If you’re new to the internet and want to start a website to do whatever you want to do, you’ll need to know some basic online marketing strategies to help you achieve your goal. Online marketing is easy, but you can definitely spend a lot of time hanging around if you don’t know what you’re doing. Luckily I’m here to help.
Basic online marketing for some people means setting up a website, submitting it to search engines and that’s it. COMPLETELY WRONG. The old axiom “If you build it, they will come” does not apply to the Internet. You have to do some marketing. And you never want to do online marketing in a way that doesn’t bring you targeted traffic and, for most people, income.
The bottom line is that basic online marketing strategies are all you need to be successful with your Internet business. These are strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, display or banner advertising on websites, blogs and online forums, video marketing, article marketing and syndication, and much more. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard of all these things before, but do you know how to come up with a plan to use these strategies effectively?
You know, some people like to “shortcut” their way to riches. To them, when you start an online business, you are supposed to make money IMMEDIATELY. So what do these people do? They employ so-called “basic online marketing” techniques such as:
– Solo Ads
– Blast your website to 1,000,000 people using a service
– Purchase email lists
– Use of classified ad submitters
– Using submission software that claims to submit your site to hundreds of search engines.
– And more terrible strategies
I have seen people lose a LOT of money using the solo ad technique. For most people, most solo ads are scams. Not all of them are scams, but in my opinion and from what I have seen and tested myself… about 98% of them are scams. However, if you’re hanging around Facebook groups about solo ads, you might think otherwise.
Why is that? Well, you’ll see glorified testimonials from people saying they made $5,000 with a solo ad mailed to just 200 people. And etc. For the most part it is nonsense, and solo ad marketers play a dangerous game by deceiving people with false leads and results. Some of these sellers will even buy their product cheap to make you think you are having success, when in fact they are still profiting while you lose, and you will most likely come back to buy a solo ad from this seller again.
And once they get your money, they’ll do the same thing, over and over again. It’s sad, but many newbies think that this is basic online marketing. In fact, some people base all of their ad dollars and online marketing campaign on this method. Little do they know that they are being scammed and robbed right in front of their faces.
Basic online marketing must start with math. You need to know the numbers in your business. You need to know what you are selling, how much you are selling it for, what is your cost per lead, what is your cost per sale, what is your break-even point, what is your plan to make more money from your customers, how to maximize revenue overall totals from your customers, how you’re going to build a continuity program into your business, and more.
These are the BASICS. If you don’t have these basics ready to go, how the heck do you plan to make a profit? Sure you can get “sales” but what good are sales if you’re not making money? It may seem good for family and friends, but if you are 40 years old and still have a job for $8 an hour… people will start to doubt you and your claims. And God forbid any of your customers or competition finds out. Both of you can destroy your business because you would be lying to them.
Look, the basic online marketing techniques I mentioned above are essential to your growth online. You need a plan and you need to think everything in advance before spending a penny on advertising. In fact, you should think everything in advance before registering a domain name and buying a website. Don’t be clueless like most people and spend the next 5-10 years losing money.
If you want to learn some basic online marketing skills, read on and continue your internet marketing education. Regularly visit forums, blogs, and websites that teach you the basics, and then start doing some little experiments. When people ask me the best way to learn how to run an online business, I tell them to go sell on eBay. I think you should try this too, just to get an idea of how to run an online business.
Search your home or sort through some of your personal belongings and sell the things you no longer use or want/need. Then go to eBay and list them for sale. You will be surprised how quickly they sell out. From there, you’ll learn how to package and ship items, how to use the automation tools they have in conjunction with other third-party services, and come up with creative ideas on how to make even more money with eBay.
Then just use your basic online marketing skills you’ve learned from searching the internet and apply them to your eBay sales. And then eventually (if you choose to)…you can start your own website and sell whatever you want to sell, all while using the same online marketing techniques you were using on eBay to drive traffic and get sales.
Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be. Just use the basic basics of online marketing and you’re good to go.