Ok, you’ve got hosting, you’ve
made your website, and now you’re watching your email like a hawk. Day one, no emails. You tell
yourself its cool, its only day one. Day two, same feeling. Its only day two. I
got nothing to worry about. The clicks will start pouring in. Day 20 and now you’re
nervous. You’ve emailed everyone you know, you’ve told your babysitter about
your website. You’ve even discussed it at your local Church or Synagogue, and
still nothing In this article I’ll discuss some basic marketing strategies, and
how and what you need to do., to PROMOTE your BUSINESS or IDEA.
Marketing Online Strategy #1) Have a Blog/Website.
The first step to successful marketing online is to have a home
base on the Web. It doesn't really matter if you have an official website or a
blog or a combination of both. Either will give you a Web address where people
can find you and a convenient way of referring to you, two things that will
facilitate your marketing online efforts. So even if you don't sell anything
online directly, you need a website.
I learned this the hardway, get a blog on their website or
serving as a website because if you blog regularly and have something relevant
to say, you will develop a following - and some of those people will help your
marketing online efforts by spreading the word about you and your products
and/or services.
Marketing Online Strategy #2)
Online Advertising
Many small businesses in particular don’t bother with this
marketing online strategy, I suspect because they don't want to use cash. They
only want to do free marketing online. I say, there's absolutely nothing wrong
with free marketing online strategies - as long as you realize they're not all
that 'free'. Keep in mind that online marketing strategies I'm aware of take a
considerable time investment, meaning they're only free if your time is worth
nothing. A lot or running around needs to be done, meaning follow up work. Keep
this simple rule in mind, you get what you pay for.
Traditional online advertising, on the other hand, takes
relatively little time and can be a very effective marketing online strategy.
The first thing you need to know about it is that there are two cost models,
CPM and CPC.
CPM stands for Cost Per Thousand Impressions. With this type of
marketing online, you basically buy space on a web page and pay for a certain
number of impressions, or the number of times your ad is going to be displayed.
Many of the banner ads you see on various websites are being paid for on a CPM
model.
CPC stands for Cost-Per-Click advertising. In this model, you
pay only for the number of times a viewer clicks on your ad, not on the number
of times it's displayed.
Google AdWords is perhaps the best known
Pay-per-click marketing online program. When you're marketing online with this
program, you choose particular keywords that you want your ads to be associated
with. When people search on Google using one of your keywords, your ad may
appear next to the search results. The theory is that these people are much
more likely to be interested in your products or services.
Another online advertising
strategy you may wish to try is creating and posting an online video (either to
your own website or to a popular video sharing site such as YouTube). See YouTube Rocks for Advertising Your Business. An
online video can be marketing online gold if it becomes popular.
Marketing Online Strategy #3) Directory Listings
Adding your business to appropriate directory listings (local
directory listings, business directories, etc.) is another way of marketing
online that takes little time and is relatively inexpensive. Whatever local
business groups you belong to, such as your local Chamber of Commerce, probably
have websites where they allow members to list their businesses online and
perhaps even place ads on the site at special rates. Search out other local
sites, especially those related to tourism, and make sure you're listed there,
too.
What other marketing online strategies might work best for your
small business? Here are three more for you to try:
Marketing Online Strategy #4)
Joining the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and forums,
posting on Flicker and YouTube, commenting on other people’s blogs, are all
opportunities for marketing online.
Marketing online through
social media requires a much more subtle technique than marketing online
through advertising or directory listings. With all social media, the trick is
to participate intelligently and actually attempt to converse rather than just
advertising your products or services. Comments such as "Good point. See
my site www.worldsbesttamales.com for the world's best tamales" are just
spam, not conversation.
The downside of marketing online through social media is that
it's time-consuming. If you want to do it well and see any real benefit from
it, you have to work at it. The upside is that it's free and can really
generate a lot of buzz about your products/services if something that you've
done online ( a post, a video, an article) becomes really popular.
Marketing Online Strategy #5) Online Networking
Try Linkedin. Its stated purpose is to help the world's
professionals connect with one another to accelerate their success. As of this
writing, LinkedIn has over 40 million members in over 200 countries and
territories around the world. It's a powerful tool for marketing online, giving
you the opportunity to connect with potential customers, partners and
colleagues.
Besides being a great source of support and information, groups
such as these also provide some marketing online opportunities. Other members
may be potential customers or referral sources as they get to know you and what
you do.
Like social media, online networking requires taking a subtle
approach to marketing online. The same basic rule applies to online networking
that applies to networking face-to-face. Give, give, give and don't worry about
receiving; you will, likely in bigger, more powerful ways than you ever
imagined.
Marketing Online Strategy #6) Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the best and most powerful ways of
marketing online, in my opinion. For one thing, once you've developed an email
list, (notice the word developed, not bought), you are, in effect, preaching to
the converted, sending your marketing message directly to people who have
already indicated some interest in your products or services.
For another, email is an excellent tool for building a
relationship with your customers, letting you build both repeat business and
good word-of-mouth through your marketing online efforts.
Newsletters can be sent to the email list you've built from the
people who provided the necessary information on your website, for instance,
providing these potential customers with news updates about your company,
upcoming events and/or special offers – and, of course, reminding them that
your business exists and that maybe it's time for another visit.
Email programs such as VerticalResponse and Constant
Contact allow
you to customize your email to your potential customer so you can send selected
customers messages specific to their interests and actions.
Marketing Online and Offline Are The Same in One Way...
Just like any offline marketing, your marketing online efforts
need to be planned. So don’t just post something here and place something there
and consider that you're marketing online. Create a marketing online campaign
and plan and measure your results just as you would with any other marketing.
And remember too, that targeting still matters. The more
carefully you have targeted your potential customers and the more carefully you
have chosen and placed your marketing advertisements or your conversations, the
more successful your marketing online campaign will be.
The thing that's different about marketing online, however, is
its incredible reach. The Internet gives your business the chance to reach
thousands and perhaps even millions of people who would never hear of your
products and/or services otherwise - making marketing online a marketing
opportunity you don’t want to miss out on. If you still need additional help
try logging into my website WebCreatingCo.
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