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"We're Glad To Have You Join Us, |
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WELCOME Aboard." |
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Internet marketing is not
easy. It can be very intimidating and overwhelming. If you
want to make money with Internet Marketing, do your
homework. Take things slowly so as not to have to re-do
everything later. Build your business 'brick-by-brick',
carefully laying the foundation first.
If you think there's too
much Internet Marketing on the 'Internet', you're right - just close your
eyes for a minute and picture all the businesses - stores,
offices, services, etc. in the world - on every street in
every little town as well as the business towers in the
major cities.
How do 'world-wide' businesses
reach their customers and clients?
The web marketing that goes on
unbeknownst to you and me, sitting in our comfy little homes
behind our computer monitors, is gigantic in volume. Brick
and mortar business in the past reached people via print
media, billboards, phone directories, magazine ads and
articles, postcards, business cards, newsletters, direct
mail, signs of all sorts!!
So, how does one reach a
customer or client on the Internet? And, is there enough
business for everyone? ("Absolutely, Yes")
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E-Mail:
You are correct in
your thinking . . .
everyone hates spam. Spam mail has reached major
proportions. Imagine getting hundreds of direct unsolicited
physical pieces of mail in your postal box every day from
all over the world and you had no control over it. Yet,
postal mail service has been a viable method of marketing
for years. Internet marketers use
e-mail to contact customers who have voluntarily
given their e-mail addresses to a business. Supposedly this
method reaches only those people who have an interest in the
product being advertised. E-mail lists are cultivated
from opt-in forms. Each time a web surfer fills in his/her
e-mail address, whether for information or to buy a product,
they are giving permission for the e-mail address to be
used.
There are 3 ways to
obtain an e-mail list for marketing purposes. It's
called the three B's. Borrow it. Buy it. Build it.
Businesses follow up sales
with up-sells, mark-downs, close-outs, etc, to keep
customers coming back. They reach these repeat customers via
e-mail. Internet business can be the sales of both physical
and/or digital products.
Here's a
website by marketing expert, Yanik Silver, with some
excellent tools for email marketing. The site is a little
dated, but the information is perpetual.
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Forums:
Internet 'marketeers'
who have specific themed products or information or services
for sale often frequent forums where you and I discuss
topics related to our interests or problems, etc. These
topics can range from babyhood to old-age, religion to
politics, sports to movies to fashion and everything in
between. Forums do not allow
advertising, per se, but savvy Internet marketers can weave
their comments in a way to peak interest in their products
when they visit a forum that's related to what they're
selling. Leaving a signature link often will lead to sales.
Of course, referrals don't hurt, either.
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Blogs:
Anyone can start a blog
or write a comment on someone else's blog. Blogging is
'social' networking where friends and family can leave
opinions, share ideas or just speak their peace. One doesn't
have to know a whole lot about the Internet when creating a
blog - just fill in the blanks (for the most part).
Newbie marketers have a
great opportunity to use blogging as a method to spread
their product message. Blogs contain 'tags', which are
keyword phrases that relate to the subject of the blog.
Searching the tags will lead a marketer to the blogs
relative to their products, which in turn allows the
marketer to comment, often with a link.
A blogger has options of
adding 'widgets' to their blogs. A widget is usually an
interactive script code that contains html or java-script or
php coding, enabling the visitor to see flash motion or
video or to participate in an activity such as a poll or
game, etc. Advertising widgets are supplied by a number of
companies to their affiliates to use to direct the customer
to the company website. Very effective. Google uses them
consistently.
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Websites:
Just as anyone can start a blog, anyone can create a website
after registering a domain name (URL or www address).
Effective Internet marketing via a website needs to contain
relative content to the search term someone would type into
a search engine when looking for products or information
about products. (After all, how did you reach this site?) Search Engine traffic is
cultivated by keywords in the body of a website and by
invisible tags that search engine 'crawlers' detect when
they update the directories. Website owners (aka internet
marketers) consistently use Wordtracker, an online program
that reveals the keywords people have searched for.
Wordtracker is a subscription based site that digs deep into
variations of a search term (or phrase). It contains
beneficial analytics and tools for the subscriber. They have
a 7-day free trial.
Google and Yahoo, being the
giants of search engine usage, have algorithms which are
constantly changed to randomize website listings. Sponsored
ads are paid for by advertisers and you see them on every
search page.
Sponsored ads need to be
created in a short, effective manner. Sponsored ads need to
be relative to the keyword someone types into the search
engine for the ad to appear on the page. Sponsored ads are
bid on for location on the page. These bids are often
extremely competitive - just as every business wants the
best corner location in town. The 'rent' or the 'bid' can be
highly devastating to one who has little business coming in.
Sponsored ads are often the
cause of 'bankruptcy' for many newbie Internet marketers.
Therefore, I urge you to study and learn the in's and out's
of Google and Yahoo if you plan to go the pay-per-click way.
Here's a website that may
have additional information of interest:
Google Tool
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