Internet Marketing:
Introduction:
The internet is here to stay and is still in its infancy. The speed to which it has grown is mind boggling. We truly live in the information age. The only issue, is that with all this information available at our finger tips we now tend to be very picky on what we read or look at on the Internet.
Security of your information is critical
Security of your private information is also a growing issue. In recent times (2016) major corporate security breaches are happening on a weekly basis. Security is becoming a major issue with people and companies. Care should be used when sharing your private information on the internet.
Viruses and phishing campaigns are rampant these days. My best advice is to never open a picture or link or message unless you can confirm the sender and why it is being sent to you.
Phishing is a method of planting a program on your computer to steal your information and to watch your keystrokes. They find out your passwords and private information, then use it to their advantage.
Protecting your privacy is not the responsibility of anyone else but yourself. Question everyone that wants any personal information about you or your business.
The Internet doubles in size every year
Of course this statement is wrong and there is no real way to measure how large it gets other than how many users are on it. How can this be done accurately? I still don’t have an answer to this. The good news is that only a small portion of the world population even have Internet access.
The market is growing every day and the capability of business people to take advantage of it does the same. As a business person, you need to learn everything you can about the internet and practice the techniques you learn. Test new marketing opportunities against your current marketing programs. Make the new opportunity pay for itself in actual sales to your customers.
Combine the Internet with already proven Direct Marketing to find your “pot of gold”
Learn how to master the Internet and Direct marketing and you have a formula for success. Using tried and proven techniques is only logical. Testing new techniques through the Internet only makes good sense. Make sure you measure the results of every campaign. Measure them against your current advertising program or Control ad. If you earn a good return on your money, scale up the ads and see if you can make even more money.
What doesn’t make sense is abandoning proven techniques.
Well before the Internet ever showed up on the advertising stage, Direct Mail marketing methods were and always will be a proven method to advertise. Better yet they offer you a great way to measure your advertising campaigns. The internet is getting very good at analytical data, making it easy measure your results from your advertising budget.
You can measure your Internet advertising campaigns as well but you must learn how to do this. There are many ways to measure different aspects of your marketing on the internet. You need to learn how to do this before you begin any new programs. Not knowing how to measure your results will always cost you money. Every campaign you do must be able to have a measurable way to judge its success or failure.
Learn how to measure the ROI (return on Investment) on all Internet Campaigns
Just like Direct mail marketing, you must be able to measure the results of your advertising. You need a to have an offer the makes the reader take some kind of action. You can then track how many people respond to that campaign. You measure the cost of the ad, the cost of each click and the number of clicks that convert into paying customers.
There are great ways to dig even deeper into the advertising results. These results offer you more opportunities to advertise once again to the same market. Using the internet they call this Re-targeting. This means your ads are shown to the people that initial clicked on your ad but did not buy.
Many folks will not buy on the first view of your ad. They need time to think about it. Using re-targetting allows you to have your ad shown to them again over the next week or two or longer. This can increase your conversion rates and your bottom line profits. Facebook, Google and Mainstream all have re-targetting options. Use them whenever using the Internet to advertise.
Once you get a response, now you need to make a sale
Getting a response to your ad is terrific but if they never buy than it was a waste of money. You need to be able to track all sales in your campaign. You need to track all your prospects and people that end up buying from you.
Making a sale is the only way you can make money and you need to know what ads are producing the best results from all your advertising.
Most of us are NOT Coke or Nike or a large corporation
Small businesses don’t need to build their brand as much as they need to make sales. Your advertising should be focused on making sales or finding prospect that you can eventually turn into sales.
Build your sales funnel with the Internet and with Direct mail marketing. The Internet allows you to target prospects in great detail using things like Facebook, Google and other search engines.
The Technology changes so fast with the Internet it is hard to keep up
As I type this the Internet is changing faster than anyone can keep up with. We will strive to keep up with new and important marketing breakthroughs. The advantage of this marketing option is that you can adapt faster and with ease compared to Direct Marketing. That can be an advantage and a dis-advantage. You need to test everything you do against everything you have done in the past. Make these new opportunities prove their worth to you and your business.
Come join us for a review of some of the important marketing methods available using the Internet
This category is full of interesting options to explore using the Internet. The resource section and text links will direct you to experts in each area. Use their experience and tools to teach you how to take advantage of this powerful marketing medium.
These people and companies have already made the mistakes and have paved the road for you. Learn from their mistakes and investments. This is a fast way to profit from the Internet and it is how I built my websites and marketing programs.
Their experience is worth every penny and I should know as I have spent thousands learning this lesson over the last few years. I have invested thousands of dollars and bought some good stuff and a lot of crap.
Along the way I have found some real gems and great information. This book/site are devoted to help you search through the enormous world of marketing and get a great basic understanding of all the things that are available to help you profit in your business.
Use my experiences and investments as a base and expand in whatever area you feel fits your business