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If you're just starting out in internet advertising, you probably
feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available. The
learning curve is less like a hill and more like a cliff! If you've
been at this business for a while, you may be frustrated that you're
still not making any money, or not enough money. You may be wondering
why no one is reading your ads, or why all those visitors to your
site are not buying anything and not returning. Where do you start?
How do you convert the casual visitor to a return customer?
Relax and breathe. None of us was born an internet marketer. We
all have to start someplace. A great place to start is by looking
at something you already DO know, offline business. We all shop
somewhere. Pick a store you're familiar with, maybe the grocery
store where you shop at least once a week. Pick a small store to
focus on, not a huge supermarket. Now pretend that it is just an
empty lot or building, and you're an aspiring grocer. What do you
need to do?
Offline Model - There's 3 big steps you need to take.
1) First you have to have a crystal clear picture in your mind of
exactly what you want to do. What do you want to sell, and what
do you want your store to look like? Spend some time dreaming, so
you can see everyone who is in your store and what they are buying.
Your store needs four walls, a floor, doors and windows, and a roof.
You need to decide on size, the first step is to figure out what
you want to sell. You think about what people in your town need
and buy regularly, the availability of these products in other well
established stores, and decide on your niche and your location.
Maybe it's bread, canned goods, cereals, candy, ice cream, soda,
milk, and cigarettes on a busy corner near a residential area with
no other store in walking distance. Maybe it's a natural food store
in a yuppie neighborhood. Maybe it's gas and snack foods near a
highway.
2) Secondly, you have to understand what you need to have in place
to make that dream come true, and how you're going to do it. What
does your store need by way of infrastructure? You need shelves,
freezers and refrigerated cases, a counter and a cash register.
Probably you need a small office and bathroom as well. You need
electricity, lighting, heat, air conditioning, desk, chair, phone,
fax, maybe some music, paint, flooring, security cameras and so
on.
Once you decide on the layout of the store, you will know what size
of a building you need to build, buy or rent. How are you going
to finance this, and how will you afford to stock your store, from
savings or from a loan?
3) Assuming that you now have a fully-stocked and operational store,
how will you get people to shop there? You could advertise in newspapers,
radio and tv; put up signs; offer door prizes and/or sales; offer
free advice and information (recipes, menus, shopping lists, health
and nutrition information, diet information); sponsor events (a
book signing by a famous cookbook author, co-sponsor a food related
festival); build familiarity and trust by joining social, charity
or business clubs, or volunteering at local events.
Fine and good, you say, but I still don't know how to make money
online. Let's take the example we just developed and convert it
to online business.
Online Model - Gazing Into Your Online Crystal
Ball
1) First the concept. What do YOU want to do? What
do the people that frequent the internet want? First and foremost,
right behind email, people online are looking for information. You
can do a Google search for terms to see how many websites are already
available sharing information about your product or service. As
you keep narrowing down your focus, balance between your passion,
what other people want, and what's already available. A very small
niche with very little competition with targeted promotions can
become a very lucrative business.
2) Now the infrastructure, the Short List:
a) internet real estate = a website. This can
be a one page brochure website or web store or basic website
b) products: The product or services that you
are selling (Widgets)
c) tools: internet advertising tactics, email,
newsletter,
d) knowledge: some basic html and advertising
knowledge.
e) an expense budget, no matter how small .
3) Promotion: people enter your world (the internet)
via a browser. Since "the internet" is intangible, many
people confuse the vehicle (AOL or Yahoo!, for example) with the
destination itself, the internet. So let's be gentle with our potential
visitors and make their journey from landing pad to your internet
neighborhood as effortless, pleasant and convenient as possible.
If they are interested in buying widgets online, they will soon
realize that there are a million widget salesmen out there. So
they start narrowing down their search, and they comparison shop.
First and foremost, they are information gatherers. Where do they
go first? Probably to a search engine. Then they start exploring.
They visit a site; if it fits their needs, they may bookmark it
before they move on. When they move on, they may return to their
Google or Yahoo! search results, or they may follow a link off
of the page they visited.
Getting listed in the search engines
is important. This does not require your own domain name,
although it's the best route to go, but a website where you can
control your page content or a good website designer is essential.
Content is king and search engines index sites with good original
content. Have resource information on your site and link your
articles, etc. to your website.
Your own domain name, carefully chosen, will help to brand either
your business such as sallyswidgets.com or widgetworld.com etc.
If you have an advertising package with Gold Place Network your
url will be www.sallyswidgets.yourindustry.com or something like
that. It might be With some work, you can get a site with a url
like this into the search engines. It's a great way to start if
you can't afford domain name, hosting etc.
Sooner or later, your site visitor will be ready for a purchase.
Maybe they will drive off to the nearest hardware store armed
with all their new information and buy a widget there. If they
found your site in the search engine, visited and book marked
it, maybe they'll return and buy from you. Maybe they'll buy from
the site they went to after your site. But 9 times out of 10,
once they've left your site, they're gone forever.And Now the
Quiz, Purely Common Sense
How do you get them to keep coming back? Here's a pop
quiz for you, choose the best answer:
a) offering so much valuable information, they
bookmark your site and return on their own;
b) building so much trust and familiarity that,
when they think of widgets, or of asking for an opinion, or
for buying anything widget-like, they think of you (that's called
branding your name);
c) promoting your website so much that, when
they think of widgets, they automatically think of your website
(that's also branding, the name of your site in this case)
d) have a mailing list they can subscribe to
(this might be the online equivalent of a guest book in a store)
and receive updates on information on your website;
e) have contests on your site;
f) endorse other people's sites and products,
with an appropriate byline including your own url;
g) give away things;
h) hang out in places online that your potential
visitors frequent (forums, bulletin boards, chat rooms, conferences,
seminars) and make friends, give away free information and helpful
links and tools, include your url in your signature where allowed;
i) blogging and using RSS feeds to keep people
thinking of you and your widgets;
j) being a part of the search engine revolution
and exploring the world of tagging, or social bookmarks
k) all of the above.
This is your basic outline for building your online business. A
business that fully utilizes the internet can throw away the purchased
leads list, because cold calling and cold emailing is a thing of
the past. Using internet advertising to its fullest potential means
putting your message where your potential customers can find it
and having options in place for them to contact your like email,
online forms or simply including your telephone number in your marketing
message. The ultimate power of the internet is that it levels the
playing field for small businesses. Be sure to take advantage of
the unique power of the internet, and keep the internet
in your advertising.
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