What is an Effective Internet Marketing Strategy?

If you’re still struggling to finally reach your financial independence & make a nice living from your home, then listen... The only reason why you’re failing is because you don’t have a good website marketing strategy.

If you ask any successful offline world entrepreneur how it’s possible to build a great business without a proper strategy, he’ll start laughing. But many internet marketing experts are trying to make money without even realizing what on earth they’re doing online…

If you believe that you can jump in, create a website, submit it to a few directories or blogs, sit down, relax & watch those thousands of dollars (that you’ve seen in many marketers’ checks) to come, then you need to stop right there. It ain’t gonna happen. You need to think: who you are and where do you want to be in the future. Whether offline or online, there are only two things that matter: “Buying” and “Selling”. Basically, to simplify, it all comes down to this:

• Who is your customer?
  What is he or she specifically looking for? You must know their problems or desires. You must be in their shoes and find out what is that would make them feel better (an offer).
  
• What is your offer?
  Why should they buy from you? How come you’re better than the rest? Why should they trust you? Are you offering your own or someone else’s product? How will you create an irresistible offer so they beg you to sell it to them?

Think about it… There are millions of people buying online every single day. If they’re not buying from you then whose fault is that - theirs or yours?

Before you even start creating internet marketing strategy for your website(s), you need to do a research. That’s where it all begins actually. Just like in any business, you have to understand where you are and what can you do.

#1 Phase - Online Research

In this phase, you must research your market. Who are your main competitors? What are they doing online? PPC, SEO, press releases, develop their own products, do affiliate marketing or Adsense? What are their weaknesses? Do they offer a guarantee? Is their product really good? Do they build links constantly or not?

Who is your favourite customer? Where do they hangout: MySpace or YouTube? Are they freebie seekers or desperate buyers? What forces them to buy one or another product? Read reviews, forums, testimonials to find out as much as you can about your target market.

#2 Phase – Data Analysis

If you’ve performed a thorough online market research, it’s time to systematize the data you have. Write down what are the main strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Maybe you have more time than your competitors? Or maybe you know some targeted traffic source that others don’t. How might this affect your business?

Which are the places your target market usually visits? What are their main concerns? Maybe they’re not satisfied with the products in the market. Can offer something better, maybe in a form of a bonus? After that, you come to the next step, which is developing your internet marketing strategy.

#3 Phase – Strategy Development

When you already know your target market and your competitors, you are able to start creating your internet marketing strategy (or strategies). Just sit down and think about: who you are and what you can offer to the target market.

It involves a little bit of planning. What marketing methods you’ll use and which ones you can afford? PPC, SEO, email, blogging, podcasting, video blogging, webinars, viral traffic generation, link building, banner exchange or others…? You must prioritize your web marketing tactics. Find out what’s going to bring you positive ROI in the shortest time possible.

Do you have enough time to perform search engine optimization? If so, then sit and do everything you can, day in day out, to rank at the top in search engines. Don’t have time? Then buy PPC traffic and start testing your landing pages effectively. Or buy resell rights to products and sell them on ClickBank with the help of JV partners.

Don’t have time AND money? Then you better get one or another, otherwise you’re dead.

Seriously, you must find ways to get time or money. You need to think about how you can exploit other people’s time and money to build your own web business. That’s what rich people do and that’s what you must do if you want to survive in this competitive world.

#4 Phase – Monitoring Performance

When you have an internet marketing plan, you can start implementing it right away. The last step is to start monitoring your internet marketing campaigns. Which keywords people typed into search engines to find your site? Which keywords brought you the most money in PPC marketing? Are you satisfied with your SEO rankings or not? Do majority of your visitors leave your site without even spending 30 seconds? And so on…

Only with the help of close monitoring you can discover what works and what doesn’t. Testing landing pages, testing Adwords ads against each other (A/B split testing) can show you some amazing results. And remember – you never know for sure until you TEST it!

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10 ways to use psychology to lure web customers

I’ve been researching and thinking about the psychology of the social web and our Internet relationships. There are many common psychological techniques you can use in your every day Internet marketing.  Here are a few ideas to “psych” your visitors into spending more time on your website and your blog.

1) Social proof is king

In real life, “social proof” is the trappings of society that impart influence.  A person’s height, a fancy car, a diploma … all help determine influence, subconsciously.  Since we don’t have those physical clues in the online world, we look to “badges” like Twitter followers and Klout scores to provide a shortcut assessment.

With the density of information in today’s world, these badges are more important than ever.  In fact they may be even more important than your real knowledge, experience and accomplishments.  Strange but true. Think about your favorite blogger. I’ll bet you notice some of their badges like followers, AdAge rank, or tweets on a blog post, before you investigate their education or level of professional experience.

We make the same assessments about websites and blogs.  If you see a lot of tweets and comments, testimonies and awards, you assume something good is going on there.

Another way to accomplish this on a website is product reviews and ratings. Make sure ratings and reviews are clearly displayed on your site or product pages. Allow users to include information about themselves such as their gender, name, location and occupation. This makes the reviews even more compelling since it can create a connection to the demographics of your site visitors.

2) Give web tourists a reason to become residents

In the first few seconds you have a visitor on your site, are you giving them a reason to stay a little longer to learn about you?  This is commonly called a “call to action.” On my website, you can click to see free materials, download an eBook, watch videos, read case studies, listen to a podcast, read my blog … basically I give people lots of reasons to hang around by providing valuable material that would interest my target customer.

On my blog one of the most effective devices I have to help people stick around is the “Linked Within” app at the bottom of each post suggesting further reading.  This dramatically increases time on the site and increases page views on my blog by about 8 percent.

3) Put the most important action at the top

When you’re plotting out your call to actions, put your most important one first. The idea behind this is simple: what comes first is unconsciously regarded as the best.  I’ve been experimenting with this myself. One other consideration — if you’re stacking your calls to action down the right side of your page, keep in mind that the top right corner of your website is a blind spot. This is spooky but it really is true.

One time I was offering a free download at the upper right corner of my site. I was in a meeting with a web designer and was talking about the problem in front of a huge display screen of my website. I said “Without looking at the screen, can you tell me if I have a free download offer on my landing page?” Although we had been looking at the page all morning, he completely missed this element.  So, highlight your best offers first, but watch where you place them!

4) Provide instant gratification

When deciding to make a purchase, we are often influenced by how fast we can have the product.  Reduce or eliminate fields required to purchase or engage.  The other day I was required to register to comment on a blog. FAIL!

In a famous experiment participants were asked to choose between getting $5 now or $40 at a later date. MRI scans showed that when people thought about getting the money right away, the mid brain, or emotional center of the brain fired up. Even if you’re not selling something, use words like “instantly” or immediately in your content and headlines.

5) Illusion of scarcity

When something has a limited amount to it, its assumed value increases. We will want it even more. Make your product/offering limited by showing a limited stock quantity or limited time frame. This is a common tactic that most Internet marketers and offline/online retailers use. And it works. Because we feel good when we gain objects of value.

6) Build reciprocity 

Reciprocity is a big deal on the social web. I’m not sure it created influence, but adding up all these little low-impact “likes” and “tweets” can certainly create leverage over time. This is one of the oldest sales tricks in the book.  When you give something away on your web site, it triggers a sensation of indebtedness in your visitor’s mind. You can give away things like free product add-ons, guidebooks, content, downloads, free shipping etc.

Studies show visitors are twice as likely to complete a survey form after they were given access to free useful information.

7. Be sexy

Sex sells.  Always has.  Always will.  Even Zappos the online shoe store is using pictures of naked people in their ads.  This is a powerful human motivator but I haven’t quite mastered this on my website! I’m not sure sex is what comes to mind when you read my blog.  If it does, please let me know.  I’d like to hear about that!

8. Speak to your visitor by using the word ‘You’

Let’s compare this simple website copy:

“This new web service has many built-in features that allow for photos to be uploaded, organized, and stored. Photos can be searched for with only a few steps.”

“You can upload your photos quickly, organize them any way you want to, and then store them so that they are easy to share with your friends. You can find any photo with only a few steps.”

Write as if you’re talking to a person sitting right next to you. She is your prospective customer. She is your blog reader. And she is your friend. Don’t be afraid to use slang or community lingo to connect to their thought processes. Communicate about what she needs, not what you sell. There’s a difference.

9) Get your visitors to make a commitment

 Your goal is to drive people to take some action: buy, download, register, etc.  And to do that, you need to convert visitors from lurkers to engaged participants.  Even the simple act of writing, typing or signing something strengthens commitment to your website/company/brand. The more public the commitment, the stronger it will be.

Getting your visitors to commit to your website can be as easy as getting them to comment on your blog.  Polls and surveys work equally well too because they make your visitors interact with you.

10) Use images that demonstrate similarity and attractiveness

Use images of attractive people who are similar to your target market’s demographic profile. People are most influenced by people they deem to be both attractive and similar to them. The brain is unconsciously sizing up people you see and their attractiveness can rub off on your website itself, much like how an attractive person in a cellphone ad makes the cellphone look more enticing.

This doesn’t just apply to images. Most Internet marketers know that in order to appeal to a certain group of people, you need a human face that will be the focal point of their empathy and connection. Hence, the widespread use of marketing personas.

I hope you’ve benefited from these ideas.  If the article made you think, please consider sharing it with others and commenting below. Thanks!

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4 Ways To Build Your Email List Today (Without Spending Time Learning New Tactics)

When I first started out in the online business and blogging world, I tried every tactic I could get my hands on to try to gain more traffic and build my email list. I felt like I was throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick, and what I ended up with was a splotchy wall and very little traffic to show for it.

Today, things are different, and I have a much better “big picture” view of how to generate traffic and conversions, and what works best for different people. You see, I realized all of the information out there about traffic was valid, and it was just a matter of combining the right tactics into a bigger strategy based on the outcomes I wanted.

Let me walk you through the 4 strategic ways to apply common list building tactics, no matter what kind of business or blog you run. The trick is knowing which one to use and when to use it, but don’t worry I’ll go over that too!

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(Note from Caleb: When we talked a couple weeks ago about what we wish we’d known before starting our businesses, many of our friends mentioned not focusing more on their email list was their biggest mistake. In today’s post by Nathalie Lussier, she discusses four ways to build your email list faster than you are now. Take it away Nathalie.)

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4 Strategies – Which Is Right For You?

Most of the how-to articles you read about list building strategies are actually talking about specific list building tactics. You know, like how to use SEO to drive traffic, how to use a specific type of squeeze page, or how to guest post. These are all specific actions you can take to get more traffic and subscribers, but they don’t constitute an overarching strategy.

If you’ve tried to apply all the list building advice out there with less than ideal results, it’s probably because you didn’t have the strategy in place to make these actions work together.

1. Build Your List The Slow & Steady Way

When I was first starting out online, the slow and steady way is how I built my list. It’s the default way to build up an audience, and it’s not bad but it does take time. This is a perfect strategy to help you build your traffic and list over time, because it’s consistent: you create content, blog, guest post, apply SEO techniques, get word of mouth, and repeat on a regular basis.

This is ideal if you’ve got an actual business to run, or maybe you have a day job and this is your side project. It’s simple enough to dedicate a few hours per week to showing up and creating content. Over time your site’s authority will increase in the search engines, you’ll develop word of mouth from your fans, and things will slowly pick up the pace.

The problem? It’s slow, so if you want to results fast, it’s not going to happen for you.

Many bigger sites started out with the slow and steady path, like Digital Photography School, and my first business Raw Foods Witch. These sites weren’t overnight successes, but now they get steady traffic from the search engines and when people think of the topics for these sites they can point people to them, generating word of mouth.

2. Use Short Focused Bursts To Build Your List

For this strategy, you set aside a month or two dedicated to traffic and list building. During these few months, you put everything you’ve got into building your list. Because it’s timed, it has more of an immediacy factor, and it feels more urgent and fresh.

The types of tactics you’d use for a short focused burst are putting on a live webinar or livestream, running a contest, doing a joint venture, or running ads to your opt-in (since you might not want to run ads 365 days a year but you might do it for a short period of time).

All of these things have an end point, so you can set aside time in your yearly calendar to focus on traffic and list building. If you run a seasonal business, this might be the type of activity you do during your off season.

Here’s an example from Amy Porterfield running a joint webinar with Melanie Duncan about Pinterest. This works great because it’s a specific point in time, and the nature of joint webinars is both parties build their lists.

Another example is the 30 Day List Building Challenge I hosted, which is a contest that runs for a short period of time. It’s also got social sharing built into it, which is also something that works best in short focused bursts.

3. Make a Big Splash With a Launch

You’ve definitely seen the big splash model, it’s usually attached to a product launch and it seems to take over a corner of the internet for awhile. You know someone is doing a launch when suddenly you see their name everywhere at once, they’re being interviewed, guest posting, showing up left and right on social media.

The big splash works wonders because you capture the attention of the market. It’s the be everywhere at once advantage. But to understand how to pull off a launch, you need to know exactly how much time goes into it. The reason a big splash is different from a short burst is because there are usually months of time dedicated to the launch leading up to it. And by months, I mean upwards of 4 months for really big launches.

Securing all the guest spots, interviews, affiliates, and making sure all the buzz goes live at the same time is no easy feat. But when a launch comes together, it really has the potential to drive so much traffic and grow your list like nothing else.

You’ve no doubt seen big launches, but a few notable ones you keep an eye out for are Only72, and Marie Forleo’s B-school. There are entire courses on how to pull together a killer launch, and if you’re offering a new product or service you’ll want to spend some time figuring out your positioning and creating the best product you can.

4. Or, Focus On Reaching New Verticals

One often overlooked strategy for list building is to step outside of your immediate market, and get known in new verticals. Take for example, my list building advice: it works for bloggers, but it can also work for photographers, dentists, and jewelry designers. I’ve been able to repurpose my content and do short focused bursts of list building in these different markets.

You can actually choose any of the previous 3 strategies to go into new verticals, you could do a big launch in a new vertical or go the slow and steady route. The benefit here is you can usually jumpstart your efforts because of the previous work you’ve done in your main market, and you can get more specific in how you serve people.

Someone who has done a great job of becoming known in many verticals isChris Guillebeau, he sits at the intersection of many markets like travel, entrepreneurship, artists, and so on. I personally stumbled upon this idea with my different blogs and businesses in the raw food market, when I realized there was a lot of overlap and people would follow me from one topic to the next.

Can you think of a few “sub markets” you could focus on, in order to help you reach new people and grow your list further?

Which Are You Going To Use First?

All of these are winning strategies, but which one are you committing to doing next? If you’re already in one of these categories, is it the right one for you and your goals? Leave a comment below, I want to know!

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5 Smart Solutions For Women Entrepreneurs on The Go

This week I’m writing to you from my childhood home in Charleston, West Virginia where I’m caring for my aging parents who are health challenged at the moment. Today, I’m going to share my best tips for running a business when traveling. With all the new gadgets and apps available to entrepreneurs today, business on the go is a snap.

Maximize with Mobile Devices – The beauty of technology today is mobile devices are small, weigh very little and make business on the go accessible. There is a range in pricing but with cloud based software like Google Drive and Dropbox (no cost to less than $9 per month) you don’t need the storage capacity which historically made laptops and desktops more expensive. I currently use a desktop in my office and an iPad for travel. I gave up the laptop a few years ago as I wanted to relieve my shoulders and back of any extra weight during travel. I use a Sena external keyboard that’s compatible with my iPad, however there are a wide range of choices which make typing documents (like this article) easy and fast.

Activate your Apps – I’m continually surprised on a daily basis by the variety of no-cost to low-cost apps you can access for your business. There seems to be an app for just about every need we have – from meditation to productivity, there’s an app for you. I use the Cozi app to keep our busy family organized when I’m traveling. Everyone in the family can access the app to check-in and see what’s happening each day. You can color code each family member to make it easy for them to identify their schedule for sports and after school activities.

Outsource to Office Supply Stores - Whether it’s Staples, Office Max or your local small office supply store, let them handle your printing needs when you’re traveling. I emailed a document to the local Staples here this morning and it was ready in minutes and cost pennies.

Hooking up – I find the placement of electric outlets in hotel rooms interesting. They never seem to be quite where you need them for easy access and to make your work time more productive. That’s why I carry my own extension cord with multiple electrical outlets attached. I can set up my mobile office in the room where I’m most comfortable and have access to all my devices at my fingertips.

Charge it – I carry two chargers when traveling (one for my iPad and one for my iPhone) to ensure that both devices have a full charge at all times.

Get smart and take advantage of all the no-cost to low-cost mobile tools to help your business stay the course and create momentum no matter where your travels take you this holiday season.

Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you.

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Internet Marketing Mentoring Versus Coaching

Internet marketing mentoring is different than coaching in that mentoring focuses on building an individual relationship between mentor and mentee that can last a lifetime. A coach only sticks around as long as you’re paying them.

That’s one of the reasons why we believe Internet marketing coaching doesn’t work. There are other very specific differences you should know before looking for Internet marketing guidance so that you can choose wisely whether you really need an Internet marketing mentor versus a coach.

Internet Marketing Mentoring Programs	Internet Marketing Coaching Programs
Contact can be by phone or in person	Contact is almost always by phone or email only
Discussion time is usually 1 hour to half-day	Contact is usually 15-30 minutes per session
Mentor will sometimes tweak the work you’ve done so you can better see a the process for improving your work. “Here is a similar headline I wrote for a promotion and then added this hook on the end to make it more compelling to read more” would be an example of a mentor helping you write better sales copy.	Coach rarely does any work for you but gives generalizations how your work could improve. “Make your headline more compelling” would be an example of a coach helping you to write better sales copy.
Are paid for by monthly retainer plus the percentage increase in sales revenue	Are paid for by-the-session
Mentors are experts in their field and can command rates from $200-$2,000 per hour…and they’re worth it!	Coaches are often part of a larger coaching network and are paid from that network at $15-$30 hourly rates.
A mentor will take the time to dream the possibilities with you and serve as a sounding board or even just a good friend when things don’t go as planned.	A coach brings an agenda to the table with assigned tasks.

Every successful Internet marketer I know has had multiple “mentors” that they will bring up in conversation. But coaches? Rarely will you hear of a successful marketer on the Internet cite their “coach” as the reason for their success.

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Ten tips for small businesses using Facebook

We worked closely with our partnered small business owners to develop an overall social strategy, write and produce content for posts, and manage responses to customers on their Facebook Pages. Here are the top 10 tips for others looking to market themselves on social networks:

1. Get to know Facebook. Our small business owners knew that Facebook had the potential to drive their business but were challenged by limited time and knowledge. The key to understanding Facebook is to participate. First step set up a business Page. Then, check out what some of your favourite brands are doing on the platform.

2. Establish your online voice. Your Facebook Page should reflect your strengths. Posts should be written in a friendly and informative manner. People can post comments on the Page which will be visible to everyone who visits. The way a business interacts with people can increase engagement and reach, as posts/replies may be shared by the customers to their friends.

3. Image is everything. Posts with pictures drive approximately 50 per cent more engagement through Likes, Comment and Shares. For Mahaya Health Services, we found that pictures with food or mindful scenes worked best. One of our posts of a crisp fall moon received over 1,000 Likes and was shared more than 70 times. This sharing increased the reach of Mahaya’s Page and attracted new customers. Always make sure you have the legal rights to share the image though!

4. Be timely. We found that posting once a day, after 6pm, was the right pace for our owners’ Pages. The key is to stay relevant, be aware of current events, and don’t forget seasonality. A post for Mahaya on the subject of Halloween was one of our greatest successes. Posted as an alternative to a sugar-overload, our Halloween banana ghosts received over 4,500 Likes and was shared almost 2,000 times. Henry’s Fish and Chips posted a Movember themed picture and received over 300 Likes, while still remaining true to Henry’s key objectives of driving in-store traffic.

5. Create a content calendar. A calendar can help identify seasonal opportunities. Halloween, Movember were key calendar moments for our small business partners. And for Henry’s Fish and Chips even the hockey schedule was relevant! Keep track of what you post and how it performs as this will help define future efforts.

6. Media drives results. We used media in two ways: as a constant ‘always-on’ Like acquisition strategy; and as a way to amplify posts that had high engagement. By paying to show our best posts to more consumers, we increased our reach, recruited new Likes and encouraged sharing.

7. Leverage targeting. Facebook media allows you to target ads to specific demographics, locations and stated preferences. We were able to leverage targeting for Henry’s by focusing on customers living near the restaurant. Not only would they be more likely to visit, it was also likely they’d be aware of the restaurant’s 30 year heritage.

8. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Today’s customer relies on the Internet for information and customer service. The Z4 Zaka team responded quickly to inquiries about their unique gift items. This increased engagement demonstrated the value of being able to expand beyond their local Toronto store. Z4Zaka now operates an Etsy storefront to satisfy customers who are further afield.

9. Track your results, refine your strategy. We measured each post for engagements such as Likes, Comments and Shares. We looked at total impressions and reach as well as our effective costs for media. By tracking everything and looking at it regularly, we were able to refine our targeting and spending to ensure we delivered on objectives. We also focused on the core business objectives – filling a restaurant, selling gifts and attracting health services customers.

10. Embrace digital platforms. Consumers are becoming increasingly fluent with digital platforms. Our owners discovered new ways to engage with their customers, sell their goods, and spread the wellness message. Our advice – participate and learn to drive your business results.

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Updating your facebook and twitter accounts

Everything you post on your blog gives you everything you need to keep your facebook and twitter updated with all your information.

You should follow people and pages who are interested in your niche.

When people start seeing what you have to offer (make sure your content is good quality and relevant) they will start visiting your blog on a more and more regular basis.

This is how the social media marketing works for you.

You need to have content that people want, and you want to be engaging your readers enough so that they start believing in you as their source for whatever niche you have decided on.

I would never try selling people anything until they know you are the type of person that can be relied on when they are searching for the knowledge they require.

I personally like to give away quality products first to let people see what type of things you provide for free so that when you do eventually find something worth selling, then your customers can be assured it is going to be of the highest quality.

As I have said in previous posts - I do not like to promote or sell anything that I have not personally tried and tested because I stand by the old saying - my word is my bond.

Giving away (and eventually selling) products is where your autoresponder and opt-in/squeeze page comes in.

For those of you who do not know, autoresponders are where you collect and store your customers email addresses and can set up your email marketing campaign.

Opt-in/squeeze pages are how you collect the email details for your autoresponder.

Check out my current opt-in/squeeze page here

Check out www.aweber.com for details about autoresponders.