Wednesday, January 17, 2007

5 Essential Marketing Tools For Starting A Successful Internet Home Business




5 Essential Marketing Tools
(For Starting A Successful Internet Home Business)
Copyright © 2007 Titus Hoskins

Lets start with this one cold hard fact: creating a successful
Internet home business is not an easy task. It takes hard work
and a whole lot of strategic planning. Anyone who tells you
otherwise is probably trying to sell you something!

Building any solid business takes hard work and planning. Why
should creating a successful business on the Internet be any
different? Just because you're dealing with computers and a
world wide marketplace doesn't mean it will be easy to construct
and build a successful enterprise. It will take some work and
effort on your part.

However, knowing what tools to use and some vital marketing
knowledge will make your task much easier and much quicker.
The Internet does have its own unique tools and methods which
you should be familiar with before you start any web business.
Complete knowledge of these marketing tools and information
will greatly increase your chances of creating a successful
Internet business.


1. Domain Name/Website

You must start with a Domain Name - most marketers either make
their domain something catchy and short that visitors will
quickly remember such as Digg.com, BestBuy.com, Yahoo!.com or
they will directly tie in their main product or service in the
domain such as Hotels.com, YouTube.com, Carloans.com and so on.

Your domain must be attached to a well designed and easy to
navigate website. Preferably one that is professionally
designed and equipped with all the commercial tools you need
like a shopping cart and payment system. Like any business,
you must try to accept all the major credit cards and display
all the proper trust building icons such as 'Better Business
Bureau'...

Most professional online marketers keep graphics to a minimum
and highlight their main benefit or product in a headline at
the top of your webpage. You only have a few seconds to impress
your prospective customer so summarize your whole site in one
short benefit-loaded phrase or slogan. Be precise and direct
in your presentation.


2. Keywords/SEO Strategy

Keywords, what surfers type into search engines to find
what they're seeking on the web, are the real cornerstones
of any online website or business. You must find out the
exact phrases and words people are using to find your
product or service and target these keywords with your
online site. Create pages and content on your site to
draw in this targeted traffic. As a general rule, the
more targeted your traffic/visitors are, the greater
your conversion rate, i.e. the more sales you will make.

Professional online marketers do keyword research and a whole
lot of testing to find the right high converting keywords that
virtually guarantees sales. These marketers find the buyers at
the right stage in the buying process, where customers already
have their minds made up and are ready to buy. For example,
someone searching for 'cars' is not as targeted as someone
searching for '2007 Ford Mustang with Shelby GT exterior design'.

Savvy marketers use professional keyword research software
such as Keyword Elite or use such sites as GoodKeywords or
Overture (Yahoo! Search Marketing) to find the number of monthly
searches for the keyword phrases they target with their sites.
Many online businesses outsource their keyword/link building to
SEO specialists who do this job for them. These firms develop
a long term SEO strategy of building links to targeted keyword
phrases, thus building a successful business in the process.


3. AutoResponder/Opt-in Lists

The AR or AutoResponder is one of the most essential tools
to building a successful online business. You must set up an
Opt-in system on your site to capture the contact information
of your visitors, this will increase your traffic and dramatically
improve your sales. It has been proven that it takes 5 to 6
follow-up emails before a customer buys your product or service.

It just makes good business sense. You must build a list of
potential customers for your business. The AutoResponder makes
this possible and is unique to the online world. You simply place
a form on all your webpages to capture the name and email address
of your visitors for further follow-up and contact. Instead of
a surfer visiting your site just once, you draw them back again
and again with special offers, deals or a daily/weekly newsletter.

The key element that makes the AutoResponder such a powerful
marketing tool is trust! The Internet is still a very distrustful
place. You simply use the AutoResponder and your follow-up
system to build trust and a sense of loyalty from your potential
customers. Once this trustful relationship is built, running a
profitable business online will be easy.


4. RSS/Blog

Blogs and RSS feeds are essential online business tools. As we
saw above, building a trustful relationship is very important
to doing business online. Keeping an online Blog or daily journal
is another way of building trust and keeping in contact with your
customers or clients. Everyone likes to be a part of a group, a
member of the club - having a company blog will help keep everyone
a member of your business.

Blog and RSS feeds are a way to instantly connect with your
visitors or customers. Podcasting and broadcatching (video casting)
are excellent ways to more personally connect with your clients.
Videos are all the rage right now and savvy marketers are using
them in their advertising and marketing. Why should Google and
YouTube had all the fun?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication, original acronym stood for Rich
Site Summary) will get your sales message out to your customers
quickly. With the upcoming release of the RSS powered Windows
Vista expect RSS to play an even greater role in your whole
Internet experience. Make sure you have at least one RSS feed
on your online business site.

5. Articles/Syndication Software

People want information first, products second. Regardless of
what you're selling or the type of online business you want to
create, always keep in mind potential customers want information
first and then the sales pitch. Give people good solid information
and they will more likely buy from you. You must pre-sell your
online business or product.

One of the best ways to pre-sell is by using articles. Simple
informative, how-to, 500-700 word articles on all aspects of your
online business. Place these articles on your own site and syndicate
them around the web by using article distribution software or by
submitting to such online article directories as Ezinearticles.com,
Goarticles.com, Ideamarketers.com and Articleally.com - make sure
you place a link back to your online business within the resource
box at the end of each article.

Articles are an effective way of drawing very targeted customers
to your site or business. Each article is a marketing tool in its
own right. Create a whole army of these articles and you will see
a marked increase in online visitors and customers.

As mentioned before building a successful online business is not
an easy task. It does take some strategic planning and a whole lot
of marketing tools with the knowledge to use them properly. But
anyone can create a successful home business with the right
equipment and the right attitude. You now have some excellent
starting points, the next step is really up to you.




...

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous niche
websites, including two sites on Internet Marketing. For the latest
and most effective web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools
If you're trying to start a web business and don't know where to begin,
why not try these excellent free training manuals and videos: Copyright © 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.