Outbound marketing is the traditional stuff that most people think of when they think about marketing and includes things like print advertising, direct mail, telemarketing, TV and radio.

The defining factor of outbound marketing is that it reaches out to the consumer in the hopes of:

1. grabbing their attention
2. holding their attention long enough to deliver a message
3. hoping the message motivates them to take action - like spend money on a product or service

The success of outbound marketing hinges on its ability to effectively interrupt you. Outbound marketing doesn’t work as well as it used to. That’s probably because the average consumer is bombarded with anywhere from 250 to 3000 messages a day depending on how much time you spend online, watching TV, listening to the radio or reading newspapers and magazines.

With so much rapid fire information being hurled at consumers every day, is it any wonder that most people have become adept at tuning it out?

One of the most underused things by Newbies in regards to linking is “Anchor Text”. This is the visible text showing in a link.

The prime mistake Newbies make is to put their website name into the Anchor Text. Unless your website contains your keywords this is a waste of a perfectly good link. Remember that Google puts a very big importance on those Anchor texts and they should always use your keywords.

The second mistake is trying to put every single keyword into your anchor text and give that to everyone. There are two mistakes with this technique.

1. Google assigns weight to each word in anchor text so if there are a lot of filler words (common in long sentences), they will “dilute” your target words

2. You should vary your text throughout your links. That is, change it every 20 or so. This just makes sense. If your links were placed naturally, there would never be 300 links all with the EXACT same anchor text.

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Keep in mind though, if you’re not not planning to dedicate the resources and time to testing and analyzing results, you probably should not even begin a campaign. Even with the virtually endless advances in computer technology over the last decade, testing is the only repeatedly proven way to learn what works and what does not. This mystery game is what makes online advertising so exciting because when done right. it forces you, the business owner, to constantly innovate to build your client base and revenue. If done correctly, the sky is truly the limit.

1. Quality over Quantity-do not be misled by increased traffic.

2. Style and usability should work together-your website must be attention-grabbing and easy to use.

3. Be proud to be local-make sure your ad and targeting reflect the true local nature of your business.

4. Use statistics to your advantage-install tracking code on your site that helps you determine which search engines, keywords, ads and campaigns are driving the best and most profitable conversions.

5. Keep your advertising dynamic-use your data and acquired learning to make changes to your campaigns.