Now that you’ve learned some different online businesses to
choose from, you will want to learn some ways to market your business so it can
become successful like many other internet marketers who have been down the
path you want to travel.
Let‘s explore some of the more popular strategies of marketing your online business.
Website
Your online business website is the perfect place to start.
If there’s one thing that could make or break your business, it would be the
website itself. Here are some things that are important to know about your
website for marketing purposes:
Domain name - The domain name is the address to
find your site on the internet. You want to choose a domain name that matches
closely to your site or business name. This helps any internet user find your
business easily if they’re searching for a certain topic. An exact match would
be the best option, but if it’s not available, try finding one that comes as
close as possible.
Keywords - Utilize the best keywords to place
within the content on your site. Keywords are words that internet searchers use
when they go to the search engines to find information on a specific topic. The
keywords would get indexed by the search engine and placed within the results
page for a user. The higher your site is ranked on the results page, the more
chance you have that the user will choose your site to visit.
Market with a Niche - A niche narrows down your business to
market to a certain group of people. Narrowing down your marketing efforts to a
smaller group to help you give what your consumers want. Larger groups have too
many people that have too many different needs. This makes it difficult to get
your audience interested in what you have. The smaller groups will be the
people that are more likely to want what you have, so marketing will be much
easier.
Your website will need to reflect whatever niche you choose
for your business. If you’re targeting mothers with young children, your site
should reflect that. You would have graphics that would connect to mothers with
young children and the content on the site should be written to something they
could relate to. This will help with the search engines as well.
Blog - Provide a blog to go with your
website. It should relate to the theme your business site has. Personal blogs
should not be used here. If you use a blogging program that isn’t connected
with your site, try to design the blog’s template to match your business site
as close as possible, so it appears that the blog goes along with the site.
Blogs are another way to utilize the search engines to gain visitors. When a visitor finds your blog, they can see that you have more information to offer them on that topic elsewhere on your website, so they can just click through on the link provided.
E-Mail Marketing
E-mails are essential to any marketing campaign. This is how
you keep your business and products fresh in your potential customer’s minds.
Getting a visitor to your site is one thing, but getting them to remember you
over the millions of other websites out there is a whole thing in itself;
especially when they’re interested in buying.
E-mails come at regular intervals to provide information to
website visitors to help build credibility as well as get your business name in
the forefront of their minds. This can be done in a couple of different ways.
To get e-mail addresses to send your messages to, you will provide an opt-in
email feature on your site so that people can sign up for updates on what
you’re offering or for more information.
Newsletters - These are used to provide small
articles in topics that relate to your business. For example, if you
sell vitamins and minerals, your newsletter can offer articles on alternative
health practices, etc. to show how important your product is to them.
Newsletters can be sent to their e-mail inboxes with the
introduction to an article and a link where they can go to your site to read
the rest of the article. This enables users to become familiar with your site
and makes it easier to remember you when they decide they want to buy something
you’re offering.
E-Courses - You can have a sign up feature on
your site for visitors to use to learn the basics about a topic. If you’re
selling vitamin products, you can use an e-course to help teach your readers
how to pick the best ones for different kinds of health problems.
E-courses are typically sent over a 5-7 day period and are
often offered for free. This keeps your business name in their minds by
reminding of it every day that the e-course comes into their inbox.
Updates - For those who have purchased
something from you or people who have signed up for this feature, you can
provide them with updates on your products, discounts, freebies, etc. This way
if you don’t hook a visitor into buying in their first visit they may see
something later on that catches their eye and entices them to buy.
The updates can also help bring in more traffic for your site. Those who have already signed up for your lists will have friends, family, neighbors and co-workers that they could refer to your business by simply forwarding the messages on.
Articles and Other Written Content
Besides providing good website content, articles and other
written content can be used in several ways to market your business. Here are
some of those ways:
Articles directories - Article directories provide great
marketing tactics to use for your business. By writing and submitting an
article related to your business site, you can achieve two things…
- Credibility in the topic you
have written about
- Drive more traffic to your site
by providing a link to your business website in the author’s bio section
provided on the article directory sites.
These directory sites usually rank well with the search
engine results page, so someone stumbling upon one of your articles submitted
within a directory can find their way over to your website for more information
on that topic.
Articles placed within
other site’s newsletters or blogs - By being a guest writer on someone else’s blog or
newsletter, you can reach a whole other group of people looking for information
on one topic.
You would provide a link to your site within these articles
and then reciprocate the favor for the other website owner to provide the same
kind of articles on your newsletters or blogs.
Articles on Digg or
similar sites- Having
one of your articles submitted on Digg or a similar type site will gain you
more access to your site. Digg is a site that provides articles other internet
users have deemed as good informative articles. Those articles that receive a
large number of “Diggs” will be pushed to the home page where a lot of users
will see and review them. Your site link could be included for those people who
want more information on the topic.
Offer E-books or Guides- These can provide your consumers
with information on a topic while including a link back to your site to keep
them familiar with your business. These can be offered for free or for a small
fee.
The word Free can be a powerful word to any user and catch their attention quite easily. You would provide some basic information on a topic and could get them interested in buying an e-Book that has more in-depth information about the same topic.
Socializing for Marketing
One of the more successful ways to find traffic that are
looking for what you have to offer is to socialize with others who are
like-minded. Here are the most popular ways to socialize for your marketing
needs:
Blogging comments - Find other blogs that have the same
kind of topic as your website. Post a reply on some of their posts. Your
website link will be associated with your name and those looking for more
information on that topic will check out your site or blog and see what you have
to offer them.
Join forum communities -
Find message board
communities that have topics that relate to your website. Your website link
could go in the signature line allowing others to find their way to site to see
what you have. Check with the rules of the board first to make sure this is
allowed.
By posting regularly on these forums, you can build
credibility as an expert for that topic and gain some trust with some potential
consumers who may be thinking about buying from you. Also, the other board members
may refer people they know to your site, so make sure you give back as much as
you receive with these communities.
Social Networking Sites
- Social networking
sites include such popular sites like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. These
sites attract people who are looking for others who are interested in the same
things they are.
Internet marketers use them all the time to hook up with
people in their target audience. People who have the same interest as you, can
communicate and start to build trust with you. They will be more receptive to
buy from someone who’s in their “group” or they could pass on your business
info on to other people they know.
Miscellaneous Marketing
Techniques
Here are some other techniques to utilize in your marketing
campaigns:
Affiliate Programs - Start your affiliate programs for
your products. Let other people earn some money by marketing your products for
you. More traffic will find their way to your site through someone else’s
efforts.
Learn how to start your own successful affiliate program and
create a web page on your site for others to sign up to be your affiliates.
This is something that you can announce in your newsletters and update
messages.
AdWords - Search engines offer this feature to
Business owners to purchase advertising space on the search results pages.
Every time someone clicks on that ad, you will be charged a certain amount of
money to the search engine.
Because you’re paying for the clicks, you will want to
provide the most desirable ad possible to increase your return of investment.
Poor ads can cost you money, because not everyone who clicks through these ads
will want to buy. Keep track of these ads and pull them or revamp them when
necessary to avoid losing too much money for your business.
Word of Mouth campaign - This is the easiest marketing
technique there is. A simple word of mouth campaign will get people to pass on
the information to your business to other people and so on.
This works great for local customers and clients to hear
about your business and pass it on to others that may be looking for the same
products or information. This is also an inexpensive way to accomplish
marketing for your business.
Use Press Releases - This option can be used if you’re
just opening your doors or if you’re offering a discount or special sale. Press
Releases are submitted to sites that publish them for internet users who are
looking for specific information.
They are written as if they’re a news story and they showcase
your “news” with eye catching and attention grabbing headlines and information.
Your sale, discount or business startup would get plenty of exposure to
potential consumers and clients.
A well written press release to announce what you are
offering may just be what you need to drive a huge amount of traffic to your
business website. Consider having one done on a period basis to help keep your
business’ name fresh on people’s minds.
Place an ad in local
papers - There’s no
rule that says you only have to market on the internet. Why not try marketing
locally, by placing ads in local papers. Those advertisements are seen by most
everyone that lives within that area and receives that paper.
Sometimes, businesses gain their first sales transactions
from local customers, so don’t leave out your local area when planning your
marketing campaign.
Podcasting - Podcasting is audio content that
people use to provide information that people listen to instead of read. It gives
them a different medium to learn about a topic their interested in. People love
the option of the podcast to listen to while they do something else and not
have to be glued to their computer screen.
Your business gains credibility and trust amongst the listeners. Those listeners can become customers, so your website will be linked to the audio program.
Marketing on the Fun
Side
People love to have fun, so why not provide it with your
marketing techniques. Here are a few ways you can give it to them:
Run a contest - People will come from all over when a
contest is announced. Run one on your blog or site to drive more traffic. You
will have to market the contest pretty heavily to get people to hear about it,
but once they know they will come running.
Make your contest fun that almost anyone can participate in.
Offer a worthwhile prize to the winner of the contest. If you don’t people
won’t come running the next time you run a contest or anything for your
business.
A contest could be quizzes to take, an internet safari to
participate in or just a raffle to draw names in.
Have Promotional
products with your business logo - Websites like Cafe press will make products
like T-shirts, pens, mugs and even hats with your logo on them. Some of these
could be given away as gifts or you could have internet visitors purchase them
through a link on your site.
These promotional items could be displayed so that anyone who comes in contact with that item will see your logo and be curious about whose business is on them. They can then search out your site to find out what exactly you offer.
