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One of the most common questions I get is ‘How can I make money online?’ Typically this comes question comes from business owners, website owners and small business owners who seem to have just awoken to the fact that the internet is not a fad. It’s either that or they have just become tired of hearing about other businesses that are literally thriving online.
I guess their simple solution could be to keep telling themselves that the internet is just for ‘those other guys’, whoever ‘those other guys’ are. Or they can get involved and start discovering how to market their company online. What’s really funny to me is the fact that the internet (and of course, your company website) is so well suited to growing a small business I can’t believe how many small business owners still don’t get it. They just don’t get the basics of internet marketing.
Understand what marketing is
In the first place, you really need to step back and understand what marketing is. Marketing is not sales (although the end result of a good marketing campaign would be to make a sale). Marketing, regardless of whether it is online or not, is just about getting people interested in what you’re selling. Marketing is creating the want for your product or service. In short, marketing is generating the qualified lead for your business. After all, you can’t sell anything to anyone unless you start with a qualified lead. That is, a person who actually wants what you’re selling.
Internet Marketing Starts with Your Company Website
Your internet marketing strategy has to start with your company website. Suffice to say that it would be next to impossible to carry out any meaningful online marketing without one. Now the actual construction of your company website can have a serious effect on your marketing efforts, but that is far beyond the scope of this information and I don’t want to get way off topic. (We cover that in our 5 day Internet Marketing eCourse that’s available when you download the Free Report entitled The ABC’s of Internet Markeitng) What we want to focus on here is what you do with that website in order to set up your online marketing efforts.
The real problem is that once the company website is set up and online live, most business owners tend to sit back and have visions of new sales dancing in their heads. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Those visions typically disappear rather quickly and are followed by the sickening reality that their website isn’t doing anything for their company sales and that’s when they quickly loose interest. They simply don’t understand that just because they built a ‘cool’ site that looks a lot better than their competitors, it’s still not doing anything for their bottom line profits or company sales.
Then What is Your Company Website Really for?
What the average small business owner misses about their company website is that it’s only real function is to attract and generate qualified leads. It’s only once you grasp that can you proceed to develop a plan to market online to your qualified leads.
Oh sure, the website showcases products and all of that. Most business owners treat their website like it was an electronic catalogue. That’s ok, but that’s only one small part of the website’s real function. Understand that statistics prove over 98% of first time visitors leave your website without taking any action. Did you really understand that? What that statistic means is that out of 100 first time visitors, more than 98 of them will leave your website without taking any action, never mind converting into a sale! So now that you have this fancy website, who are you going to market to?? Sort of reminds me of that old saying that “it’s like winking at the girls in the dark; You know what you’re doing, but they don’t!”
The Fundamental Internet Marketing Mistake
Therein lies the fundamental reason why most small business owners start searching for those deep and closely guarded secrets of internet marketing. They have set up a company website expecting it to miraculously start generating business. In reality, they’ve been winking at the girls in the dark. They don’t have an audience to market to.
Don’t Worry... All is not lost. You can still Create Your Internet Marketing Plan!
The first place to start with your online marketing is to understand these basic facts. When it comes to your company website, more than 98% of first time visitors leave without taking action. Your first plan must be to do something about that. Ok, you can’t stop them from leaving, but you can get them interested enough to give you an e-mail address, can’t you?
The best internet marketing tip you will ever get is to understand that before you can start to market online to anyone, you must have an audience. If your company website isn’t generating that audience, you have to make the changes so that it does. Once you have that audience, you will be able to unroll your online marketing plans and start building your business.
What we hope to share with you is the information you need to do just that. Convert your company website into a true selling machine. Utilize all the resources you have so that you build your audience and develop your internet marketing plan. Doing so will prove rewarding. Oh yeah, did I mention, it’s profitable too!
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