Internet marketing
Internet marketing is key to your online success
for your business. But when you are marketing your business online it's not all about getting number 1 positions on the
search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Although this seems to be the holy grail what happens when you get visitors
to your website ? What about conversion and web design ? What if you want visitors right now so you have to think
about pay per click strategies ? This is all discussed in this article.
Start with your website
Before you even attempt to get people to your site, what is it that you want your website to do? Is it an ecommerce store that is selling products, or a company brochure type site that you want to capture leads for or a one page sales letter ? Whatever it is really decide on one thing that you want to happen. Generally, visitors will make up their minds in about 5 seconds whether they want to continue and do something so you have to guide folks to do what you want. Have lead capture forms prominent around your site. Have best seller lists and simple, consistent navigation.
Website conversion strategies
Remember also that most websites only convert around 1% into a sale so look at best practices for instilling trust. You'll need a telephone number, easy to find contact details, secure purchasing and so on. A lot of sites still don't display delivery details until the very last moment - so put those up front. And if you offer free delivery put that prominently everywhere. Have returns guarantees to make the purchase as risk free as possible. A privacy policy is a legal requirement in some countries so draft something.
More website marketing
Once someone comes onto your site you should find a way of capturing their email address. Once they leave you have probably lost them forever. If you have their email you can undertake email marketing (in that you can email them advice, newsletters or special offers to remind them of your site and products). It is wise to start an autoresponder series that has 2 years worth of emails in it. That way every time someone signs up for your newsletter you have 100 emails waiting to send them for the next 2 years - set up and forget. Research is varied but it may take 6-8 months before you make a sale to someone. One famous internet marketer makes $10,000 every time he adds a new email to his autoresponder series.
Search engine optimisation
Most people start off still with the search engines before they end up at your site. Of course Google is still the major force although Yahoo and MSN still bring in traffic. A new site is unlikely to rank for any popular terms for a long while so you'll need to undertake some research to see what terms and phrases people type into the search box when they are looking for your product or services.
You need to find out what people type into a search engine to search for the products or services you provide you can start to structure your web site. However, gut feel is not enough as:
- Popular terms will bring up thousands of competitors and you are unlikely to get to the top of a list unless your industry niche is very small and unique
- People may not search for your industry terms or what you think they are searching for
Most SEO companies advise to target "long tail" keywords and phrases first. These terms have far fewer searches but are easier to target because less people build a site around these terms.
You can use a specialist search engine optimisation (SEO) company to find good words or attempt to do it yourself by using some of the free checking services. You can type in the phrases you think will be relevant for your website and see similar phrases and how many people are searching for them.
Choose two or three main phrases or key words. Let's use an example for an internet solutions company. We know that people search for 'internet marketing' and 'ecommerce' but there are millions of pages competing for this. By analysing other phrases that people use we choose 'internet marketing services'.
It is important to spend time with your key words. By using an SEO service you will find more important phrases or words which will get you a) more visibility and b) higher in the listing.
- Start your internet business
- website copywriting
- META tags - title, description, keywords
- Search engine submissions
- Pay Per Click advertising
- Email Marketing
Internet marketing made easy
As with any business keep on trying and keep learning from the experts that are online on the internet. There are many forums that will help everybody. Just search in Google for "internet marketing forum" - The ones in the US are generally ahead of the UK but all will serve a purpose for you.
Internet competition
Another way to improve your success to to check out your competition online. Have a look at the top 10 websites in your category and see what they are doing. Sign up to their newsletter to see how they might sell to you. The internet is completely open so use it to your advantage to improve your web site and search position.
Quickly Create Your Business Plan
Download a fully completed business plan for your industry online right now.
Includes narrative, financials and support
