Marketing online can totally overwhelm a newbie. Really, the concepts involved with Internet marketing are pretty straightforward. But when it comes to actually putting theory into practice, things can become quite complex (even for experienced Internet marketers!), unless you keep some basic things in mind and focus on what works. In this article, I want to address those who would think of themselves as beginners, and talk a little bit about some of the most important concepts of any Internet marketing process like website creation, banner ads, e-newsletters, email campaigns and website optimization. To start, we need to understand each of these tools.
Creating a website is, of course, one of the key steps in any Internet marketing campaign. It makes sense, then, that creating a website (or re-creating a website that is not quite up to par) to market your products ought to be one of your first priorities. You can either hire an experienced web designer to do this for you or, even if you have no design experience, you can try any number of software packages or design templates to put a functional website together by yourself. However, when deciding whether to do-it-yourself, consider that hiring a web designer can be well worth the expense (and the headaches saved!) since the designer can relatively quickly create for you a website that is functional, good looking, and targeted specifically to your product(s). Especially if you would like to include more advanced features on your site, a web designer is often the most efficient and effective way to build a quality website.
E-newsletters are another tool that can be really effective in your Internet marketing campaign. E-newsletters are just emails in a newsletter format, which can provide potential and existing customers with valuable information about your business or product(s). They might also contain informative articles, questionnaires and surveys, or most anything else that would be of value to the reader. These e-newsletters can be a very effective marketing tool because they are not perceived as “advertising” by the reader-they are valuable information that your market finds interesting-but they still provide links to your website or other resources where the reader can simply click through to learn more about you and your product(s).
Banner ads are another option for advertising on the Internet. These are ads that usually appear on the top or sides of another website. Banner ads usually display graphics and text that invite Internet users to click on the advertisement. When someone clicks on the ad, they are automatically taken the advertiser’s website. More and more banner ads are being used on the Internet today, and while they can be quite effective if displayed on popular websites, they can also be very pricey.
Email marketing campaigns can be another effective tool in any Internet marketing program. Basically, you use an email campaign to connect with a group of people who may be interested in your product(s) or services. You need to be careful with emails like this, however, and always avoid sending any emails that are considered unsolicited or could be viewed as SPAM. One way to manage this is to only send emails out to people who have actually requested that you include them on your email list (those who have “opted-in” to your list). Some suggest that sending emails that provide advice or have “value,” instead of just advertisements, is acceptable and will not be considered spam. I suggest, however, that you avoid sending any emails to potential customers who have not actually given you the okay to send them mail. This means that you need to entice prospects to your website and then ask them to provide their email address to you so that you can keep in touch, provide them with information, or otherwise contact them. There are many ways to do this, and it is my opinion that you ought to limit any email marketing campaigns strictly to those who have given you their permission to contact you.
Of course, among the most important aspects of most Internet marketing campaigns is optimizing your website for search engines. Search engines like Google and Yahoo (and many others) rank websites in terms of what they deem quality and relevance for particular search terms. As you know, when someone uses an Internet search engine, they type in certain search terms; for example, if someone wants to know how to stop their dog from barking all night, they might go to a search engine and type [stop dog barking]. The search engine takes those search terms and, using complex algorithms, returns a list of websites in an order it deems best and most relevant. Those websites that rank high on the list-on the first page or two, say-are the ones most people see and, therefore, get the most visitors. How do you get your website ranked on page one or two? That is what search engine optimization (SEO) is all about.
Krissy Lee Stewart is a successful Internet marketer, coach, and college instructor.
To learn much more about Internet marketing, visit my website and download an awesome, totally free set of detailed ebooks about topics like SEO traffic generation, earning affiliate income, blogging for cash, and more! http://www.KrissyLee.com