Harnessing The Power Of The Internet

As an offline business owner, you know all too well, the necessity of advertising and marketing for success in business.  Without them, you will not generate customers or clients.

Without customers or clients, you will not generate revenues.

Traditional forms of marketing have their place.  However, with the economic climate we’re in today, many businesses are out of business because they simply cannot afford the costly yellow page or newspaper ads that only bring scarce, random results.

Even telemarketing and direct mail are costly options with no significant results to boast.

Now that we are well into the “Information Age”, and with the advent of the Internet, more advertising and marketing opportunities are available than ever before.

More and more, when consumers need a product or service, they go online and search on Google or some other search engine to find what they need or want.

In the Anchorage area for instance, 11,000 new people are going online everyday, looking for the products and services that are being sold.

All local business owners need to do is get in front of them.

Wouldn’t it make sense then, in addition to what you are already doing, to have a web presence that is easily found in the search engines?  Not only would you draw more local business to you,  but you would capitalize on a worldwide market, selling your products and services from your website to anyone in the world.

Surprisingly, very few business owners are tapping in to the vast reservoir of effective,  inexpensive marketing opportunities the Internet provides.

Nowadays, if you have a business but no website, you are way behind your competitors.

More importantly, if you have a business and a website, but your website is not working for you properly, you are worse than behind your competitors, you are losing money.

It is better to be in business with no website, than to have a website that is ineffective because it becomes an income drain, not the profitable marketing tool it should be.  Your website should, not just pay for itself, but generate revenues that you otherwise would not have received.

However, your website does not accomplish this by itself.  Just putting up a website is not enough.  You need an online marketing plan that gets you in front of thousands of potential customers.

So what does it take to develop a web presence that is both effective and profitable?

1.  A website or blog.

Your website should be built by a direct response marketer.  It will be far less expensive than one built by a web designer and will be 100% more effective.  He or she will know how to set it up to build a database for you of customers you can serve over and over again.  It will also be equipped with features and tools that will enable it to rank high in search engines, driving more traffic to your site, resulting in more sales from your site and more customers through your door.

2.  Opt-in form tied to an auto responder on the front page of your site.

The single most important feature on your website is your opt-in form.  This is what you’ll use to capture leads, building a database of targeted prospects and repeat customers.  If tons of visitors explore your site and even like what they see but there is now way for them to request more information you are missing out.  This is how you build the database or “list” that is so coveted by Internet marketers.

3.  Auto responder

Your opt-in form will be tied in to your auto responder.  Your auto responder is your 24/7 virtual sales person.  Through email marketing, your auto responder will market to your list for you round the clock no matter what you are doing, even while you sleep.  You can write the letters yourself or hire a professional copywriter to write them for you.  You can get people into your store by alerting them to upcoming sales, as well as offer an email promotion that generates income for you without even opening up your doors.  Instead of spending $2,000 on a newspaper ad, send out an email to people already buying from you for free.

4.  A marketing plan that keeps you ranked high in the search engines.

In order to get tons of traffic to your site to build that list, sell products, and get people into your store, you need to market your site.  Strategies like RSS directories, article marketing and social marketing are a few of the most effective and least expensive.  A Facebook and a Twitter account are essential.  For more detailed information on how to utilize these forms of marketing see an upcoming post.

5.  Good tracking

Once you have your online marketing plan in place, good tracking of your stats is a must.  I use MyBlogLog to track stats to my blog.  I get to see how many people visited my site, where they came from, what pages they viewed and what links they clicked.  This is valuable information for knowing what advertising methods are most effective and for knowing what your customers want.  You can see exactly what people are searching for in the search engines and what search terms they are using to find you.  This is critical information that will help you determine the direction of your online marketing plan and your business.

With these five elements in place, you are well on your way to harnessing the power of the Internet for your business.  You will quickly move into the 21st. century of marketing, leaping ahead of your competition.  You will create multiple income streams that just are not possible with traditional offline strategies alone.

If you are in the Anchorage, Alaska area, or will be, and would like attend one of our workshops “Harnessing The Power Of The Internet”, register here.

For an overview of the benefits of attending one of our workshops, join our newsletter and receive a free audio interview where I discuss what is covered in the workshop.  Also, by joining, you will receive other useful tips and resources to help you cut advertising costs by 50% while increasing revenues.

If you are ready to establish a web presence or improve the one you have and would like one on one coaching, contact us for a free consultation.  We can walk you step by step through the process or set it up for you.

Cherilynn Stone
E-Commerce Business Consultant
Harnessing The Power Of The Internet
www.ezonlinemarketing.net
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