Posts Tagged ‘internet marketing’

Have you ever searched the internet for a specific product or service?  Of course, you have.  But have you noticed how many results come back on your search?  There are usually hundreds of thousands, or even millions, or results.   That is a lot of competition.  Focusing your internet marketing strategy on a tight niche market will reduce the number of competitors.  Your campaign will reach less people, however you should have a higher success rate.  Finding a good niche could be a goldmine.

What is your Niche?

You may have more than one niche.  We are discussing a single niche campaign in this article.  Just repeat the process for each of your niche markets.  Do not mix them together.  Combining niche markets means you do not have a niche anymore.

If your company sells computer hardware, for example, you will have a lot of competition.  Focusing your campaign on one brand will help you rise above the competition.   If you want to focus on HP, for example, you can target HP Color Laser Printers as one niche, and create more niche campaigns for other products.   Alternatively, you could focus on a particular client, such as doctors’ offices, etc.

Setup Niche Pages

After you identify your niche(s), create special pages on your website that target that niche.  You might even create special websites that target that niche if the niche is lucrative.   Have one or more pages focused on “HP Color Laser Printers” and run ads and link building campaigns to drive traffic to those pages.  These specialized pages will help you gain credibility in that niche market.  You will be able to establish yourself as an expert in those areas.

Grow Your Niche

Visitors who came to your site from one of your niche ads or niche links will end up on your special niche landing page.   As soon as they hit your landing page, set a cookie.  Use that cookie later to flag their customer record.   You will be able to use that information to send targeted ads to them via email.

The buzzwords are changing in the world of Internet marketing.  Your customers do not want to see the big flashy banner ads.  They want to know you as a person.  People want to do business with people they know and trust.  While conventional advertising has its place, being a trusted expert in your industry is critical.

If you ask any expert to help you get 100,000 visitors to your website, they will tell you it can’t be done, or at least you have to spend a lot of money to do it. If you use conventional methods then this is true. But let’s think out of the box. What if you could get your message in front of millions of people for free? What if you could do that instantly, for free, and as often as you want? There is a brand new frontier for Internet marketing and it’s called Social Media Optimization, or SMO.

So what is Social Media Optimization (SMO)? SMO is using social media web sites to promote your own web site, products, or services. Social media websites are all those websites where you can create a profile page and interact with others users with messages and videos. Sites like www.myspace.com , www.facebook.com , www.youtube.com , www.plaxo.com , www.linkedin.com , www.twitter.com , www.craigslist.com , www.ebay.com , www.wikipedia.org , and many more. Social media optimization is the art of using those sites to promote your own site. It takes a little practice, but master the art of SMO and you’ll have more traffic than you can imagine.

Objective #1 – Target Your Audience!
Your website must have products or information of interest to your audience. If you have more than one target customer, then you may need more than one “landing page”. Your landing page should captivate the visitor. If you are selling an e-book on marketing that caters to musicians, for example, then build a page that that touts that book and creates urgency for them. If you sell a similar e-book on marketing that caters to used-car salesmen, then create an entirely different page for them. Then promote the different pages separately. Have an entirely different campaign for each e-book.

Objective #2 – Sell Them Now or Lose Them Forever!
Urgency is the key to Internet marketing. Just assume that if your customer leaves your website then they are gone forever. Your marketing pages should sell a product, give away a product (in exchange for contact information), or collect their contact information for an email, blog, or newsletter. Don’t let them get away.

Social Media Marketing Basics
Nearly all of the social media sites allow you to add a link to your own website. You can add links to the profile page on most sites. You may be able to add links in the descriptions of videos you upload. Many popular blogs allow you to add links when you write comments that add value to their blogs. Start with youtube.com, then add your own site(s) on digg.com, del.icio.us, and other bookmark sites. Put links like [digg this], [add to yahoo.com], and RSS subscribe links on your blog pages. The concept is simple. You want a link to your website to be created on those popular sites. Master that art form and you will see your traffic explode.

I know you want to know more about this. It is a learning journey at first, but before long you will be a master. There are tips all over the Internet that can help as well. Now that you know about SMO you are well on your way to being a master Internet marketing.