There are many categories and subcategories of marketing today that you’re bound to get dizzy trying to learn about it all in one shot. Internet marketing, as an idea, is extremely encompassing. Most people only bother to learn a few ins and outs just enough to get them by and to get their sites ranked. Part of Internet marketing is digital marketing, an equally confusing aspect.If you know what this marketing is, then it’s relatively easy to understand. If you don’t know, however, figuring out what qualifies as this can take some getting used to. Odds are you haven’t heard of some of the methods within the digital wheelhouse.In simple and plain English, the broad category of this type of marketing contains search engine optimization (SEO), banner advertising, pay-per-click advertising (PPC), email, RSS, social networking, blogging, advergaming and other Internet-based digital aspects. Basically, the overwhelming majority of Internet marketing qualifies as digital, but there are a few old marketing tactics online that don’t fall in the category.Digital marketing is more of a model when taken as a whole. It’s all about the interaction between the marketer and the customer. This interaction can be personal or impersonal, as long as the digital interaction is taking place. It’s also about targeting specific niche markets and demographics with effective advertising that caters to the customer.One of the most important aspects of digital marketing is the ability to create quantifiable results. What this means, simply, is that the action of marketing should have a measurable reaction of traffic.Any basic marketing technique mastered can easily bring an influx of traffic to a website or blog. Digital marketing techniques are employed by millions on the Internet, from people looking to push businesses to regular folks looking to have their social networking profiles noticed.You don’t have to be seeking a monetary profit to employ digital marketing. It’s basically about using various methods to advertise directly to other Internet users and to drive people to a designated area. Simply sending someone a friend request via MySpace technically qualifies as digital marketing.A couple of digital marketing’s aspects are a little more difficult to get a grasp on. Many people try to use PPC ads to their advantage, only to have their accounts suspended for false clicks, or to have their ads go untouched even on heavily trafficked sites. Mastering the art of the ad is definitely something to seek further advice on.RSS feeds and thorough search engine optimization are also confusing to some lacking the expertise. Many freelancers and specialty companies have emerged in recent years and have become prominent players in the digital marketing field due to their knack for driving traffic and earning high site placement.If you’re looking to operate a successful online business, then you need to understand what digital marketing is, what it’s intended for and how to best use it to your advantage.
What Exactly Is Digital Marketing?
Buying a Condo With Payday Loans
Ok – before you say it, I know payday loans are supposed to be used for emergency funding. I also know that irresponsible use of payday loans can put you in a cycle of debt. However, to the defense of payday lenders, irresponsible use of a credit card, bank loan, or any other financial product can spiral you into unforgiving sea of debt. Anyone remember the financial crisis of 2008? I don’t remember payday lenders being the cause of that melt down. Anyway, I digress…It started back in January. I had accepted a new job and was excited about the opportunity to advance my career and start a new life.The whole move out process was extremely fast. I accepted the job on Monday morning. By Wednesday evening I had sold my condo. I was able to sell the condo to a friend who had always envied the place, and was coincidentally looking for a new pad. By Friday afternoon I found myself sitting on an airplane leaving from phoenix, AZ for Salt Lake City, UT. As the engines engaged for take-off, I thought about how scary it was to move into a new state with no friends, no house, and all my belongings waiting back in an AZ storage shed.Once in Salt Lake City two thoughts crossed my mind. The first was the shock at how un-humanly cold it was outside. The second was questioning where I would sleep that night. The only feasible option was a $175 airport motel. I remember being nestled between the hard hotel mattress and the polyester blanket and thinking to myself “you got to find a place to live”.The sun rose upon a beautiful Saturday morning. Snow (which I hadn’t seen in years) glistened amongst rows of parking lots and cheap eats. After browsing the net all morning, I found a condo near my work that was going for a really attractive price. It turns out the owner was in a similar situation as myself (moving because of a job opening); only he was trying to sell while I was looking to buy. The whole situation was set up for a quick sale and quick move in. Perfect.I called the seller from the number listed on the website and agreed to meet him in his condo. After a 20 minute cab ride I was standing in front of one of the most beautiful condos I had ever seen. We exchanged pleasantries and he took me on a tour of the condo. I liked what I saw and was ready to buy. The apartment was advertised on the web for $74,900. Similar condos in the complex were selling for $125-150k. I knew the guy was looking to sell the place fast, and at a price like this, if I didn’t take the offer someone else would.I agreed to buy the condo. We printed out some documents from an online lawyer and got all the legal paper out of the way. Part of the agreement we struck was that I would pay the entirety of the apartment within 14 days. The money I had made from selling my condo in Phoenix would cover the cost. I also agreed to pay a $500 “quick transaction fee”. This “fee” was the buyers attempt for me to essentially pay for his plane ticket to UT. At the deep discount I was getting, I didn’t mind agreeing to the “fee”. There was only one problem I didn’t have $500 in cash.I had spent most of my “on hand” cash on the hotel room and cab ride. Because it was a weekend, the funds from selling my condo in Phoenix wouldn’t come in until next week.I told the buyer that I didn’t have $500 cash on hand but I would get it to him on Monday. The buyer dismissed that idea and suggested I take out a payday loan. I did the math in my head and financially it made a lot of sense.Payday loan lenders typically charge a set amount per $100 borrowed. In my case the lender charged $20 per $100 borrowed. On a $500 loan the lender charged $100. Overall I owed the lender $600. The lender gave me two weeks to pay the loan back. This may seem a little steep, but circumstances can make the service charge of a payday lender look like peanuts. The condo that I was buying would retail for around $125k under normal circumstances. However, because the buyer needed to sell the condo in days not weeks, he drastically reduced the price of the condo to $74,900. The price between what the condo should have gone for and what the buyer was selling it for was $50,100. I would have lost this deal had I not agreed to the $500 “quick transaction fee”. Factoring in the $500 “quick transaction fee” and the lenders $100 service charge I ended up paying $75,500 for the condo.
What Are The Greatest Changes In Shopping In Your Lifetime
What are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime? So asked my 9 year old grandson.
As I thought of the question the local Green Grocer came to mind. Because that is what the greatest change in shopping in my lifetime is.
That was the first place to start with the question of what are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime.
Our local green grocer was the most important change in shopping in my lifetime. Beside him was our butcher, a hairdresser and a chemist.
Looking back, we were well catered for as we had quite a few in our suburb. And yes, the greatest changes in shopping in my lifetime were with the small family owned businesses.
Entertainment While Shopping Has Changed
Buying butter was an entertainment in itself.
My sister and I often had to go to a favourite family grocer close by. We were always polite as we asked for a pound or two of butter and other small items.
Out came a big block of wet butter wrapped in grease-proof paper. Brought from the back of the shop, placed on a huge counter top and included two grooved pates.
That was a big change in our shopping in my lifetime… you don’t come across butter bashing nowadays.
Our old friendly Mr. Mahon with the moustache, would cut a square of butter. Lift it to another piece of greaseproof paper with his pates. On it went to the weighing scales, a bit sliced off or added here and there.
Our old grocer would then bash it with gusto, turning it over and over. Upside down and sideways it went, so that it had grooves from the pates, splashes going everywhere, including our faces.
My sister and I thought this was great fun and it always cracked us up. We loved it, as we loved Mahon’s, on the corner, our very favourite grocery shop.
Grocery Shopping
Further afield, we often had to go to another of my mother’s favourite, not so local, green grocer’s. Mr. McKessie, ( spelt phonetically) would take our list, gather the groceries and put them all in a big cardboard box.
And because we were good customers he always delivered them to our house free of charge. But he wasn’t nearly as much fun as old Mr. Mahon. Even so, he was a nice man.
All Things Fresh
So there were very many common services such as home deliveries like:
• Farm eggs
• Fresh vegetables
• Cow’s milk
• Freshly baked bread
• Coal for our open fires
Delivery Services
A man used to come to our house a couple of times a week with farm fresh eggs.
Another used to come every day with fresh vegetables, although my father loved growing his own.
Our milk, topped with beautiful cream, was delivered to our doorstep every single morning.
Unbelievably, come think of it now, our bread came to us in a huge van driven by our “bread-man” named Jerry who became a family friend.
My parents always invited Jerry and his wife to their parties, and there were many during the summer months. Kids and adults all thoroughly enjoyed these times. Alcohol was never included, my parents were teetotallers. Lemonade was a treat, with home made sandwiches and cakes.
The coal-man was another who delivered bags of coal for our open fires. I can still see his sooty face under his tweed cap but I can’t remember his name. We knew them all by name but most of them escape me now.
Mr. Higgins, a service man from the Hoover Company always came to our house to replace our old vacuum cleaner with an updated model.
Our insurance company even sent a man to collect the weekly premium.
People then only paid for their shopping with cash. This in itself has been a huge change in shopping in my lifetime.
In some department stores there was a system whereby the money from the cash registers was transported in a small cylinder on a moving wire track to the central office.
Some Of The Bigger Changes
Some of the bigger changes in shopping were the opening of supermarkets.
• Supermarkets replaced many individual smaller grocery shops. Cash and bank cheques have given way to credit and key cards.
• Internet shopping… the latest trend, but in many minds, doing more harm, to book shops.
• Not many written shopping lists, because mobile phones have taken over.
On a more optimistic note, I hear that book shops are popular again after a decline.
Personal Service Has Most Definitely Changed
So, no one really has to leave home, to purchase almost anything, technology makes it so easy to do online.
And we have a much bigger range of products now, to choose from, and credit cards have given us the greatest ease of payment.
We have longer shopping hours, and weekend shopping. But we have lost the personal service that we oldies had taken for granted and also appreciated.
Because of their frenetic lifestyles, I have heard people say they find shopping very stressful, that is grocery shopping. I’m sure it is when you have to dash home and cook dinner after a days work. I often think there has to be a better, less stressful way.
My mother had the best of both worlds, in the services she had at her disposal. With a full time job looking after 9 people, 7 children plus her and my dad, she was very lucky. Lucky too that she did not have 2 jobs.