On the flip side, when you begin to comprehend the enormous network of information that's staring you in the face, you can be quite easily overwhelmed. That part is soon forgotten as you gain more confidence and you begin your adventures through the byways of cyberspace.
Being an American, of course I'm off in hot pursuit of the American Dream. It's the American way. I think it's in our genetic make-up.
For me, it all started in the mid 1990's. As soon as I had my PC hooked up, I opened a Prodigy account and my adventure began.
My mailbox began to fill up with offers for nutritional pills and potions, laundry balls and other fine products that I really had no use for.
My first lesson in Internet marketing came to me in the form of a promotional email. It was an introduction and a proposition to become an affiliate to market a coffee product.
The email presentation painted the scenario of me leisurely pouring a cup of their fine coffee product and then taking my daily twenty second commute to my work at home office.
While enjoying my fresh cup of coffee, I would log on to my Prodigy account and go to the Prodigy free classified ad section and place an ad for their fine coffee product.
Now my day is done. All I need do is wait for the orders and the cash to start rolling in.
I often wonder if anyone is still waiting.
Over the past few years, I've been involved in many different companies and endeavors. I've discovered from my experiences that unless you are an experienced marketer or are connected to a legitimate marketing system, success will elude you.
The marketing techniques offered by the companies only work in theory. The theory is that if you place enough free ads, post enough links on link exchanges, post enough banners and join enough safelists and traffic exchanges, then you will be successful.
In the real world, this will keep you really busy, but it will not build a clientele or grow a business.
But there's a new trend emerging where successful marketers are teaching proven techniques that do work, and they will produce multiple streams of income very quickly.
A new marketer that is willing to follow instructions and invest in their future can recover their small initial investments and be in profit in a relatively short time.
There's a new wind blowing and with it, new opportunities are unfolding before our very eyes. This is the time for anyone and everyone to take advantage of these new opportunities.
Unfortunately, there is a very widespread false impression among webmasters with regards to spreading the word about their websites. This misconception has to do with the belief that as soon as a website is up and running on the internet, visitors will start appearing to view it, and therefore create and attract new business. This, however, is not the way things work.
After all, just because your business has a telephone and a number, it doesn't mean that customers will begin phoning, right? The same goes with your website. In order for it to have visitors, people first need to know that it's there!
You need to spread the news. To do this, there are many different techniques that you can take advantage of so that people will know about your website. The first is to include your website's address in the different elements of your current marketing strategy. Assuming that you have not already started using the internet for your marketing, your current efforts will likely include:
- invoices and receipts - business cards - quotes - pamphlets - price lists - catalogs - complement slips - store-front signs - company vehicles - media advertisements - word of mouth and networking
Indeed, there are likely many other ways in which you do your marketing, but these are probably the main ones. They each also offer you a terrific way to spread the word about your website and extend your sales. Remember, a good marketer takes every possible opportunity to inform people of the existence and address of their website.
Once people have been informed about your website, and know your site's address, then you've provided an ideal means for sharing whatever message is most effective for your business. You can provide as much information as you wish, since the better you educate your prospective clients - especially in websites, where visitors are reading when they are most open to receiving your message - the more effective your marketing efforts will become.
However, although the methods you're already likely using are good marketing efforts, and are good for attracting visitors to your website, they do present two primary problems:
- the first problem is that these techniques will typically not generate any new business that you wouldn't have already drummed up without the website. Although the website will make communication must more effective, allowing for enhanced efficacy for the sale and happier customers, these are likely people who would have discovered your business even if your website didn't exist at all.
- the second problem is that people aren't as good at recalling what they hear as computers are. Even if your website address is very direct and easy to remember, it only takes a single character's worth of mistake to stop a customer from being able to locate your website. And that's if the person remembers the website address at all!
This is where internet marketing steps in. To compliment not to replace your current marketing efforts.
The fact is that when people are looking for a business that will be able to provide them with the product or service that they want or need, they are turning to the internet on a progressively more frequent basis. And when it comes to finding products and services on the internet, search engines are - by far - the most popular tools for getting the job done.
When a person makes an online query about the type of product or service that you offer, using a search engine, this is the ideal time for you to draw new customers to your website.
This is because it allows you to offer your product or service at exactly the time that they are most interested in it. You won't be trying to get your message across while they're doing something else, or when they're simply not in the mood to hear about it - such is the case with ads on the radio, in magazines, and on television - but will be reaching them when they have chosen to learn about your product or service. Internet marketing makes sure that when a person is looking for your product or service, you're the one they find!
Both Bruce Kitzman & Mark Nenadic 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.