Depending on what source you use, there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 million active English language blogs today. That’s some steep competition for your blog. Making yourself stand out and generating readership are your two biggest goals when starting a new blog. Here are four ways to start dominating the internet and marketing your brilliant blog.

1. Give it Away
People are hesitant to give away valuable content for free—especially in the business world. But giving away free content increases your online visibility. Take heart in knowing that several online powerhouses such as Cory Doctrow, Julie Powell, and Brian Clark all give away some of their best advice for free. Don’t know them? Look them up, and start learning from the best in the biz.

2. Write Articles for Other Blogs
Your website will take time to build up an audience. In the meantime, take advantage of others’ blogs and websites that have already established an online presence and write a guest article, linking back to your blog of course. The key here? Use your best, most captivating articles on the others’ blogs. While tempting to save it for your site, people are more likely to see it—and in reading it, visit your site—than if it existed on your site alone.

3. Get your Tweet On
Twitter is a powerful tool, if you know how to use it to your advantage. One of the most important necessities of your blog’s twitter account is followers. Socialnewswatch.com offers a list of 237 Twitter users who will, almost guaranteed, follow you back if you seek them out. Just search “Top 237 Twitter Users Who Will Follow You Back” on Socialnewswatch.com. Once you’re being followed by this nice boost of 200 plus users, utilize it. Don’t just sit there. Interact with them so they’ll interact with you. Promote yourself and promote them. It’s a give and take relationship.

4. Be Quirky
The most evident example of quirkiness in action is David Ogilvy. If you’re not familiar with the story, here it is in a nutshell: to promote an ad campaign, which Ogilvy was modeling for, he put an eye patch on in the picture. Yes, an eye patch. The campaign was a hit due to the mysteriousness and oddity of “The Man in the Hathaway Shirt.” So what will be your blog or website’s eye patch? You need to differentiate yourself from the previously mentioned millions of other bloggers competing for your readers. Try to think of something entirely unique, useful and specific.

Just when you have it all figured out, they keep changing the rules of the game. You’ve spent countless hours learning what to do with Facebook and Twitter and along comes Google with their vision of a social media network. Enter Google+, where Google aims to correct the rigidness of online sharing tools and make the experience more like real life.

Navigating the Stream
Google+ centers around the Stream, which may look similar to your Facebook news feed. That’s where you’ll see the latest updates from your people. Then there’s four core elements: Circles, Hangouts, Huddle and Sparks.

Jump In
If you have a Google account you’re ready to get started. If not set up an account and start searching for contacts. Then you can start creating circles. Circles allow you to organize people into groups so you can share information with specific groups of friends. You’d rather not everyone know about your crazy Friday night. With these circles you can start hangouts where you’ll be able to conduct video conference calls. Huddles give you the opportunity to text an entire circle at once. What a great way to plan that crazy Friday night.

Get Down to Business
You’re probably familiar with setting up pages in Facebook for your business. Google+ isn’t offering that feature to date, but that doesn’t mean your business can’t benefit. For instance, you can feed your Twitter account by using Sparks that allow you to search and share what you’re really in to. This is also where others will find you if you’re writing a blog about your area of expertise. Additionally, set up a circle of your remote employees or clients and start a hangout to have a meeting.

Google+ is showing great potential for business applications but Facebook and Twitter still reign supreme. Continue to strategize ways to use these social media tools in your marketing efforts and keep a keen eye on Google. There’s a good chance their latest project could take off and you’ll already be downstream.

Hello October. Welcome the fresh, new month as an opportunity to get your company’s name out there. What better month to show your customers that you care about them and the community as a whole.

Create a Quality Promotion
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many companies have found ways to team with breast cancer research organizations that create mutually beneficial promotions. Take a lesson from those cause marketing pros and work with a charity that you care about. Develop special promotions with a certain percentage of revenue benefitting your nonprofit organization. This shows that you care about your community while still thinking of your customers.

Hold a Fundraiser
Nonprofit organizations aren’t the only ones that can hold fundraisers. This month, consider putting on a fundraising event with your partner charity. Invite your customers, prospects and community to the event. This helps you connect to your community on a more personal level. A good community event will surely help you gain trust.

When planning, be creative. Partner with an organization that fits your culture and how your business operates. Just because you’re doing something to benefit others doesn’t mean your business shouldn’t benefit as well. But keep in mind that you need to put yourself second in a cause marketing promotion.

You’ve probably encountered one already. Maybe you’ve even tried to snap a photo of one with your mobile phone. We’re talking about those square matrix QR (Quick Response) Codes that have become recently ubiquitous. Sure, you can stick them in your windows, on your direct mail or even your business cards, but it’s important to know where your prospects are going once they take the time to act.

Having a QR Code is one thing, but having a proper landing page to where your code directs is another. A landing page is a unique page on your website that typically has a single purpose, like capturing an e-mail address or selling a product. In the case of a prospect scanning a QR Code, the landing page should be associated with the marketing you’re doing where your prospect discovered your QR Code. Take a look at how to get the most of your QR Codes by creating great landing pages that go with them.

Keep it Simple
Your initial reaction is going to want to fit as much information on this page as you can, but too much information can be overwhelming. It’s important to keep it as simple as you can while still getting your point across. Remember, you want to keep your marketing focused to the campaign you’re running.

Make it Engaging
You only have a few seconds to get your visitors’ attention. Consider making a video or place a striking image of the product you’re trying to sell. Keep the copy simple and interesting. Make sure the visitor understands specifically what they should do while they’re on your landing page.

Call for One Call-to-Action
You got a visitor to your landing page; you want them to act on a specific promotion. Stick to one central call-to-action on your landing page, especially if you’re directing them there from a QR Code. You’ll want to make it a simple a form, with as little work for the visitor as possible to capture your lead. Make sure the button you want the prospect to click is of high contrast to the rest of the elements on the site so it stands out. Having more than one call-to-action can confuse your visitors and cause them to leave your website.

Now what? It’s possible you’re having a giveaway, trying to get registrations for an event or just trying to build awareness for your organization. With a good landing page you’ve given your visitors a reason to act on the marketing you’re doing. Having these visitors to your page means you ended up obtaining information about your prospects. So, now it’s time for you to act.

A brave soul once said you should never mix business with pleasure. Obviously the art of tailgating never crossed his mind while creating this age-old proverb.

This fall, throw tailgating into your mix of how to build a better relationship with your prospects in hopes of getting new business.

Play Ball
Let’s face it—Fall is a major time of the year for athletics. College and professional football are in full swing and thousands of people are glued to their seats—in front of and not in front of the television. If they’re already watching the game, you might as well give them a great atmosphere to do so.

To Grill or Not to Grill
When hosting your prospects and clients, you should realize that not all tailgating has to be done outside. Consider renting out a nice space fairly close to where the game is being held. Having a bar and a catered meal or assortment of appetizers can go a long way.

Have a sweet spot near the stadium? Great. Take advantage of that and enjoy the great outdoors. Depending on your seasons, you might want to keep an eye on the winter months and hosting outside with the elements.

It’s Not All About the Pigskin
Obviously, different sports will reign supreme depending on your location and time of the year. Be open to hosting events for different sports—baseball, soccer and basketball could be good alternatives for your business. Get a feel for what your prospects prefer and try to cater to them.

Meet and Greet
Hosting a tailgating event on behalf of your business is a great way for your prospects to get a feel for your company’s culture and how your employees interact. Remember that your prospects and employees aren’t the only ones that should be showing up to these events. Be sure to invite your current customers to show them how much you appreciate their business.

These tailgate events give you a new way to get business, keep your current customers and all in all have a good time.

Alright, sports fans. Go out there and have fun with the people that make running your company possible.

Every day you go to your mailbox to see it you have mail. As you hover over the trashcan to sort, how do you decide what piece you’ll read and what piece will fall through your hands to its demise? While direct mail is an effective tool in your marketing campaign, there are some easy ways to foil your efforts. Here are a few tips to keep your mail out of the recycle bin.

Wrong Audience
First, you must understand your target audience. Second, you must find a way to obtain their mailing address. If you’re planning to purchase a list, look to your current customers as a source for demographic and psychographic information. Current customers are also more likely to respond to direct mail, so consider a campaign for repeat business.

No Call To Action
The whole purpose of direct mail is to get people to do something. For businesses, that usually means purchasing something from you. It’s important that you have a clear call to action and that the offer is compelling. Make an offer they can’t refuse and the response rate will raise.

Poor Design
The quickest way to get a person to look at your direct mail is by having a clean design. Conversely, the quickest way to get them to toss it is to have a design with no purpose. Here is where you want to call in the professionals who can create the perfect piece for your needs.

Tracking Results
How will you know whether your direct mail campaign was successful unless you include a way to track it? Include a special promotional code or make customers bring in the direct mail piece. It is important to know if you got a good ROI to determine if you want to mail again or make adjustments.

 

Whether you know it or not, your buying decisions are oftentimes based on color. The next time you’re looking at an advertisement or packaging for an item you’re considering, pay special attention to the colors you see. Observe how those colors make you feel. Once you understand the effects of color on buying habits, you can make marketing decisions based on that knowledge.

Shoppers put visual appearance and color above other factors when considering a purchase. According to research compiled by KISSmetrics, 85 percent of shoppers said color was a primary reason they made a buying decision. Additionally, 80 percent said that color increases brand recognition. Brand recognition improves consumer confidence. Before you make the next color choice for your brand, consider this:

Red
Think of a clearance sale and you’ll be seeing red. There’s probably a good reason as red creates a sense of urgency. Red is the color energy and is known to raise your heart rate. Red usually draws attention first.

Black
Black is the color of power, luxury, elegance and authority. Now you know why so many luxury items have black in their marketing. However, black is also associated with death and evil and can evoke strong emotions, so beware of how black will relate to your products.

Green
The color of money, green is associated with wealth. It’s also easy on the eyes and often used as a relaxing color in stores. Light green shows change while dark green shows balance.

Blue
Blue is a color you can trust, so it’s often used in banking and business. Blue causes the body to produce chemicals that are calming. It is also associated with wisdom and loyalty. However, too much blue can make a message cold and uncaring.

Orange
If you have a call to action, orange creates the need to subscribe or buy. Orange is another energy color associated with happiness and ambition.

Yellow
Stop those window shoppers with yellow. It causes your body to release the feel-good chemical, serotonin. Yellow is associated with happiness, laughter and creativity.

Purple
Purple is the color of sophistication and prosperity. It is often associated with royalty. Purple can increase brain activity that helps with problem solving.