1. Google Analytics: The first place I look for good insights is in my Google Analytics data. First, I check the content section. Knowing which articles and pages are the most popular will help you understand what topics are of most interest to your current website visitors. Be sure to use a broad date range to shake out any new articles that have found temporary fame. Second, check the search traffic source page to see what keywords and phrases are bringing people to your site. If you have found some search engine luck in a few phrases or words build off of them to solidify your positioning.
2. Suggestion Box: Everyone is anxious to get the word out about their latest product or idea. Often times you can glean some excellent content ideas by allowing your blog visitors to submit their suggestions. I generally do this by setting up a content suggestion page or widget (depending on how much you want to encourage input).
3. Topic Discussion Forums: Whatever your topic and niche is I’m confident that there is a forum/online discussion board somewhere online where people with that interest have conversations. Visit that forum and setup an account. Browse the most recent topics and look for the common questions or unanswered questions that you could answer with a blog post. This has the added benefit of driving traffic to your blog by posting your blog post as an answer to people’s questions.
4. LinkedIn Groups: Same concept as above. LinkedIn groups are very popular and you can almost always find a group specific to your topic. Join and sign up for the daily or weekly email digest. This will show you what topics are most trending and most difficult for people to answer/address.
5. Use Twitter and Facebook to Ask: Since social media is all about conversations, why not start one by asking people what questions or concerns they have about your topic? You will be surprised how much response you get. This is also a great way to ensure that after writing your blog post you have a few people who are very likely to go visit your blog.

What other ideas do you have to keep the blog post ideas flowing?

I’m not talking about Facebook. Of course you should be buying PPC on Facebook. Its the epitome of targeting but most everyone knows about it these days (which is why it seems to be getting more expensive).

What is the next pay-per-click frontier… I think these are among the options:

1. Goodreads: Goodreads.com is the largest and fastest growing social network built around books, book reviews, and book clubs. Stop to think about your target market. Don’t you think it would be easy to identify and target your potential customers/clients based on what books they probably read? I have found that this is generally the case. You can target by normal demographics but you can also target by book, genre, or author.
2. Twitter: You can buy targeted and promoted tweets and trends directly from Twitter.com. You can also use a 3rd party like SponsoredTweets. Either way it tends to be easy to target users based on what hashtags they use and who they follow. Good chance that everyone who follows ESPN is interested in sports.
3. LinkedIn: The site isn’t new but did you know you can buy ads there? It isn’t as saturated as Facebook and you can still target your audience effectively without a large budget. Just navigate to LinkedIn.com and look for the Advertising link at the bottom of the page.

Where else have you found success with your targeted ppc campaigns?

That is why I now always talk about the three Cs of Internet Marketing. This gives me a framework around which I can organize my thoughts and in which the clients can better understand the complete strategy and action points. The three Cs are in a certain chronological order and need to be addressed accordingly. Strategies revolve around these three points and always in this order.

Content

Your internet marketing strategy starts with creating content. It doesn’t matter if you are a plumber, blogger, or widget salesperson; you must create online content. Content is IMPORTANT because it sets the stage for everything else you do. Creating content gives you added credibility in your profession. Content gives you informational products to offer to entice people to join your email lists etc. Content gives you something to publish to social media networks on a regular basis. Content gives search engines something to read and index in reference to your website and what you are about.

At the very beginning you must map out an internet marketing content strategy. Use these questions as a guideline to help you define your content strategy:

• What are you going to write about? It should be related to your industry/products/services. It should have a wide audience. It should be generic enough that you can create endless amounts of content moving forward.
• Where will you need to publish the content? Your blog is an absolute must but you may need unique content for newsletters or info products to giveaway.
• How often do you need to produce content? Consistency is key so decide in the beginning how often you can commit to publishing new content.

Community

The second C is all about getting visitors to your site and followers in your social media and email lists. One time visitors to your website are an important part of your community plan but ultimately they will come as a bi-product of your focus on content and building the other communities we will discuss.

You should really be focusing on getting more people to join your email list, Facebook Page, Twitter Profile, YouTube Channel, and any other social profiles you focus on. Just creating content and sending it out to the world is not enough to believe that people will just start to find and follow you in these different mediums. Here are some pointers to consider as part of your community internet marketing strategy:

• Putting a widget (like the one over there on the right) on your website that quickly allows visitors to find your social media profiles is a good idea but don’t think it will be enough all by itself.
• Building a Twitter following is as easy as being able to target your audience and then follow them, and give them ample reason to follow you back. Here is a larger overview of the software and strategy I recommend. Here are other Twitter tutorials.
• Building a Facebook following is more difficult that Twitter because you cannot solicit users and ask them to “like” your page. You need to use your other communities (offline and online) to drive people to like your page, and this will go much more smoothly if you give people an incentive to “like” you there. Do product and service giveaways and contests. Produce unique (valuable) content that can be found exclusively on your Facebook page.
• Building your email database is as simple as giving people a compelling reason to join your list. Offer a Free Report, a Free Preview/Trial, Free Training or Video Tutorials, or an E-Book.  The more compelling the offer the more likely people are to give you their information.

Commerce

This tends to be the easiest part of the strategy for most of my clients. Most of us already know how we want to make money on our website. The bigger problem tends to be in getting enough eyeballs to look at what we are doing and offering. In case you don’t know fully how you can profit from your website and it’s content read this guide that explains how websites make money.

Commerce boils down to providing products that are targeted for your audience. This doesn’t mean you have to produce or sell the products yourself. Many website publishers generate their revenue in affiliate marketing opportunities.

I hope the three Cs of internet marketing serve you as a road-map the same way they have served me and the many advertisers and small businesses that I work with around the country!

Disney has traditionally set a standard for good customer service. On Cyber Monday we ordered a toy from the Disney website in order to take advantage of the special deals and free shipping. When it arrived in the mail it seemed a little beat up. There were dings and scratches in the paint. All around it just didn’t look brand new. We emailed Disney requesting an exchange or refund. They told us to donate the toy to a local charity and informed us they had shipped us out another one.

Zappos.com recently came through for some of my relatives. After ordering an expensive set of knives one arrived in the mail damages. Zappos sent a replacement over night. After discovering that the same set of knives was almost $300 cheaper on a different website, Zappos agreed to credit the difference back despite not having any policy in place requiring them to do so.

We recently called on a local company to clear our carpets before our family came for Christmas. We found the company, called Oxi-Fresh, in a direct mail advertisement. They were cheap and cleaned two rooms for $120. The technician was friendly and professional. After the carpet started to dry we noticed some spots that hadn’t come out. We have two young children and a dog and we just felt disappointed that the carpets weren’t cleaner than they were. A few weeks later my wife was asked to take an online survey about the carpet cleaning and she mentioned that we had not been satisfied with the results. After about a week we received a phone call and were asked if they could come back out and clean the carpets again at no extra cost. The second round went much better and the carpets looked spotless. We are now raving fans of Oxi-Fresh carpet cleaners.

No matter what type of business you are in or what your capacity may be; good customer service is in everyone’s job description. Sometimes the best way to win a life long customer is to go the extra mile to take care of the customers who have the negative experiences. You may have a lot of competitors with the same product but you can always set yourself apart with your outstanding customer service!

1. Sold Content. Every website provides some level of content to its visitors. This may include video, text, images, etc. Anyone who sells a product and believes that your website visitors are among their target market, may consider paying you to introduce that product. Here are some of the more common types of content that you can sell from your website.
1. Reviews. In some cases this may involve your client submitting exact copy for you to publish or they may rely on you to write a high quality review based on your true experience with their product. Generally this means you will receive a complimentary product above and beyond the investment you secure to produce the review.
2. Email Blasts. If you have an email list of your website visitors you can sell email blasts to that list. Generally these are priced by the number of sends and clients will be interested in your average delivery rate, open ratios, and ctr.
3. Social Media Mentions. More and more often advertisers are willing to pay for your social media endorsement or mention. Awhile back I reviewed SponsoredTweets, but there are many different ad networks and direct advertisers who are interested in this type of publicity.
2. Sold Advertising. These are the traditional advertising options you notice on other websites.
1. Banners. Banners offer advertisers a great way to brand their business while driving web traffic. Generally advertising buy a number of impressions, clicks, or actions.
2. Rich Media. This could include various video integration options, or other media above and beyond traditional banners. The benefits tend to be similar to banner advertising but offer more opportunities for engaging with customers and getting out a message.
3. In Text Links. In text links are gaining in popularity. Advertisers can select existing text on a page or post of your site and pay you to hyperlink that text string to their site. They may also pay you to add a new text link in a page, post, or in your footer. Advertisers like in text links because they don’t tend to annoy web visitors as much, they drive direct traffic, and they help in search engine optimization efforts. Generally these are sold at a fixed price per time period or by the click.
3. Sold Products
1. E-Commerce. This is relatively straight forward. If you have a product you can sell it online. The quickest product to turn a profit on is an information product. It requires no production since buyers download it and thus your profit margin is higher. You can also become a retailer for a wholesale product. Many wholesalers will even drop ship the product directly to your buyer. This makes you the perfect middle man, just taking your margin and processing the sale.

I’m sure that I’ve missed an angle or idea that you may be able to implement. Hopefully this gives you a generic outline that will spark some new ideas to make money from your websites!

Top Ten Retailers:

1. Amazon.com: Klout score of 82
2. Victoria’s Secret: Klout score of 75
3. jcpenney: Klout score of 75
4. Sports Authority: Klout score of 74
5. Walgreens: Klout score of 73
6. HSN: Klout score of 72
7. ThinkGeek: Klout score of 72
8. BestBuy: Klout score of 72
9. Target: Klout score of 72
10. Macys: Klout score of 71

Source: http://corp.klout.com/blog/2011/12/the-10-most-influential-retailers/

When I first visited the site I was in Firefox (not generally my browser of choice) and none of the links were working for me. I switched to Chrome and the site took off! I went right to the “Test Your Site” link or “GoMoMeter” as it is being called. I input my site jacobspaulsen.com and waited while it generated a demo image of how my site appears. After answering a few questions about the site it gave me a score and some interesting data about loading speed.

I downloaded the full report and it had some advice on how to design a mobile site. Very little of the information seemed to be specific to my site but the content was good just the same.

HowToGoMo.com also features a directory of industry reputable mobile designers to help companies and individuals build and design a high quality mobile site. For agencies there is some good information about how you can direct your clients.

This is a strong step for Google to emphasize the importance of the upcoming mobile changes we are going to see in the next several years. M-Commerce is the future and small businesses everyone need to get on the bandwagon!

The outline below is an adaptation of Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as it may apply to media sales. Use this outline and adapt it for your industry and business.

Habit 1: Be Proactive: Principles of Personal Vision

1. The first step in creating strong income is pro-activity.
2. Create a lifestyle that helps you meet new leads. Make calling on new leads a top priority.
3. Identifying potential conflicts or issues that will slow you down and addressing them with potential solutions to management.
4. Take accountability for your results. You are the factor of your success or failure.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind: Principles of Personal Leadership

1. Deciding early on what your objectives are. What do you truly wish to accomplish in your job?
2. Creating a mission statement that reflects your goals as a sales professional.
3. Beginning each event, activity, or meeting knowing what you want to get out of it.
4. Foreseeing possible problems with retention, discouragement, accounting, traffic, etc.
5. Taking the proper steps to prepare to be an effective sales person and marketing consultant.

Habit 3: Put First Things First: Principles of Personal Management

1. Understanding the four quadrants of effective production and knowing how to apply that to our business. Focusing on Revenue Producing Activities!
2. Creating habits of time management and effective planning.
3. Reserving time for all your roles in life, so as not to neglect anything.
4. Setting time aside each week for Prospecting, Service, and Production, and Education/Training.

Habit 4: Think Win/Win: Principles of Interpersonal Leadership

1. Commit yourself to Win/Win or no deal. Agree to sell clients who you need as clients and who need your stations.
2. You must listen first. Discover who the client is and what problems they have in their business. Look for the solutions in your stations.
3. Each part of the media buying experience has to be a new win. Show the client how accounting, production, and reporting is a win for them.
4. Train the client to respect your time and learn to respect theirs.
5. Understand how to create win win situations with other departments in the company.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

1. Seek to understand the situation of each client. Find out what they want out of the advertising and what has brought them far enough to listen to you.
2. Practice active listening skills. Truly listen to your clients and your team members to best understand their desires.
3. Continue building a relationship with your clients to develop trust and credibility through listening to, and understanding them.
4. Only when the client trusts you and believes you understand them, and have their best interests in mind, will they follow you.

Habit 6: Synergize Principles of Creative Communication

1. Create environments of synergy with traffic, production, promotion, and accounting.
2. Practice habits 4 & 5 in making synergistic moments happen.
3. Synergize with each client individually to get full buy in.
4. Seek out potential synergistic activities, such as creative meetings, brainstorming sessions, etc.
5. Understand the unique abilities/responsibilities that each of our departments have, and think of how best to utilize them.
6. Seek out the very best training in the industry and in your company from the top leaders.

Habit 7 Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

1. Set aside Monthly, Weekly, and Daily planning and evaluation sessions.
2. Renew your commitments and covenants in all aspects of life through sincere evaluation.
3. Evaluate the best and less effective practices that you have been using in prospecting, retaining, and up selling your clients.
4. Review this and other handouts and notes that will increase your effectiveness in prospecting, retaining, and up selling your clients.

When you first build a site you need to submit it to Google so that it can be indexed. Google can more easily index your site if you have a sitemap. Since the recording of this video several years ago, Google has created a robust and helpful dashboard of tools called Google Webmaster Tools. Check it out.