HOPSON POTTER BUSINESS

When it comes to commerce strategies, content advertising has just been crowned master, far surpassing search engine marketing, public relations and even print, television and radio broadcasting as the favorite marketing form for today’s business-to-business business leads.

Late this summer, an internet software solutions company, reviewed nearly 400 marketing professionals about the position of the business-to-business, market, and uncovered that advertisers are fleeing from established marketing strategy such as search engine optimization and have brought about content targeting the most-used plan in their brand-mending tool box. Fact is, B2B Marketing Trends Survey Report, twice as many B2B marketers now employ content marketing as they do print, TV and radio advertising corresponding to a survey.

So what exactly is content marketing? It’s the establishment and publication of fresh content — as well as blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos and photos — for the intention of producing leads, enhancing a brand’s distinctness, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on exposure. A study found that an impressive 82 percent of B2B marketers now make use of this as applied tactics in their advertising programs. Coming in at a faraway second place is search engine marketing at 70 percent, followed by events at 68 percent, public relations at 64 percent and conventional marketing at 32 percent.

Seventy-eight percent of the marketers said driving sales and leads was the top marketing goal of their business, followed by increasing brand awareness and establishing or continuing thought leadership). Another 28 percent mentioned their initial goal was to amplify web traffic and 24 percent said it was to increase search results.

Part of the visibility of content marketing is its ability to produce qualified leads while appealing prospects in a branded environment without busting the budget. Nearly half of the content marketers interviewed said they dedicate less than a third of their budgets to such marketing expenditures. In addition to frugality, B2B marketers also believe most of their customers and prospects are online, which is why they’re focusing their marketing efforts on the Internet.

Finally, the study shows that “content scrutiny” — which is determined as the process of bringing to light, organizing and associating content — continues to gain strength as a top marketing plan of action, up 17 percent from six months ago. Seen as a way for marketers to fuel their marketing programs, content curation does have its problems. Almost 70 percent of content curators say lack of time hinders their efforts, with 66 percent saying a lack of original and quality content is a major disadvantage. Another 38 percent say difficulty in measuring earnings is the stumbling barrier and 37 percent say lack of expertise to do the work is the obstruction.

Despite these issues, this study makes clear that content marketing is only going to evolve into more important going forward, whether you advertise to other businesses or to the public at large.

Internet has created new opportunities for those who are willing to take an advantage of them. It is possible to create a full-time income from home, just by using a computer and an internet connection. Setting up an online business is easier than creating a regular one. However, it still takes time and dedication to build it. Here are three web based small business ideas, which are proven ways for making money from home.

1. Offering a freelance service - Start offering any of the following online freelance services: writing articles or blogposts, web design, programming, virtual assistant service, desktop publisher, resume writing, marketing service, photo selling.

In order to get your first clients more easily, join a specialized freelancing site, which helps you to connect with people who need your service. Expect to charge less for your service as you start out, since there is a fair amount of competition. But as with all the other web based small business ideas, generating a full-time income with this opportunity becomes easier and easier each day.

2. Creating and selling eBooks - There are online training programs, which show you step-by-step how to write and sell simple eBooks. You can create an eBook on any topic, as long as it provides value to your readers. Very popular are how-to books, which instruct people on a certain task. Or you can pick a hobby and create an informative eBook about it. Moreover, there are prewritten eBooks, which you can buy, and then resell as yours, at no additional cost.

Start selling your eBooks on more popular digital products selling sites, such as TradeBit and Click2Sell, which help to advertise the books for you. They take a percentage of the sales, but are a great way for new writers to start earning an income. After you become more recognized, it is possible to open up your own eBook online store, which lets you to keep all the profits.

3. Affiliate Marketing - Start promoting a product or a service of another online company. Once you help to make a new sale, you get paid a commission. Over time it is possible to promote various products and services, creating yourself multiple sources of income. It is one of the most lucrative web based small business ideas, which doesn’t require you to have your own product.

It is possible to choose between different free marketing strategies, like writing articles or creating a blog. As your business starts to take off, and you have more capital to invest, you can start hiring more people and use paid marketing services to boost your business furthermore.

Three web based small business ideas are: offering a freelance service, creating and selling eBooks, and affiliate marketing. They all have the potential to reward you with a full-time income. You can start small, with no money to invest, and grow your business into a reliable source of income, by taking small steps each day.