This article is for those few brave souls, who have just initiated their journey into blogging, and need that amazing high one gets when your blog is finally getting read by a substantial number of readers.

Please track your blog readers using services like Google Analytics, it just takes 10 minutes, and it will provide you with a vault of valuable information on your reader’s preferences, where your readers come from, and how they interact with your blog.

For those of you thinking about right now “Hey, I like writing for the love of it, and I don’t need any readers for approval”, I would like to say kudos to you, and do continue the good work.

But if you are serious about sharing your hard work (its blood sweat and tears when you have to do it 5 times a week) with the millions of users searching blogs daily, then let’s continue our journey down the rabbit hole.

A quick look at the statistics on Blogging - comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008)
” Total internet audience 188.9 million
” Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US alone
” Facebook: 41.0 million
” MySpace 75.1 million

Well that the good news!

But the bad news is that with the thousands of new blogs churning out each day, what hope is there for a reader interested in your topic to reach you. You many have written brilliant masterpieces, but how do you let others know that (remember most poets and artists die poor and unrecognized because they don’t reach out to share themselves with others).

In this article, we will not get into details about the quality of your content, and its assumed you have written good clean copy. Good copy being informative, entertaining and engaging (Don’t forget to get your keywords in the body content as well the labels/tags).

There are various ways to promote your blog and reach out to the millions out there. The strategies below will not only assist you in getting more traffic to your blog, but also get you higher rankings for your blog, as well as corporate site (if you have one).

Deep-Linking

Start a corporate blog for your employees, customer, vendors, associates and investors. The benefits of doing so are many, as seen in the trend where many corporate blogs are doing very well in building brand loyalty, customer loyalty and driving business through existing customers.

Also start a topic specific blog of your expertise. To give you an example of this, a SEO Expert Services Company, can start a blog on SEO tips, advise and attract marketing professionals, seo students, Internet marketing professionals, readers and businessman.

Now comes the easy part; Create relevant deep links between your corporate website pages, corporate blog posts and topic blog posts. Your website, corporate blog and topic blog are treated as separate sites as far as search engines go, so don’t hesitate to use you’re your content for link building purposes.

Each blog post is a potential to build another link to your corporate website. But don’t overdo it. Search engines dont penalize a site for too many links (unless the site is just a whole bunch of links for the pure purposes of link farming, and trying to trick the search engines to give irrelevant results), but it could a big turn off for your readers who just want to enjoy the story and don’t care much about your hair brained strategies to dominate the internet.

Cross-Linking

It’s easy to create links when you are the master of your website and blogs, but how do we get other websites/ blogs to give the same quality links back to your blog.

As in the real world if you have to build a new contact, you would approach that person, introduce yourself, inform that person of the value you offer, and maintain a good relation with that person.
In the blog world building links is no different.

1. Approach websites that has content/target audience similar to your blogs and offer some additional value to their readers, or even better write a good intelligent review about some service/products that website is offering. Send a nice email highlighting the same with a link back to your blog post. Online marketers like collecting testimonials so there is great probability that they will link back to your blog.

2. Approach other bloggers who command high loyalty. Most of the time if you have a professional approach, a good pitch and a value proposition, most bloggers will not mind writing a small review and linking to your blog.

After all these bloggers need to create content daily, so offer them a helping hand. Many bloggers advocate semi-advertising in their posts, and bloggers define their tastes, preferences, likes and dislikes about brands all the time. So why not get onto the bandwagon.

Another way is to leave intelligent comment on the bloggers post with something nice to say about the blogger, and then give a small link to your blog to explain in detail. Most times the blogger will leave a good comment and not delete it. I don’t personally use this method, but as they say, in this matter, flattery may get you what you want.

3. Some SEO experts and bloggers have good relations with other fellow bloggers. A good seo expert should be able to get some of these bloggers to write a good review and link to your blog/ website. It will drive traffic to your website and add to your link building campaign.

Create a RSS Feed

Most blog software’s like Blogger allow users to create an automatic RSS feed. If you notice a RSS feed is a very simple page, no major formatting, no pictures and videos.

RSS also knows as “Real Simple Syndication” is a mechanism used to distribute content without depending on the browser or email client. Users subscribe to RSS feeds to get latest updates (headlines with a small brief) about their favorite websites/ blogs across the internet in one place.

In your case, your blog posts form part of content that can be syndicated across news/content feeds. Once your RSS feed is published, you can submit the feed to many of the feed aggregators and have your content/ blog post distributed across their network of users. You can start by using this link http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm to submit your blog to many feeds.

Submit to Article Sites

Article sites are a great way for distributing your content to many sites without the fear of landing into soup for duplicate content. In addition you are building credibility as an expert in your domain, quality links, and driving traffic to your blog.

By submitting your blog posts to article submission sites having high page rank, you are basically syndicating the same content across various channels, getting links, and traffic. Now that’s a good deal!

A note of warning, don’t just submit your article to 1000 sites, rather be wise and work with a few key article sites. In this way it’s easy to build a good relationship with those sites and their audiences, as they feel that you have not plastered your article across every living website in the world.

Also its easy to keep the momentum up, otherwise submitting each blog post to 1000 sites would be rather time consuming.

Go Social with your Blog

Social bookmarking is the next wave to hit the new media landscape. Millions of users surfing the internet now have a voice and can rate/bookmark and suggest websites, blogs and share their likes and dislikes with the billions of surfers.

Wikipedia describes social bookmarking as a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata.

In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domains. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search engine.

Register your blog with services like digg, reddit, del.icio.us and stumbleupon. Give your readers an opportunity to suggest/ bookmark/tag your blog post across the social media landscape and watch the traffic come in.

Make a Noise

Hey you have worked hard to get your blog started. Now is the time to announce it to the world, atleast the online world. Submit your blog to blogger search engines like Technorati, and other blogging directories on the net. As you submit your blog to the various directories out there, your blog is reaching out to newer audiences.

You can also submit your blog to PR sites which allow companies to submit press releases and announcements. It may not do much for your rankings, but many journalists are known to scan press release sites for a good story. Could it be you?

You can also announce your blog by putting it on your visiting card, in your email footer, on your corporate website, Facebook (profile, posts on wall, comments etc), Youtube profile, Linkedin profile, and finally the good ol’ word of mouth.

These should keep you busy for the next few months, and by then you will be raring to get into more advanced techniques of marketing and promoting your Blog. But that my friend’s is another time, another story!

Zen of SEO Blog: http://www.seo-optimization-experts.com/seoblog.html

Affiliate Network is the connection between affiliates and individuals who sells goods. It lets the publishers search affiliate programs that are applicable for their website and support websites that are offering these kind programs to grasp their intended customers.

For affiliates, services can provide payment aggregation, reporting tools, and easy application to new sellers. For the marketers, services can provide access to a big base of people who will be interested in promoting products, payment processing, tools for reporting and tracking technology.

Affiliates should be free to join the affiliate networks while the marketers should be charged. Common networks may charge a recurring maintenance fees and initiatory set-up fees. But this really depends on the each network. An affiliate network usually charges the marketers a portion of the commission that was paid to the affiliates as the charge for the services they have provided. Common networks allow the marketer to offer its affiliates cost for every action or revenue share as rectification method. Most of the marketers prefer the revenue share than cost per action.

CPA and lead generation networks are both additions to the existing common affiliate networks. The so called super affiliates or CPA are     affiliates of marketers through the standard affiliate networks and engage other affiliates to advertise the marketer through them rather than advertise directly through the marketers program at the standard network. The best example of a CPA network was launched in 2009 which is called the Offeratti.

On the other hand, the lead generation networks are networks that usually provide display advertising. You should always do some research on the program before you join any one of them as you do not want to waste your time and effort into promoting wrong products.

As a respectable cosmetic surgeon, I am certain that your website is professionally built and offers attractive information for your cosmetic surgery patients. But are you sure that this is all you need to build a solid online reputation? The faltering economy along with the rapid transformation of the media landscape is forcing a rapid evolution in marketing your plastic surgery practice. To survive and thrive in the new environment, you must adopt the new generation of marketing tools, also known as Web 2.0.

Cosmetic surgery patients are web savvy so they will search you well and would like to find out about you from other sources besides your website such as social media networks, blogs, forums and other Web 2.0 instruments.

What types of online social media should be included in your medical marketing strategy?

• Social networks (e.g. Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin)
• Blogs
• Microblogs (e.g. Twitter, Jaiku, Plurk)
• Article e-zines such as ezinearticles.com, articlesbase.com
• Forums, group discussions

Let us make a brief analysis of each online social medium and of the best practices physicians can use to market their cosmetic surgery practice.

Social networks

A social network is a web of interconnected people who interact with each other through this network. It comprises nodes (usually individuals or organizations) and ties (the connections between them), which may operate at many different levels: from family and friends to company management and high officials.
There are general social networks that address to a worldwide audience such as Linkedin, Facebook, Myspace and focused social networks that address a certain category of audience, such as physicians. Among these we mention: www.Sermo.com, www.ozmosis.com, health.md, www.doctorshangout.com.
Tips to start you off
- build a professional resume on Linkedin business network, use your key phrase a few times and start building your network around you
- Look closely at the types of networks and choose the right ones for you
- Find and share information with other cosmetic surgery MDs
- Focus on specialty centric networks for physicians
- Discover what your colleagues are talking about and take the pulse of the new trends
- Build your own voice online by participating in the discussions

Blogs

Blogging is a powerful and affordable marketing tool. Today, almost everyone has their own blog, from personal, professional to even corporate blogs. Blogging can become an integral part of marketing your plastic surgery practice. Blogging in a professional manner can strengthen your relationship with your existing patients and can bring you new patients, as well.
Tips to start you off
- Choose a blog name that is related to cosmetic surgery and that is search engine friendly
- Assign a staff member or a professional blogger to manage the blog
- Post constantly on your blog so that you have new and fresh content; this will also allow search engines to index your blog better
- Choose topics that would interest your target audience
- Don’t be too formal, use a friendly style
- Use your key phrases as often as possible

Microblogs

The microblog users can publish short, concise updates, can follow and be followed by other users and reply to other users’ microblog updates. One of the most well known microblogs is Twitter which is becoming a powerful communication tool among physicians and between physicians and patients in healthcare. There are many doctors out there already, twittering about their medical and even personal activities.
Tips to start you off
- The name of your Twitter account should be closely related to your real name
- Make a short but catchy description on your Twitter profile page
- Personalize your Twitter page by adding your logo, photo and anything else that sets you apart from the rest
- Enter twits almost daily
- Don’t twit only about your business, be informal and friendly
- Assign a staff member or a professional Twitter user to manage your account

Article e-zines

The reasons why you would want to spread a good deal of interesting and positive articles on the Internet is to get a better online reputation and to attract more visitors to your website. Having fresh and nicely written online content can get your name go higher in web searches. Some people can spread the word too if your article catches their attention.
Tips to start you off
- Choose interesting topics for your targeted audience, such as trends in the cosmetic surgery industry, advantages of certain cosmetic procedures, why your practice stands apart from the others, etc.
- Use your key phrases several times in the article
- Use built in links
- Submit to several e-zines services; some are free, others are not
- Assign a staff member or an Internet pro to manage this online medical marketing process

Forum, group discussions

A forum is a virtual community of users who share ideas and information on several given topics. There are myriads of forums and group discussions, each targeted to a certain group of people sharing the same interests. Sign in to those forums that your present and potential cosmetic surgery patients visit on a regular basis. You can also sign to peer group discussions.
Tips to start you off
- Task someone in-house with joining and participating in any applicable forums or user groups
- Consider sponsoring the influential forums
- If something negative spreads out, the impact can be reduced if someone from your practice is a regular contributor and has already gained credibility
- Set up partnerships with most influential users

And the list goes on, but this is only an introduction into medical marketing through online social media. The subject is so complex that an entire book can be written about it. The emerging online media are about to play an important role in innovative medical marketing. It’s up to you to decide what works best for you.

Promoting affiliate programs is probably one of the most popular and realistic ways of making money online. You really can make money doing this, and the money can be substantial with some work. The type of affiliate program you use or promote will depend on your particular situation.

One of the most common types of affiliate programs is the pay per sale/pay per lead program. These are also called CPA or cost per action affiliate programs. These pay you for sales and for other actions that your referred customers make. This type of program can be promoted on websites and in other ways depending on the particular programs terms. It is very versatile.

CPC (cost per click) programs pay you when visitors to your site click on your ads. You are paid per click. There are also PPC (pay per click) programs which are similar. CPC programs are great for websites with content.

CPM (cost per mile) affiliate programs pay you for showing ads on your website. You are paid per 1000 impressions - per 1000 times the ad is shown on your website. This is great for websites that get a lot of traffic.

All three types can pay very well. It is a good idea to experiment and see what works for you. Some people like to use multiple affiliate programs on a site, such as a cpc program and a cpa program, or some other combination. If you are thinking of doing non website based promotion, CPA programs are worth considering.

Affiliate Programs and picking the best one!

Okay, so you have been looking at affiliate programs for a while now. Your inbox is filling up with all these advertisements and you just don’t know how to pick the right program.

How do you know which program is going to bring the best profit?

Well, I personally believe that a lot of the income is created from the effort an affiliate marketer puts into a program. But I do have a few pointers as to picking the best one.

1. Commission. You need a program that will pay you a good commission rate. It should pay you at least 20% of each sale. A good rate is 50% and anything above that is ideal. You should also look for how often they pay. Some programs pay you twice a month and some only once a month. Most programs also only pay you when you have earned a base amount.

2. Attraction. Is the website attractive? Or will your customers leave your site without even reading. The site needs to easy to read, but not boring. Also you don’t want to pick a site that is full of garbage, advertising an array of different subjects. Your site needs to filled with common ground. Also make sure the sight doesn’t seem to be screaming for attention (lots of large, bold lettering).

3. Support. What is the support for your program like? Do they have a good list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), a contact email address with a quick response (24 - 72 hours is good)? Any more than 3 days for a response is too long. Some programs even offer live chat. Now that is good!

4. Your Statistics. The program should offer an automated and immediate reaction to your statistics. They should automatically contact you when you receive a client, prospect, lead, customer or when you make a sale, it should also be ready to view in your downline as soon as you have the knowledge of the sale etc.

5. Incentives. Does the program offer free gifts, tools and advertising content (banners, pop-ups, email letters, articles etc.)

It is important to have marketing tools to keep track of business and change things that may not work for you. Advertising is also important your traffic won’t come from nowhere, And gifts are a good bonus for your customers as well as learning from the gifts yourself. Usually the gifts are products to help you with your business.

6. Monthly Reports. Every good program will have news and training updates sent to your inbox so you can learn what works best for the program and what the top affiliates of the program are doing. You should also be able to read this on their website.

7. Reviews. Sometimes you will find that the program you are looking at has reviews in the search engines. All you have to do is enter the name of the program in the search engine form followed by “reviews”. For example if you want to read about Strong Future International (SFI) you would type “Strong Future International Reviews” and click ‘search’. Select any item that describes what you are looking for, and read what people think.

It is important to do your homework before you dive into anything. Learn as much as you and make sure you feel comfortable with your decision before going ahead. Remember that you will not make money overnight……..Some of the best affiliates spent 3 years or more promoting before they got where they are today.

Internet marketing is a discipline where you do all your marketing in the virtual world and get real returns out of it. The virtual ambience through which you function while doing Internet marketing has several benefits over the conventional non-virtual marketing.

First of all, the advertising options available over the Internet have far more variety than those available for offline marketing. With the Internet you can use banner ads, pop-up ads, pop-under ads, audio and video ads, email marketing, blogging, social media networking, pay per click ads, or newsletters. The attraction here is that all these advertising options can be exercised through the same media. With offline marketing, one has to rely on different media like radio, TV, and newspapers to manage different types of advertising.

Secondly, tracking results is easier in Internet marketing. With sophisticated software, computer systems update information and analyze results immediately on receiving data. As a result, marketers remain better informed about market trends; user preferences and the result of their Internet marketing Strategy and marketing campaigns and can also see which of their strategies and marketing campaigns are working better. In offline advertising methods, to track the results and make the necessary modifications would take much more time and energy. This may create gaps in effective advertising.

With offline methods, once you give an audio or video for broadcasting or telecasting, it is not easy to make changes immediately on it. As against this, changing the graphics or a sentence or a word here and there is a simple job with Internet marketing. When you get customer feedback on any of the ads, whether text ads, audios, or videos, you can immediately make the necessary changes in that.

Target marketing is also easier while doing Internet marketing. In target marketing, different market segments are identified for which a particular service or product can be more useful. Target markets may be demarcated by the socio-economic situation of the people, their geographic location, ethnicity, gender, age, income levels, technical know how or profession. While target marketing can be done in offline marketing also, it remains more restricted to locations and is more difficult than in Internet advertising.

Instant conversion is yet another plus point of Internet marketing. If the customer is satisfied with the product or if he is in immediate need of the service, he will click on the mouse and make an offer immediately. As against this, when he sees an ad for a service in a newspaper or TV, he will have to first make a phone call to that company to get further details or may have to make enquiries with two or three people before choosing one person.

In short, with Internet marketing, contact with customers and customer reactions are faster than in offline marketing. With computer graphics also having a high level of sophistication, people can view the products on the screen as if they are seeing it in the real showroom and make their choices fast. But planning an Internet marketing Strategy is important before starting any online marketing campaign.

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