So you've finished building a great website and you're ready to start raking in the profits – if you can figure out how to let the world know your business exists. Although creating an attractive website is an important first step if you plan to start your own online business, it is definitely not the last. In fact, once the website is complete you've still got quite a lot of work on the horizon.
Just because you have a website up and running, it doesn't mean people will automatically know where to find you. And yet, surprisingly, many first-time web entrepreneurs drop the ball at this point in the game. They assume customers will find them amongst all the other sites floating around in cyberspace, as if through some kind of psychic connection. But if you think about it, this type of thinking is very misguided.
It is the same with any business: customers won't start flocking to your store unless you invest some time and money into advertising. Depending on your budget, you can either blast the trumpet really loud or toot the horn a little bit at a time. But in the end, you have to make some kind of noise in order to be heard.
But how do you achieve this in the vacuum of cyberspace? Or perhaps more fittingly, how do you make yourself heard amidst a crowd of other aspiring musicians all trumpeting their own cause? Obviously, online marketing is different from marketing a bricks-and-mortar business, so it's important to know exactly where to begin. If you take the proper steps you will be attracting interested customers in no time.
The first step is to know your customer, inside and out. This is key if you want to be successful in your marketing strategy because you can't market to potential customers if you don't know who they are. For someone selling baked goods, targeting the “Carb-Haters of America” might not result in the profits you are anticipating.
Next, determine where you want to market your product. The Internet allows every new or expanding business the opportunity to reach a global market, but not every business is aiming for that goal. If your website is set up as one arm of your existing offline business, you might wish to target potential customers in your local area who also want the option of online shopping. In this case, integrate your website into promotional materials for your store so people will learn about the new branch of your business. Essentially, the efforts you make to promote your business outside of the Internet can be used to get your web address out there as well.
Internet Marketing
But of course, most people who begin an online venture are looking to broaden their customer base and attract a global clientele. There are several ways to start advertising online. Just remember: online marketing is always changing, and nothing works perfectly for every business. You might have to tailor a marketing plan to suit your company's specific goals, or if Internet marketing makes your head spin, you also have the option of hiring a company to do the marketing for you.
Step one: register with search engines. Unfortunately, this doesn't guarantee hits to your site, and the promises many search engines make are usually more pie-in-the-sky than realistic, but it is still a necessary evil. If you have to choose, register with Yahoo! and Google, as the highest percentage of web traffic originates from these two giants. In the past, achieving top search results could be done for free; now you have to shell out some cash if you want to get top placement and advertising space. Yahoo! Express and Google's Adwords program are two examples of this type of paid search engine placement.
Another way to get noticed is to participate in a link exchange. Simply put, this involves seeking out other websites that are related to your company or product in some way and asking the owner if he/she will post your link on the site. If the owner agrees, you offer to post their link on your site, hence the term “link exchange.” This is a good way to start advertising your site because it involves targeting the right kind of people (someone visiting a site already related to your business) and forming solid bonds with other websites. And the more links other sites have to your site, the more popular you become with the search engines, without having to pay for top placement.
Finally, don't sit back and wait for customers to come to you. Be proactive and go directly to your clientele. Of course, this means you must know where to find them, but this sounds harder than it actually is.
For instance, many new businesses actually use eBay to source potential customers. It depends on what you're selling, but if you know a lot of people looking for your product spend a good amount of time making eBay purchases, that might be a good place to begin and get your name out in public. Use eBay as a marketing tool – sell a few items for very low prices, get people on your email list and invite them to consider future purchases from your website. EBay is more than a place to sell goods; it can be used as a highly effective marketing tool.
Or, as mentioned above, make business connections with people in a related business. Pay to have banner ads displayed on other websites to help spread the word about your business. This will bring you closer to the people who make up your target market.
This is just the beginning when it comes to online marketing, but if you start off on the right foot and persevere, you will succeed.
Web Business How To
Effects of the Web on Business The Internet will greatly alter the structure and operation of all industries. For the management of any existing business the central question is not whether the Internet will be relevant to your business, but rather what will we need to do to profit from that change ( “The Internet" ). The Internet is evolving many aspects of business and it creates many new business opportunities. It is developing what is called the “New Business Environment", because it changes the way products are developed, distributed, marketed, sold, and serviced ( “Business on the" ). In theory, doing business over the Internet with consumers should be ideal however, many people are not comfortable with it yet. It will take a little while before most people are completely at ease and order products. First off, the Internet will provide many capabilities that will be very beneficial to a business. Some of the benefits include E-mail, Mailing Lists, UseNet, Telnet, FTP, Gopher, and of course the World Wide Web. All of these are a way to keep you informed and in touch with business associates and customers anywhere in the world ( “What can the" ). With an Intranet in place you’ve got an infrastructure for group applications, you don’t need to install software on everyone’s PC, they can just use their Web browser and while the main costs are in employee time, the cost of software has dropped significantly ( “Put Your Own" ). The effects of the Internet will take a decade or more to generally replace existing patterns of business. The Internet and its strategic impact are not technological issues, they are business ones ( “The Internet" ). Executives are likely to carry responsibility for whether their organization ultimately prospers or perishes in an Internet impacted world. The particular impact will differ between industries, so you need to identify the likely form of impact it will have on your industry and adopt appropriate strategies. A few threats are when using the Internet, competitors become relatively more effective, e.g. reducing costs, improving service and increasing sales impact. Also, some important customers or suppliers may have migrated exclusively to the Internet and are inaccessible in any other way. Some firms redefine the industry in a very fundamental way that threatens all existing competitors ( “The Internet" ). With the advent of the Internet, it has dramatically improved operational and sales effectiveness in numerous different applications. A few such areas are, on-line stockbrokers: such as E*Trade and Ceres, on-line travel agents, banks and other financial services: such as on-line banking systems, and insurance and fund management. Right now, there are many companies whose outreach is global such as Amazon.com and CD Now, soon all of the above areas will be global ( Daring ). Another area of the business environment that will be significantly changed due to the Internet are small firms, especially ones who wish to export. The Internet can relatively easily give small firms access to international markets, and engage in electric commerce ( Cragg ). However, not much is known about the use of the Internet by small firms, mainly because it is such a new method. An example of such an idea was taken advantage of by Elizabeth Botham & Sons Bakery. The bakery is located in a small town called Whitby in North Yorkshire and business is tough because it is geographically restricting and it is based in a very seasonable town. In order to do business and keep their staff hired year around the manager, Mike Jarman turned to the Internet. He found a company called Octagon Ltd., which helped him get started. Since going on the Web in 1995, the company has had over 25,000 potential customers visit the site and receives a dozen hefty orders a week ( “Yorkshire Bakery" ). The Web is a great distribution tool, the information you place on your Web site can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Web can save you time and money in information distribution over traditional mail and printing methods ( Daring ). Rather than reading a static advertisement, your customers can go directly to their areas of interest and see an intriguing web page. They can get detailed information on your staff and services, browse your product lines, and get up to date information on what is happening in your company. One of the benefits of a web site is that your customer can respond to you directly ( Shaw ). Even though the Internet has many benefits, there is still a few drawbacks to this technology. First of all, communicating with clients and customers via E-mail only goes so far. It is pretty difficult to market a product over a computer, basically whatever a customer sees they get. Also, empowerment is being transferred from sellers to buyers. The Internet is decreasing the importance of a merchant’s locale and information about competing products is readily available ( “Business on" ). Customers cannot be swayed by a salesperson over the Internet. A benefit as well as a side effect of the Internet, is it is knocking down market entry barriers, the Internet has no borders and the company’s market is global. A small company can be just as easily found on the Internet as a large one. The biggest problem that the Internet is going to have to overcome is the fact that people are still very skeptical about making purchases over the Internet. You could get scammed and not even know it. This will change eventually when people can be comfortable with the services that it provides, but this will take some time. With the incorporation of the Internet, business have undergone many changes in the past few years. They have become more in touch with many overseas company’s and even company’s here in the US. Many industries have realized that if they don’t adjust and incorporate the Internet in some way, they may not be around for much longer. Businesses are going to be on the Internet because it represents an additional and inexpensive resource for finding customers because they can market directly with less advertising and a smaller work force ( Dearth ). The bottom line is that the Internet needs to focus on growing existing accounts, extending to new markets and new customers, providing better customer service, and providing a higher level of customer satisfaction. Even though this may take some time, it is going to eventually happen and I think that most people who take a chance will be very satisfied with the outcomes.
Both Kat. Mitrou & Jane Black 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.
