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Internet Marketing Strategies
So, you've got your online business up and running. Ah, the pride of ownership! I guess
you've shown off your business website to all your friends and family? I also guess that
you can't make the kind of profit you hoped for from their visits alone. So, you need to
promote your website to others, right? - Lots Of Others!
You may not have thought of yourself as an Internet Marketer. Your preferred identity
might be more wrapped up in your personal business niche. There's nothing wrong with
that, in fact I hope you have a unique niche you truly identify with. Niche Sites are among
the most successful. Regardless of what you see yourself as, if you want to have a consitent
customer base for your online business, you must promote it online. Guess what online
business promoters are called? HINT = Internet Marketers.
Like it or not, if you want your online business to truly succeed, then you need to first
understand, and then skillfully apply proper Internet Marketing Strategies.
While there are many ways to get visitors and potential buyers to your website, I want to
share with you some of the best strategies of Internet Marketing from which I have personally
reaped the most reward. Therefore, the promotion and advertising that I recommend here,
are completely based on what has worked for me personally. I will confine my references to
places where you can find proven, beneficial information. Every one of these methods will
involve some time and effort - some more than others. Although many are offered for free, others come with a price. Either way, I wouldn't include the offer if the return wasn't well worth the initial investment. And, your investments are secured by money-back guarantees. I arranged the following information in what I feel is their order of importance. Other marketers may put greater emphasis on certain items, and my list isn't based on any scientific approach, nor is it supported by compelling data. I was thinking in terms of "first things first", laying out an easy to follow step-by-step plan, that reproduces the order in which I do things. Feel free to skip sections you need no help with, but I suggest you scroll down to veiw each section Heading so you'll have a good idea of what topics are covered.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION:
One thing that every Internet Marketer desires is getting their website listed on Google or
one of the other top Search Engines (SE's). Unfortunately this isn't just a case of submitting
your URL to the SE's and sitting back, waiting for a flood of visitors. Sure, if you do it this
way, you will probably get listed in all the SE's, but what use is it to get listed on page
10,000 of the search results when most people don't look past the first or second page?
Before You submit a site to an SE, be sure You know how to optimize Your potential ranking.
You really should fully understand and skillfully exercise SE's optimization tactics. This can be rather tricky because, quite frankly, SE's don't want their competition to know their unique formula to rank and classify a website. So they all frequently change the rules. It has become a game between them and savvy Internet Marketers that has spawned all kinds of popular Ebooks claiming to have cracked the code. Of course, since the code is regularly changed, updated versions of the Ebooks are needed. To investigate this topic more fully CLICK HERE  Whether or not You decide it's important to crack the code, do submit Your website to as
many SE's as possible. It will take some time, but reputable SE's give detailed instructions
that are usually rather easy to comprehend, although time consuming to enact. Just follow
each SE's specific directions, wait a few weeks, and see what page Your site gets listed on.
If You think You can improve Your rank (based on the information given in the next few
paragraphs), resubmit Your site using different Keywords and/or descriptions.
Other than the major SE's (MSN, Yahoo, Google), there are tons of of other SE's that offer You
immediate top-rank. This includes Free-For-All (FFA) Sites, but You should know that many
FFA's are virtually worthless. To distinguish the good from the bad, simply observe some of the
telling aspects of the FFA's operation.
For example, If the FFA has a revolving list that places the newest entries at the top, rather
than the most relevant, know that Your exposure on that system will be very brief, often less
than an hour. Depending on how popular a FFA is, There could be 1000's of new submissions
every day. You can check to see how long Your posting remains by going back a few hours
after You submit Your site. If the FFA page only shows 100 entries, as soon as 99 new sites
are submitted after You, Your rank will be 99. The very next submission will bump Your site
completely off the list! Another important thing to consider about FFA's is the motivation of the people that use them. What I mean by that is think about the ads You see posted. They were placed by someone like You - who probably came to the site only to post ads, like You - which poses an interesting question. Does anyone ever visit an FFA site to simply read the ads? DO You?
The only ads I ever click are ones that look like competing affiliates, and those simply out of
curiousity. I even owned a few FFA's, but I don't remember many customers coming from them. To see for Yourself, Here is a Link to a FFA site: CLICK HERE Most popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. will require certain information
about You and Your site before accepting Your submission. Unlike FFA's, whose processing is
usually instantaneous, large SE0's can take up to 6 weeks to get Your site listed. Obviously, if You need to make any changes, the process could be rather inconvenieint, so make certain that
You have Your ducks in a row BEFORE submitting a new site for the first time. As for whether or not You should choose to pay for better page rank (known as a sponsored
advert) or a set fee for pay-per-click (PPC's), that decision can be made AFTER Your site has
been submitted and listed. You should always submit it first for Free. You never know when You
might get a great page rank because Your Keywords (discussed below) were so effective! PPC's is a form of paid advertising SE's sell based on click-thru rates. You only pay for the
amount of actual times a surfer sees your website listing and clicks on the link that directs
them to Your website. The price per click is negotiable, determined by how good a page rank
You want for Your sites listing. To decide on an appropriate price, learn what the highest ranked
competitor is paying, then check his stats at a datasite like Alexa.
Obviously, if You discover that Your competitor has a high rate of traffic at his site, the market
for Your product or service is worth paying for. If instead, his numbers aren't significant, out
ranking him probably won't be of much significance either. One very important thing to keep in
mind is that untill You reach the status of a big, well known biz like Ebay or Microsoft, You should
not try to out-bid them for PPC's. They obviously have the upper hand with a much larger expense
account, and will simply out-bid You. The winner in such a scenario will be the SE's, not YOU. For A Good Jump-Start - - - CLICK HERE
For Free SEO Software - - - CLICK HERE
Without getting into a fuller explanation, You really only need to know that the basic formula that ALL the search engines use, never totally changes. While they do regularly fine tune their systems to maintain a competetive edge over their competitors, thus resulting in some change, most things remain constant. You would benefit better by developing a more complete under-
standing of the constants, than by spending too much time trying to learn the so-called "secret
codes" of SE's optimization. You'll have a distinct edge over Your competition and better
ranking armed with the following information: Do What Your Competition Does Right - - - CLICK HERE KEYWORD ANALYSIS: Keywords and Meta Tags are used by search engines to classify websites by relevancy. Meta Tags
are built into the HTML Code of a site, and there are automated programs that can create these for
You, if You have complete control over Your website. Most affiliate sites do not allow You to modify
this code, so You probably won't need a great deal of info about Meta Tags. Meta Tags help the SE's
robots find Your site faster. They get the robots attention similar to the way raising Your hand got
Your teacher's nod.
What You should be more concerned about are Keywords which, whether You have control over
Your website's HTML Code or not, You Do Control. This is because Keywords can be set when You
submit Your site to a SE or site Host. Even though this is the area that the SE's most frequently
change their rules about, a good Keywords list is what they use to determine what page rank Your
website receives.
Instead of being concerned with specifically HOW they use Keywords, (which they regularly revise
anyway), an understanding of WHAT Keywords are, will serve You well. The SE's little analysis
robots constantly view all the websites on the Internet. They examine each site for accuracy and
relevance, determined mainly upon their interpretation of a site's Keywords (and Meta Tags). If
Your site has better use of Keywords than another site promoting a similar topic, You'll get priority
page rank. There are certain other factors that the robots consider in their analyisis. Content is a very important
aspect. You are far more likely to receive a good rank for precise and extremely pertinent content
than vaque and only slightly relevant text. For example, if the robot lists Your site on a page where
one of the Keywords is "cars" and the content of Your entire site deals exclusively with the specific
topic of cars, You'll rank very high. In contrast, should Your site be laced with references to cars only
here and there, while the main topic of Your site is "highways", Your site won't be very near the top
of that page. Again, You don't need to learn the detailed information regarding the process of interpretation, just
knowing that it is a significant factor in determining Your site's rank will help You to gain an inside
track. Think of the robots as a real person, surfing the web. What words would grab Your attention as
You are surfing for a product or service like Yours. You want to make sure that the Keywords You use
are the most relevant description of Your product, service, etc.. At the same time, You want to use
Keywords that are hopefully unique, thus setting Your site apart from others that offer similar things.
If You are promoting an affiliate site, Your clever choice of Keywords is really the only thing that is
going to create any difference for the search engine robots between Your site and any other identical
affiliate sites! Say You're promoting a site that offers insurance and You use Keywords like insured,
protection, coverage, etc. . . . all relevant, but NOT unique! Every other insurance site is likely using
the same Keywords.
Here's where You want to be creative - think outside of the box. You want to add to Your Keywords
list very unique words that are equally relevant, but probably NOT on Your competitors list. You could
use a Thesaurus which is time consuming, or a reliable Keywords Program that automates Your word
search.
Whatever You decide is an adequate understanding of Keywords for You personally, at the very least
resolve to NEVER submit a website without a Keyword list! Poor Choices of Keywords is better than
NO Keywords. If a site has NO Keywords designated, the robots will complete overlook it as though
it were non-existent.
E-MAIL, OPT-IN, & SAFE LISTS: For A Proven List Building System CLICK HERE
Search engine submission is only one way to promote Your online biz. Though there are many
restrictions on commercial E-mail Marketing, E-mail advertising continues to be the preferred
standard for most Internet Marketers. Understanding the rules about unsolicited commercial
E-mail (SPAM) will help You to utilize this avenue of promotion successfully and legally.
By simple definition, SPAM is sending an E-mail promoting a product or service for commercial
gain, without the prior approval of the recipient. To aviod a long and meaningless word game
attempting creative interpretations, Your concern should be confined to a legal understanding
of what "prior approval" is. In a reasonable conclusion, legitimate Internet Marketers have reformed their mailing lists to
include "double opt-in" members exclusively. This requires a prospective "subscriber" to
acknowledge that their information (name and e-mail address) will be added to a certain marketers mailing list and that they grant permission to that marketer to contact them via E-mail regarding commercial promotions. To confirm this acknowledgement, the new subscriber must first respond to a "confirmation E-mail". This double opt-in proceedure is the best way to create an accurate personal safe-list. Successful Internet Marketers have long proffessed that "the money is in the list". Having to jump
through hoops to avoid prosecution for SPAM is part of the territory. Since true safe-lists have
become the standard, and because creating a personal one is so time consuming, many Safe-List
Membership Sites have been created.
Like SE's, Safe-List Membership Sites range from really great to terrible. What You want to look for
in good Safe-List Membership Sites are how refined is the targeted group You can E-mail, and of
course, how large is the list, and how often can you mail to it. These are important factors to consider,
because unlike a personal list that You have created, these prospects won't know You. So, they won't
necessarily appreciate what You're promoting. Add to this, the fact that statistics show that people
generally don't respond to an offer untill somewhere between the 7th-12th time that they have been
contacted about a given product or offer.
You can readily see that You could easily be spinning Your wheels attempting to market Your product
or service to the wrong list, regardless of how safe it is. To weed out the undesirables will take some
effort on Your part. Only You know who Your ideal target group is, so only You can determine whether
or not a certain safe-list is satisfactory. When it comes to safe-lists, what is a great one for others, may
not be so great for You.
Some concluding thoughts about Safe-List Membership Sites: It is highly unlikely that membership to
only one site will provide the adequate exposure You'll want. On the other hand, joining too many sites
can tend to be a bit overwhelming and ultimately futile. You need to gauge Your own unique ability to
juggle Your resources. I learned the hard way that too much of a good thing is a BAD THING. Doing a
little well, is better than doing a lot wrong.
Having made the point, below are Links to some possible options for You to test.
List Dot Com .com - CLICK HERE
THE LIST MACHINE - CLICK HERE
ListExplodeDotCom - CLICK HERE
YourLuckyList.com - CLICK HERE
Target Marketing - CLICK HERE
DiscoverFreeLeads - CLICK HERE To conclude this section on E-mail Marketing, You will most certainly need a good Autoresponder
(ARSP) to automate Your advertising campaigns, build Your personal safe-lists, and set up Your
follow-up contacts. Again, there is a range of RSP's from Free to $65 a month; from really good
to not so good.
Most ARSP's are set-up on an independent server-site and control the entire process from their own
servers. An almost universal downside to these, are that they require You to establish a double opt-in
list through them, rather than allowing You to simply import Your existing list.
Others can be purchased and set-up on Your own website, using Your ISP. This gives You more
security and sometimes more control, but most people don't want to bother with the set-up process
that on site ARSP's require. It should be noted though, that a one-time payment for Your very own
on-site RSP may be a much wiser investment for the long-haul. If You already have a large established
list, this would also be a plus.
Some ARSP's vary in the way they work and frequency of use. Without an indepth discussion of how
and why, I prefer to show You where. Below are Links to some great RSP's of each type. Read what
they have to say about themselves. Shop around and compare offers. Remember, like safe-lists, what
is a great one for others, may not be so great for You. You chose which one best meats Your immediate
needs. If You start for Free, You can always upgrade later.
To Check Out A Free Autoresponder - CLICK HERE
For A Directory of Autoresponders - CLICK HERE
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