Internet Marketing is all about visibility, it’s a game of popularity and it’s one you have to win if you are serious about growing an online business. There is a Global Marketplace out there, customers from 4 corners of the earth, with Credit Cards in hand, searching 24 hours a day for the things they want. But due to the nature of the Internet, many are tired and frustrated, and they are unable to find what they wantto buy and many go away empty handed.
Your task is to take away their frustration and allow them to find what they want easily and quickly. Give the people what they want! That is the job of the Internet Marketer.
Following these few easy steps will help you to point the customers towards the products and services they are looking for.
Establish yourself as an expert in your Niche.
The average man in the street will read your high quality content and respect your opinions, but only if you have done your research, and you are not trying to ram a product down their throats. Set yourself up as an authority figure on any given subject by thorough research and you will be rewarded with sales and even a loyal following if you give away your quality information in a seemingly generous way.
Once you are regularly posting quality content on your site, you will realise that you are learning an awful lot more than you used to about your Niche. One way to benefit from this information, that will also get you backlinks, clicks and followers, is to write 400-600 word articles from it. These can be posted on E-Zine sites, related Blogs and Forums. As long as you put Links to your site in the signature block you will be seen as an authority who is kindly giving away his knowledge for free.
This same Article can then be made into a Powerpoint Video, with a Voice Over. There are loads of free programs out there that allow you to do this easily and quickly. This is the same information being re-used. Once posted on a Video site, it will have your Links included in the resource box once again pointing back to your site. Believe me, if one of your Videos solves a nagging problem or goes viral, your traffic figures will rocket.
Once your Website or Blog is Uploaded onto the WWW, you have your own Web Presence. This is your prime Real Estate and your shop window to the world. Look after it, don’t leave trash in the drive, such as broken links or obsolete information. If you want to be taken seriously, have a professional look to your site. Ensure it loads quickly and that your images are clear. Ensure Navigation is simple and it is not too cluttered, and always have a Site Map, Contact Us and Privacy Policy.
Now that you have all of this Quality Content and a well designed Site, you need the life blood of sales and marketing “Traffic”. The higher your search engine placing is for your keywords, the more traffic you will get. Simple.
Some of the basic steps to get ranked higher are to use on page SEO. Having a Keyword Loaded Domain Name, Title, Header Tags and Categories will propel you above the majority of competition that don’t have this.
There is of course Paid Advertising which comes in several forms such as PPC, Banner Ads and PPV. However unless you have a strong marketing budget from the outset I would avoid this. Paid Advertising will guarantee that your Site is Visible, but at a cost.
The Holy Grail of Internet Marketing is of course Free Traffic, and this is what I recommend you going after from the start. Of course nothing in this world is truly free. It is going to cost you time and effort to build substancial Free Traffic. The most popular ways of generating free traffic are through Article Marketing, Web 2.0 Marketing such as You Tube and Twitter, and through Marketing your site on related Forums and Discussion Boards.
There are no secrets to successful Internet Marketing, all you need is to follow a few basic rules, and put in a lot of hard work.