The Birth of a Successful
Internet Business
Part ten of ten -- Your Marketing Strategy
By Shelley Lowery
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
-> Organizing Your Strategies
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
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.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery 2002. All Rights Reserved
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of several successful ebooks including Web Design Mastery -
An in-depth guide to professional web design. Ebook Starter - A Complete Ebook Design Kit,
and eZines: A Complete Guide to Publishing for Profit. Subscribe to Etips and receive a
free copy of her highly acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies."
http://www.web-source.net
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