as far along in the sales process as possible before they contact you.

The headlines aren’t effective

Online, it’s likely that the headlines are all your visitors ever read. Online readers have the entire Internet to distract them from your message, and if they can’t pick up your message in a glance, they’ll head to a competitor’s site. If your headlines are not persuasive, you are missing an opportunity to get their business or plant a key message. Be sure all your headlines communicate a strong benefit that’s easily understood without having to read the copy underneath.

If your website copy makes these kinds of mistakes, you could be leaving money on the table. Check over your company’s website to see whether it’s really selling your company effectively. If not, it may be time for a copy overhaul.

What is Black Hat?

Black hat methods are ones intended to deceive people. A simple example is to get someone to come to your site promising a certain video, asking the visitor to fill in a form to view the video and, once you get the dollar or two for the form, claim that the video has been removed, when in reality it was never put up. Cookie stuffing, comment blasting, mass PMing, forced ad clicks, email spamming, etc all fall under the black hat category.

Methods that do not involve any deceitful means to make money are termed white hat. In nearly all cases, black hat methods are short term, while white hat methods require a longer period for ROI.

Morals and Ethics

When you are sitting on the porch of your house some day when you are old, looking at your kid playing with his expensive toys, do you want to look back at your life and know that everything you ever did was in some way harmful to someone else? Even in the short term, every time you use a black hat method you are causing a loss for someone. Where do you draw the line?

Possibility of jail term

You do not want to watch the world pass you by from behind bars, do you? No matter how unlikely, there is always the possibility of being fined and/or jailed. Even if you deem being jailed as a very unlikely event, remember that it is not uncommon for CPA companies or other sources to withhold your payment if they find you being engaged in unethical activities. In fact, after spamming methods, complaints of withheld payments are the most common on black hat forums.

No long term map

It is never possible to maintain a long term income with black hat methods. Internet policies are always changing to counter black hat tactics. As a result you always have to be on your feet to remain up to date on newer methods. A source of income that used to get you thousands of dollars a day can come crashing down in a matter of minutes, leaving you completely stranded and frantically searching for another means of employment.

Black hat SEO usage will only work for so long, email spamming will be effective only till mail companies introduce better filters, cookie stuffing will only work till e-commerce sites introduce better algorithms. Wouldn’t you rather have an income source that will get you passive income even if you go on vacation for a week? Wouldn’t you prefer not to have your income dry up by the time you return from the trip to Hawaii?

If you have been using black hat methods, it is time you sat back and pondered these points. It might be time to plan a white hat road map for the future.