Most people come into online business or internet marketing with a vaguely held idea that they somehow want to earn money on the net. It is however necessary to have a slightly more developed idea of how internet marketing works and where the money is to be made, if you are to succeed.
Returning to our earlier concept, although it has changed beyond all recognition over the past decade, the internet is still primarily about providing information. Consequently, the basic idea behind internet marketing is that you start a business that can provide the kind of information people are looking for, and earn money in the process.
In its simplest form, this would involve nothing more than having an information product that people want to buy, and selling it to them. In the same way that your local storekeeper asks for money because you have asked them for a loaf of bread, you can set up an internet business where you sell information. Alternatively, you can give information away for free, but do so in such a way that you earn money on the ‘back end’ from advertising. In this situation, you are not selling anything, but there is still money to be made (albeit generally less than you would make from selling).
However, it is extremely important to note that this is internet marketing we are talking about, with the key word being marketing. One of the greatest advantages of selling or promoting on the internet is that the net allows you to take your marketing message right into the heart of everyone’s home, and allows you to do so at little or no cost.
Furthermore, because everything that happens on the internet is trackable and traceable, it is possible to target your promotional and marketing activities at exactly the people who best represent the potential market for your product or service in a way that no other advertising medium can. For instance, if you were advertising Honda cars for sale on TV, you would air your advertisements during programs that appealed to the type of people whom your market research has indicated are most likely to buy a Honda. However, you would have little idea of how many of those potential Honda owners were watching the show, or how many who were watching the show decided to stay to watch your advert. If however you are advertising Honda cars on the net, it would be extremely easy to make sure that your advertising materials were only shown to people who were looking for information about Hondas.
There is one other major difference as well. While you will pay in advance for advertising on TV with no idea how many people are going to see your advert, if you use paid advertising online, it is possible to pay only when people view your advert. Hence, advertising online is far more cost-effective as well. When just starting your new business there is actually no need to start paying for advertising, because there are plenty of ways you can promote your business for free.
However, the important thing to understand is that the success or failure of your business rides on your grasping the central concept that everything is about marketing. Your shop window on the internet is going to be a website, and many new online marketers make the mistake of believing that their website is the #1 ‘make or break’ factor for their business. This is completely wrong. You can have the ugliest website imaginable, and as long as that website is promoting or selling something that people really need or want, you will be successful. On the other hand, you might be the proud owner of the ‘Mona Lisa’ of websites, but if no-one is interested in your product or service, or (even worse) if no-one knows about it, then you will make no sales at all.
Your ability to market your business is the key to success, and there are two aspects to this marketing ability. Firstly, you have to be offering a product or service that people want or need, and they have to want or need it enough to be willing to pay for it. Secondly and more importantly, you have to do everything you can to get the message out about what it is you have to offer. If you do not do so, you could give away Learjets for free and you’re never going to get rid them because people don’t know that they are available.
Somewhere in the mix there, you have to have a website to promote your business, but it is far less important how pretty or technically advanced that site is. If the information that you are providing is what people need and they know where to find it (i.e. on your site), then you will be a success.
So, a good starting place is sitting in a cafe with your favorite drink, and pen and paper at hand to map out your goals and vision. A good website is created twice. The first time on a piece of paper. The second time, on the web.
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