In case you haven’t noticed, Facebook Ads is quickly becoming one of the best ways to promote your online business to a targeted set of Facebook users and get more exposure for your brand and your business. Facebook Ads has been around for a while but has recently gotten an upgrade to make it easier for business owners to create and manage their online campaigns. Facebook is the hottest social networking site around. Facebook Ads may not be Google Adwords yet, but it does give you yet another avenue to promote your business online and reach a more savvy set of prospects.

Facebook Ads provides you with a plenty of ways to better target your audience and get more exposure in front of the right audience. With that in mind, here are XXX ways to use Facebook Ads to drive targeted traffic to your website:

1. Destination URL: make sure you have proper tracking in place to see who’s coming to your website from where. Also, provide your targeted audience with an optimized landing page just for them. That should help improve your conversion rate as well.

2. Title: make sure your title is clear and magnetic enough to make people want to click on your ad. You can be a bit creative here but Facebook does have a set of strict rules, so you don’t want to get yourself banned here. To stay on the safe side, you can always talk about the value you provide in your title.

3. Body Text and Image: your body text needs to be compliant with Facebook policies. At the same time, make sure you convey what value you can provide to your visitors. An image can help you get more clicks and will set you apart from amateurs on Facebook. Continue reading 10 Ways To Promote Your Business with Facebook Ads

You don’t have to be a genius to realize the power of Twitter. Google may be the king of search these days, but Twitter and Facebook are expected to continue their momentum and attract a whole lot more traffic in the future. Following and get followed on Twitter doesn’t stop for weekends and holidays. If you have been active on these sites, you have probably seen all the noise that could be going around. And if you happen to be popular, you are going to have to manage your followers as well. It would have been a bit more difficult to get all this done on Twitter in the past, but thanks to Twitter lists, you can create lists and follow people in a more organized fashion.

Twitter has not yet rolled out the feature yet, so not everyone can take advantage of the lists. But the lucky ones who can will see a new number next to their number of followers. That number will show the lists that you are included on. Obviously, the more you are listed, there is a good chance that more people find you more useful. So lists are essentially #followfriday on steroids.

If you are a small business owner, hoping to gain some traction on Twitter, lists are godsend for you. They allow you to classify the people you are following under different lists and engage them more effectively. You can create public and private lists of people who may be interesting to your business or those who are talking about your business or niche. You can then decide on the message you want to communicate with each and every list. Continue reading Manage Your Social Media Process More Effectively with Twitter Lists

One of the best ways to make money online is by taking advantage of the hottest trends in the tech market and get a jump start over your competitors. iPhone development is one of the hottest avenues for entrepreneurs to make money online. And with the latest decision by Apple to allow in-app purchases for free apps, there are more ways to adopt a freemium business model and start making a living off of those so-called “free apps.” Starting an iPhone business is very similar to any other business. You will need to have a plan, an idea that works (though you could use simple apps to start a business as well), and execute your plan in a manner that would give you business the best chance to succeed.

There are many developers who start writing their apps without testing their market and conducting a comprehensive business analysis. You can be the best developer in the world, but if you don’t approach your development venture as a business, it’s going to stay your hobby. Every-time you want to develop a product, you need to do your research, identify your audience, their potential need, and ways to market your product. You also need to be prepared to offer after-sale support to keep your credibility with your customers. Continue reading How To Start Your Own iPhone Application Business – Part I: Basics

In order to get your online business up and running and keep it on track, you are going to need some sort of a business plan. Many entrepreneurs end up keeping things in their heads instead of writing them down. That doesn’t quite work the way you expect it to. It’s always helpful to have your business plan handy so you can optimize it, and even show it to potential investors. Writing a business plan for your business not only help you put your best effort forward, but it will keep you on track and help you get out of those sticky situations.

A lot of small business owners assume that you need to be a genius to write a business plan. It’s true that many business students do learn how to write an effective plan when they are in school. At the end of the day, it’s all about quality and not the format of your document. Besides, why would you want to focus on things that do not matter when you can use the following software kits to outsource that process:

Business Plan Pro: the best business plan software on the planet. It comes with a very easy to use interface and a whole set of useful documents that you can study to develop a killer business plan all by yourself. It’s a bit pricey, but nothing else on the market comes close.

Quicken Legal Business Pro 2009: many small business owners have trouble dealing with those legal matters on a daily basis. You can always hire a lawyer to manage every little detail, or you can use this software package to ge informed.

Ultimate Business Planner 4.0: not as sophisticated as business plan pro, but a decent software package to help you get a head start with your business plan. Remember, it’s all about content and the merits of your plan not the paper it’s written on or the software you use to write your plan.

You don’t necessarily need any of the above software packages to write your business plan. But if you have time constraint, these software packages can help you save time .

Facebook is a great community to be a part of to catch up with old friends, keep up with the current ones, and even find contacts and new friends. A lot of people do use Facebook to just waste their time, and there is nothing wrong with that. Everybody is responsible for themselves and their own times. If you are a business owner or want to start an online business, you can’t afford to do the same. There are plenty of ways that Facebook can help you take your business to the next level and make some money in the process as well.

Paul Dunay has done such a wonderful job with his presentation on this topic, that everyone should take time to go over his recommendations on this subject.

1. CafePress: I have talked about CafePress and how you can make money from it in the past. By using Facebook, you can sell products on Facebook and put more money in your pocket. Here is the app that lets you do just that. Continue reading 5 Ways To Make Money On Facebook