A Look at the Real World of Online Marketing

Internet marketing is a topic that has spawned countless resources, including websites, books, CDs, cassettes, and more. Most of these websites claim to have "killer methods" and "secret strategies" that will boost your chances of success in the online world. You can expect to pay good money for such priceless advice. With so-called experts lined up to steal your money and fill your brain with illusions of making easy millions, it can be tough to separate fact from fantasy. (Many of which turn out to be nothing more than pyramid schemes and other frauds.) I'll be the unpopular one to break your bubble and give you the cold, hard truth: "There are no secrets to successful Internet marketing!"

To clarify, I previously stated that "there are no secrets to successful Internet marketing."

Both online and offline marketing take much preparation. All in all, if the product itself is subpar, no amount of advertising will improve sales. Websites are especially susceptible to this since they have the unique distinction of housing the ubiquitous "return" button. I have seen firsthand how some businesses waste absurd sums of money promoting websites that are essentially useless.

Now that we've broken the news that you won't be sipping margaritas on a yacht as a cash machine deposits six figures into your bank account thanks to Internet marketing, let's take a look at some of the more prevalent problems that arise in this industry and some of the myths that persist about it.

Online marketing strategies should adhere to the same rules that govern traditional methods. investigation, organizing, and analyzing.

Through investigation, find out what sets your product or service apart from the rest. Why should someone buy from you instead of your rivals? When compared to competitors, how low are your prices? Tell me about the special qualities of your product that make it stand out from the competition. With this data in hand, you can create a website that accurately reflects your unique selling proposition. A compelling sales pitch should address the prospect's first concern: "What's in it for me?" You should use this question to guide the research and development of your website.

Formulate a Plan to Promote Your Website

Do you have an online store? Do you want to promote a product? What kind of people are buying your products? It is essential that you define the goals you have for your website. Example: Offering as much information as possible about your services should be a top priority if your website's primary goal is to help visitors discover more about them. An excellent place to begin is with a price comparison with the competitors, directions to your business, your contact information, some customer testimonials, etc. Design your website with a specific objective in mind.

The analysis: You have a working website, a marketing plan, and consumer interest in your offering. The time has come to evaluate the outcomes. It's not uncommon to find this aspect of website promotion to be the most puzzling. This is much more in-depth than merely tallying up the number of people who have visited your website. It calls for research into the routines of site visitors.

Understanding what aspects of your site encourage customers to buy and what aspects discourage them is an important step in optimizing your site for sales. Everything from the sales text to the site's navigation should be scrutinized for improvement. You need to know whether or not a certain aspect of your website helps or hurts your marketing efforts.

By now, you've probably come to the conclusion that Internet marketing calls for more than a cookie-cutter approach. It's important to be skeptical of people who claim to have discovered a secret recipe for successful web marketing. Considering the vast number of internet establishments, each needs its own unique approach to advertising. It would be a mistake to promote a website that sells real estate the same way one would promote a website that sells comic books. Selling denture glue to a teenager is a tough sell because it doesn't make sense. In the same way, there is no universally effective method of advertising. Markets of interest must be taken into account. Long-term success requires the use of planning, strategy, and analysis.

Make Your Website Easy to Navigate, And People Will Flock to It

If you find my "killing approach" useful and would like to give me a check for $30, you may do so at your convenience. If not, you should consider this piece of data to be extremely crucial. When I say "usable," I'm referring to factors like the site's links working, pages loading quickly, and the site's minimal usage of graphics, animations, and other "fluff" that will cause most people to immediately close the page.

When a web page takes more than 20 seconds to load, the majority of visitors will abandon it. The chances of your website being seen grow exponentially as its loading time decreases.

For only $29.95, you can have your website submitted to 100,000 search engines. Be wary of such deals, as most Internet users rely on just a few popular search engines to find what they need. Rather than having your site listed on a million sites that no one will ever view, focusing your marketing efforts on a few search engines will yield much better results. Keep in mind that the sole focus of the vast majority of these numerous search engine submission sites is to generate revenue for themselves.

Google and Yahoo account for 54% and 41% of all searches, respectively, on the Internet at the present time.

(Information obtained from Comscore Media Metrix for the month of May, 2004.) Improving your search engine rankings on either Google or Bing is as easy as using one of numerous well-documented strategies. If you want to learn more about SEO, check out the article I wrote on the subject.

First place on Google Guaranteed

There are a ton of sites that sell SEO services and make bold assertions like the one above. The truth is that using Google's free search engine submission will not ensure a top spot. As I have mentioned before, optimizing your website for search engine placement and achieving the highest rankings possible requires a multi-pronged approach. There is no such thing as a guaranteed result; however, it is possible to achieve the top spot in Google's search results for less-common search terms; however, this begs the question: why?

AdWords, a Google program, does really allow users to buy advertising space. Google search results pages feature advertisements in the right column.

It takes time, effort, and patience to market your business online successfully. For this problem, there are no simple answers. But with some effort and good judgment, you can accomplish remarkable things.