Want to know where your target audience is? Keep an eye on these Web 2.0 social media websites.

• YouTube
• Google Videos
• Flickr
• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Technorati

Some of these sites are social sites – where all the action is taking place. The others are directories to social sites.

When you find your target audience involved with one or more of these web sites, join in, befriend them, gain their trust, and eventually, the “doing business” thing will emerge.

If you do not find your target audience, you’ve still gained information for your marketing efforts. You’ll know not to advertise on these social web sites.

Happy surfing!

Ego searches are free and simple searches designed to monitor blogs, news portals and forums for mention of your company, your products and services, your competition, or any other keyword phrase you want. Using appropriate keyword phrases, companies can stay abreast of industry trends, business deals, hirings/firings, product launches, and more. Ego searches provide free marketing research.

How do you do it?
In your RSS Reader (see this post: What is RSS?) , you enter the keyword phrases about which you want to receive news. Each day the articles and posts that contain your keyword phrases display in your reader.

Need a reader?
Try one of these free services:

• Bloglines (Web-based)
• BlogExpress (freeware you download to desktop)
• Pluck RSS Reader (freeware you download to desktop)
• Sharp Reader (freeware you download to desktop)

You may have noticed that more and more Web sites are displaying their logos in the URL bar of the browser.

If you bookmark the site or save it in your favorites, the logo displays next to their listing.

How’d they do that?

1. They create a 16 pixel x 16 pixel graphic and save it as a .ico file. The .ico indicates to the browsers that it is an icon.
2. They add a single statement to the (behind-the-scenes) header section of each page of their Web site.
3. They upload the graphic to the graphics folder on their Web site.
4. They upload each page of their Web site.
5. Voilà, c’est fini.

This is an inexpensive way to brand your logo. Call Adventures Online at 508-480-8833 to receive your quote today.

Did you know that there is a secondary market for domain names? When domain names expire and the owners do not renew, frequently the domain names are put up for auction. Approx. 21,000 domain names (yes, that’s twenty one thousand) are up for auction each day.

What you should know…

1. Adventures Online is a domain name reseller and is allowed to participate in the auctions.
2. Generic domain names can help you get found on the Web. Examples: blogdevelopermassachusetts.com, bostonbusinesscoach.com, websitedeveloper.com, personaltrainermass.com, productphotographer.com

What you should do…

1. Let Karen Callahan know the domain name you are looking for – even a portion of a domain name is good. Say you are looking for a domain name “starting with” or “containing” the word “website”. Let me know, and I will add it to my watch list.
2. I will notify you when a domain name becomes available.
3. You let me know whether you want to bid on the domain name.

Domain names can sell for as little as $10.00 (ten dollars) up into the millions. See GreatDomains for a look at some of the higher end domain names. Starting prices on eBay are less than one dollar.

Defining success for and understanding the results of your direct mail campaign can be difficult and ambiguous. Here’s a simple formula for using your Web site to help gather concrete information about your target audience’s response to your (next) mailing.

1. Copy your existing Home Page, or, create a new Welcome Page and store it in a folder called “www.yourdomainname.com/march2006/” – where “march2006″ is replaced by a unique identifier for your current direct mail campaign.
2. In your direct mail piece, give your prospects only the address above (with the new folder name – no quotes)
3. Before the day of the mailing, take a snapshot of the statistics for your Web site. Print the pages, or, write down the numbers that you will be interested in following after the direct mail piece is sent.
4. Several days after you expect that your prospects will have received your direct mail piece, revisit the Web site statistics pages. Compare the numbers you see with the numbers that you printed out or copied down before the mailing went out.
5. Continue to check for the time period that you feel is appropriate given the size of the mailing and your call to action or special offer.