Lion Publishing Services - Tips to Be a Successful Online Marketer
Perhaps a quick introduction and a handy disclaimer is the best way to start this article on Internet marketing. Mainly because you should know who is talking and you should definitely know what you're getting yourself into...
I have been a full-time online marketer for over 5 years
now, and I run 9 or 10 sites on the wwww - wonderful world wide web. I make a
very respectable living and I enjoy every minute of it. But if you're under the
impression that all you have to do is to slap some content together and place
it on a web site and watch the money roll in; then you are sadly mistaken.
Don't get the wrong impression, you can become a successful online marketer,
but it will take a lot of time and work on your part. It just doesn't happen
overnight, at least, this has been my experience and we can only write about
our own experiences and views.
Over the years, I have also found it helpful to get pointers
from someone who is actually doing what we want to do. So below I have put
together 7 Tips for becoming a successful online marketer.
1. Knowledge Up
The whole concept of online marketing may seem quite simple,
just place some content or product onto a website and you're in business. The
reality is quite different. It may take you years to learn all the complex
techniques and tactics to compete in the online marketplace, which is becoming
more and more competitive as more companies and individuals discover its great
potential. Sure we have all heard stories of people who come up with a great
idea and make an online fortune very quickly. People also win the lottery...
but if you want to become a successful online marketer you first have to learn
your trade.
You have to acquire all the knowledge you can on Internet
Marketing. Read articles and ebooks, take online e-courses, study and examine
successful websites and/or marketers... there is a wealth of marketing
information on the web. Just find it and use it. When I was first learning all
the ropes, I made tons of mistakes but I was fortunate enough to come into
contact with some successful online marketers who were actually doing what I
wanted to do. People like Marlon Sanders, Ken Evoy, Corey Rudl, Neil Shearing,
Brad Callens... I quickly became acquainted with these individuals and learned
everything I could from them.
This was not out of the ordinary or hard to accomplish,
since all these marketers have comprehensive affiliate training programs to
show even the most novice webmaster or marketer the ropes, most of these
programs are free because these marketers want to teach you how to sell their
products. This is a very simple way to get a quick education on how to market
online. I personally liked the numerous free ebooks offered through Ken Evoy's
SiteSell program... many of these will drive you bonkers, especially if you're
new at this game, but only because they are so comprehensive and thorough - all
the information can be a little overwhelming to say the least. But if you can
work you way through some of SiteSell's free marketing manuals and ebooks, you
will get the basic knowledge to further your goal of becoming an online
marketer.
2. Find Your Niche Market or Subject
Unless you already have a product or business you wish to
market online, then your first task will be finding a good niche market or
subject which you can explore and exploit on the web. Best advice, find
something that you already have a strong interest in such as a favorite hobby
or past-time, an area where you already have special training or something you
always wanted to study and examine. This niche market or subject will take up
countless hours of your time, so you have to really pick something you like
doing. The major point here, if you're doing something you like, it won't seem
like work.
No matter which subject area you choose, you must check out
the commercial viability of your topic. In other words, if you want to be
successful, there must be enough commercial interest in your market or subject.
There must be enough people searching for your product each month so that it's
viable. Use a program like WorkTracker or Google AdWords Keyword Tool to find
the number of searches made each month for a keyword. Keywords are words or
phrases web users type into search engines to find what they're looking for on
the web. You must have plenty of good searchable keywords relating to your
subject in order for it to be workable.
Another Keyword tool I like using is Microsoft's Detecting
Online Commercial Intention, which tells you the probability a certain keyword
or site will have enough commercial potential customers who will purchase a
product or service. (adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx)
3. Google Up!
Google is the most important player on the web. While you
shouldn't ignore the other search engines, I would suggest you learn everything
you can about how Google both indexes and ranks pages on the web. Getting a
number one or even a top 5 listing for your chosen keywords in Google, can make
or break your online business. Google simply sends/controls the majority of the
quality search traffic on the web, get those top rankings in Google and you
will succeed.
Now Google gives webmasters many valuable webmaster tools
and devotes a whole section to help webmasters with their sites. One valuable
resource which is loaded with helpful information is Google Webmaster Tools.
Use it! Also, if you're just starting out, another good resource is Google's
"Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide", which is a handy pdf file
you can download. Just Google to find it.
Always, keep in mind, Google is only like any other company
supplying a product and in this case the product is their SERPs (Search Engine
Results Pages), so the higher the quality of your content and pages - the
higher your rankings in Google will be. Of course, seasoned webmasters know
quality one-way backlinks is one of the most important keys to getting high
rankings in Google. But it all comes back to quality, if you have quality
content, people will bookmark it in all the social media sites, and related
webmasters will link to your quality content. This does really happen, so
creating high quality content should be your first and most important SEO
strategy.
4. Building Your Site
Regardless of what kind of site you're building, you must
follow some very simple SEO rules. Make sure your site's structure can be
easily navigated by both your visitors and the search engines. Try to keep your
site's hierarchy simple, with all your pages reachable from the home page. Most
webmasters only use three levels - homepage, topics and sub-topics - with all
pages linking back to your homepage and no more than 3 clicks away from it. It
is also a good idea to have a sitemap link on each page so that you don't leave
your visitors stranded. Check with Google's Starter Guide for more information
on how to create a proper lay-out.
Personally, as an online marketer I seek out the top
searched for keywords in my niche, and then create pages around that keyword or
keyword phrase. This ensures you're getting targeted visitors/customers to your
pages. You can have hundreds of these keyworded pages on your site and connect
all these pages together in a thematic arrangement so that the search engines
can easily find and rank them.
As for choosing a domain name, I also try to get my main
targeted keyword in the domain. This helps tremendously with your search engine
rankings because every backlink will have your main keyword in the URL. This
will tell the search engines exactly what your site is about. Again, if you're
brand new at this, I would suggest you use a program like WordPress, which is
free blogging software you can use to create a blog site. Another option, is to
purchase or buy a SiteBuildIt hosting package from SiteSell, but this is more
than just hosting, it's a complete online marketing system you can use. It will
take you step-by-step through the whole creation and marketing of your site or
business on the web.
5. Promoting Your Site
This is probably the hardest part of online marketing, but
it is something which is essential to its success. Too many
webmasters/marketers build a fantastic site and then sit around and wait for
the visitors/customers to pour in. Sad fact is, unless you actually get out
there and promote your site you will get very little, if any traffic. Of
course, there are exceptions, some sites instantly attract visitors and acquire
countless backlinks just by word of mouth, but for the most part this simply
doesn't happen.
You have to actively promote your site and URL. One method
that I use is article marketing - writing simple helpful articles and
distributing them all over the web. These articles have keyworded links back to
your site. Simple and effective way to get your site out there. Another free
way to promote your site is to tie it in with all the social media and
bookmarking sites, so use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube... to promote
your site. Videos also have become very effective recently and you should be
taking advantage of their great potential. So too is using a simple social
bookmark program like the Addthis Button, which lets your visitors bookmark and
build your backlinks for you.
Google seems to be paying special attention to how many
social bookmarks/links your site is receiving. It is a simple form of voting
for the quality of your content if actual web users see it and
bookmark/recommend it to their friends. The more Tweets, Diggs... your content
gets, the higher it will rank in the search engines, besides all those links
bring in targeted traffic, which is what you want.
6. Monetizing Your Site
There are countless way to monetize or make money from your
website once you have a steady flow of traffic coming to your site. We are not
talking about tons of traffic here, a site getting just 100 or 200 visitors a
day can prove very profitable. Personally, I like choosing affiliate programs
which give a residual or have a re-occurring element to their payments. Make
one sale and get paid for years to come, I am still receiving monthly payments
from sales I made 5 years ago. So if you decide to place affiliate links on
your pages, try to go with a company or program which gives you residual income
for the life of the referred customer.
I also like promoting high-end affiliate products simply
because the commissions are obviously higher. Why sell a $20 item, when you can
sell a $2000 one? Of course, there are countless strategies to marketing
online, if you sell 100's of that $20 item, you still end up in the same place.
As for finding affiliate products to promote I like using the major affiliate
networks like Commission Junction, LinkShare, Shareasale, ClickBank, Affiliate
Window... these networks are totally professional, do all your tracking and
give you valuable information on how to market online.
Another very simple way to monetize your pages is to use
Google AdSense, now the payments won't be as high as with promoting affiliate
products but using AdSense is a simple and quick way to monetize all your
pages. I also find AdSense very consistent and totally reliable, besides
getting that check from Google each month, always puts a smile on my face.
7. Track Everything That Moves
Another major key to online marketing success is having
extensive tracking in place. You must track where your visitors are coming from
and what keywords they're using to find your site. And what they do once they
hit your site. I like using Google Analytics for tracking all my content but I
don't just depend on Analytics, I also use all hosting stats such as Awstats,
Webalizer... I also regularly check my site's traffic logs and daily visitors.
All this tracking tells me what's working and more
importantly, what's not working. Check your bounce rate and the amount of time
people spend on your site as these are more than likely ranking factors. Also
check how fast your site loads, Google is said to be making this another
ranking factor which they use to rank your pages.
Carefully reading of your site's stats and logs will show
you which keywords are profitable and making you money. Then you have to simply
fine-tune your marketing to target those lucrative keywords or phrases. Keep
building your rankings for those keywords over a period of time and you will be
successful.
Bonus Step: Persistence Brings Home The Bacon
I couldn't finish this article without mentioning another
key element to succeeding on the web - persistence. Maybe it's just me, but it
took me around three years before any of my sites became really profitable. Now
most marketers and webmasters become profitable in much shorter periods, but I
still believe it takes time to build a solid online business. It takes time to
build up your customer base, it takes time to build up your rankings in all the
search engines.
Professional companies like Lion Publishing
Services can help you to grow your business.
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