Hold on to your hat because you are
about to enter the new frontier. The Internet is the most extraordinary and cost
effective marketing tool you could possibly imagine. If you are like me and you
do not have an unlimited advertising budget read on because the dynamics of
marketing are about to change in your favor forever!
I have had great success marketing a variety of products on the Internet. I
receive orders from every continent, every day, even as I sleep. I am doing a
thriving business with people I never would have been able to reach through
traditional advertising, My monthly marketing costs are negligible - less than
you might pay for dinner for two and a movie. This success has come as a result
of studying the Internet culture, experimentation and just plain hard work. I
want to take this opportunity, in the course of this article, to pass along to
you what I have learned. I will tell you why I think you should be using the
Internet as part of your marketing campaign and what has worked for me.
Let's begin by discussing some of the advantages of marketing on the Internet.
One of the beauties of Internet Marketing is that you control the entire process
from start to finish. You do not have to rely on printers, manufacturers, media
people or anyone else. Marketing on the Internet is fast and it is effective.
With some products you can bring you manufacturing and distribution costs to
practically `zilch'.
You can support users on your terms for very little cost to you or the user.
You can establish one-to-one or one-to-many communication directly with the
customer. In many cases the customer will approach you for information.
Your message can easily be tailored to meet the specific needs of the customer
and much of this can be automated to minimize the work involved. Your message
can be delivered to your customer, or customers, by e-mail instantly.
The Internet is a great leveler. For the first time in history big corporations
and small businesses are put on an equal footing. The clever businessperson no
longer has to worry that he or she will not be able to compete because they do
not have the resources to foot a multimillion dollar marketing campaign.
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You receive immediate feedback from potential
customers and can adjust your marketing campaign accordingly.
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You can create order forms and receive orders
electronically. I do it today even with all of the controversy about the
insecurity of financial transactions on the Net. If customers do not feel
comfortable sending credit card information over the Net they will certainly
pick up their telephone and call your 800 number without any hesitation.
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I believe that marketing successfully on the
Internet is more of an art than a science. It is an art that is well worth
learning because the rewards can be enormous.
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Let's jump right in and see how you can take
begin marketing on the Internet
ADVERTISING IS
WELCOMED ON THE INTERNET!
Well, you might say, `I thought advertising on the Internet and World Wide Web
is a no-no'. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let's clarify this once
and for all, advertising on the Internet is welcome. Netizens want information
on useful products and have the capacity to buy lots of stuff.
If businesses follow a few simple steps and abide by proper Netiquette they will
be welcomed on the Internet and will reap tremendous rewards for little
investment. I am living proof of this and you can do the same.
The secret to doing business on the Internet is to make sure that Netizens know
about your business in a non-obtrusive manner. There are an estimated 30,000,000
million Internet users out there. But, it really is a small community in many
ways. Word travels fast and if you have a good product or service Internauts
will find out about it. It is also easy to get the word out to a large portion
of the Internet population.. If you use the proper techniques you can do great
business on the Internet, but I must stress if you use improper techniques
contrary to the philosophy of the Net you will receive a tremendous backlash
that can paralyze your business. You must realize this. People who begin
marketing on the Net blindly are in for a rude awakening.
THE WORLD WIDE WEB
The Web is the fastest growing and, in my opinion, the most exciting section of
the Internet. And to the person who wishes to sell on-line it is a dream come
true. The Web is making front page news in major newspapers and magazines every
day. Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have all
carried prominent stories extolling the popularity of the World Wide Web.
If you are a business person The `Web' is a great way to get your marketing
material into the hands of millions of affluent computer users or to make direct
sales to a global community. And you can do it for very little investment.
One of the things that immediately grabs your attention when using the Web is
it's ability to show graphics and handle video and audio files on the fly. It is
the only portion of the Internet that has these capabilities. The Web is easily
accessed with a browser such as Mosaic, Netscape or Cello. You can read
information on-line or print it to paper.
Many popular Web sites get in excess of 25,000 accesses called `hits' per day!
Imagine have thousands of people reading about your product or service in a
given day. Every day. And beside the direct orders you receive from on-line
buyers you also have the advantage over your competition as being perceived as
`high tech' and differentiating you from the crowd. You can and will use your
World Wide Web address in your conventional marketing literature.
What's selling on the Web today? People are successfully selling everything on
the Internet from pizza to flowers to automobiles. From my experience the
products with the biggest potential are computer related products - software,
books, reports, magazines, hardware, videos, supplies, etc..
GETTING NOTICED ON THE WEB
The question I am frequently asked is, with the thousands of Web pages out there
how can I generate traffic on my Web page? How will people find out about me?
Both very good questions.
There is no central directory or official top to the Web. On CompuServe you have
the Find function and on AOL you have the Keyword function. But on the Web there
is nothing comparable. There is no comprehensive index where everyone does their
searching. In a way this can be used to your advantage. If you are a little more
resourceful than your competition you can get the business by listing your site
in the proper places.
LIST IN THE MAJOR WEB DIRECTORIES
Even though there is no official Top to the Web, the unofficial top is the Web
is generally acknowledged to be the site at CERN. This is the first directory in
which you will want to list your Web site. In addition, you should also list
your site with Lycos, the World Wide Web Worm, What's New on the Web and the
World Wide Web Yellow pages. When I bring new businesses on-line we make sure
that we list them in at least six of the most popular Web directories and
sometimes in as many as 15. It is very important. Some of the popular
directories get in excess of 2,000,000 accesses per month. I get many hits as a
result of being listed in so many directories. In The Internet Marketing
Video/Software Suite I list 20 Web directories you should list your site on for
maximum exposure.
It is extremely important that you make your Web site visually attractive. Use a
nice splash image on your home page. Try to keep the image under 70k.
SET UP LINKS, LINKS and MORE LINKS
Links - hypertext links can bring a tremendous number of people to your Web
site. In fact links are so important that some of the popular sites, such as Hot
Wired, are selling link space on the their Web pages. A link on the What's New
page can cost thousands of dollars a week. But because a popular site can
generate 300,000 hits per week they may be worth it as an avenue to your site.
Many people will do a reciprocal agreement for free. You place a link to the
other persons site on your page and they will place a link for your page on
their site.
When the person clicks on the link they are magically brought to your Web page.
By listing other interesting sites on your Web page you are making your site
that much more interesting and of value to your readers.
MAKE YOUR SITE A CLEARINGHOUSE
Another great way to keep people coming back for more is to establish your site
as a clearinghouse of links to other exciting related site. This can be an
invaluable service and can quickly generate lots of steady traffic. For example
you could create links to all of the music oriented sites on the Web, or all of
the museum sites, or all of the colleges. Or all of the restaurants, and charge
the restaurants to be part of the directory. Many businesses will realize the
advantage of being a part of a centralized location on the Internet and will be
happy to pay you if you can lead people to their sites.
KEEP YOUR SITE CURRENT
It is important to keep people coming back to your site on a regular basis. Make
sure your site is up-to-date and constantly changing. A real estate broker
should have new houses on line and mortgage rates listed, a financial firm
should have the latest market happenings. Lists are always a good way to keep
people interested.
GIVE VALUE
Give something away to people who visit your site, I give away free software to
entice people to visit my site and try out my products. Some people have even
giving away cars as a promotion. But it could be something small - maybe a
mousepad or a free video rental. A publisher could certainly consider giving
away the first chapter or two of a new book. I know of one instance in which a
publisher brought in over $100,000 in sales for one book by letting people try
the first chapter for free.. For a recent offer of mine instead of giving demo
software away for free I decided to experiment and charge $12.95 which could be
used toward the purchase of the product. This pulled many responses.
Remember, the paradigm of the Internet, first give the consumer something of
value and then lead them to your offer. This is by far the most effective way to
do business on the Net. In traditional advertising you are invading the
consumers space and trying to sell them with a hard sell. On the Internet you
are softly leading them to your offer, and it works!
POST TO SELECTED NEWSGROUPS
Another great way to generate traffic on your Web site or to sell directly to
the Internet Community is by posting selected messages in appropriate Usenet
newsgroups. There are over 10,000 different newsgroups on the Internet so you
have a broad choice of subjects to choose from.
Step one is to make a list of the newsgroups you feel are appropriate for your
posting. Here is where you have to be careful. Whereas, on the Web advertising
is accepted and expected on Newsgroups it is controversial. Although no one can
stop you from posting messages, if your posting is deemed as inappropriate you
may get flamed by some readers.
Flaming is the sending of nasty e-mail messages. That is not to say that you
won't get many orders and inquiries as well. Maybe even thousands of orders.
There have been numerous documented cases of companies which have spammed the
Internet. Spamming is posting the same message in many newsgroups. The name spam
originates from a famous Monty Python comedy skit. One company posted to over
5,000 newsgroups in one felt swoop. They were flamed incessantly but they also
made a killing for one nights work -. more than most people make in a year. I do
not condone spamming and feel that it is a bad way to do business but I do
mention it so that you are aware of everything that occurs on the Internet.
Even if you do everything by the book you may still get flamed so I want to
prepare you. I remember the first time I was flamed. It was many years ago on
CompuServe. The message came from someone who did not think it was appropriate
that I mentioned a book that I had published about FoxPro in the FoxForum -
specifically for FoxPro users. I could not understand this, nonetheless this
person wrote me a very harsh message and made me feel really bad about what I
had innocently done. I couldn't believe that someone had actually spent time
writing a two page message to me in response to a tiny message I had posted.
He later must have realized that he had gone too far as he sent me an apology,
after the fact. To this day that message left a mark on me. I had never even
heard the term `flame' and didn't even realize that what was done to me. P.S.
the positive response to my message was fantastic. I went on to publish 9 more
computer books and marketed all of them successfully on-line!
No matter how much care you take you will probably offend someone. If you are
playing by the rules and you get flamed don't let it concern you. It is just
part of doing business on the Internet and the potential rewards are great.
My advice is before you post to a newsgroup read the FAQ's which are the
frequently asked questions concerning the group, most newsgroups have them. Also
become familiar with the culture of the newsgroup so that you do not post
inappropriately.
Beside posting messages about your relevant product answering newsgroup
participants questions is a great way to generate lots of goodwill and business.
For example I frequently answer peoples questions in the Entrepreneur newsgroup.
At the end of the message I always include my signature which mentions my
Internet Marketing 101 Video/Software Suite. This is perfectly acceptable and
generates a lot of business for me. I also include my signature with any e-mail
that I send out. You might think of it as your on-line business card.
All told using newsgroups and mailing lists can potentially make your marketing
material instantaneously available to over 30,000,000 Internet users. And the
cost to reach this huge market is minute compared with traditional advertising.
GO THE EXTRA STEP!!
If you do all of the things we have spoken about you will be off to a great
start and with time will be able to build up a thriving on-line marketing
business.
At this point you should have a good feel for what the Internet and the World
Wide Web are all about. Now, you will want to get hands on experience with
Newsgroups, mailing lists, e-mail, FTP, Archie, Vernica, Gopher Telnet and the
Web. There is nothing like experimenting with each of these Internet components.
At the beginning it will all be a little overwhelming but take my word that
everything will eventually become very clear with practice. And it won't take
that long. It is time well spent because the rewards can be great indeed. This
is knowledge you can use to promote your business or sell to others. It is very
much in demand.
In The Internet Marketing 101 Video/Software Suite we cover every step in a
successful Internet Marketing Campaign. The types of messages to post, where to
post messages, marketing with mailing lists, maximizing e-mail in your marketing
campaign, using Mailbots to automate your responses, using HTML to create a Web
home page, the most cost effective way to get on the Web and much, much more .
Best of luck and I hope to see you on the Net!
Marty Fox is the publisher of The Internet Marketing 101 Video/Software Suite (2
hour video plus software) available for $59 from Future Communications Systems,
Inc. 92 Summit Way, Syosset NY 11791. His voice number and order line is (516)
496-7121 He can be reached on the Internet at future@i-2000.com or CompuServe:
70461,1117
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