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The Birth of a Successful Internet BusinessPart ten of ten - Your Internet Marketing Strategy
Go Here to Start at the Beginning of Internet Business Success >>How to Become a Webmaster Part 10
Internet Marketing; Can You Live Without It?
NOTE: You have already learned a ton of information from these web design and Internet marketing tips about how to design your first website so this special report about gaining trust from online customers is just one more step to online success. Study as much as possible about other attributes of website design after you finish reading this report. You may even want to develop a website business.
Go here now to find out how ... - Bob Pardue, Webmaster Course
Your Internet Marketing Strategy
The only way to stay in touch with the latest about Internet marketing for new web designers is to constantly stay on the lookout for fresh marketing resources. If you read everything you find about developing an online marketing strategy, it won't take long for you to become a confident webmaster with a site that sells.
Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan
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.com for 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 Opt-in Lists and
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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 publishers.
Visit the following web address for a complete listing of hundreds of publishers and contact information for advertising. http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/t.cgi?l=doe
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 If you are looking for
quality content, contact the writer
of most of this Webmaster site. Candice has been
providing great content for years and she can help
with your article
writing needs.
Go
here to find out more ... 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 Swaps • 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:
Gebbie Press http://www.gebbieinc.com/
NewsDirectory Newspapers http://www.newsdirectory.com
Newspapers Online http://www.newspapers.com/
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.
As your knowledge about building a market for your new website continues to expand, you will start to see how online advertising fits into the overall scheme of your online business venture. Knowing how something relates to the rest of the Internet world is important too. So, work on building a marketable website now.
I hope this article has contributed to your understanding about designing a website and gaining customer trust for an online business. Now that you have found a few answers to becoming a successful webmaster, it's time to move on to Webmaster Training from Home .
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Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed beginner web design series, Web Design Mastery -- an in-depth guide to professional web design that is rapidly becoming known as the "Bible" for professional web design.
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