The Birth of a Successful Internet Business
Part ten of ten -- Your Marketing Strategy
By Shelley Lowery
Developing and implementing a strategic marketing plan is an
essential part of your Internet success.
Your plan must include both short-term and long-term
strategies in order to succeed.
Short-term marketing strategies are those that bring you a
temporary boost in traffic. Although these techniques are
very important to your overall plan, they are only a
temporary traffic source and must not be solely relied on.
Short-term marketing strategies include:
- Purchasing advertising
- Bulletin Boards
- Search Engines
Long-term marketing strategies are those that bring you a
steady stream of targeted traffic over time. These
strategies will continue to produce results even years down
the road.
Long-term marketing strategies include:
- Opt-in Lists
- Freebies
- Content
By creating and implementing a balanced marketing strategy,
using both short-term and long-term strategies, you will
drive a steady stream of targeted traffic to your website.
Creating a successful Internet presence involves much more
than designing a great website or having the "perfect"
product. Listing your website with the Search Engines is
your first step, however, you must not solely rely on the
Search Engines to bring you traffic. You must develop a
complete promotional strategy and work it every day.
Search Engines:
A significant amount of website traffic originates from the
major Search Engines. Most Internet users will go to a
Search Engine, type in a keyword phrase and look through the
top 10 - 20 results. Most of the time, they'll find what
they're looking for in the first 10 results. The percentage
of click throughs is even smaller. Listing near the top and
grabbing the attention of your target audience is the top
priority.
Your first step will be to optimize your web pages to the
best of your ability. Visit http://www.searchenginewatch.comfor a complete overview of the Search Engines and
optimization.
Opt-in List
As soon as your website is up and running, you should
immediately begin building an opt-in list. An opt-in list is
a list or database containing email addresses of individuals
who have chosen to receive your email messages. Your
messages may be web site updates, product updates or an
ezine. They provide you with a direct line of communication
with potential customers and enable you to promote your
products or services. For further information, visit the
following web address: http://www.web-source.net/ezine_basics.htm
Organizing Your Strategies
A good way to organize your promotions is to set up a web
page, for your personal use, which will contain your
complete strategy. This page should be stored on your hard
drive and not uploaded to your server. Your page should
contain four sections:
- Daily Promotions
- Weekly Promotions
- Monthly Promotions
- Miscellaneous Promotions
Each of these four sections should contain the appropriate
information for each of your promotional resources such as
website name, user ID, password (if applicable) and
hyperlinked web addresses for each website you plan to use
for your promotions. This will enable you to open your web
page each day and visit the sites you have listed.
-
Daily Promotions
-
Link Exchanges
Exchange links with websites similar to yours, but not in competition.
-
Discussion Boards
Visit some popular discussion boards and share your
expertise. Although you may not advertise on discussion
boards, you can include your signature file with your post.
Visit the following web address for a complete listing of
some of the top discussion boards:
http://www.web-source.net/web/Discussion_Forums/
-
Weekly Promotions
Your weekly promotions should consist of placing a paid
ezine advertisement and/or arranging ad swaps with fellow
publishet.
Visit the following web address for a complete listing of
hundreds of publishers and contact information for
advertising. http://www.directoryofezines.com
To organize your ad placements and swaps, place the
publication names, publisher names, ad dates and hyperlinked
web addresses within your weekly promotion list.
-
Monthly Promotions
Your monthly promotions should include writing an article in
the area of your expertise and promotional exchanges.
To organize your monthly promotions, place the names and
hyperlinked web addresses for each of your promotional
resources within your monthly promotions section.
-
Writing Articles
Writing articles that may be freely published with your
bylines is one of the best promotional methods online. Your
article may be published in hundreds of ezines, on websites
or even in magazines.
Visit the following web address for further information:
http://www.web-source.net/write.htm
-
Promotional Exchanges
Cross promoting is a powerful technique used by many
Internet marketers to increase the exposure of their
products, services or publications. You simply decide what
type of promotional exchange you would be interested in and
contact fellow marketers to discuss an exchange.
The most effective technique used in cross promotions is
recommendations. By providing each other with a personal
recommendation you can increase your response rates
tremendously.
Here are some popular cross promoting techniques you can use
to boost your business:
- Ezine Ad Swap
- Subscription Exchanges
- Ezine Column Swaps
- Byline Exchanges
- Signature Exchanges
- Ebook Exchanges
- Private Web Rings
- Ride Alongs
- Upsells
- Free Bonuses
- Forum and List Moderation
-
Miscellaneous Promotions
Promoting your website offline is an often overlooked way to
increase your traffic. Your web address should appear on all
of the following:
- Business cards
- Letterhead
- Envelopes
- Receipts
- Invoices
- Sales letters
- Brochures
- Flyers
- Post cards
- Fax documents
- T-shirts
- Pens
- Pencils
- Mouse Pads
- Phone book listing
- Voice mail message
- Newspaper/magazine ads
- Vehicle
Below, are several resources to assist you:
IDit Plates - Put your web address on your vehicle.
http://www.iditplates.net/new/2711/index.html
Magnetic Signs - Full size magnetic signs for your vehicle.
http://www.magneticsigns.com
Visit iPrint for all of your printing needs.
http://www.iprint.com
Place ads in newspapers, magazines, on the radio, or on TV.
Visit the following websites for a complete list of resources to assist you:
For even more promotional products, PromoCity can add your
logo to any one of over 500,000 items.
http://www.promocity.com
Press Releases
CanadaOne provides a free interactive press release builder.
http://www.canadaone.com/promote/pressrelease.html
Gebbie Press provides over 10,000 links to print and electronic media on the Internet.
http://www.canadaone.com/promote/pressrelease.html
Dr. Kevin Nunley will write your press release and send it to 5,000 media contacts.
http://www.drnunley.com
Automated Press Releases will enable you to send your press release to over 10,000 media. You write your press release
or they'll write it for you.
http://www.automatedpr.com
Once you've created your promotional web page, open it
within your browser and add it to your favorite places or
bookmark it for easy daily access. Set up a specific day for
your weekly and monthly promotions and perform your
miscellaneous promotions as needed.
Although these promotional strategies are far from complete,
they provide you with a basic overview to get you started.
Once you've implemented your promotional strategy and
continuously work it each day, you'll be amazed with the
results of your efforts. Consistency will be the key to
driving massive traffic to your site.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery 2002.
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the highly acclaimed ebook series, Web Design Mastery -- an in-depth guide to professional web design that is rapidly becoming known as the "Bible" for professional web design. http://www.webdesignmastery.com
