|
|
3 Reasons to Start an Internet Marketing Business Today By Dale E East
|
| Thursday, May 28, 2009 |
With the current economic challenges to people of all walks of life are seeking alternatives to the standard 8-5 job market. Companies are downsizing and people laying off in droves and the worker stays with the years spent and little to show for it. There is an alternative that can give people the opportunity to live an extraordinary lifestyle that is free from the rat race and the competitive job market. That alternative is Internet marketing in this article I will cover three reasons that there has never been a better time to start a business of Internet marketing.
The Internet has grown by leaps and bounds since the beginning in December 1995 when the numbers are estimates that 16 million online users to the current figure of 1.596 million as of March 2009. This incredible growth continues now with about 23.8% of the world's population access the Internet regularly. Just looking at these numbers tell us that there are more opportunities for a profitable Internet business than ever before.
Along with the overall growth of Internet use worldwide, e-commerce continues to maintain a double digit growth year after year. According to Forrester Research Online Retail Success $ 175 million in 2007 and is expected to reach $ 335 million in 2012. This is largely due to the convenience factor of online shopping. The retailers are moving their business online and consumers are taking advantage of buying from the comfort of their homes.
It's easy to see that there is no better time than now to start a business online. People move to the Internet not only information but also for their other needs as well. Internet allows companies to market the average Joe to take advantage of these growth trends and build a solid business from your home. A business that will not only be profitable, but growing trend of more and more people moving to the Internet for day to day business.
Want to know more about starting a business online? I just finished a new free guide. Download my new free guide here: Internet |
posted by neptunus @ 6:50 PM
 |
|
|
|
How To Increase Your Online Sales Anytime
|
| Wednesday, May 6, 2009 |
Hold a discount sale on your web site. Use the sale to get
rid of excess inventory, gain new or repeat customers, and
increase your sales. Most businesses pick a theme for their
sale, like a Halloween Sale. Below are six unique sales
themes you could use:
Nobody's Visiting Today Sale
Every online business has low visitor and sales day through
the week. My days are Tuesdays and Thursdays.You
could sell your products or services for cheaper to increase
and sales on your slow days. You could have this advertised
right on your web site.
Time Of The Day Sale
Periodically , pick out a time of the day like 5 to 7 pm to
lower your prices. With online sales you need tell people
the time zone. Announce your scheduled times ahead of
time in your e-zine. This will give people enough time to
plan when they will visit your web site.
Product Or Service Of The Day Sale
Each day offer different product or service at a lower price.
This will draw people back to your web site everyday. This
is a high traffic generating sale. If you don't have a lot of
products and services you may want to run the sale weekly
or monthly.
Niche Group Sale
Hold a sale for a niche groups of people. Students, senior
citizens, single people etc. This really works if your
introducing a new product or service for the first time to a
new target audience. Announce your sale in a targeted
e-zine, e-mail discussion groups, message boards, etc.
Holiday Or Seasonal Sale
Offer lower prices on holidays and during seasonal changes.
These type of sales let your visitors and customers know
your no scrooge. Be creative and go as far as decorating
your web site. You could upload holiday and seasonal
graphics. Change the color of your text to match. Get in the
spirit!
Get More For Your Money Sale
Give customers more products or services for their money.
People relate these kind of sales to getting a bargain or
saving money. You could offer a buy one get one for half
off sale, a buy two get the third one free, two for the price
of one sale, etc. |
| posted by neptunus @ 11:17 PM
|
|
|
|
How To Increase Traffic By Offering A Free Course
|
|
If you have extensive knowledge on a particular subject,
why not create a free course for your web site visitors.
The course should be related to the theme of your web
site. If you're selling business related products, you would
want to giveaway a free course about business.
You could offer the course in html, autoresponder, and
ebook format.
HTML- Your course could be right on your web site. On
one web page, create a title page and table of contents.
Use clickable chapter links so they can go to the sections
easily were they need the most help.
You could increase your traffic by allowing people to give
away the course to their web site visitors. Just have them
link to your web site.
eBOOK-Your course could be in a downloadable ebook
format. Include your business ad in the ebook. A good
ebook software to use is Editor Pro, you can find it at
http://www.e-ditorial.com .
You could allow other people to give away the ebook.
They could just upload it to their own server. Every time
someone downloads it, they will see your business ad.
AUTORESPONDER-Your course could be published on
an autoresponder. You can sign-up to get a free follow-up
autoresponder from all the free services on the internet.
You can find them by typing in "free autoresponders" in
your search engine of choice. Include a lesson of your
course on each follow-up message sent.
You could increase traffic by allowing advertisers to include
their ad in the course. Ask them, in return, to advertise the
free course at their web site. Just have them link to your
web site.
There are many other formats you can use to create your
free course; downloadable text, pdf, print format, fax-on-
demand, cassette, video, etc. You can use all the methods
above with all the formats to increase your traffic. |
| posted by neptunus @ 11:13 PM
|
|
|
|
How To Get Valuable Feedback From Your Customers
|
|
You can learn many things you didn't know about your
business by getting valuable feedback from your customers.
Your customers may buy your main product just to get the
free gifts. Your visitors may think it's to hard to navigate
through your web site.
By knowing this type of important information you can
improve your web site, products/services, advertising, and
marketing. Below are nine techniques you can use to get
valuable feedback from your customers.
-Use surveys and questionnaires regularly to improve your
business. Publish them on your web site, e-zine, print
newsletter, direct mail material, include them with product
shipments or inside product packages. Post them on
appropriate online message boards, e-mail discussion lists
and newsgroups on the internet.
-Create an online community for your customers. Include a
chat room, message board, e-mail discussion list on your
site for customers to participate in. You can regularly
moderator these communities to see what your customers
are saying about your business.
-Give away your products to a group of your customers.
Ask them to use and review the product. Ask them to fill
out an evaluation form and send it back. Some customers
may fill them out, some may not, but the feedback you do
get will be valuable.
-Offer your web site visitors an online product or service
from your web site at no cost. It could be an ebook, search
engine submission, consulting via e-mail, web design, etc.
In return, ask them to fill out a short survey about your web
site, products or services you're selling, customer service,
or your web site.
-Create a customer focus group. Invite ten to twenty of
your most loyal customers to meet regularly. They will give
you ideas and input on how to improve your customer
service. You could pay them, take them out to dinner or
give them free products.
-Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer
them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they
want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to
your Web site. After every sale, follow-up with the
customer to see if they are satisfied with their purchase.
-Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Offer as
many contact methods as possible. Allow customers to
contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your e-mail address so
customers won't have to type it. Offer toll free numbers
for phone and fax contacts. This will make it easy for your
customers to voice their opinions.
-You could regularly contact customers on birthdays or
holidays. Send thank you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail
them online greeting cards on holidays or birthdays. Call
them personally to wish them a happy holiday. You could
them follow-up with a survey or ask them if they're happy
with your business.
-Invite your customers to company meetings, luncheons,
workshops or seminars. Create special events for your
customers like parties, barbecue's, dances etc. Make a
point for yourself and your employees to interact with them
at these event to get valuable feedback for your business.
You could use a couple or all of the techniques listed above
to get valuable customer feedback. These aren't the only
ways, be creative and come up with some of your own. |
| posted by neptunus @ 11:13 PM
|
|
|
|
How To Get The Most From Your Free eBook Marketing Campaign
|
|
First, your ebook needs to have an attractive title.
The title should grab the attention of your intended
target audience. The more appealing the title, the
more your ebook will be downloaded.
Your ebook needs to have quality content. You
can write your own content or ask permission to
use another author's content. Your ebook will be
read more if the content is original.
You will want to put your ad on the title page or
on the table of contents. This will give the most
exposure for your web site or the products you're
selling.
It's important to put your ebook in as many formats
as possible. Most ebook software only allows the
ebook to be read by certain browers and software.
People may not take the time to download a new
software program in order to read your ebook.
Other versions of your ebook could be in HTML,
auto responder and downloadable text format.
You can contact other business owners and ask
them if they would like to include their ad in your
ebook. Just ask them in return to advertise your
free ebook on their web site or in their e-zine for
a set period of time. This method will get your
free ebook marketing campaign off to a fast start.
Allow the people who download your ebook to
give it away to their visitors. This will multiply
your free ebook's exposure. Submit your ebook
to the growing number of free ebook directories
on the internet.
These web sites also offer more information about
ebook marketing. Some of them also have ebook
discussion forums where you can ask questions
and learn more about ebook marketing. |
| posted by neptunus @ 11:12 PM
|
|
|
|
How To Get Free Advertising By Participating In E-mail Discussion Lists
|
|
Posting messages to e-mail discussion lists is a
great way to get free advertising. An e-mail
discussion list is a group of people connected
together via e-mail that can communicate with
one another. When you post a message to a list
include your signature file at the end. Your sig
file should be no more than 5 to 6 lines. Include
an attention getting sentence why they should
visit your web site or e-mail your auto responder.
Try to select list's that are archived because your
signature file will be viewed for years to come.
E-mail discussion lists are highly targeted. There
are thousands of discussion lists with thousands
of different subjects. You can usually subscribe
to these lists by sending an e-mail or by filling out
a web form. You want to subscribe to one that
would be related to your target audience. If you
are selling books about marketing, you would
want to post to lists were business people and
marketers would congregate.
Before posting to any e-mail discussion list, read
the FAQ or rules first. They will tell you what
kinds of posts are allowed. Read the messages
for a few days before posting your message to
see what type of messages are being posted. If
the list is archived you could read the older
messages. If you want to make sure, you could
e-mail the list moderator. Never post messages
that are unrelated to the list's subject.
There are many different types of messages you
could post to the e-mail discussion list. You
could post an informative comment or article that
would interest the other list members. Post a
question on the discussion list that you would like
answered. You could answer another person's
question on the list. When you post and answer
questions you will become know as an expert
and meet other experts on the list. |
| posted by neptunus @ 11:12 PM
|
|
|
|
How To Get Free Advertising By Giving Away Online Content
|
|
Giving away content is a powerful way to get free advertising.
For example, give other people permission to use your article
on their web site or in their e-zine. The resource box at the
end of your article acts as an ad. In return, you get free
advertising. It's a win/win situation for both you and the
people that need the extra content.
There are many forms of free content. It could be articles,
reports, news stories, e-books, e-zines, e-mags, virtual e-mail
courses, press releases, web books, etc.
You can take it a step further and make giving away content
an even more powerful way to get free advertising. For
example, give your free e-book to one person and allow them
the rights to also give it away. Do you see what I'm leading
up to? Let's say only 20 people download your e-book. Those
20 people may give away your e-book to 20 more people.
That's a total of 400 people that have seen your ad in the
e-book. And it just keeps multiplying!
If you keep producing free content over a long period of time
it starts building up. Now, take all your free content and
create an online directory. You can use your free content
directory as a web site traffic generator. You can ask people
to add the directory to their web site by linking to yours.
In conclusion, giving away content gives you three powerful
ways to get free advertising. You can submit free content,
allow other people to give away your free content, or have
people link to your web site to give away the free content.
My advice is to take it one step at a time and this system
will bring traffic to your web site over and over for years
to come. |
| posted by neptunus @ 11:05 PM
|
|
|
|
How To Eliminate Your Competition Without Bloodshed
|
|
So how do you eliminate your competition without bloodshed? You must
create a niche for your business. A niche is something that makes your
business different from your competitors. To compete with other
businesses nowadays (especially online) you need something that nobody
else can copy. One of a kind!
First you must know who your competitors are. Is your business the only
one of its type? I doubt it. If so, it won't be for long. Do you know your
exact target audience? If not, you will have to find out this information
before creating any kind of niche. Below are two ways to come up with a
competition eliminating niche.
1. Just Ask! The first way to come up with a niche is to think like your
target audience or customers. Know their exact needs, wants, goals,
problems and interests. There're two ways to do this: The first way is to
put yourself in their shoes, think like them. The second way is to give them
polls and surveys to find out what they're thinking. Pick a niche that none
of your competitors are using. If you can't find one that your competitors
aren't using pick one to improve.
2. Just Think! The second way to come up with a niche is to use
your brain power. Ask yourself questions like: How can I set myself
apart from my competition? What could I offer that they can't? Imagine
or daydream that your business is on top of all your competitors. What
niche put your business at the top in your head? Now, if you keep asking
these questions your mind will eventually start shooting out more ideas
than you can handle. One of those ideas may be the niche you're
searching for.
Now that you have your niche that's just half the battle. You must test
it. Does your niche appeal to your target audience? Will it attract
people away from your competition? If it does, you're done, until your
competition comes up with a better niche. If your niche doesn't, than
repeat the process above and test a new niche until it works. If you
want to eliminate your competition and be successful you will use this
process several times in your business life. |
| posted by neptunus @ 11:05 PM
|
|
|
|
How To Draw Visitors To Your Web Site By Holding An Online Contest Or Sweepstakes
|
|
Holding a contest or sweepstakes can draw a lot of traffic
to your Web site. You can announce your site to hundreds
of Web sites that list free contests and sweepstakes. Send
out a press releases about your contest or sweepstakes.
Ask entrants to your contest or sweepstakes if they would
accept offers from your business in the future by e-mail.
The prizes should be something your target audience would
need or want. Try to be as original as possible with the
prizes you are offering. Always offer more than one prize,
a grand prize and runner-up prizes. Use your products or
services to give away as prizes. Make sure your prizes have
some value, nothing cheap. Give enough information about
all the prizes, so people will be interested in entering.
Make it easy for people to enter your contest or sweeps-
takes. I feel the easiest ways online are from an entry form
on your Web site or by e-mail. Capture as much info. as
you can when they enter your contest or sweepstakes like:
Company Name
First/Last Name
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Day/Evening Phone Number
E-mail Address
Web Site Address
Purchasing History
Survey Questions
Give your contest or sweepstakes a professional look and
feel. Provide an "Official Rules" Web page for your contest
or sweepstakes. Include a time period of how long your
contest or sweepstakes will be held. Tell visitors how you
will deliver the prizes. Include pictures of the prizes on your
site. Tell visitors who will judge your contest. Check out
other contests and sweepstakes Web sites to get more
ideas. |
| posted by neptunus @ 10:59 PM
|
|
|
|
How To Create Urgency So People Buy Now
|
|
You must create urgency so people will buy your
products or services now. They may not revisit your
web site or see your ad again.
How do you do this? You must use a limited time
offer. Limited time offers stop people from putting
off buying your products or services. It stops them
from procrastinating.
There are many different types of limited time offers.
Here are a few.
Limited Time Price Offers
For example, Order Now! While the price is still low.
After Dec 23,1999 this price will go up to...
Limited Time Discount Offers
For example, Order before Midnight, Nov. 5,1999
and you will get 25% discount!
Limited Time Free Bonus Offers
For example, Order before April 2, 2000 and you'll
get a free bonus!
Limited Time In Stock Offers
For example, Order Now! While supplies last! After
Oct. 31,1999 we can't guarantee we will have any
left in stock.
I'm not saying everyone will order the first time they
see your ad. They may not be interested in your
products or services. It depends on your ad and the
person reading the ad. If they are interested, usually,
limited time offers will make them buy now. |
| posted by neptunus @ 10:58 PM
|
|
|
|
How To Get An Extra 108,160 Hits A Year
|
|
Most of you have seen those little award graphics on
web sites. They are given to the web site by another
web site or award association to reward the web site
for a specific reason. They usually link right to the
site that has given the award.
These award sites are drawing tons of traffic to their
own web site. The reason is because all the web sites
who get the awards are linking right back to them by
posting the award on their web site.
What is stopping you from offering other awards to
other web sites? You could design a graphic for the
award. The graphic could include something that will
draw them to your web site. Have an online form at
your web site so other people can enter to qualify
for the award. You then judge all the entrees and
pick a winner. You give them the award graphic with
a link included. They post it on their web site and
now they're linking your web site.
You could offer web site awards for many reasons.
The web site might offer outstanding and original
content. The design of the web site could be very
professional. It could have a fast load time. It could
include original web features that aren't found on
most web sites. The site may be easy to navigate
through.
Let's say you give out 20 web site awards a week.
In a year that would be 1040 people linking to your
web site. If you received 2 hits a week from each
link, that would be 104 hits a year from each award
you have given. That equals an extra 108,160 hits to
your web site a year! |
| posted by neptunus @ 10:58 PM
|
|
|
|
|
