Part 4 - Starting an Online Business – Marketing and More Marketing!

A great product by itself is nothing. Customers have to know about your product and be convinced that they want it! Internet marketing isn’t an exact science. Don't be afraid to experiment with new methods of your own. And be sure to market consistently - that's one of the keys to success.

Just remember that marketing should not be pure "guesswork". Invest in an ad tracker and some website stats; this information can provide you with many insights into the effectiveness of your marketing that you wouldn't otherwise know. Your investment will repay you many times over if you learn how to read and use these stats to your benefit.

Of course, this is just the beginning! There are plenty of other things you can work on as well - for example, building a (potential) customer base is very important; one way to do this is by offering a free newsletter. You might also choose to make some extra cash by promoting a couple of carefully-selected affiliate programs (commission-based sales).

What it comes down to is this: don't believe any hype about how "easy" it is to make money online. It's a business, and like every business, it takes perseverance and plenty of hard work. But many "regular" people are successfully earning a comfortable living online!

Of course, “success" isn't necessarily measured by how much money you make. For some people, success may simply be making a few hundred a month and being able to contribute to the household expenses. Another person may just want to “make a difference” somehow, with the extra income as a nice “bonus”. How long it takes each person to reach his or her goals will vary.

Starting a business on the web is affordable ... but like any business, you should be prepared to make some smart investments.

If you have no money to spend at all, then you're better off looking for a job, rather than starting a business.

That's the hard truth. A business will take time, money, and effort to turn a profit. If you're serious about making money online, be prepared to treat your business as a business - not a hobby! That doesn't mean you have to go wild and throw thousands of dollars at anything that might help you make money, but be willing to do a lot of reading and research, and then make some wise investments. The old saying, "It takes money to make money!" still applies on the Internet.

Unlike brick-and-mortar businesses, starting an online business is very affordable. Your goal is to keep your expenses as low as possible while getting the highest possible return. Weigh convenience, time-savings, and the value of the information against the cost. The key is work within your budget.

If you are ready to market you product and your on-line business you have already done a few things.

• You should have already done your business plan and have your licenses and any fees paid.
• You have your computer system ready and up to speed with current virus protection, you may have an XTHML editor program to update your web site or have a professional signed with a contract to do this for you.
• You have your merchant account set up and ready to go.
• You have your home office ready and equipped with proper desk, chair, phone line etc.
• You have your internet domain and hosting purchased.
• You have your web site developed and live!

You are now ready to market your web site and product. Good marketing can make your business grow just as bad marketing can kill your business. If you do not know anything about marketing you may want to find a mentor to walk you though some basics of marketing. Or you may want to hire a company to actually do your marketing.

The first place to begin is with search engines. Customers cannot find you if you are not in search engines. Word of mouth is good but is not going to get you enough customers to keep your business floating. There is more to submitting a web site to a search engine than meets the eye. Some engines only allow you to submit your front page, some engines you can only submit your site once every 30 days, others every 2 weeks. Some search engines like only a few meta tags (the code on the web page that tells the engines how they need to index and catalog your site)

There are many highly effective free or low-cost marketing methods. Even so, marketing is likely to be one of your highest expenses. A combination of free and paid advertising works best. It's hard to say how much you'll spend; the only way to know what works is to experiment. You may find that you'll reach your income goals without spending any money at all on marketing - if so, all the better for you! On the other hand, you may find that you need to shell out extra money each month in order to try to reach your income goals.

Another marketing tool that gets mixed reviews is FFA (Free For All) pages. These pages are just what they sound like. These pages are free and any one can post to them. Programs like FFA Blaster are inexpensive and post to thousands of these pages at one time. Now, there are draw backs to doing this type of marketing. Be prepared to get lots of junk mail! Set up an extra email account just to use with these postings. I use some thing like ads@yourdomain.com and then have my mail program (Eudora) filter all mail with that address right in to my trash program. The FFA pages are just like a “free for all” brawl, meaning that everyone that uses FFA pages fight for the top spot in hopes that some one will click on their ad, there for the key is submitting often. Many professional marketing persons say FFA pages have very little merit. I, on the other hand, like these pages and they can be used effectively for generating higher search engine ranking because they do count as web links back to your site.

Programs like Web Position Gold and Add Web Position are great for search engine submission if you don’t want to manually submit. They also offer other features like making back door pages, analyzing your web page for proper meta tags, and comparison analysis between your page and any other pages on the web. This is a good tool to see how your page rates compared to others that are pulling high in the engines. These programs can be costly so you need to figure out if you want to purchase a submission program or pay a monthly fee to a professional company such as AAProductions.org that not only builds web sites but will also market the site for you for a low monthly fee.

Mailing list and news letters are a great way to keep in touch with your visitors. You will need to find a way to manage your list and send mailings. Prices vary widely. Expect to spend at least a couple of hundred dollars a year. You need to make sure that you have a way to opt in and opt out of your list to stay compliant with federal regulations and prevent spamming.

What's the dirtiest four-letter word you can think of?

On the web, SPAM is a dirty word! It is the practice of sending unsolicited, untargeted mass commercial messages. There are serious consequences to spamming - plus it is poor business practice.

How often are you thrilled to see 238 new messages in your mailbox, with enticing offers such as:

• How to get free Viagra to cure my impotence problem
• How to lose 40 pounds in 2 days with no dieting or exercise
• Get in the "ground floor" of an exciting opportunity that will make me $10,000 in one month - no work or selling involved – I just have to cash the checks!

I've even received repeated emails informing me that a sultry, sexy woman is looking for a husband just like me and I'm female! In all seriousness, spam can, and probably will, cause far more trouble than it's worth.

How do you know if you are spamming? Everyone has an opinion of what constitutes spamming and what doesn't. In a nutshell, you need to have someone's permission before you email them.

Spam works on the principle of numbers - the more people you email, the more sales you make. Spam might make you a quick buck, but is it no way to build a viable long-term business.

First of all, it's untargeted marketing. Spammers email a mish-mash of people, most of whom have no interest whatsoever in what you have to offer. Spammers hope that just by sheer numbers alone they'll make a few sales.

There are also many anti-spammers around who will take the time to track you down and report you to the proper authorities. You can get closed down by your ISP and/or your web host, lose membership in an affiliate program, even be charged "clean-up costs". And do you really want a reputation as a “spammer”?

Another marketing technique that can generate traffic and income is finding an affiliate program that works with your web site. Affiliate programs are a popular option for beginners. You don't need your own product or service; instead, you sell another company's products or services in return for a commission. There are hundreds of different types of affiliate programs on the Internet. Check out the terms of service for the program you choose to go with and know how they pay, when they pay and what they pay.

Ezine advertising also works for some web sites. Let another business do the hard work of compiling a list of opt-in subscribers who are eager and interested in a particular topic. Depending on the quality of the newsletter, this can present you with an excellent opportunity to reach your target audience for a very small cost.

Form a Joint Venture. Find businesses that offer complementary products or services, and propose a mutually beneficial partnership. JVs can be an extremely powerful way to boost your profits -- often without having to incur any out-of-pocket expenses.

Remember that a great many people are still in the "real world", rather than in cyberspace! Advertise in newspapers, bulletin boards at laundromats and other places.

This is just a very basic article to give you the beginnings of marketing your site. Do your research, read books, read articles, find all you can to keep yourself informed and up to date on current marketing techniques and practices.