Internet Marketing 101

Internet Marketing 101 - Tips and Snares

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surely some of us have at sometime or another been caught up in what seemed like a good deal at the time, but later turned out to be just what our first intuition told us....."too good to be true" Unfortunately, in this business, after you have built a "list" of some significance, the consequences of such a mistake, can be potentially fatal to your business and your future income. As Gary Knuckles so elequently puts it in the following article, when we have more than just our own interests to be accountable for, just prudance and due diligence must take charge. Once you have done your "Due Diligence" and decided on a business opportunity, don't allow yourself to get distracted by what may seem to be a good deal. Stay Focused on task at hand.....and your goals. "What Did Ever Happen to Accountability?"

Accountability - What happened to it?

It was 11:30 pm when the email arrived. It was from a person I had heard of, and it was promoting this "new" program that would be the next rage on the internet. Anxiously I sped over to the site to check it out. For some reason once I read the pitch, I just wasn't comfortable with all of the "whys and hows" of the program.

In the coming 2 weeks I watched as the program sped over the internet, everyone was joining. Sadly about 1 week after that, I watched as the many members of the program started to post negative comments and how they were not making any money.

The worst part is, many invested money, time and promotion efforts into a program that "seemed" too good to be true, but yet promised great results and potential profits.

Even more sad is the fact many couldn't afford it.

Why did they join then, when it seemed to good to be true? Because "someone referred" them to the program.

How many times do we see the above scenario happening today?

Look, I'm no guru or well known marketer and maybe have no place to even write this article, however I have made a VERY comfortable living from the Internet for almost four years.

During that time I have only referred a program 2 or 3 times, and fortunately they are still around today generating profits for the owners and members.

My concern is what has happened to good old research and investigating a program before just shooting out emails to all your friends and family?

Why is it so many fall prey to the emotions of "GET IN EARLY" and have all those sign up in your downline or whatever?

Why is it many don't consider the "after math" if their referral turns out to be a bomb instead of a treasure chest?

Now that's not to say they are completely to blame, it goes further than that. It goes to the originators and founders of the program as well.

WHERE is the accountability we once so valued?

What about the trust others put in us and our referrals, words, and examples we set?

Do many people no longer think about the long term effects of their referrals? What about the next time they refer a product or program, do you think the sheep will be as quick to follow? How does this affect you as a long term business person?

What happens the next time these owners or founders attempt to start a new program?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not targeting any specific program or product of late, hey, there are plenty of great programs, products, newsletters, and people that promote them. The Internet has leveled the field of business and commerce and afforded many the ability to make a great living online.

Instead I'm targeting the whole concept of accountability and our responsibility as marketers, no make that "as people" to those that trust us!

I'm just asking you to think, investigate, ask questions and confirm before shooting out a quick referral from a hot tip.

============================= Written by Gary Knuckles

http://budgetware.com/accountability.htm

As much as we want to succeed at an online business, most of us certainly didn't get into an online business to become Internet Marketing Professionals, writing articles, blogs, distributing newsletters, and creating a website for the purpose of advertising your product and or producing sales. Howver, we should have soon learned that to be successful, it is a very integral part of the process and to reach the numbers of people needed to become successful, it was indeed necessary. Alexandria K. Brown, the Queen of E-Zine, has in all sense of the word, mastered the art of E-Zine advertising. In the following article she lists five major blunders that should be avoided in designing and publishing your Website.

Avoid These 5 Web Site Blunders!
by Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen”

The Web is intended to help people find information quickly and easily. So why do so many sites make it difficult for users to get what they need? While neat design can add impact to your message, make sure the message itself doesn’t get lost in the mix.

As president of a copywriting firm that writes and edits dozens of online projects a year, I've come across several common blunders that prevent effective communication via the Web. Here are my top five:

BLUNDER #1: Hiding who you are and what you do.

It's sad that many sites make it a challenge to figure out what they're about. Yes, it may be cool to have a giant dancing logo on your home page, but don't forget WHY your visitors are there: to learn what you can DO for them!

Be sure your home page includes a *short overview* that clearly and concisely describes what you have to offer. It's also a good idea to repeat your tagline or a short mission statement on *every page* of your site. Why? People can pop in and land on an inside page via a search engine/directory link that you may not be aware of. Make sure they know who you are right away.

BLUNDER #2: Writing for print.

Reading copy on a computer screen is different than reading printed text. We read online text more slowly, and we tend to scan rather than read because, visually, the words are harder to digest. Help your users find key words and concepts quickly by making your copy "scannable." Instead of intro paragraphs, use subheads. Use shorter sentences, paragraphs, and pages. Use bulleted lists. And use hyperlinks to give readers more info if they want it.

BLUNDER #3: Writing too formally.

Online readers expect a personal, upbeat tone. If you write like a bureaucrat, you risk turning off many users. Think ACTIVE voice rather than passive. (For example, instead of saying “the computer must be turned on” say “turn on the computer.”) Write to your customers like you'd talk to them, and nix any industry jargon they may not understand.

Interestingly, I occasionally see the opposite problem. For example, a respected law firm's site shouldn't shout excitedly at customers as in a sweepstakes offer. Ask yourself: "How do my customers like to be talked to?" and that's your answer.

BLUNDER #4: Designing cryptic navigation.

Unfortunately, many sites don't seem to be truly designed with the end user in mind. Consider why users are visiting your site, then turn those reasons into your main navigation choices. Try to limit them to 8 or less. Then, create sub-navigation within those choices. But if there's an especially popular page on your site, why not put a special direct link from the home page? For example, on the home page of our site, we keep a direct link to our latest article or information about new awards we’ve won.

BLUNDER #5: Making it difficult to contact you or place an order.

I recently visited the Web site of an acclaimed furniture manufacturer, and I was ready to order one of their renowned ergonomic chairs. I clicked around, found the chair I wanted, and then quickly grew irate. Not only couldn't I find where to order it online, I couldn't even find their phone number to call and order one or find the nearest dealer! The results? One lost customer.

Put your phone number, an e-mail link, and a link to your order form (if you have one) on EVERY page of your Web site. Don't rely on your users having the patience to take a few extra steps. Make it as easy as possible, and they'll be much more likely to follow through (and return)!

(c) 2002 Alexandria K. Brown

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” is author of the award-winning manual, “Boost Business With Your Own E-zine.” To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.ezinequeen.com.

Bringing Our Products or Services to People or In The Case Of Internet Marketing, Getting People in front of Our Website, is the lifeblood and Survival of Any Online Business And What Advertising is all about.

Rick Jorgenson, in my opinion holds many useful and successful keys to building a fast downline or "List" in the way he advertizes. One such technique called "Key Word Marketing" is a much mis-understood and in some cases feared, as it seems somewhat intimidating to the newby, but can be quite simple and extremely powerful when explained in simple terms as he does in this article.

The Importance of Keyword Marketing for Newbies
Part 1 of 2

I can’t begin to tell you how amazed I am that so many people who are new to advertising their product or service on-line don’t know the Importance of keyword marketing. Trust me, your keywords are one of the most essential aspects of your webpage site, even more so than your content, and I’ll explain why in the following.

If you came to do an interview with me, a renowned dog specialist, about dog fairs, but I never said the word dogs ONCE in our dialogue, would you even belive I was competent at all? Would you inform anybody I was an specialist after that experience? So, if anybody you know asked you if you met anyone they could speak to you about dogs….Would you direct them to me? Maybe not. That’s how search engines function.

Let me ask you something. Go take a look at the keywords (just after the tag in your home page’s source HTML. Let me guess what they show. They have in it the name of your website, the name of your product or products, and a few, very general keywords such as “golf” or “pets.” Right?

So, when somebody you meet on the street inquires what your website is about, what do you communicate them? Let’s stick with the golf example. You tell them, “Oh, our page is all about golf. We have a whole area on Ping and other brands of golf equipment, a section on the best golf tours in the US, golf clothing, and famous novelty golf items! Now, go check out your keyword marketing phrases: golf, golf clubs, clothing, Great American Golf Source.

Well, those few words are what the search engines’ spiders are looking for when they come to check out your website. They get there and find your keywords. You’re saying to them your page is all about golf, clothing, American, Source, Great, clubs……So, these search engines are going to begin attributing your site the reputation for those particular words.
A reputation? How does something like a webpage get a reputation? This sounds like I’m back in high school!

Yep. The search engines remember what you are telling are the most relevant words that depict your web page. Then, they categorize it so that when someone is searching for those same words; your page will be shown with any others that have those similar keyword marketing phrases too.
So, here I get online, and I’m looking for a golf present for Father’s Day. I go to Google and do a search for “golf presents.” Do you think Google serves up your site to me at all? You said the guy on the street you have important novelty golf gifts, but did you inform the search engines?
No.
You informed them your site is about Source, golf, clothing…..
So the hope of me ever finding your page is pretty close to zero.
Here, let’s do a Google search for the word “golf” right now. Go ahead, open another browser and let’s do this exercise together. Right as I’m writing this article, there are a total of 689,000,000 webpages that have “golf” listed as one of their keywords. Yikes. That’s a whooping number of sites to compete with! And yours is just a little one.

So, now, remember what you told that guy? “Novelty golf presents.” Let’s do a fast search for that. Oh wow, only 9,000,000 pages have that more specific keyword phrase in their . What are the chances that I will be able to locate your page if you are competing with 9 million sites versus 689 million web pages?

Um, sorry to respond… both are millions and millions of web site pages to compete against!
So, what do you do?
If you are just starting your niche market online business, the recommended keyword marketing strategy is this:

1. Select about 8 keyword phrases that explain what your site is offering, but don’t have a bazillion competing web site pages. Just do a search in Google or other major search engine and see how many sites you would be competing with.

2. Go to inventory.overture.com and do a search for the phrases you have selected, and make sure they have enough people really searching for those phrases! If you have a good keyword phrase that doesn’t have a lot of competing web pages, but only 2 people per entire month search for that particular phrase, you aren’t going to get much traffic to your site! A good amount to shoot for is phrases that get about 2,000 searches a month at overture.com. A general rule of thumb is that you can double the overture search counts (which are by month) and that is about how many searches there are per month in Google (Google doesn’t have a way for you to find out exactly how many people are searching for an exact keyword phrases very month). That is why a phrase like “Great American Golf Source” is a horrible keyword to have in your list. Unless you are a household name like McDonalds or Q-tips…putting your business name or product name as a keyword marketing phrase is not as valuable to you as using a more descriptive word such as “novelty golf gifts”.

3. Next, once you have put your keyword phrases, it is imperative that you actually use those words in the content of that page! If you are telling the search engines that you want to be found for “novelty golf presents”, but then never state that phrase EVER in that site….do you think you will get a reputation for being a specialist in the area of novelty golf gifts? Chances are slim to none.

So, search engines look for what you tell your page is expert on, and then looks through your text to see that you in actual fact ARE an expert in that area because your page tells all about things in connection to your keywords. They take note, and the next time no matter who does a search for your keywords, your site makes it into the list of webpages that are served up to them. There’s a lot more you need to do now that you have your keyword marketing list set up the right way. In my next article, we’ll talk about some optimizing you should be doing to your pages to ensure that when you are served up in that list, that you make it up high enough (like in pages 1-3…of 9,000,000) so that people will actually find your link, click on it, and go visit your site!

About the Author:
Rick Jorgenson
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