We all make mistakes offline as well as online - hopefully you learn from your mistakes. Here are five things you should make sure are correct for your online business to be a success.
1. Not Advertising
Too many people put together a decent Web site and then expect hundreds of searchers to find it on the WEB. They are sorely disappointed when no one does. To be successful in Internet Marketing you have to accept that advertising is the key that opens the door to riches. There are so many ways you can advertise your site from pay-per-click (perhaps the quickest and most popular) to Ezine advertising. Remember there are thousands of sites competing for the same business what makes your site stand out is good advertising, without it, attracting new customers to your site is slim.
The good news is that you don't have to spend a lot of money to advertise your site effectively. Writing articles and submitting them to ezines that represent the products you sell will bring targeted traffic to your site. You cannot get targeted web site traffic by spending $9.99 per thousand visitors.
2. Poorly Designed Web Site
If your web site looks like it has been thrown together by someone who 'will do you one for $20' it will be seen as just that. This not to say that you need to spend a $1000 having a site designed that is all singing and dancing (unless of course you need it to). There is plenty of help, web site templates and software available so you can design your web site to be user friendly without spending a fortune. Remember your WEB site is your shop front, it is your link with your customers and the more professional looking you can make it the more confidence your visitors will have in you.
3. Properly Optimized
Over 70% of online purchases come from search engine traffic. In other words they come from searchers entering a term in their browser and clicking on a site that appeals because the headline and advertising text appears to solve the problem they have.
Make sure your online marketing strategy includes some work on important keywords then scatter them throughout you web site making sure all the time that your content reflects your products and relevant keywords. The aim of this is to increase search engine traffic. You can uncover top searched keywords with programs such as Overture; Wordtracker and my favourite tool keyword elite.
4. Your Customer is King
Keeping your customers happy is vital to your future business; both offline and online existing customers will buy over and over if you keep them happy. Do not forget them! It is easy today to set up your autoresponder to contact your customers on a regular basis, monthly at least, keeping your name before them by offering interesting and helpful content will build there confidence in you as someone who really cares. Over 90% of purchasers online never hear from the person they bought from after the initial purchase. Another little tip which is vital in customer service put your contact details on your site, at least an email address. I do not advocate putting your phone number on your site as a client at the far side of the world may not appreciate that because they are wide awake where they are it is really 3 am where you are.
5. Keep Your Site Alive
Have you had a look at your own site lately... I am always amazed the number of sites I visit that do not change their content over a period of time. I am not saying that you should change the content daily but certainly keep your site fresh. When writing content there is always something you can alter just to freshen things up. If you do not you are possibly telling a potential customer that you are a dead site. Remember not everyone visiting your site will buy on their first visit. They may come back over and over before making that decision to go ahead, so changing your content at least on a six monthly basis will give them confidence knowing that you are in business to do business
In my offline business I stress to my clients the importance of competitor analysis and market research. Just because you have launched your product this work does not stop. Fortunately the tool I use for keyword analysis also has a programme that will automatically monitor you main competitor sites to see if they have changed the keywords the bid on and other things.
I hope that by following the simple rules above you will experience the difference between success and failure whether you are new to online marketing or fairly experienced. Your WEB site is your business treat it the same as you would if you had a physical store, sweep the floor, alter your displays, make it interesting to the casual viewer and they will become your customers.
