4 Awesome Resources to Help You Market Your Online Business

Posted on November 16, 2016 by Larry

imtc-blog-1 There are many kinds of opportunities out there on the Web to advertise and market your business—you just need to know where to look. At Internet Marketing Training Center, we use several different ways to market our content to entrepreneurs, authors, personal development coaches–anyone who wants to start an online business and/or learn about Internet marketing to help them grow their brand. Here’s a list of some of the resources we use.

Meet Edgar

Meet Edgar is a social media automation app that allows you to schedule posts to be shared on social media (with support currently for Twitter; Facebook profiles and pages; and LinkedIn profiles and company pages). Edgar, allows you to store all of your updates online in a category-based library, where they remain even after they’ve been posted once. Edgar also allows you to save as many updates as you’d like.

Audiense

Audiense is a social marketing platform with rich, actionable insight and marketing tools to engage audiences based on what they say, who they are, and how they think. This allows marketers to understand their audiences in unparalleled depth, identify strategic market opportunities and engage audiences intelligently. It eliminates assumption and guesswork about your audiences, helping you to identify and target new markets, and to nurture and grow existing ones.

Canva

Canva makes design simple for everyone. It allows you to create designs for web or print: blog graphics, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations and many other social media graphics.

DrumUp

DrumUp is a powerful content marketing, curation and social media management tool. Discover and curate trending content, and schedule posts on Twitter. Although you cannot market your business on there, you can find content to curate to bring an awareness to your brand and provide valuable content.

There are many more resources out there, but these are the ones we use consistently. Join us each month to get more.

Are You Ready for Change? Grow Your Business NOW

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Larry

The past few months, we’ve experienced a great influx of new students at our school. We’ve been offering an amazing opportunity that when students sign up for $1000, and upon successful completion of the school, we give them their money back! If you’d like to learn more about it, click HERE. It’s an exciting time to see so many people sign up from all different industries! Whether it’s at the very beginning stages of their business to an already established one making money, they are eager to take their business to the next level.

Of course, we are happy to assist them with their goals; however, as you know whenever changes happen, what we’ve learned over the past 10 years of running the school, you must be willing to adapt and go with the flow. And that’s just what we did! We brought on instructors to help us push forward. We are sharing this story because of a valuable lesson we want you to know. You’ve probably heard it before, but we want to reiterate: When times change, you have to change with the times!

If you’ve studied the fluctuations in technology over the past decade, you’ll see how things have drastically changed! What we’ve observed, is that the world is leaning more and more on the Internet for advice, recipes, workout routines, to find their next topic for their presentation, name for their baby, inspiration for their outfits, and much more! Do you see where we are going with this? If you had a business, blog or content with just the right answers, people would be coming to YOU (if you set yourself up properly) for these questions to be answered! As we continue to watch the fluctuations with technology, the changes the world undergoes, with more and more apps for your mobile devices popping up, it leads us to believe that this Internet thing is around to stay and won’t be drifting away anytime soon! So, as it continues to gain momentum, how will you respond? Will you jump in, learn more, and get your business going? Or, will you wait years down the road only to ask yourself, “Why didn’t I do that way back then?”

Hopefully, you won’t find yourself on the wrong side of the Internet spectrum, asking yourself, “Why didn't I start my business back then?”

If you’d like to learn more on how you can join our school and build your business in the next few years, click HERE for more details! See you soon.

3 Things We Learned about Modern Day Business Owners

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Larry

Every month, we check in on our students to make sure they are doing well in the coursework. We give them a call after reviewing their progress on our backend. Of course, we somewhat have some insight as to how they’re doing (we can see how many courses they are completing) but really, it’s their chance to ask questions or give any feedback about the material. During this month, though, we were quite excited to receive back-to-back comments from students who had similar experiences.

One student said he used some of the tips and tricks provided in the coursework to tweak his website, and a few days later he noticed that his overall ranking on his site improve in the search engines. (Pretty cool, huh?) Another student shared with us how grateful she was for the course because she was learning so much. She said that she was implementing one of the productivity we recommended, and landed a highly qualified intern to assist her business!

With each conversation we had with our students, we were able to take away some key points. Points that help you understand exactly what the modern day entrepreneur, Internet marketer, social media marketer, or business owner are looking for. Ok, here goes…

They need credible information from people who have been there done that. We are working with real life entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs that want to take their businesses to the next level. They do not want (nor have the time) to fiddle with what “may or may not work” for their businesses. That’s why we compiled content that caters to the real-world entrepreneur that wants maximum impact from the exact way the found made his multi-million dollar empire. From building their WordPress site to lead magnet ideas to sales and conversions, we give them what they need now!
They want to see results. It’s often a difficult place for entrepreneurs (because we know that results often take time) but they want to see them and they want to see them now! For that reason, we don’t play around at IMTCVA. We ensure that our student’s lessons and coursework push them to learn AND build their companies along the way. It’s a process that happens simultaneous.
They want updated information that changes with the industry times. Technology is always changing. The way things are being done online is changing too. What was done a decade ago may not be what’s most popular now. Heck, social media wasn’t even in the picture years ago; however, it’s one of the top ways Internet marketers and business owners are tapping into their target market to generate cash flow. Luckily, we know that and stay abreast of what’s coming out. We are always deleting obsolete concepts, researching and adding the best content for our students.

Overall, we are elated that our students are doing well in the course and progressing towards graduation. Looking at some online graduation rates (the not so good ones) it’s an honor to have our students trucking through. I hope you gained some valuable insight from the information we provided.

Also, if you saw yourself in any of the three points we mentioned, we would love to hear from you! We would love to help you take your business (or aspiring business) to the next level. Whatever you need, we’ve got it! For information on how you can join the school please go to www.IMTCVA.org to inquire.

Why Would Anyone Want to Start an Online Business?

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Larry

Why would anyone want to start a business online? Even if you did, what are some of the areas one would have to study to be successful?

Well, let's answer the first question. The reason you'd want to start a business online:

Do what you love.
Be your own boss.
Share your message or cause to millions of people across the world.
Make money.

With everything I mentioned, how could this not be a good fit? You get to create your own hours, do what you love by sharing your message or cause to everyone, and create wealth for yourself and family. Who wouldn't want those experiences? You can take your dream and turn it into a dream business. The thing is, though, you must have a plan to get you there. You cannot expect all these amazing opportunities to come without arming yourself with knowledge. So, let me share with you some information, or ways, you can achieve these goals. Take a look at the 8 areas that will help you delve deeper into getting your business online.

Information you should know:

Social media
Email marketing
Lead Generation
Organic (SEO/SEM)
Conversion Rate Optimization
Analytic
Content Marketing
Pay per Click

Of course, there are other areas of knowledge you should have, but these are just a few to help you jump start your Internet Marketing education. To learn more about this unique opportunity and how to enroll, please visit the Internet Marketing Training Center of Virginia – http://imtcva.org , and remember to download your FREE career brochure!

A Beginner’s Guide to Internet Marketing

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Larry

So, you want to start your career in Internet Marketing? Well, I'm going to give you a quick overview of how to get started. Here at IMTCVA, we call it the three prong attack. There are three areas that you should hone in on whenever you decide to move forward.

3 Prong Attack Elements:

Website
- Make sure you have a website that's ready to convert (make sales). This consists of your shopping cart systems, content and all!
Database
- Focus on getting people on your email list.
Products
- Become a product machine. What is your signature offer? You should make it your duty to create quality-driven products for your target audience.

Each of these components will help you get started. Even more, as you focus on the three prong attack, make sure you realize these three crucial elements to help you along the way too.

Dive in. Don't just get your feet wet, as the idiom goes, but immerse yourself in the internet marketing world, learning everything from A to Z.
This contradicts the first point, but it's relevant. As you immerse yourself in the information, make sure you don't overwhelm yourself by trying to do everything at once. It takes a few years to actually be confident in knowing what you're doing. Therefore, don't get discouraged not truly grasping the concepts or feeling like the elements aren't coming together.
Which leads me to the next crucial point—get some training. The saying, “You don't know what you don't know,” is evident here. What you don't know can truly hurt you. And in this case, financially. Knowing what to buy, or what not. There are scammers everywhere trying to take your hard earned money (take a look at the Top 20 Seminar Scams here). Why give them the advantage by not knowing what you're doing?

Overall, these are the top three suggestions and top three key elements to help you grow your business as a newbie in this industry. If you'd like to learn, be sure to check out our in depth training on Internet marketing at our school.

The Internet: the Tidal Wave of the Future

Posted on September 18, 2015 by Larry

If you were to ask me a decade ago, “Do you think the Internet is here to stay?” I would have given you the same answer I'm still sharing with people across the world—HECK YEAH! The Internet is only gaining momentum. What we could only imagine years ago, is here at our finger tips. Just think—Skype, Google Hangouts, Periscope—technological devices that were only seen in futuristic movies, have hit our world. If you haven't already gotten aboard, you're missing out. Statistically, let me share with you what's been happening.

”In 2011, it was estimated that about $35.6 billion was spent on self-paced eLearning across the globe. Today, e-Learning is a $56.2 billion industry, and it's going to double by 2015.”
–eLearningIndustry.com

If you didn't get excited about those statistics, or saw yourself fitting into the grand scheme of things, don't worry, our school helps you to filter those “far out dreams” into realistic opportunities. We've worked with authors, entrepreneurs, marketers, psychics, public speakers, energy healers, and more. So, when I tell you, you can make a living online—trust my word.

The main thing you have to focus on, though, if you decide to venture off into online marketing, is having a strong solid foundation and a clear direction of where you're going. As we shared in the title, the Internet is the tidal wave of the future, it can become a bit bumpy along the way. Therefore, you must equip yourself for the journey. One of the smartest steps anyone can take, become educated. There are loads of great opportunities that await, but at times, you can become so overwhelmed with the newest, shiniest objects that will deter your focus.

Where do you want to be? Wherever you see yourself, become educated and go for it!

Sources:

http://elearningindustry.com/top-10-e-learning-statistics-for-2014-you-need-to-know

What Can You Do With a Certification In Internet Marketing, Anyway?

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Larry

OK, seriously, what could I possibly do with a certification in Internet Marketing? My dear friend, I think the real answer lies in what you'd like to do. Are you a go-getter? Do you push the limits with creative ideas? Are you one that doesn't conform to traditional way of doing business?

As you continue to evaluate who you are and what you'd like to do, you start to see that the Internet is a mere tool to express who you are, what you do, and what you give to others; it spreads YOUR message. To be honest, you can do just about anything on the Internet, if you have the skills and knowledge.

To give you a quick glimpse of some of your options, though, I'm going to share with you two excellent reasons you should want to increase your skills and training to be able to create a life and business you love.

Get educated on what's working now. You'll get access to information that is timeless in concept, but changes with new and improved advanced technology.
Gives you more opportunities. Certifications and degrees make you stand out above the rest. It shows the world (employer, customers, clients) that you took it serious enough to educate yourself with information.

Overall, you can be whoever you'd like to be on the Internet. Successful, lucrative, giving, well-known—the possibilities are limitless. However, you must put into place a strategy in order to get there. Certification can help you reach those goals.

Social Media Platforms: Which Ones Should I Be Using?

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Larry

Choose the BEST platform to increase your brand.

Where is your target audience?

“22% of Americans use social networking sites several times per day.”^*1 “23% of Facebook’s users check their account five or more times EVERY DAY!”^*2 The statistics are mind-blowing, but whether we like it or not, social media has become a way of life! For the smart business owners, the same is true.

Many business owners use platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to fuel their vehicle towards financial success. It's exciting to see them engaging, but the question remains, are they fueling their cars (businesses) with the proper fuel (social media platform) to get to where they need to go (generating sales)? The information below will give you insight, statistics and demographics to each social media platform. Use this information to help determine if you are efficiently answering the question, am I using the best platform to capture my audience? Even more, you should be asking why am I using these platforms? It's a question that only you can answer. Remember, at the end of the reporting period, it's not about “vanity metrics,” but the real money that's being generated. Your goal is to engage with your followers, build trust, get them over to your website where you can collect their emails. Choose wisely and carefully (especially if you do not have assistance with these platforms) on which will be best for you.

Quick Tips:

Vanity metrics—can be easily manipulated and often do not correlate to numbers that really matter: active users, engagement and revenues and profits!
Never put all of your energy into just one platform. You want to test at least two different ones to see which performs best and then focus on that one.
If you're the only person responsible for your social sites, make sure you secure your brand name across all platforms. Reserve them until the time is right and you have more people to assist in executing a solid tactical plan.

Facebook

1.01 billion users (as of March 2014)
75% of engagement on a post happens within the first 5 hours

YouTube

1 billion + users
Reaches more adults aged 18-34 than any single cable network.
Rated by millennials as the top place to watch content, ahead of digital and TV properties like Facebook and ESPN.
Used to generate traffic.

Instagram

Described as “most important among US teens.”
83% of U.S. teens in wealthy households.

Twitter

Leaning more towards male users.
22% of men use.
15% women.

Pinterest

40 million active users.
80% are women users.
23% use at least once per day.

LinkedIn

Ranked more popular than Twitter among adults.
Core demographic is aged 30 – 49 (they are in the prime of their career-rising years).
Skewed towards well-educated users.

Snapchat

30 million users.
70% are females.
More than six out of 10 Snapchat users are in the 18-to-24 age group, compared to 28% of Instagram users.

Blogs

6.7 + million people blog via blogging sites
Companies with a blog have 97% more inbound links than others
B2B marketers use to generate more leads

^*1&2Baer, Jay. (2014) 11 Shocking New Social Media Statistics in America. Retrieved from http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-research/11-shocking-new-social-media-statistics-in-america/

Other resources for you to check out:

Sprout Social http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/#all

Using Fonts on your (WordPress) Website

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Larry

Typography is the art and technique of making language visible. Most people don't think twice about typography, yet it's everywhere. Anytime you are reading, someone has carefully chosen the way words appear to the reader. The size, the spacing, the very forms of the letters.

It's obviously not a very cut and dried subject. Certain fonts can elicit feelings or emotions from the majority of readers, certain fonts don't read easily but can sure catch someone's attention.

Almost everyone who owns a computer has a little bit of knowledge about fonts/typography. A font is basically a style of letters and it's spacing. All computers come installed with some fonts that are packaged with the operating system such as Windows or OSX.

It's possible to acquire more fonts, through packages or software bonuses. The point I am leading up to is that, just because you have a font on your computer, doesn't mean any one else will be able to see it. If you were to print it directly from your computer, the paper would be in that font. If you made an image with the font, the type would be in that font.

If you tried to use that font on the web, it wouldn't work. The web is a different animal. Unless the person had the font on their computer, the font would default. Considering the font was chosen for a particular reason, that information the font was trying to convey just disappears.

Enter Google, center stage.

Google does some very interesting work in the world. From driving cars to a shared repository of fonts. Yes, Google has created “Web Fonts” that people can use. For us WordPress folks that aren't afraid to use CSS, it's as simple as installing a plugin and selecting one of the over 500 available Google Fonts.

Now that we have the possibility, let's talk about whether or not you SHOULD.

For years we've had the ability to “define” a font. And like I said, if it was on the computer it would show up. This gave us some limitations, but also gave us a little control over how information displayed. The fast and hard rules were you used a sans serif (without flags) since it was easier to read and “serif” type worked well as a large headline or with printed material. These rules still apply. If you want something that reads well, you stick with the basic sans serifs: Helvetica, Arial. I would really only recommend “fancy” fonts/typography for headlines. And then, I would also say to use them sparingly. For every font you enable through your plugin, there is a “call” to the Google repository. Some people have said that this slows their site down (since this call goes out before the page displays, and the page won't load until it gets the information it asks for.)

When you are thinking about fonts:

Size matters. The large the font, the easier it will be to read, and more likely it is to catch the eye. Unless of course it's all the same size, then obviously, that doesn't work.

Weight Matters. A bold font will draw more attention than a regular weight font. It's thicker and has more “mass” to it. Unless of course all the type on the page is bold.

Italics should be avoided. Italics don't display well at smaller sizes and become hard to read. If you must use italics, use them at larger sizes.

Decorative fonts will all have “emotive” information to them. Scary, cheap, professional, funny, zany, etc. Use these infrequently and never as the “body” or main part of the content. When it's small it will be difficult to read and a lot of it will lose it's impact.

So that it's! Some tips and advice about fonts on your WordPress Site. Just remember the tips above and use your favorite “Google Fonts” plugin. Of course you can also use Google Fonts on regular websites, you just have a few other hoops to jump through.

To learn more about growing your “web” or “marketing” skillset, check out what we have to offer, just click here.

Think Outside the Box

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Larry

Did you see the Superbowl this year? If you're like most people, even if you didn't want the Superbowl, you had to see the commercials. They are everywhere now. If you miss the commercials on Superbowl Sunday, you can find them on the Internet monday morning.

I want to mention a commercial in particular. The Doritos Commercial. Frito-Lay ran a contest. They wanted to run two fan created commercials during the Superbowl. They got 6,100 entries. The winning entry scored one million dollars and instant fame. (Check the commercial out here: SuperBowl Doritos Commercial )

Jonathan Friedman said it cost him $20 to make the commercial. It cost Frito-Lay a cool million to Friedman for all his hard work, and however many millions the Superbowl spot cost. But they generated a lot of buzz with the contest and huge individual windfall. Heck, that may have even been a steal for what an advertising agency would charge to develop a commercial specifically for the Superbowl.

It's a little bit of a gamble when professionals aren't involved, hoping that something good would come from the thousands of entries, but it paid off well.

– Large reward (which may still have been less than they could have paid an agency to develop the commercial)

– Rags to Riches story (Jonathan Friedman made a significant amount of money in a short time)

– Company gets Goodwill / karma for helping out a little guy

It's a nice story at the end of the day.

People have taken to the Internet in droves. We shop online, play online, work online. We find miracles and dreams online. The Internet has discovered and carried more and more people off to Hollywood. Singers, actors, stars! A YouTube video and a dream! Of course, a lot of the people who get discovered on the Internet have spent a LOT of time getting themselves seen. They have a TON of material—usually videos, usually linked in some fashion to current trends—and are hoping that if their name pops up in enough places that someone will notice them.

Marketing and promotional materials—either for products and services or for the people who are reaching for fame—are a necessary part of selling online. You have to have materials out there, just the same as in the physical world. Flyers, mailers, billboards, t-shirts. Everything is going digital. Think about your avatars and signatures in forums or discussion areas. Think about all the YouTube videos you can be out there making that cross-connect and link back to your materials. Did George Clooney just have a baby? Do you run a parenting site? Take a bit of his fame and do a video about why you think he would or wouldn't be a good dad and how your product could help him!

The moral of today's stories are, think outside the box and use tools that are available to you. Here at the Internet Marketing Training Center we're here to show you how to think outside of the box and properly utilize tools in rewarding ways.