In my last post I referred to supporting your business website with the proper tools to help with your Internet Marketing plan.
Well the next obvious question is what are these tools. Listed here are the essential tools that I recommend all small business owners incorporate into their IM plan.
1. Fresh website - To reiterate what I spoke about in my last post, that does not mean going out and spending a pile of cash on a great looking design. Fresh simply means that if you currently have a website that is more than couple of years old then you should build a new site with a simple and clean design. Remember visitors are looking for info!
2. Web Site Opt-In Form - While you will be working hard to get visitors to your site it is essential to get more for your efforts than just seeing another visit in your website stats. You want to create the opportunity to market to those visitors again and again through your email list. Your email list will be comprised of visitors/customers who have requested to receive more information from you. But how do you get this list in the first place...through your opt-in form. Your opt-in form will be a simple form on your website that visitors can complete to receive more information from your business. This could be a monthly newsletter, or the top ten list of important points they should know before buying your type of service or product. Once they complete this form then the rest is handled through your autoresponder account (see number 3 below).
3. An Autoresponder - Many may ask what is an autoresponder account. This is a tool that is used for email marketing. An autoresponder will allow you to contact your clients via email to notify them of your latest news, upcoming promos, new products/services you are introducing, or just providing them with information related to your business that can help them. Now an autoresponder is different than an email marketing application. With an autoresponder you can create a return email that will be automatically sent to a subscriber. For example you have an opt-in form on your website where visitors can sign up for your monthly mail out on your latest promos. Once a new visitor signs up through your opt-in form they will immediately receive a confirmation email sent by your autoresponder thanking them for signing up as a subscriber. The key is that you create the thank you message once and your autoresponder delvers this automatically without requiring any manual intervention on your part. You can take this a step further and create a series of responses that will be sent out at varying intervals to your subscribers. So they would receive your than you message immediately and then on the second day receive another message, two days after that another, each message building on the previous. This allows you to keep in touch with your client and deliver valuable info without you having to manually send this info each time to every customer. There is much more to an autoresponder than I discussed here but this is one essential tool to have in your IM plan.
If you want more info then visit AWeber who has one of the best autoresponders you will find in the market.
4. Twitter Account - Twitter is a social networking service that allows you to post what you are doing many times a day so that your followers can keep up to date with you. Now if you have never heard of Twitter before, not likely, or at least have never used it then this may seem like a lame thing to be at but Twitter is taking the business world by storm. The cool thing about Twitter is that there is 100% deliverability...if you post it your followers will see it. Just think about having thousands of followers who you know will see every message you post.
Check out Joel Comm's latest book called Twitter Power - It will make you a believer.
5. Google Analytics Account - Google analytics will allow you to see vital stats about the visitors to your website. Basic, necessary information such as the keywords that visitors used to find your site, what pages are visited most often, bounce rate, how long visitors stay on your site and much more. Analytics allow you to measure various parameters and then adjust your marketing campaign accordingly. There is too much to go into in this blog post but web analytics is a vital component of your IM plan.
6. Pay-Per-Click Account - Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, for those who do not know exactly what I am talking about, is a form of Internet advertising where you create an ad that will be posted on the search engine of your choice and the best part is that you only pay for the ad when someone clicks on your ad to go to your website. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is an essential component of your IM plan because it is the cheapest and fastest way to get visitors to your website to see what you are offering. You can have the best offer on the web but if no one can see it then it isn't worth much. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is much talked about when we discuss Internet Marketing and some view it is the pinnacle of your marketing plan but SEO needs to be complimented with a PPC campaign. SEO traffic also referred to as organic traffic doesn't cost you anything but the it takes work to get your site listed in the search engines where searchers can actually find you It isn't much good to be on page 552 of 1,000,000 pages as searchers rarely go beyond the first three pages of their search results. PPC offers business owners an opportunity to get your site listed on the first page of a search engine results within minutes of posting your ad. So while you are waiting for your site to gain ranking within the search engines you still have an opportunity to get visitors to your site.
The number one search engine for B2B is Google but YaHoo and MSN work very well for the B2C model and they are cheaper than Google.
While these are not all the essentials these are the ones I recommend to business owners who do not have a marketing plan in place. I will discuss others in a future post.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Web Design Vs. Internet Marketing
Having spent the last three years of my life working with small business owners to help get their business online there is a frustrating trend that I constantly run into. Most business owners think that Internet Marketing is all about how good their website looks; if it looks good then I am going to make money. The website is only a piece of the puzzle and I see so many businesses who have spent all of their Internet Marketing budget on the design and then when it comes time to begin marketing they are surprised that they have to spend more money. They either don't have the cash left or aren't willing to spend more money on their "Marketing" plan.
Your website is a tool that you build your marketing plan around.
Ugly (poorly designed) websites that have the proper components built-in and supported by the correct marketing tools will make money whereas great looking sites that have none of the correct tools will rarely add to your bottom line.
This is a critical piece of info to understand because if you don't take the time to learn about Internet Marketing then you will not create the proper budget.
My advice is simple...build a simple site with a clean design that you can afford to market around and then when it starts paying for itself, and only then, should you consider spending more on design to make it look better.
Coming Up Next: The necessary tools to add to your IM arsenal.
Your website is a tool that you build your marketing plan around.
Ugly (poorly designed) websites that have the proper components built-in and supported by the correct marketing tools will make money whereas great looking sites that have none of the correct tools will rarely add to your bottom line.
This is a critical piece of info to understand because if you don't take the time to learn about Internet Marketing then you will not create the proper budget.
My advice is simple...build a simple site with a clean design that you can afford to market around and then when it starts paying for itself, and only then, should you consider spending more on design to make it look better.
Coming Up Next: The necessary tools to add to your IM arsenal.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
PFL 2.0
As I said before there is no better time to take your business online than now. While there are many free resources out there to help you do this I am slowly discovering that if you really want the juice you have to pay for it. The free stuff tells you the what but not the how. So I have made a decision to start investing a little more in myself and have been spending a little cash to learn from the best in the business. My latest purchase was The Product Launch Formula 2.0 from Jeff Walker. Jeff is recognized as the best in the business when it comes to product launches. For those who may not quite understand what I am talking about, a product launch is a systematic approach to letting the world know about your latest or not so latest product that you are trying to sell. Instead of doing the hope marketing thing whereby you put your product on your website and then drive traffic to it and then hope someone buys, you take the time to build interest in your product before you launch it to the world. This approach can hit several birds with one stone. You build up your list with highly qualified leads, create much greater interest in your product and your business, and you build a community of like minded people who you can share information with. This system has proven to be very successful and most of the biggest Internet marketers in the world are using Jeff's formula.
PLF can be used to launch just about anything including your business which is one part I am interested in learning about. The purchase of this course came at just the right time as I was in the process of creating my very first Internet Business product before the release of PLF 2.0 so when it launched I jumped on the opportunity to get this package. Since buying I have put my product development on hold as Jeff is providing so many ideas about product launching it has made me stop and rethink some of my product strategy. This couldn't of happened at a better time.
What was cool about this purchase is that I bought it through Ed Dale and one of his bonuses included his own course called Dominiche - The Art of Buying and Selling Websites. Buying and selling websites, VRE (Virtual Real Estate) works just like buying and selling real estate, you can buy a site fix it up so it is performing better and then sell it for a profit or keep the site and the profits. Websites can be bought for several reasons but I am hoping to get my hands a bargain that is already bringing in a ton of traffic which I can then tweak for my own products. It can be a lot faster and cheaper to buy an existing site instead of building one from scratch and taking the necessary time to get it to a point where it is generating good traffic that you can convert.
PLF can be used to launch just about anything including your business which is one part I am interested in learning about. The purchase of this course came at just the right time as I was in the process of creating my very first Internet Business product before the release of PLF 2.0 so when it launched I jumped on the opportunity to get this package. Since buying I have put my product development on hold as Jeff is providing so many ideas about product launching it has made me stop and rethink some of my product strategy. This couldn't of happened at a better time.
What was cool about this purchase is that I bought it through Ed Dale and one of his bonuses included his own course called Dominiche - The Art of Buying and Selling Websites. Buying and selling websites, VRE (Virtual Real Estate) works just like buying and selling real estate, you can buy a site fix it up so it is performing better and then sell it for a profit or keep the site and the profits. Websites can be bought for several reasons but I am hoping to get my hands a bargain that is already bringing in a ton of traffic which I can then tweak for my own products. It can be a lot faster and cheaper to buy an existing site instead of building one from scratch and taking the necessary time to get it to a point where it is generating good traffic that you can convert.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Internet Marketing Online
How many ways can you ponder to use the World-Wide-Web? It seems when it comes to cyberspace, there are simply no limitations or boundaries. We all take advantage of this technology in a variety of different ways. Whether you're signing up for an online bank account, snagging a free email address, or merely surfing the web, net-land continues to offer more and more. Now days people even take their businesses online. Yep, there are a number of online companies that pull in gargantuan profits. With a PC or Mac at your side you can accomplish virtually anything. From simply creating your own website to Internet marketing online, it's all at your fingertips. It's time to take advantage of cyberspace, folks. This is a contemporary vehicle to cash.
Have you ever considered Internet marketing online for a personal business? If you really sit down and do the math, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the possibilities. While marketing your skills or products in the physical world can get a tad redundant and burdensome these days, taking your spiel to cyberspace makes complete and total sense. Just think, with Internet marketing online you can appeal to a much broader audience. Isn't that what everyone with something to sell is after? Access to the Internet is equal to having access to the world. A close friend of mine uses Internet marketing online for his home-based computer hardware business. Although he is based out of California, his cliental is not limited to that area or state. With Internet marketing online he is able to expose his business and products to the entire planet. Can you fathom the difference in revenue? Six billion potential customers is a lot better that six million. It's all about who you can reach. People are always searching for the best products and best deals.
Are you striving to expand your business? Maybe it's high time you considered Internet marketing online. It's imperative to get your product and/or service seen by all. This is the absolute key to earning capital. Hop online today and learn more about Internet marketing online. Get that personal business on track with the help of your home computer. There truly is a sea of opportunities out there. All it takes is a little effort and surfing down the Internet highway.
Have you ever considered Internet marketing online for a personal business? If you really sit down and do the math, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the possibilities. While marketing your skills or products in the physical world can get a tad redundant and burdensome these days, taking your spiel to cyberspace makes complete and total sense. Just think, with Internet marketing online you can appeal to a much broader audience. Isn't that what everyone with something to sell is after? Access to the Internet is equal to having access to the world. A close friend of mine uses Internet marketing online for his home-based computer hardware business. Although he is based out of California, his cliental is not limited to that area or state. With Internet marketing online he is able to expose his business and products to the entire planet. Can you fathom the difference in revenue? Six billion potential customers is a lot better that six million. It's all about who you can reach. People are always searching for the best products and best deals.
Are you striving to expand your business? Maybe it's high time you considered Internet marketing online. It's imperative to get your product and/or service seen by all. This is the absolute key to earning capital. Hop online today and learn more about Internet marketing online. Get that personal business on track with the help of your home computer. There truly is a sea of opportunities out there. All it takes is a little effort and surfing down the Internet highway.
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