Online Marketing
Online Marketing is a very broad area covering numerous methods of promoting your business through the Internet
Online Marketing is a very broad area covering numerous methods of promoting your business through the Internet. It covers both free and paid for advertising methods
The most well known is search engine promotion. However there are plenty of other ways to use the Internet to market your business including; reciprocal links, direct email campaigns, banner advertising, press releases, ezine marketing etc.
The online marketing process is often overlooked by the majority of companies looking to get on the web. However to take full advantage of this medium, you need to devote as much attention to marketing as you do to the design.
The world of Internet marketing is changing daily so we aim to keep you up to date with a new articles every week. Below is a brief description of each of the techniques and links to further articles.
Search Engine Positioning.
One you have optimised your pages (see Meta Tags) you should submit to the top 10 major search engines and directories which account for 95% of all Internet traffic. There are a lot of companies that offer submission services which usually involves no more than submitting your site to hundreds of search engines using automated software. However this is of no real benefit for the following reasons:
The 10 major Engines account for 95% of traffic, therefore submission to hundreds of engines is a waste of time.
Using submission software actually results in a lower ranking in the search engines.
There is no point submitting your site if it has not been optimised to achieve a top ranking. There are millions of sites on the web. If yours isn�t optimised then it will be lost amongst the crowd.
More about Search Engines
Banner Advertising.
You design an interactive animated banner advert, using a variety of techniques proven to significantly increase click through rates. You can then set up the banner on a selection of banner exchange programs. The Link Exchange reaches over 60% of Internet users.
There are guaranteed banner programs where you pay only for visitors who click through to your site - typically 30 pence each. This is a similar situation to arranging links but with a banner instead. Or entry level banner campaigns through major search engines such as Yahoo which charge around 65.00 for 100 impressions. Or for companies with large advertising budgets, major campaigns on the search engines start at around �5000 per month.
Reciprocal Links.
Research your target market and identify, the type of sites are appropriate for building inbound links from. Using groups, lists, keywords, build a master list of sites to contact.
Visit these sites one by one to find the e-mail address of the site maintainer to contact and to gather information about the relevance of the site in question.
Contact the site maintainer by e-mail to ask them to provide a link to your site in exchange for a link on your site.
Web Rings.
This is a variation of reciprocal links. A web ring is a group of sites with a common interest that have linked together to form a ring. Each member site has a link at the bottom that will take them to the next site in the ring or to an index page where they can select the site they want to visit. There are thousands of web rings covering every possible subject.
More about web rings coming soon.
Newsgroups.
There are thousands special discussion groups called newsgroups on the Internet. These are highly targeted groups that cover every possible interest. You can research these lists and select the most appropriate ones for your target market. You can then send a specially prepared informative article to the chosen groups with a link back to your site.
Ezines.
These are online newsletters. There are literally thousands of these newsletters covering every possible subject imaginable. To receive these e-zines, people CHOOSE to subscribe. They therefore are highly qualified leads. By submitting articles with a link to your site, you can generate a lot of traffic.
Opt-In Email.
This is the part of online marketing that brings everything together. All the methods previously described have been methods to get people to visit your site. However this isn�t enough. Once a visitor comes to your site you need to hook them so they will return. Opt-in email is the most effective method for doing this bar none. Opt-in means the visitor chooses to be put on your e-mail list. The bait for getting them to do this is the offer of free information in the form of an online newsletter or ezine which is mentioned above. This will allow you to build a growing list of prospective customers who are interested in the kind of products and services you offer. You will then be able to turn casual visitors to your Web site into successful long term business relationships built on friendship and trust.
Find out more about email marketing here
Copywriting.
The design of your site is the first impression a visitor will get of your site. However the most overlooked part of the site is copywriting. This is the text that will hook the casual visitor and turn them into a valued long term customer. You need to turn your text into professional direct marketing copy that will entice visitors to take action. This may not be as difficult as you think. get some tips from our content page.
Market Analysis.
Once you have set up your online marketing program, you need to analyse the results. This is essential so you can see the ROI (return on investment) and also to see where the marketing is most effective.
HyperTracker.com shows you exactly which ads and promotions are making you money and which yield the highest ROI. HyperTracker tracks not only visitors, but also sales, signups, downloads, profits and expenses. It calculates everything for you on the fly!
Press Releases:
This is only suitable for a site that is particularly newsworthy or offers any unusual services. In these circumstances you can send details of your site to online journalists.
Affiliate Programs.
If you have a product that can be ordered over the Internet, then you should consider setting up an affiliate program. This allows thousands of other sites to sell your product on a commission basis. This method has been exploited to the full by Amazon.com the worlds largest Internet bookstore. Companies that can help you do this are
Commission Junction
If you are looking for products to sell on the Internet, Commission Junction has one of the largest lists of affiliate programs. You can sign up for as many programs as you like and all you commission payments will be paid into your Commission Junction account. Also a good place to sell your pro
ClickBank
Clickbank is one of the largest networks for selling downloadable products. Commissions can be as high as 75% so if you are looking for products to sell take a look at the Clickbank Marketplace. This is also a great place to easily sell your ebooks or software.
LinkShare
LinkShare is an e-commerce business solution for over 3.5 million online relationships. Become an affiliate of the LinkShare Network for FREE and earn revenue by linking to over 500 premier online merchants.