eMarketSouth Central

Your email address. For many, it is a lifeline for their business contacts. But the address you have printed on your business card and literature says more about you than just how to make contact.

For the last few years, sites such as CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com have been preaching to those job hunting to be careful of the email address they use when submitting resumes. While drunk_n_crazy_kitty79@yahoo.com might have been fun and easy for college friends to remember, it can be a red flag to potential employers. The same goes for businesses.

When you hand a business card to a new contact during a networking function, they will immediately look for your email address. Your email address should be yourname@company_domain.com. You need to keep it simple and relevant so it will be remembered and easily recalled. Having an email account such as Yahoo.com may raise questions about your operation. Additionally, those who use AOL for their emails may miss many inquiries as AOL’s server has many spam filters and blacklists in place that may be blocking your potential clients’ domains.

You don’t have to have a mail program on your computer to use your domain name for email. eMarketSouth can help you with a web-based interface so you may access your email from anywhere. If you prefer to work with Outlook, Thunderbird or related programs, we offer simple set up instructions for using your new email account.

Whatever option you choose, remember your email address is your calling card. It’s how people remember you, and how they find you when they want something. And ultimately, isn’t that what you want for your business?

Tags: eMarketSouth by Lisa Scarbrough
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and all through the web, people look at the sites to see what was said. The keywords were nestled, all snug in the code; while servers were whirling to carry the load. People shopped with their cards and emailed their friends and wondered what happened to pencils and pens. The IM’s were appearing at a radical pace and Santa himself can be found on MySpace. It’s a whole new world this holiday eve, we’ve learned the Internet carries many tricks up its sleeve. When out on the web there arose such a clatter, we sprang from our computer to see what was the matter. Away to the server room we flew like flash, tore open the mainframe, seemingly quite rash. A programmer was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot, and his mousepad was covered with ashes and soot. We asked him to explain this incredible scene but he just looked at us and smiled, his attitude serene. “The Internet,” he said, “is a magical thing. When used correctly much joy it can bring. It makes business work, and that is for sure. People will get to know and then you will sell more.” He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, programming sites for people to lurk. Then we heard him exclaim as he drove out of site, happy surfing to all and to all a good night!

Tags: eMarketSouth by Rebecca Fuller
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Real estate. One of the most valuable assets you can own. It’s all a matter of location, location, location. The same goes for online real estate.

Your wesbite is informative to visitors. But how do you get them there? You can’t rely just on search engine traffic. Your need to visit other sites that share your visitors and advertise there as well. We’re not talking about a simple link exchange, but rather banner advertising.

Having a banner ad will help attract attention. It should be consise and clearly identify you. Animated banners work great as you can include more information. You might even go a step further to encourage visitors by offering an incentive if they follow the link to your website such as a free consultation or discount on their first purchase.

How do you know where to purchase banner ad real estate? Consider your target audience and their interest. Then look for those websites and contact the site owners if advertising is allowed. For example, if you are a marine dealer, your customers probably pay close attention to the weather during hurricane season. So you might consider advertising on CoastalStorms.com, a hurricane evacuation and information website. If you offer special services to new home buyers, then advertising on SavannahHomeFinder.com and USAHomes.com will get you in front of that target market.

Does your business currently sponsor community events or non-profit organizations? Then ask them about banner advertising on their related websites. Showing that you put an investment into the community for causes your customers care about will help increase your online business.

The problem with trying to attract traffic is you want quality not quantity. If you have 1,000 unique visitors a day and only one person makes an inquiry for your product or service, you have a smaller return on your investment. But if you target your traffic to those specifically in need of your services, your return will be greater. It all comes back to location, location, location.

Tags: Search Engine Optimization, eMarketSouth by Lisa Scarbrough
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