The 10 Steps to Market Your Internet Business Successfully

Jun.28, 2009 in Online Marketing Solutions

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The 10 Steps to Market Your Internet Business Successfully

More and more small businesses are finding it essential that they market their products and services online. Customers are increasingly turning to the Internet web to research their needs, compare product features and prices, and to purchase online. A company that does not take advantage of the Web and internet to market their business will lose valuable customers.

It has never been easier or more cost-effective to Online Internet Marketing. There are numerous Web sites, consultants,packages, and other tools to help you implement a successful internet marketing presence.

Here are 10 key steps to marketing your business online successfully:

Internet Marketing Advice : 1. Obtain company Domain Name. Before you establish a Web site for your business, you need a domain name. A domain name is
the internet address that allows computer users to find your Web site,such as www.Acerg.com or www.6Sigma6.com. Good domain names are difficult to obtain, as millions have already been purchased over the years. The most common domain names end in “.com” or “.net” and are seen as the most desirable.
It’s easy to check whether a domain name is available. For example, name.com has a domain name service check and you can do a check in under a minute. The cost on Name to purchase a domain name is under $9.

A few key tips on domain names:
- Make sure the domain name hasn’t been trademarked by someone else (check www.uspto.gov);
- Make sure it’s easy to spell;
- Make the name easy to remember. But simpler and descriptive may be better - you don’t have to come up with something as catchy as “Google” - and non-descriptive names require more branding effort.

Internet Marketing Advice :2. Build a Professional Looking Web Site. Your Web site is a reflection of your business. People who come to your Web site can be impressed or turned off by the professionalism of your site. There are several approaches to building a Web site. First, there are plenty of sites that will give you templates for a site either for free or very cheaply. Second, there are professional site building consultants who will custom-build a site for you to see what you need to do to negotiate a contract with such a consultant). And, third, there are multiple software packages available to help you build your own site.

Internet Marketing Advice :3. Make Your Web Site Easy to Navigate and Make it Easy to Find What You Are Trying to Sell. Don’t get caught up in trying to come up with dazzling flash and color for your site. The key to a good site is to make sure the viewers can easily find what they are looking for. This means a clear navigation bar and a good “search” box. Take a look at some of the great sites out there, and sites from competitors. That can help you plan how your site should be designed.

Internet Marketing Advice :4. Build up Your Email List. One of the best and cheapest ways to sell online is through email marketing. It’s a great way to communicate with customers and prospective customers. So it is very valuable to collect email addresses from visitors to your Web site. Offer them something worthwhile for their email address-such as a discount or a free newsletter.
Make it easy to get someone’s email address, but also be sure that you have set forth a Privacy Policy on your site describing how you will use any personal information. And be sure you are up-to-date on the laws affecting such as the CAN-SPAM Act.

Internet Marketing Advice :5. Send Periodic Email Newsletters. Email newsletters can prove to be effective communication tools for existing customers, prospective customers, and other key audiences. What are the hallmarks of effective email newsletter programs? Here are 6 tips:
- Keep it reasonably short. Nobody wants to read lengthy emails.
- Make it well designed and visually interesting. Include photos and graphics. Provide multiple links back to
- Make it look professional. Don’t have typos, a sloppy look, or broken links.
- Include an easy way for the viewer to contact you and to unsubscribe from your email list.
- Constantly test and track how your newsletters are doing.

Internet Marketing Advice :6. Buy Banner Ads. You can enhance visibility and traffic to your site by buying banner ads.
The keys to effective banner ad campaigns are:
- Make the ad visually interesting with links to a particular offer or “landing” page on your site.
- Place the ads on sites relevant to your business.
- Constantly monitor and test the efficacy of the ads, measuring not only click-throughs from the ad to your site, but also the actual resulting sales and return on investment (”ROI”).

Internet Marketing Advice :7. Optimize Your Site for Search Engines. Hundreds of millions of searches a day are performed on the Web through Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. The search engines “spider” billions of Web pages. There is a fast growing area called “search engine optimization” that refers to efforts you can employ to get your Web site to show up higher in search results. To get more information on this, go to the search box on the AllBusiness home page <http://www.allbusiness.com/>, select “the Web” from the drop-down menu, and type in “search engine optimization.”

Internet Marketing Advice :8. Advertising on Google to buy Ad Words on keyword. Many Online Internet Marketing businesses are finding that Advertising on Goole can be quite beneficial. Here’s how it works: If you provide 6 Sigma coaching from your Web site, you might advertising on Google Ad words that would show up in the 6 Sigma websites or blogs.
If the visitors sees your Ad Words and clicks on it, he is transported to your Web site and you pay on a “CPC” basis to Google (a cost per click). The goal is to get targeted prospective customers to your site.

The key internet marketing strategies of successful Advertising on Google Ad Words buying programs include:
- Purchase the most relevant key words to Advertising on Google from Ad Words.
- Write the ads in a way to compel targeted buyers to click on the Google Ad words.
- Send the visitors from Google Ad Words to a landing page to your site that sets forth the precise product or service related to Advertising on Google Ad Words. Sending a viewer to your home page is generally not as effective as sending them to a specific product page.
- Constantly review the conversion of that click from Google Ad Words into buyers.
- Constantly test different ad copy and different landing pages to determine what works best for your site.

Internet Marketing Advice :9. Make it Easy to buy from Your website. If you are selling products from your site, you will need a shopping cart system and a credit card authorization process. Many companies provide such systems off the shelf, such as Yahoo! Small Business. The key here is to make sure the purchasing process is fast and efficient. Many Web sites have found that their checkout process was too cumbersome, and that they lost potential buyers who became frustrated with the amount of time and effort involved.

Internet Marketing Advice :10. Provide Great Customer Service. A satisfied customer will return to your site. So go out of your way to give great customer support and service. And for those who are not happy with their experience, try to turn them around with an offer of a discount, a free product, or some other benefit.