Archive for June, 2009
The best part of being able to work from home online is the freedom to do what you want to do when you want to do it. But you must remember that it takes time, dedication and consistency to actually see results.
Website and product promotion is the piece of the puzzle that most people miss. Most believe in the “If I build it, they will come” philosophy. Well, let me tell you from experience that that’s not realistic at all.
There are literally billions of websites that have been published. Most of them get absolutely no traffic at all. Why is that? Because no one knows they exist. You can build the most beautiful website in the world and have the best products but if no one sees your website, you’re going to be just another statistic.
So, I’m sure you want to know…..what do you do?
Let’s go into my two favorite free ways of promotion first. Most people who are starting an online business are a little tight on cash and want to save money whenever possible.
1. Blog about your business. There are many free blog services out there and they are very user friendly and easy to set up. For example, you can get free blogs at the following sites: Blogger (Google’s blog site), Squidoo, Hubpages, and Wordpress. There are many others, but, in my opinion, these are the best places to start.
When blogging about your business, it’s important to not do a “hard sell”. It’s a turn-off to many people and probably won’t help you at all. Instead, try to offer up some free information or advice that is related to what you’re selling. Then you can direct them to your website or affiliate site with links (very important) from within the blog. For example, if you are selling golfing items, you could write a blog on how to correct a slice or do a review on the newest driver on the market. If you don’t have this knowledge, do some research. My experience has been that you can find just about anything you need if you “Google” the specific topic.
When linking back to your website from your blog, you will want to use your keyword phrase as the “anchor text” for your link. For instance, if “golf shoes” is your keyword phrase, you would use this phrase to build your link and “golf shoes” would then become a “hyperlink”. I’m sure you’ve seen a hyperlink before – it’s text that’s usually a different color and sometimes underlined that when clicked takes you to another website or location. Building quality backlinks to your site will assist in boosting your search engine rankings and the more, the better.
If you build a blog that contains good information, you will build a base of viewers who frequently return to see what other information you may provide. After you gain their trust, they may become a customer.
2. Write articles about your subject. I know, I know, that’s a frightening thought. But I read articles every day that are written by ordinary people – just like you and me – and they’re not going to win a Pulitzer Prize for their work. Unless you have some true gift, neither are you. But good information, tips and advice are always good for business.
Do a little research before you begin. Go to Ezine Articles and see what other people are writing about on that subject. Get some ideas, then sit down and start writing. You just might surprise yourself. The more you write, the better you will get and the easier and faster it will become.
The same rules apply for articles as with blogs. They should be informational and not promotional in nature. Save the promotion for your bio box. That’s where you can add your hyperlink to your site using your keyword phrase and can sell yourself or your products a bit. Just be tasteful when doing it.
That’s it for today….More later…..
Being able to work from home online has it’s perks, however, it also comes with a lot of decision making.
Ok, at this point, you’ve chosen your niche. You’ve done your keyword research to ensure that you’re choosing the right niche, one that is popular and sells very well. You’ve also chosen the keywords that you will use to actively promote your site. In case you didn’t already fill out the form to get your free copy of our “Everyone Needs Free Internet Marketing Resources”, you should do so now. There is a great site listed that offers videos on every aspect of internet marketing, including keyword research. Watch it. This is one of the most important decisions you will make regarding your new business.
Only after you’ve chosen your keyword(s) should you even attempt to pick out a domain name. Your domain name does not need to be cute or clever, it needs to contain your keywords which should describe exactly what your site is about.
Next you need a website. There are many places to get the easy-to-use website builders, including most hosting/domain companies. If you’ve chosen a product that you have to build a website around, check out the competition – especially the ones who rank the highest in the Google searches. See what they offer on their site as far as information, support, pricing, etc. You’ll want to make your site is appealing and professional. If spelling words correctly is not your cup of tea, be sure to have someone else double-check your work. Nothing turns people off faster than a site that contains bad spelling and incorrect grammar.
It could be that you’ve chosen to join an “affiliate” program. This is the fastest way, in my opinion, to get up and running with a ready-made online business. I like to think of it as a business in a box. You would be supplied with a website, marketing materials, support, etc. You would never have to deal the customer’s questions, money or support issues. You would promote and sell these products and be paid a commission for doing so. Commissions typically range between 30%-70% of the sales price of the product. You can check out a blog post I wrote concerning the key elements of choosing an affiliate program to join: www.squidoo.com/Work_From_Home_Online_Tips
Next Lesson: Time to promote!
We all have to start somewhere but sometimes that’s the problem – knowing where to start and what to focus on when starting our work from home online business.
The Internet Marketing field is vast and it can easily become overwhelming, causing you to lose your way. Follow these tips to keep you on track so that you can focus on making money.
1. Choose a niche that you’d like to be involved in. Try not to pick something that you personally are interested in but doesn’t appeal to others. That’s a sure fire way to fail. When considering your niche or product, think about future sales to the same group of people. Is the product a one-time shot or are there other items you could sell to your buyers that would complement the main product? You should strive to maximize your efforts by building a base of repeat customers.
2. Make sure there is a market for what you plan to sell. One of the ways you can do this is to go to ebay Pulse. It lists the most popular items and searches on ebay. Another way you can determine if your niche has any marketability is to check to see how many searches are conducted in the search engines for it. Choose a word or phrase (keyword) that best describes your product or service. If there are not many searches for a product, chances are you won’t be very successful. If there are millions of searches a month for a particular product, it means it is in demand, however, you may have to focus on a more targeted area of that particular field. To start your keyword research, I personally use Google. You can also find other keyword research websites listed in our Free Internet Marketing Resource Manual (see previous post for details).
When looking for the best keywords, it is best to find the most highly searched with the lowest competition. Less than 500k competitors is medium competition, less that 200k is low competition.
3. If you are not familiar with internet marketing, take the time to educate yourself and learn the basics. Doing so will save you tons of time, effort and MONEY! This can be a very expensive venture if you jump in without knowing at least a little about what you are doing. There is a section in our Free Internet Marketing Resource Manual that provides you with a series of internet marketing videos. Take a few minutes of your time to view these.
4. Beware of those who try to get you to spend a ton of money to join their “program”. The truth of the matter is that internet marketing should not cost you a lot of money in the beginning. There are many free methods of promotion that will give you results. After you’ve established yourself, you can scale your efforts and include the ones that are not free.
Once you’ve chosen your product and completed some basic education, it’s time to get started. Next lesson -
That’s right. There are actually companies on the internet that offer their products and services totally free of charge – services you may be paying for right now. It’s certainly worth taking a look and seeing where you can trim a few dollars. Some of these sites offer services you probably didn’t even know existed. It’s pretty incredible.
Check it out here: Free Internet Resources Manual
I hope you enjoy our free gift to you!
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope this becomes your “go-to” place for internet marketing information. Our goal is to supply you with up-to-date and useful information that will make your internet marketing business much more enjoyable and profitable. Don’t miss our free gift – a resource you will not want to be without if you are online working or intend to be.
I hope you’ll like it enough to check back often to see what new tid-bits we’re offering!
Let’s get this party started!
Susan
