Unlike big companies, small businesses don’t have hefty amounts of money for their marketing campaigns. They always prefer the least expensive marketing strategies. According to studies, almost 80% of small businesses struggle with their marketing campaigns. The most popular and the least expensive marketing campaigns these days are electronic and mobile marketing. Let us discuss the pros and cons of both marketing strategies.

Electronic marketing

Electronic marketing is quite a broad term and encompasses all the methods of marketing via internet, which include email, article, videos and search engine marketing etc. The most popularly used marketing method by small businesses is email marketing. This method not only enables small business owners to market their products and offers but also allows them to reach out to new as well as old customers.

Email marketing is very cost effective as it is almost free of cost and can be utilized by any kind of business. The only thing you spend on email marketing is your time and energy. If you have hired a person to do your marketing then you are just paying a nominal salary to your employee as this is not a technical task and does not require any major marketing skills either.

In electronic marketing, social media marketing is another popular method. This method is also free of cost as social media groups like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter are totally free. Social networking portals hold immense potential in marketing as millions of people log on to these sites daily. Other than that, you can also develop your company’s website on cheap rates and optimize it for a better ranking on search engines.

Mobile marketing

Mobile marketing also holds great potential for small businesses as the number of smartphone users is increasing day by day. With this mode of marketing, you will have to deal with the stigma of spam. On the bright side though, receivers might not mind getting a message about the products or offers in which they can save money.

In mobile marketing also, you will need to adopt different techniques which can lure customers rather than bother them. One of the biggest advantages of mobile marketing is that you can catch people while they are on the go. The chances of a receiver considering your deal is high as he is already out.

Now the question remains as to which technique is better for your business? Seriously, the answer is up to you! The owners of the business can assess their business better than all others. Choice is yours – you can also opt for both techniques or just go with the one, which suits you the best.

Author Bio:

Sasha Gibbs is a B2B wholesale trade and B2B marketing expert. She writes frequently on the topics related to Drop Shipping, distributors, wholesalers and trade suppliers.

Website names are pretty easy to remember. With the advent of social media, people can even find sites that their friends “share” without typing anything into the URL bar.

Most serious sites today are designed to be found on search engines in a process that is called “search engine optimization.” According to Evolution in DesignZ, an SEO-oriented website design firm, “The point of search engine optimization is to get your website ranked [on search engines] for specific keywords. These keywords should be the products or services you offer, or a topic of discussion on your website.”

So why do I need to optimize my site for search engines?

Numbers

Three quarters of the average website’s users found them on a search engine. Right now, Google has a near-monopoly on searches using most languages using the Latin alphabet, though Chinese has baidu and Cryllic has Yandex.

Getting your site highly ranked on Google can make your traffic explode without having to buy a single advertisement. It’s possible to do this yourself if you have a good PR team that can garner lots of comments and blog posts linking back to your site.

However, a better option for most companies is to hire an SEO firm. They can fix up your site (onsite SEO), build backlinks (offsite SEO), and in the process spread the word about you and your product in the blogosphere. That’s why when you hire a website design company, you should make sure they know how to design a site that’s both good for human readers and shows up highly on Google searches.

Reputation

Google ranks sites based on how many sites link back to them and how good those sites are. This is called their “PageRank”. Although it’s an often over-stated metric, it can give you a ballpark estimate of how valuable outgoing links from your site are, which you can then use to trade with other sites so that they show up higher on search engines.

Post by Murray Newlands, with help from Ronnie Chatterjee of Evolution in DesignZ.

So you love using your new Android OS smart phone and want to get it loaded up with the very best in social media applications? You’ve come to the right place. The following list of 10 Android apps for social media usage combines the top five free applications with the top five that people have been willing to pay for.

Many of the lists you’ll find on the Internet may claim to be a best of or top # of whatever, but usually those lists are somewhat subjective. If you are a reviewer who only really uses the iPhone, you may be somewhat indifferent to apps that are based on the Android OS.

Likewise, if you are an ardent fan of a specific application then you might tend to want to feature it as one of the best. The challenge is that it may well be only one of YOUR favorites.

Today’s list of top ten apps comes straight from the most popular list of downloads directly from the Android Market. Fair and balanced; impartial but with commentary. Doesn’t really get much better than this.

Most Popular Premium Android Social Apps

1. Tapatalk: In the top 3 social apps in the Android Market, but also in the top 5 in the Apple app store. Surely that many users cannot be wrong about this application which gives access to a number of online forum applications.
2. Plume Premium for Twitter: The premium version, priced at only $2.74 removes the advertising which is included in their free download. Still highly rated at over 4 stars, the premium version is very popular in the Android social arena.
3. Tweetcaster: Another very popular twitter application with over 4 stars, and some unique features recently released. “Zip It” allows you to remove annoying tweets or twitter trends from you time line without requiring you to unfollow the twitter users.
4. Twidroyd: Obviously Twitter is an important social media service, and this Android app is yet another of the most popular paid apps providing you access to your twitter stream. Twidroyd’s unique approach is that as a paid user you get the very latest features before any of the free app users do.
5. Text Message Away Message: You use your email’s auto responder when you are on vacation from work, so why not use a similar technology to automatically send responses to the text messages you get on your Android based phone? Like the idea? This is the app for you.

Most Popular FREE Android Social Apps

1. Facebook: with over 600K reviews, the Android app for accessing your Facebook account is one of the most popular and used applications downloaded from the Android market. If you need to keep up with everything being hurled at your wall, this is your application of choice.
2. Twitter: Developed by the folks at Twitter.com, this Android app is simple, clean and gives you straight forward access to your Twitter stream.
3. MySpace Mobile: Still active with your MySpace account? It’s okay. There must be a lot of you since this app is in the top 5 with over 90K positive reviews.
4. Tango Video Calls: As more Android based phones are manufactured with front facing cameras, the preponderance of video calls is only going to increase. As that happens, look for this app to rise in the rankings.
5. Bump: If you’re one of those handshake-a-phobes, this is most definitely the app you’ll be using more of in the future. By providing phone to nearby phone transferring capability, Bump allows you to share everything from photos and music to Paypal payments.

What are your favorite Android apps? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

This is a guest post by Brian Tanner, a freelance writer for HP which has been making technology products to help people and companies address their problems and challenges, and realize their possibilities, aspirations and dreams. On their website you can find a variety of products such as scanners or toner.

Some people always want to know what others are saying about them. There is a strong desire not to know what is being said, especially if it is far from complimentary. Both points of view are understandable and everyone probably knows at least one person who falls into each category.

As understandable as not wanting to know what is being said in your personal life may be, in the business world this simply is not an option. The bottom line is that businesses cannot afford to remain oblivious of what is being said about their brand, especially in a world where opinions can be formed and changed so quickly.

The advent of the Internet and the march of social media now means that reputations that would have once taken years to build and cement can now come tumbling down in a matter of days and in the most extreme cases hours.

Once upon a time companies would have depended on expensive and slow customer feedback and opinion surveys to measure their standing with the public, these days social media means that people can be discussing a brand across the globe within minutes of new developments. Opinions can be formed and reputations damaged while a chief executive sleeps on the other side of the globe.

The good news for businesses is that there are a number of tools that make the process of monitoring brand mentions both easier and more effective. Although there are dozens of examples, the following five come highly recommended:

1. Social Mention

For those who are making their first tentative steps into the world of brand monitoring, Social Mention may be the best place to start. It is free and although it does not have the strongest set of features, this may well work in its favor for newcomers, as its simplicity is its real strength. The display is easy to understand and the information provides a surprising amount of information, including hashtags, sources and keywords.

For some this may be enough information and even for those who want more, Social Mention remains a great place to start.

2. Tweetdeck

Don’t be fooled by its name into thinking this incredibly user-friendly application only monitors Twitter. Even if that was the case, it would be a useful tool, but the reality is so much more. Tweetdeck is a powerful (and free) application that acts as a monitoring centre for the key social media platforms.

Think of it as mission control: always vigilant in the way it scans social media for brand mentions. The application helps a user monitor Twitter, Linkedin, MySpace and Facebook all in one place. It is especially good at tracking selected keywords and of course bringing everything under one roof.

3. Reputation Defender

This is more of backup application in the sense of a platoon of soldiers held back from battle for a time when they will be most needed. Although it can be used to monitor keywords like many other applications, Reputation Defender really comes into its own when a user needs to restore an online reputation. Equally adept at preservation of brand reputation, the application is especially good at tracking mentions from Google and providing reports that can then be acted upon by the user.

4. Buzzlogic

Conceived with an eye on marketing, Buzzlogic is well suited to helping a user network and enhance their reputation through mutually beneficial online relationships. It’s not for everyone, but for anyone with an eye on marketing it is certainly worth a look.

5. Google Alerts

Sometimes it is possible to overlook an application because it is so well known. For a free application, Google Alerts in stunning and makes monitoring mentions of brands very easy. Everyone should have this on his or her computer.

Want to Learn More About Social Media Monitoring?

Don’t miss the Social Media Marketing Las Vegas January 12, 2011 (the day after Affiliate Summit West) at the Flamingo Hotel.

About the author: Carla Sanchez is a freelance writer for a world leader in content management system services as well as business intelligence software enables you to better understand your customers and increase your sales.

Whether you are planning a group gathering, seminar, company meeting, conference, or any other kind of event you don’t have to dish out the big bucks to create a big splash. If you are on a small budget, you can still have a wonderfully indulgent event.

Plan Well Ahead

The more time you have to plan, the easier it is to stay within budget. You can take advantage of sales and also buy or schedule to rent equipment and accessories over time.

Do the Food Yourself

Caterers are great, but they can cost a lot of money. If you are on a tight budget, why not consider doing the food yourself? Sure, preparing a hot sit down meal for 200 people would be crazy for one person to take on, but what about a cold buffet? If you have a lot of time before the event, you can check out your local grocery store sales and stock up on things such as cheeses, meats and desserts when they are on sale. Freeze them, and then thaw before your event. For breads, buns or rolls, ask your local bakery about a bulk discount. Quite often you can get a large discount for buying in bulk.

Rent, Don’t Buy

Have your heart set on a great projection system? Or maybe you don’t have enough laptops for all of your students in a training class. Rather than going out and buying items you need, considering using a rental company. You can also rent desktops, monitors, sound systems, recorders, camcorders, and more. Sometimes, though, it’s actually cheaper to buy than to rent so make sure that you compare prices before making your decision.

Be Your Own DJ

A party isn’t a party without music, right? Instead of hiring a DJ who may or may not play exactly the right songs, why not do it yourself? All you need is a computer, an audio system and some tunes! This way you can pick out the play list, ensuring that only songs that you like are played. It’s easy to set the songs up before hand. If you don’t think that your computer system is the right one, you can always opt to rent a laptop specifically for the job.

Add a Slide Show or Movie to the Event

For a personal event like a wedding or anniversary party, adding a slideshow or video montage of the guest(s) of honor is a nice way of honoring them. It can also be fun, letting friends and family have a peak at their early life. Projectors are easy to use and inexpensive to rent.

Once they are set up they’re good to go and require no more of your time. You can even add sounds, creating a complete montage. For conferences or sales events that may include presentations, then a projector is a must. Combining an oral presentation with visuals is a great way of getting your message across.

When planning an event you don’t have to choose between sticking to your budget and having a spectacular party. Being smart about your choices and planning ahead will ensure that you have an impressive bash well within your means.

This guest post by Vern, a freelance writer who attends seminars and training conferences throughout the year, and appreciates the organizers choice to rent a laptop for each attendee to get hands-on experience.

Mobile apps are one of the hottest selling cheap products on the market right now. They personalize your cell phone, making it more entertaining as well as more efficient, especially while you are at conferences and various other social media events. Just a few years ago only the iPhone used apps but now there are apps a-plenty for Android, Blackberry and other phones. Here are some of the best apps that were released in 2010:

• The Groupon App. Groupon really took off in 2010, gaining attention as one of the best websites available for capitalizing on group buying power and getting great deals on local products and services. It only makes sense that they quickly came out with an app so people could get their deals on the go. It’s a convenient money-saving app that makes a lot of sense in the 2010 economy.
• Foursquare. This social networking app has really taken off just in the past few months. It combines features from Twitter and Yelp to allow you to “check in” wherever you are and share simple reviews to support local businesses. It’s available for iPhone as well as for Android.
• Google Voice. This product has grown in popularity as a great way to make calls through the Internet. The app became available on Android first and was recently allowed into the iTunes store as well. We’ve been waiting a long time for real VoIP on mobile phones and this app provides it.
• iBooks. This app got attention as soon as the iPad was released but it’s available for the iPhone as well. It turns your iPhone into a library. We’re rapidly seeing books replaced by digital readers so this app just makes a lot of sense right now.
• Angry Birds Game. No list of 2010 apps would be complete if it didn’t mention Angry Birds. This simple game has been making headlines like crazy because of the sheer number of people who have downloaded it to their iPhones, iPods and iPads.
• Rhythm Spirit. This is another leading game app that was created for the iPhone in 2010. It’s tough to choose the best games because there were so many released this year. However, this one is definitely top notch with its combination of Japanese folklore storytelling and on-screen ninja fighting fun.
• Ringtone Designer Pro. 2010 is the year for iPhone ringtone apps. Until this year, iTunes banned these apps but now they’re available. This one is a leading choice. If you want other options, consider Music Ringtone Maker or Ringtone Maker Pro.
• 2010 Funniest Ringtones. Another great ringtone app is this one for people who are using a BlackBerry phone. It capitalizes on the potential for comedy in little clips, turning your phone into an endless source of entertainment every time it rings.
• Google Sky Map. If you’re looking for something a little bit nerdier then you might like this 2010 Android app. It helps you find the constellations in the sky using your cell phone.
• Associated Press. There are plenty of great news apps available but a lot of people love the Associated Press because it offers up-to-date stories in multiple news categories in an easy-to-read manner. The app allows you to read those stories during your commute or while waiting in lines.
• Dragon Dictation. This is an iPhone app that you can download to dictate your text messages and emails. It’s a great tool for people who need to multitask in a hands-free manner.
• xPlayer for Blackberry. This app upgrades the media player on your Blackberry handset and allows it to play all different types of file formats. The comparable app for iPhone lovers is the VLC for iPhone.

What was your favorite app that was released or made popular in 2010?

This is a guest post by Vern, who enjoys downloading apps and ringtones like they are going out of style for this iPhone.

Thousands of people are now searching online to find some kind of way to make a living because of the unemployment rates, much like how tech-savvy people now get online auto insurance quotes. Many people are getting laid off or fired from their jobs and feel sick because they are not making the same income they was making once before. The Internet has become the greatest place to perform a search to work from home.
Many people have been able to find great opportunities that they can do from home. When I say many people I mean college student, disable, and people who seems to have a hard time of getting someone to say “You Are Hired”.

There are also many people who have heard about work at home opportunities, but have not in their right mind took on the opportunity that is right there and front of them, and are worried about getting scammed. That’s why you need to research work at home jobs to see if they are legit.

So I have decided to help those people to search for good jobs that they can find comfortable enough to do from home.

Article Writing

Writing article is one of the good things you can do from home. There are millions of people who are online and some of those people who are online is always looking for good contents for their website or just need an article on an assignment they have to turn in. Writing articles can make you a decent monthly amount depending on how well you can write.

Data Entry

I am not going to front like data entry position is one of the easy jobs you can find online. Don’t get me wrong, they are one of the best positions that everyone would love to have. Data Entry position are hard to come by and the ones that are online are mostly scams. Data Entry positions are one of the position that you have to be very careful with when searching online, but there is no guaranteed that you will make money, but there is a guaranteed that you might lost money. Who wouldn’t want to just sit in front of their computers and type all day I know I would that what I mostly do any way. Back to the point! Working at home in the data entry field is a great position and depending on how fast you can type the more money you can make out of it.

Paid Surveys

When I first start looking online for work at home positions. I think surveys were the first ones I really got into. Doing surveys you can make money from it, but I don’t think you can make enough to where you would be satisfied with. The best option I would go with is sign up for more than 1 survey site that are legit and will pay. I have read around a couple of times that online paid surveys were scams. I am not so sure of that because I only was on 1 site and 1 site only the other ones didn’t really matter.

These are just a few great work at home jobs that you can look into to make money online. Just to make sure we are clear that they are not Get Rich Quick kinda jobs, but they can help land money and your pocket.

This is a guest post by Robert Truitt.

Adobe has launched a new development application which resides on the Air Platform, called Project ROME. While its focus is certainly ambitious, it aims to be a little bit of everything for everyone. Whether you’re interested in creating print or online publications, into web application development, or simply want to share your creations with the world through social media communities, Project Rome may have something of interest for you to check out.

As a web developer you probably produce your own business support materials. Working with Project ROME you will be able to design your own content working with easy to use tools and features. Rome will provide you with the ability to import your own pictures and images as well as other graphics, audio and even video clips into your creations.

Once you’ve developed a branded look and feel you will also be able to apply your work to a number of outlets. All of your office supplies can easily bear your branding once you’ve mastered how Project ROME works. Additionally, it is a no brain event to use your new assets on web sites, in digital documents and even inside of animations should that be something you or your client desires.

What can ROME do for you?

As any developer knows, the time of building it and expecting them to come are long gone. Today, no matter how amazing your designs and applications might be, they need to be shared with the world. The best way to make this happen is by taking advantage of the built in sharing features of Project Rome.

Whether you are simply sharing access on Adobe’s community site, or you’d like to broadcast to all of your Twitter followers, ROME makes it easy to authorize connections to your social accounts and then share all the great stuff you’re producing in the application. Having quick, easy access to your Facebook and Google Buzz followers can mean the difference between building a beautiful desert wasteland visited by no one and an online destination that nearly melts your web servers.

If you’re an extremely mobile developer working on a number of platforms, you’ll be happy to know that Project Rome is built on top of Adobe’s Air application. This means you will be able to take advantage of all its power inside your favorite web browser, on your Windows based PC, or your favorite Apple computer.

And even better, there is a downloadable desktop application which provides you with offline working capabilities for those times you’re outside the range of an active Internet connection.

Another amazing aspect is that Project Rome is currently free to use and download to your systems. While it’s unclear how long this might last, given the sheer power and liberating capabilities, it seems prudent to at least give it a shot. It’s not everyday that a major software developer gives something away with this much sheer creative horsepower.

Even if you’re a stuck in your ways web developer who’s invested in a hearty tool chest, having free unfettered access to web creation tools might be worth your while to check out. How much would it be worth to you if you could do away with your own need to have access to personal computing devices in order to build client products? With Project ROME, you just might be able to leave your computer at home and still produce revenue generating results from any Internet connected (or not!) device you find.

This is a guest post by Kevin Harris, a freelance writer for Adobe. Adobe software, such as document management software, and services revolutionize how the world engages with ideas and information.

If you’ve spent any time researching IT solutions for your marketing business, chances are you have come across the term private cloud hosting. Essentially this concept is all about off loading the ownership cost (among a number of other line items) to a single company that provides your business with access to a variety of applications you need to perform your online activities.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing was popularized when online book seller, Amazon, developed and started offering to the public a sort of time share access to its massive server farms. Essentially, the Amazon engineers developed a sleek, (relatively) easy way to create web (and other application type) servers. If you needed more serving power, you could instantly duplicate all of your online presence and assets in order to effectively scale to meet demand.

Cloud Computing

Google has also gotten into the fray with it’s online document manipulation and hosting services, corporate email offerings, and a variety of other similar cloud applications. The challenge for some businesses however is the very nature of the data they are dealing with in relation to their customers and other businesses.

If you provide financial or insurance services or perhaps you’re a government agency there are logistical concerns for who could have access to the data you’re responsible for keeping private. Still the challenge with today’s business operations is the overall cost to provide adequate access in a timely, safe and secure manner.

Concept of Private Clouds

One of the newest solutions to these and similar concerns is buying into the concept of the private cloud. A number of businesses now offer you with all of the best that public cloud computing has while maintaining the hardware and delivery channels for only your authorized users to access.

Think of private cloud computing as the evolution of co-located server offerings. But instead of your company investing thousands of dollars on hardware that are simply placed in a data center, you only pay for the actual transactions which are required for you business to do its thing.

Whether you’re developing a private investors’ only financial application or have a finite amount of employees who need direct, immediate access to corporate records, when you develop on a private cloud you can be assured that you’re only paying for what you need, when you need it.

Staying off the public clouds will also allow your team to effectively monitor traffic and use those metrics to better serve your company. Additionally, if you try and do your business on a public cloud, it can be extremely difficult to know exactly where you data is at any given point.

Going the private route allows you to directly allocate exactly what resides and where. This in turn allows you to always be cognizant of exactly what is happening in your organization, how your users are dealing with your applications, and should some external threat create havoc with your systems, you can easily and securely sequester access to your most sensitive data.

Another enticing draw to the private cloud is your ability to design the architecture your business needs to create the most effective applications. Public clouds inherently are less malleable. Going private can get you the best of both worlds: significant lowering of IT investment dollars, a better ability to maintain ongoing usage costs, as well as tightening security and access where you want and need it most.

Vern is a freelance writer who enjoys researching new technologies, including private cloud computing.

The user interface rocks, it gets raving reviews, and your friends say it’s a really cool app. But you just can’t seem to turn a profit.

A lot of developers know how to make really good apps but they do not know how to make money off of them. That’s why I am sharing two different ways to monetize your mobile apps.

In-app ads

Companies like Moolah Media help you place ads inside of apps. Especially in the Android app market where there are a lot more free apps than, say, the Apple Store, in-app advertising can be the only source of revenue for a lot of app developers. They work especially well if they are not exclusively pay per click. A system that mixes performance with pay per click is probably best since it encourages publishers to write apps that produce high conversion rates instead of just high click rates, and then those publishers get extra revenue from their work.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions are great because customers keep paying every month, so you can end up getting more money out of them than you could if you sold them the entire app all at once. One way to have a subscription is to design your software as a service and host it on the cloud.

This also creates a better product since users can access their data anywhere. For example, customer relations management solutions like amoCRM charges users a monthly fee to keep using their CRM solution. In this way, they have created multiple monetization points so that they can keep making money after customers choose their product. Furthermore, amoCRM’s customers get a better deal than their competitors because they can access their data from anywhere with an internet connection.

Disclosure: Murray Newlands does marketing consulting work for Moolah Media.