Ok, so you set up your stand, making some makeshift table and sign from materials you had handy at home. Free of course.
Then you made the lemonade. Yes, your parents even sprung for the lemonade, pitcher, and cups for you. Now you were finally in business! You went out everyday excited about your new venture and visions of big profits!
Well, as the day wore on, you got so hot that you drank most of your inventory, gave some to a few friends, and maybe sold a couple of cups to sympathetic passerby's.
Ok, so you didn't make a major killing that summer, but you learned a valuable lesson hopefully.
Even though you had little overhead ( basically everything was provided to you by your parents ) you realized that very little traffic passed by your stand most days, and you had no other resources to generate it any other way.
Your desire to continue for the long haul was not there to begin with, and you were just out for a few quick extra bucks to pay for some fun that summer.
So at summer's end you folded up shop, and started school again, and that was that.
Now you're a little older, a little wiser you think. Now you've found your next venture that is going to be your meal ticket to financial freedom.
You jumped on the "NET" because everybody was making a *KILLING* as you were told, so you got your FREE Yahoo, or hotmail address, and signed up for a few FREE affiliate programs. Even set up a FREE website hosting account, and did some free classified advertising.
Yes! The days as a child selling lemonade are long gone, but you are sure this is it! Free email, free websites, no hassle! Now you can reach the WORLD with your products and services, and it's costing you nothing but a little time-- right?!
Well sadly after a few months on the Internet you realize that you're not a marketing expert overnight, and you're not making a killing. So those childhood days at the lemonade stand come creeping into the back of your brain, and you realize it's dé·jà vu.
Yet, you see many who are making good money online, and also noticed they've invested in their own domain name, maybe even into developing their own products, and services to "back end" sell.
You also notice that they are starting their own affiliate programs, and building credibility through "Joint Ventures" with others who are highly regarded on the net. Generating them even more sales, and handsome profits!
You scratch your head, and say, "Wow, they've tested, developed a plan, and invested major brain capital, hard earned money, plus executed with the proper knowledge and skills necessary to get the results that they were after. An excellent return on investment! So what is wrong with what I'm doing???"
Those days of that lemonade stand you set up many years ago start to haunt you once again. You've realized you fell for the something for nothing "get rich quick" lemonade stand mentality once more! Not much planning, or investment, and you've now come "FULL CIRCLE" again back to your lemonade stand, but this time it is called a FREE website, email, and free advertising.
Well it's not all bad if you want to make lemonade stand profits, but I know that is not what your intention was when you started down this path.
ENGINEERING YOUR DREAMS BACK DOWN TO REALITY
You've finally woke up and put your denial aside. You're now ready to do some serious business on the Internet. You've invested hard earned money into your own domain name, and on learning from those who are where you want to be.
Planning carefully the "cash copy" you want to use on your website for maximum returns ( this includes visitors returning to your website ).
You're much savvier now, and you are finally getting on the right track, but oh boy it would have been sweet if you could have just pulled off the lemonade stand trick this time around and made a killing! However you've finally put the childhood dreams to rest, and rolled up your sleeves and are putting your new found knowledge, money, and sweet equity to work for you everyday, making those all too slow improvements to your success in the future. To reward yourself, and as a reminder to never look back, you drink an ice cold glass of lemonade, and say, "How SWEET it is!"
Beyond The Lemonade Stand
Internet marketing is a new place with the same old purpose. When I first learned about Internet marketing, it felt as if I had been there, done that. I reached back in time to find how Internet marketing today was something I already did, years ago. I was a nerdy kid who was more interested in commerce than dolls. I persuaded my dad to help me setup a lemonade stand on the lawn in front of our one-story home. I mixed up a batch of fresh squeezed lemonade, grabbed my mother's favorite milk glasses, and hung up a cardboard sign with the words, "Lemonade 10?." I greeted my first customer within the hour. It was fun stuffing all those 'In God We Trust" dollar bills into an old cigar box.
Today, dollar bills fly across space and deposit themselves into my bank account. That's different! But commerce is still the exciting challenge that left my dolls unattended on the shelf. The Internet has opened up endless possibilities for commerce. And just like the sign I hung up years ago, we still put signs out to attract buyers. It's not so different.
You meet people, show them your wares, let them know why your lemonade tastes better than anyone else's and after they buy a glass and take a sip, they come back for more. It is such a simple concept, it's a wonder why so many marketers make it sound so confusing.
Think of Internet marketing as if you were tacking up a sign on your lemonade stand. Now, think of your website as your lemonade stand. It's easy to see that all you have to do to attract more customers is hang up lots of signs all over the neighborhood. Now, picture yourself standing on your front lawn as cars speed by and no one stops to buy a glass of your frosty lemonade. That's what happens when you don't put out any signs.
There are many places where you post your advertising sign on the Internet. Google, Yahoo!, Ask.com are well known hot spots to post your sign. It's called pay-per-click advertising. You rent sign space, but pay only when someone clicks your link and lands on your web site page. What if you get hundreds of clicks at $1.00 each. Yikes! That can add up. But it is a real sunny day when the visitors that come from each click, engage your offers and become a new business contact. That's a lot of lemonade!
But what if people land on your web page and don't like the color of your lemonade. Sales conversions will be low to non existent. So before you hang out any signs inviting customers to your website, do a sales checkup. You want the words on your web pages to show and tell visitors just how tasty your offers are. You want both substance and persuasion throughout your web page copy. If you're not sure how to write your copy, there are many professional advertising copy writing services ready to help you.
Speaking of your web page copy, another way to bring buyers to your web site is search engine optimization (SEO). This is like dressing up your lemonade stand sign with the right words. How many takers would I have gotten when I was a kid if my sign read, "Cold Beer" when I was clearly selling lemonade. People who stopped by for a beer would not be pleased. And what if I wrote those words in a foreign language. People would be confused, and so would search engines. It is just as important to speak in a language search engines understand as it is to speak in a language your web page visitors understand. Search engine optimization makes that happen. And the beauty of search engine optimization is you get free clicks. It's like posting signs all over the Internet inviting customers to come and buy a glass of lemonade. But in this instance, all your posts are free. You don't pay for the clicks you get. How cool is that!!
Internet marketing may be a mystery to you, and you may not even know enough about it to even consider it as a necessary arrow in your marketing quiver. Who wants to run up a credit card on this unknown thing called Internet marketing. Unfortunately, this nebulous selling environment is it. It's the place. Your website is the new lemonade stand, and Internet marketing attracts buyers.
We meet and we both benefit. We still have that in common. If you have a website, check your web pages for substance and sales persuasion, optimize key pages and start marketing online. Post those signs. Let people know how good your lemonade is.
Both Harry Fassett & Alexandria Marx are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Harry Fassett has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, The Internet and Marketing. Harry Fassett - Founder of Amazines.com has been working in the webhosting, and Search Engine Marketing industry since 1995. Visit: for more information. Harry Fassett's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
Alexandria Marx has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Web Development and SEO Search Engine Optimization. Alexandria Marx has 20 yrs direct marketing copywriting, web design and Internet marketing. She's published two books on sales and marketing, and offers sales checkups and marketing tips for small business.. Alexandria Marx's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.
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