Ever wish you could have invested in Google, Facebook, twitter, Microsoft about 10 or 15 years ago. Well unless you were a ‘savy’ investor or knew the founders,  investing in ground level start-ups may have been  impossible.

Well no more this is about to change, as the government just passes a new bill sponsored by Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts. This new program is called crowd funding, this bill allows the average consumer to invest as little as $1000-$20,000 per person. Joined with other investors the total funds will help small businesses to survive the start-up phase.

Now it is important not to confuse the new crowd funding bill with popular crowd funding websites like indigogo and kick starter. These site are legally not allowed to offer you equity for your small investment.  However the new crowd funding bill offers investors equity in return for their investments .

In the past, this type of solicitation was illegal and could exempt the company from raising money privately. Now, startups should be able to solicit their deal, which could mean that more investors will be able to hear about it.

The new crowd funding bill has several benefits:

1. More businesses will survive and grow opening up more jobs

2. This program encourage more new businesses.

3. Investors can be on the ground floor of the next new billion dollar corporation.

4. Money will be invested with brokerage firms who will select businesses with the right management teams, products and business experience.

5. If the brokerage firm cannot find the right company to invest in, your money will be refunded.

This is a beautiful program that has a win, win, win formula. Imagine being on the ground floor of the next big cyber program or any other industry you have interest in.

We are promoting our partners Bot Revolt for a start-up we invest in through the new crowd funding bill. Bot Revolt.com which blocks over 1 billion known cyber threats from invading computers for the purpose of stealing e-mail addresses, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, etc. and other new security companies.

Bot Revolt.com has over 8 Billion prospective customers.

For more information call 954-247-0033

Have you ever paid to attend a trade show, only to leave with only a few business cards? If so you know how difficult offline marketing can be. This blog will tell you how to successfully generate offline leads with mascots and how we did it.

Find a Mascot

The first thing you need to do is look for a costume or local personality that will be able to represent your brand. Remember to keep it playful and simple! For example: if you have a lawn care business you can make a suit out of tuff grass easily and fairly inexpensive.

Bimo Marketing has been lucky to partner with Green Man Advertising to handle generating offline leads for our clients. The group is ran by the founders Mike and Nate who do an amazing job going the extra mile. I recommend giving them a call, because they worked amazing for our clients, and they are branching out to other parts of the U.S.

Create a mascot with purpose

Your mascot needs to have a goal set. A mascot standing in front of your business and waiving is ineffective. A mascot standing in front of your business that hands out coupons while directing walk by traffic towards your door is more effective.
The point is that is to capitalize off of the spark your mascot creates. Mascots do not close sales for you, however mascots generate curiosity they generate interest, and unless you have a plan to compliment the mascots efforts you may be wasting time.
In the case of our clients Bot Revolt, the Green Man Advertising team did an awesome job creating purpose. They executed 3 key functions:
1. Get into pictures- They posed for as many pictures as they could with visitors and press.

2. Hand out cards ( and get cards) In a business scenario it is important to also gather business cards for follow-ups after.

3. Get people to our sales staff- The Green Man Advertising group did and excellent job getting prospects to our sales staff. In fact a good mascot will have your sales staff overwhelmed at a trade show or business affair.

Social Media Loves Mascots

Business is changing. Companies now create commercials while considering the impact it will have on their twitter handle. Yea, social media is a big idea that is why it is important you use you offline lead generating mascot for your online social media accounts. Post pictures, create web videos to promote this mascot to a higher level. Fun is better.

What is Bot Revolt?

Bot Revolt is a program developed to live deep down in the code of your computer, it serves two major functions; monitor all incoming and outgoing connections with your computer, and keeps your computer

virtually “un-hackable.”

Are you aware that everyday thousands of illegal online hackers swipe valuable information from computers and then they sell the information to the highest buyers on underground websites?

In fact according to the U.S Department of Defense roughly 148,000 computers are infiltrated by bots each day. Bots are defined as “a virtual network operated by an attacker with the intention of utilizing your computer to be a resource for achieving his own malicious ends.”

These illegal hackers are searching to get your financial information, personal information, log-ins, e-mails or some other data they can sell. The majority of victims have no clue their information has been stolen or viewed because they cannot see or stop bots from accessing their computers.

Fortunately…

Bot Revolt Botnet Protection blocks malicious bot attempts roughly every .002secs. As opposed to anti-viruses Bot Revolt constantly runs so there’s no need for updates or scans to slowyour computer. Bot Revolt also prevents over 1 Billion known malicious threats from communicating with your computer.

Try Bot Revolt’s free trial today and within just seconds you are able to see it blocking illegal bots from accessing your machine. Regardless of whether you already have a virus on your computer, Bot Revolt immediately stops the viruses capability to communicate to the outside world so your personal information and computer are safe!

Bot Revolt is able to do this because it has a unique and growing list compiled of all the blacklists available across the globe, it uses as a reference. This list is close to 1.7 billion IP addresses, and it is automatically updated daily.

Users who try the free-trial are shocked to see the number of bots that try to access their machine.

Go to www.BotRevolt.com and try a free trial (no credit card required)

Enjoy this info-graphic designed to help you market better towards mobile devices!

If you have an event coming up where you will be in a room with business professionals, this blog was designed for you.

1. Leave Hidden Agendas Home

All too often, new entrepreneurs and job seekers go into a networking event thinking it’s their chance to capture x y or z. Remove hidden agendas from your mind. Go to the event looking to learn from others and share information you know, and before you know it you will be having fun.

2. No One likes Desperate

Whether you’re dating or networking, neediness is a major turn-off. Desperate people give off bad energy and are easy to spot. Instead take the ‘I have nothing to lose but everything to gain’ mentality. Remember you are there to learn and teach.

3. Have Sincere Conversations

People can spot B.S a mile away, also people will respect you when you address jargon non-sense. Be polite! Something as simple as “What does that mean?” works wonders in a jargon filled conversation.

Spark a simple conversation and people will respond back sincerely.

4. Ask Open-Ended Questions

Can not stress this one enough. Do you ever wonder why some people can talk to anyone with ease? Well most of the time they have mastered the art of asking open-ended questions without sounding like the 40-year old virgin.
The goal here is to always ask people questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no. Pick questions that demand a real answer, like, “How has your industry changed in the past 10 years?” “What are your customers asking for the most?” and “Why do you think that is?”

5. Connect With Everyone (and Never Look Over Anyone’s Shoulder)

Maybe your goal is to find a new job as a community manager, but you’re “stuck” talking to an IT engineer. Don’t write off the opportunity. I can’t tell you how many people have found a client or job through someone who knows someone who knows someone. What’s the lesson here? Appreciate each person you meet, don’t be dismissive, and never ever scan the room while talking to someone. You just never know where a conversation may lead.

 
Running successful Facebook ads can get you new customers for as little as $ 0.05 cents per click. If you are wondering why more business do not take a shot at this opportunity to get new business the answer is simple… LACK OF INSIGHT…But have no fear Bimo is here to show you how!

First let’s look at the facts :

According to Merchant Circle, 22% of small businesses have used Facebook Ads, and 65% say they would use Facebook Ads again, citing ease and flexibility as the top reasons to run another campaign. But not everyone enjoys success with Facebook Ads — among the one-third of users who say they wouldn’t run another campaign, nearly 70% say that it didn’t work to acquire new customers.

 
Lets Get Started
 

1. Plan Your Approach Accordingly

Why do you want to run a FaceBook campaign? For more sales, more customers, more likes, or more fans?

Facebook offers a number of different ad options that work to achieve different objectives. If you’re looking to build awareness and grow your fan base, you might want to start with standard marketplace ads. These ads point to your Facebook Page and allow users to “like” your page directly within the ad unit. If you already have a sizable fan base, you might also try a “Page Like” sponsored story, in which the ad shows friends who have liked your Page.

When you want to promote a particular post from your page, such as a special offer or important news, you can also use “Page Post” sponsored stories to convert your post into a News Feed item.

But this approach isn’t limited to your own posts; Burnett also notes that “you can use Sponsored Stories — Facebook’s newest marketing tool — to help surface the word-of-mouth recommendations about your business that are already happening in the News Feed. For example, you can sponsor stories about people checking in to your business or “liking” your Page.”

Keep an eye on your CTR (click –through –rate) if your CTR falls below 0.05% then your ad needs tweaking.

2. Get Creative with Targeting

 
The Facebook ad interface makes it very easy to select the demographic profile of an audience you want to target, including age, sex, location, education level and interests, but it is also unique in its ability to micro-target very specific audiences.

While most advertisers come to Facebook with the traditional advertising mindset that says “more is better,” that isn’t the case with Facebook.When setting up your ad do not focus on the large numbers! This is a common mistake many advertisers make. In terms on making sales you need to target your ad. It is better to have a few thousand people who fit you customer profile then to have a hundred thousand people uninterested.
 

3. Choose Text and Images That POP

 
When designing your ad, Facebook recommends that you write clear, targeted ads with concise text that speaks directly to the audience you will reach. Be sure to highlight any special offers or unique features that differentiate you from the competition. If your goal is brand and company name recognition, Facebook also suggests using your company name in the ad title or somewhere in the body of the ad.
 
While your ad can include up to 135 characters,  sometimes a simple line does the trick.” For example, some experts recommend asking a question or making a bold statement rather than touting your features.
 
Either way, remember to include a call-to-action that encourages users to click on your ad and explains to the user exactly what you expect them to do when they reach your landing page.
 
The pictures you choose for your ad are also critical, since this is what will catch people’s eye, and you should think beyond your logo.
 

4. Create and Test Multiple Ads

One of the biggest mistakes I see business owners making is creating and running only one ad within each campaign, Even the smallest change in the words you choose or the graphic you use can have a large impact on the click-through rate for your ad, so it’s best to create multiple versions of your ad and test them to see which ad gets the best response.
 
Facebook makes this process easy: Once an ad has been created, you have the option to “Create a Similar Ad” and simply swap in a new picture or text.
Create up to 4 ads and test CTR
Have you run ads on Facebook?  Contact Bimo Today and let us set-up your Facebook Campaign…

This article explains how you can use Pay Per Click to your advantage… If you are currently not using pay per click and you own a business  YOU ARE A PPC BABY…

It is okay, we frequently come across clients who do not use or know about pay per click advertising and after a few weeks on our program they see it positively affecting their net profits.

Do Not Let yourself be one of the 1,000’s of PPC Babies in your industry. You will lose money, and you will get taken advantage of while your website gets pushed to the side by the “big boys.”

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is key to most online marketing campaigns today, and it’s often expensive and overpowering. If you are lost on the concept or you think it is foolish to spend money on simple clicks do not fear, you are not alone.

However, with the right know-how and the right pay per click strategy you can quickly understand why some businesses spend over $1 million Dollars a month on pay per click… Yes we did say $1,000,000 per month.
What you need to know;

Keyword tools??
If you have ran a ppc campaign in the past and have no clue what a keyword tool does… then  society has failed you. Keyword tools are essential to running a successful pay per click campaign.

Why??  With a keyword tool you get data on what words have traffic, how much the word costs per click, competition, and how many clicks you can expect. Running a campaign without using these free tools is childish.

Start with a local campaign
If you are a local business operating out of Ocala Florida you want to run your pay per click ads only within that area. Many people do not realize how to target their pay per click to location, and as a result they run out of money fast on useless clicks.

If you are a business that has a product or service you can deliver to a national audience we still recommend you start with a local pay per click campaign.
 
Pick the time when you want your ad to run

It has been my experience that running ads in the later hours of the night does not work for most of my clients. Know your audience for example: if your target customer is up browsing the web playing world of war craft at 3am then ads at this time are relevant. however most of the general population is in bed at 3AM.
 
Research landing pages

Also known as squeeze pages serve one purpose; conversions. Your pay per click ad attracts potential customers and your landing page should be created to the point out why your concept or service is amazing. If you send your pay per clicks to a boring page with no call to action you are wasting their time and your money.
 
There are many more strategies that come with running a successful pay per click campaign, here at Bimo Marketing we ask for 15% to manage clients campaigns. In other words if you spend $100 a month we would charge $15. If the information above is new to you then Bimo Marketing will save you thousands of dollars.

If you are like a lot of my co-workers here at Bimo Marketing then you are an entrepreneur. We are constantly doing wacky stuff for our clients. We also do creative around the office, like the time we programmed the coffee machine for jokes of the day.

The other day we were brainstorming and we wanted to create a blog with essential websites entrepreneurs would need to start-up their start-up business. So if you own a business or are looking to start one then make no mistake about it… These are the best, most cost-effective sites:

• Email Set-up- Google Apps is king of fast e-mail, and size limits.

• Accounting- Quickbooks is the top site for usability.

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)- Salesforce is the best software for lead management.

• Website Design- Adobe Creative Suite 5 have the essentials for design.

• Storage/Backup- DropBox is the leader.

• Payment Processing- PayPal is the best and easiest to use.

• Chat tool- Hip Chat has the best service.

• Toll Free Number- Kall8 is only $2 a month.

• Note Taking- Evernote is champion!

• Phone Systems- Google Voice.

• Company Credit Card- AMEX is the best for start-ups.

• Databases- Mysql, even Facebook uses it.

• Text editor- Notepad ++

• Webhosting- Dreamhost, most cost-effective for unlimited bandwith and space.

• Email Marketing- Mail Chimp is effective and friendly.

• Marketing- Bimo Marketing (we know our stuff)

Let’s use a online cupcake business as an example.  You own a cupcake website and your website was created
in your likeness. When you look at it you see the message YOU want to send out. However, what do others see when they visit your cupcake website? I am not simply talking about how they read your text…

Do you know your website may look completely different depending on what browser your visitors are using?

In fact there are over 59 different browsers. Do yourself a favor and use websites like Browsershots .org to visually see what your website looks like on different browsers. The results may shock you. Many websites look distorted on Internet Explorer, and considering this is one of the most popular browsers you will need to fix the problem. Most of the time the fix has to do with your document type at the top of your code.

Do you know what a bounce rate is?

If you do not have Google Analytics set up on your website I advise you stop what you are doing right now and get it set up, it takes 5 minutes to set up. Analytics tells you everything about your website… Yes, everything. It will tell you the bounce rate ( the % of people who leave your site immediately) if you have a high bounce rate your page needs to be fixed! Any rate over 65% needs tweaking.

Where does it rank?

If you have a webpage and you do not rank for a term on Google, Yahoo, Bing, or Aol your site will NEVER be seen. Translation: you will not get new business because people can not find you.

Visit mikes marketing tools .com and use the FREE rank checker tool. For example if you have the cupcake store in Boca Raton Florida. Your keywords are ‘Florida cupcakes’ or ‘Boca Raton Cupcakes’ to start. If you do not rank on the top 100 pages contact Bimo for a consultation ASAP.

Technology and concepts are changing so rapidly that it is difficult to keep up with everything. The biggest challenges will be aimed at advertising and marketing. If you own a business then chances are you own a webpage or are thinking about it. With the advent of the internet many advertising dollars are being directed away from traditional media such as direct mail, yellow pages, newspapers, billboards, radio, and television advertising.

Okay you have a website and it is pretty good, but where is the traffic?

Having a webpage is a start but without SEM search engine marketing. It is like having a high power engine without gasoline. You need to drive your page so it ranks high on the search engine. SEM includes SEO (Search engine optimization) Banner ads, Pay-per click, keywords and many other creative techniques that will allow your competitors who are not using SEM.

Specializing in SEM is what Bimo does. SEM brings our clients profits many times the cost of the service. The firms that utilize an effective SEM program will eventually dominate the business generated by the web.

The handwriting is on the wall, the future is now, Bimo makes more and more options will be available to you.  Such as mobile marketing, sms marketing, and customer service tools that will promote your business. Top spots on Google for heavy traffic terms generate over $100,000 in profits a month.

The best way to judge if SEM is for you; take all of the forms of advertising such as yellow pages, newspapers, T.V, radio, bill boards, direct mail, and SEM. And rate them on a scale of 1 (best)to 10(worst).

1. Is it aimed that the right target?
2. How long does it stay in-front of your prospects?
3. What is its flexibility? (can you alter the message daily?)
4. What is the cost per profitable contact?

The one with the highest score should get the bulk of your advertising dollars. The internet will eventually make all other forms of advertising obsolete.