Melvin Feller Discusses Promoting Your Business with Internet Marketing
Melvin
Feller both a business owner of online and offline businesses, knows
the importance of utilizing today's technology. Having taught business
classes as an adjunct using online tools, he is adamant about teaching
others the ways to success in business. Melvin Feller has over 20 years’
experience in the online business world.
The
development and implementation of a successful marketing plan for your
newly launched internet business is key to its overall potential for
success. In the world of eCommerce, competition is fierce, and growing
stronger with each passing day. Virtually every aspect of your
organization’s planning — site design, development, service and product
offerings, pricing, market selection — will be carefully watched, and
potentially incorporated by entrepreneurial minds searching for
additional opportunities. How do you stay ahead of the pack, ensuring
your operations staying power? With a well-organized array of
consistently improving products, services, and marketing components.
The
keys to successfully created brand awareness on the web are
innumerable. In today’s eCommerce world, fiscal responsibility and
control are an imperative, an experience taught by the dot com failures
of recent years. The days of exorbitant spending on web-based
advertising, without relative gains in the overall profit margin are
long gone, though the opportunities to spend magnificent sums of money
on an infinite variety of marketing approaches are not.
Preparing
an effective, and targeted internet marketing strategy requires a
number of elements. Knowledge of your target group. Awareness of
available mediums for communicating to that market, be it via the
internet, or otherwise. And the final imperative — a keen insight into
what it is that motivates that market, grabs their immediate attention,
and brings them over the line, from looker to buyer.
Commonly,
online operations utilize in-house creativity to develop a successful
methodology of communication. They understand their market through and
through, and via that knowledge have created an outstanding message to
brand and define their company within that marketplace. The question
that most often arises within those groups new to the internet economy
is where to go from there.
Several options are:
Affiliate Programs:
Affiliate
programs provide the developing online business a potential for
exponential traffic, directed to your site via operators in all areas of
expertise. The creation of traffic is a daunting, and at times
potentially expensive proposition for the newcomer to the market.
Competition is fierce, and the cost-effective acquisition of customers
can be the most challenging aspect of achieving success.
By
developing an affiliate program, you create an immediate interest in
other online entrepreneurs to promote your site, and products at their
property. Unlike most advertising propositions, there is little up-front
cost involved. Instead, an agreement is reached to share any revenues
generated from that property with its owners. Generally, the only direct
cost associated with setup is an account deposit with the party
managing your program for you.
There
are a variety of services available to assist you in the implementation
of an affiliate offering on your site. Software packages are available
to allow the developer to incorporate the affiliate program onto their
own servers, which then requires the site owner manage it as well.
The
alternative is online services that provide back to front management of
the program on your behalf, including affiliate signup, tracking, and
payment. The benefits associated with this system are a considerably
lighter workload, as well as exposure of your program to all visitors at
their central directory. This can be of strong value in making your
program effective, and profitable, in a relatively short time-frame.
When
developing a program, there are a few key items to keep in mind, to
ensure its popularity and profitability. The first step should be to
comparison shop other programs selling products or services similar to
your own. What are they offering their affiliates? Is it pay per click, a
straight fee, or a % of sales? What % are they paying? Are there
incentives based on overall volume? What other steps do they take to
promote webmaster interest in prominently placing their links?
Submission to Other Key Sites:
Since
the dawn of the popular internet, and the growth of interest in being
online, there have been those who have dedicated their time and efforts
to the review of new web-based properties. These critics have in turn
garnered the respect and interest of web travelers everywhere, folks
practically begging for information on the freshest new properties.
Submitting
your newly developed internet wonder can be rewarding in more ways than
one. Firstly, there is the infinite satisfaction of being recognized
for the serious efforts applied in the preparation of your web project.
Secondly, there exists the potential for traffic.
Award
sites that have been in operation for some time can deliver the
selected “site of the day” thousands of visitors in a very short period
of time. Their online, and email publications are in demand, and those
in receipt of the information waste no time in visiting the newest web
commodity. Some sites offer no cost submission, while others may charge a
range of fees depending on time of review. As in many pay per service
internet areas, payment does not promise the featuring of your site,
merely its review.
When
considering such a submission, it does the business owner good to keep
in mind that all things are not what they seem. Many internet-based
award sites are merely intended to draw you, and your site visitors to
their site, via visual awards that must be placed at your property in
order for you to be considered. The traffic given in return is often
minimal, and not worthy of the additional download time on your site
relative to the added graphics.
Banner Advertising:
In
recent years, banner advertising has experienced a plunge in
popularity. The reasons for this shift in advertising interest was
simple — banner advertising was not delivering on its initial promise to
draw hordes of traffic, and the costs then associated did not reflect
the true value of the medium.
This
is not to say that banner advertising has gone the way of the dinosaur.
Certainly, there are other means that have proven to be more effective,
with higher pricing that reflects that value, but banner advertising
continues to offer an opportunity to introduce and brand your product
within your target market. It’s ongoing prevalence in the marketplace is
a clear indicator of its potential. The key to the creation of a
successful and reasonable campaign is to ensure that the expenditure
involved reflects the actual bottom line impact the advertising will
have.
When
reviewing a potential banner ad campaign, be it through an advertising
network, or within a site complimentary to your line, take care to
assess the package thoroughly, breaking down costs to an expected price
per delivered visitor. This can be accomplished by utilizing a
conversion rate from impressions to visits of about .5%. Some campaigns
can deliver returns as high as 1%, but in assessment of a marketing
expense, it always pays to play it safe.
Once
you have determined an approximate cost per visitor, compare that cost
to achieving traffic through pay per click search engines, based on the
current bids for keywords relevant to your product and/or service. If
you find value in the offer, take care to develop a banner that draws
the attention of your market, as design can make the difference between a
profitable campaign, and yet another wasted expenditure.
Banner
exchanges offer an additional opportunity for the internet business
owner to create awareness, at no cost. These common systems vary in
their offering, but generally guarantee the site owner willing to place
the banners of other operators on their site a ratio of 1:2, or one of
your banners shown elsewhere in exchange for delivering two impressions
at your property.
Though
a cost-efficient manner of generating some exposure, banner exchanges
have their negative side as well. Many systems have insufficient
controls, which can result in direct competitors actually gaining
exposure on your site. As well, there is a sense among those experienced
with internet business that users of an exchange program are “small
time”, which can later impact your ability to negotiate effective
partnership agreements.
Content Sharing:
A
primary goal in the development of a successful web property is the
inclusion of high-quality content of value to your organization’s target
market. The assembly of such content can be a significant endeavor,
requiring in depth research, writing, review, and editing of the
information to be presented to your visitor’s critical eye.
Once
the process of developing your site’s content is complete, and the
information is placed on your server for consideration by both your
potential clientele, and the almighty search engine spiders, many
newcomers to the industry presume themselves to be getting maximum value
from their efforts. This is, in fact, not the case.
The
market for usable content on the web is growing as quickly as the
internet itself. Many site operators, heavily focused on either the
development side of the business, or the customer satisfaction and
retention end, have little time to devote to the continued creation of
articles and information. Though they may lack the means, they do not
fail to understand the value of presenting fresh material to their
visitors on a regular basis. Doing so can have a significant impact on
the ability of any site to generate a high level of repeat traffic, a
mainstay of any internet operation.
With
this key to success so clearly ingrained in the minds of webmasters
everywhere, the world of content sharing presents itself, hoping to fill
the need for on-site information, without any of the time restrictions
that self-development can entail.
Content
sharing can take many forms on the internet. Often, deals are struck
between complementary projects to share articles, media, or even
software-based add-ons, in exchange for mention of the provider’s site
address, or a reciprocal provision of some sort. Other available options
include the submission of your site’s content to news feed-based
organizations who will distribute topical headlines to interested
parties across the internet. Included in those articles are direct links
back to your project, as a sort of payment for services by the news
feed operator. A third potential, one of growing popularity, is the
provision of articles to complementary newsletters, who will again
feature your site link in exchange for the sharing of your article with
their readers.
Utilizing
services that provide a means to share your content, thus promoting
awareness of your web-based project, can be an excellent means of
establishing your company within the minds of potential clients, and
industry leaders across your market.
When
developing your property’s content management and sharing strategies,
keep your goals in mind. Though there exist many large organizations
focused on presenting your content to the world, it is often true that
the most lucrative of sharing arrangements are those made directly
between complimentary properties, both focused on the provision of
customer value, and the creation of future growth.
Email Marketing:
Email
based advertising has taken the internet eCommerce world by storm.
Currently considered one of the best available investments in web-based
promotion, email ads have proven themselves to be both affordable, with a
strong return on investment potential.
Utilizing
email as a marketing tool can involve a wide variety of methodologies,
goals, and results. Covering the gambit of advertising intent, email
promotions are used to introduce new properties and products, acquire
new customers, refresh relations with previous purchasers, announce
contests, and in general, develop positive relationships with markets of
all shapes and sizes.
Email List Rental:
Email
based advertising presents a level of flexibility that is hard to match
in other environments. Many available lists are well targeted, with a
known demographic, and click through rate. This allows the savvy
marketer to carefully research, locate, and sell to a group with a known
interest in their products or service. Arranging a company specific
mailing to a specific market via a rented list can be an expensive
proposition, but done correctly can quickly and efficiently create
awareness of your new online property, and sales of your product. Many
list managers also provide opportunities to buy ad space within a
topical mailing, a means of reducing costs associated by sharing in the
expense with other advertisers.
Ezine Advertising:
An
increasingly popular form of email-based advertising is the purchase of
ad space within one or more of the thousands of regularly distributed
ezines on the market. These ezines can have subscriber bases running
into the hundreds of thousands, and a well-placed, market specific text
ad can draw a strong click through rate to your property, and products.
The ezines are generally subject oriented, creating a simple means of
targeting a group with a natural interest in your product line. This
form of advertising can often provide the budget minded entrepreneur an
affordable opportunity to create awareness of their web property. Many
ezines even offer free ads to subscribers, as an incentive to grow their
readership, allowing for pay for inclusion ad rates down the road.
Keywords:
As
the demand for targeted and effective advertising venues continues to
grow, so does the ability of service providers to institute ads directed
at very specific markets.
Keyword
bidding is commonly related to the growing pay per click, or pay per
placement search engines, but there exist marketing opportunities that
allow for the placement of ads, text based or otherwise, that are
sourced only during specific keyword queries.
The
value inherent in these advertising options is strongly dependent upon
your ability to correctly target, and communicate with your market.
One
provider of such a service is Google Ad Words. Achieving a listing is
very similar in nature to pay per click-based keyword bidding, with the
exception that the end result is a text-based ad to the right of the
usual search results relative.
Payment
for services is based upon the positioning of your ad, which is
dependent upon the number of advertisers who have chosen to associate
with that keyword. Google will even generate an estimate of costs
associated with specific keywords, based upon previous search volumes
for that term.
As
in all ad-based marketing efforts, the copy of your advertisement can
play a strong role in its overall click through rate, and thus its
effectiveness in promoting your property. Take the time to carefully
develop your ad, and be willing to experiment with different ads to
allow for some response rate comparisons.
Link Exchanges:
The
exchange of direct links between internet properties is a time-honored
tradition on the web, one that continues today. Doing so can garner two
parties with complimentary sites some exposure, increases in traffic,
and improved overall link popularity ratings — a key to enhanced
listings on certain spider-based search engines.
The
end result of a link exchange depends on a number of variables.
Visibility of the link. Organization of the links area. The number of
links being carried overall. The search engine listings achieved by the
link exchange parties.
When
searching for a potentially valuable link exchange, keep link
popularity top of mind. Look for sites that appear on the spider-based
search engines, thus ensuring that your link placement will be found,
positively impacting your site’s link popularity. Try to determine sites
that maintain a solid traffic base, and an easy to find, and navigate
links area.
Placing
the expected reciprocal link on your site can also present certain
challenges. Many of the larger web properties no longer incorporate link
pages into their design, believing that in not doing so, an aura of
professionalism is maintained. As well, for many eCommerce-based sites,
the idea of representing other sites offering products and/or services
of any kind presents a level of competitive discomfort that simply
cannot be ignored.
In
choosing to incorporate a links area within your site, ensure that a
level of professionalism is maintained. Only support listings for
properties that are both complimentary, and non-offensive to your client
base. Keep the area well organized, and if necessitated by the number
of links, categorized. Update your page regularly, to ensure that all
links are active.
If
you want to participate in the area of link exchange, but are not
comfortable in presenting a “links” page within your property, give
consideration to incorporating the partner sites into your search
results. Utilizing a search engine provider whose software can also
spider, and incorporate, results from sites outside your domain is an
excellent means of making your partner’s site information available to
your clientele, when requested, without clearly advertising that your
property maintains a link exchange.
Developing
your internet business’ link partners list can be an arduous task, at
best. Researching complimentary sites, with sufficient traffic numbers,
and listing potentials, can at times seem to be like finding the
proverbial needle in the haystack. But don’t despair! There are a number
of software available whose specialty is the scouring of the internet;
sourcing properties whose nature matches specifications you indicate as
of interest. Online has also sourced available services, whose sole
purpose is to maintain your links pages, ensuring each link is active,
that your link has been activated at the other end, even rotating links
to ensure equal coverage for all your partners.
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