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
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design
course, Web Design Mastery.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com And, Ebook Starter -
Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book.
http://www.ebookstarter.com Visit Web-Source.net to
sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and
receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet
Marketing Strategies."
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