Internet Marketing - 4 Effective Strategies That Will Boost Your Business
The world of internet marketing is no different than the world of traditional business. There are certain strategies you can use to get ahead and drastically build and/or grow you business. I am just going to tell you about 4 strategies that have been extremely effective for internet marketers. More importantly I will tell you why these strategies have been so effective for internet marketing specifically.
Internet marketing strategies #1 - make it easy to manage your website
Find content management systems or website design software that allows you to changes to your site very easily. The easier it is to setup and manage your website the more time you have to focus on other aspects that matter more, such as your marketing efforts. I often coach internet marketers and the first thing I find out that they are so busy trying to "save" money that they sometimes waste several days working on their website. There are content management systems out there that cost a little more, but are worth it because it gives you more time to make money. The reward is much higher than the amounts you put out to get access to these types of systems.
Internet marketing strategy #2 -Expect some basic expenses
So many people that get into internet marketing expect to be able to everything for nothing. Even though there are quite a bit of things that can be done without any costs, you are always going to be faced with certain expenses. Just your basic costs for running a website and having a good auto-responder system is going to cost you about $30-40 a month. In addition if you want to do effective advertising you should expect to spend some money on SEO and PPC as well. Do what any business should do, take at least 7-10% of what you earn and put it back into marketing. In the beginning you can estimate that you will need to put out that same percentage of what you would like to make. This means that if you would like to make $1.000 expect to spend $70-$100 making it. Your best marketing expenses can be investing in educational material.
Internet marketing strategy #3 - Find good information or mentors
You can do this in one of two ways, either hire someone or gather as much information as you can by doing research. The faster way of the two, is probably hiring a mentor and boost you into making money online very quickly. The gathering and information learning that way require two things of you, first you need to be able to look at what they are doing and understand why they do it that way. The other one is simply getting all the free guides that are given away. You would be amazed with the amount of information that is given away. The downside or possibly a good bonus is that you will probably be required to sign up for multiple opt-in lists to get them. I know people that subscribe to 8-10 different mailing lists just to get access to free information. If you pick the mailing lists you sign up to wisely you can learn quite a bit. Of course buying a book on SEO or hiring a mentor will be quicker and easier, if you find a good one they will be able to work with you and help you understand exactly what it is that you need to do.
Internet marketing strategy #4 - Be active online
Of course you have to actively advertise online that is pretty much a given. One of the extremely underestimated strategies for new internet marketers is the power of chat forums and the willingness to give away advice and help to others. This can be good strategy for those who actually information instead of an actual product, even though it can be great for some products as well. When you chat, and do chat forum advice correctly it can bring you quite a bit of traffic. Do not even try to push people to your product by saying things like "You can find the answer in this product". Make the sale by giving away part of the advice and then you can tell people where you found the information. This is much more effective than telling someone to "buy" the answer. Another way you can be active online is to give away information in other ways, such as maintaining a blog or some other form of free advice or help. No matter which way you choose, giving away information can be effective when done right.
If you think about these 4 strategies they all relate in one way or another, they all deal with how to manage your time and how to invest. There are of course a few more things you need to keep in mind. But these four very basic strategies should at least get you started. I wish you the best of luck with your internet marketing business, if you foundation is good and you understand how to manage your time and your money, you will do great with online marketing. Just like you would with a traditional business, the great news is the risk behind starting an online business is far less of an investment than starting a brick and mortar business.
If you would like more information about internet marketing you can visit our internet marketing blog.
Gudmundur Sigurdarson (Gummi) is the founder of Redknight Marketing, online marketing and website design, Mindformula, life and executive coaching and 10make90, internet marketing resources. He is the former VP of DesignEuropA where he worked with several hundred businesses over the course of 6 years, helping them grow their business both on and off line. Mr. Sigurdarson created the sales manuals, sales training, franchise model and franchise training program for DesignEuropA. In addition Mr. Sigurdarson has written a number of books on personal and professional development, online marketing, website creation and business startup guides. Mr. Sigurdarson has a dedication to helping people succeed, he does this both as an author, corporate trainer, speaker and coach.