Learn Profitable Marketing Strategies

This lens is being created to try and point out some of the pitfalls and successful methods of Internet Marketing.
Making money is the purpose of any business.

First, we need to understand what is going on here on the Internet...



Continual CHANGE, so you might as well get used to making changes. There are some really great and useful things here; but trying to evaluate all the information is a killer. This has led us to networking, finding others with similar areas and interests. This will let us concentrate our efforts in a smaller area if we do a good job finding partners.


Two Main Methods Of Making Money

There is a large group of people that swear that the best way to get started is working as an affiliate. Another group will tell you, you need your own product if you want to make money. It is possible to make money using either method. The process used to market each method will differ. Membership sites are a popular way to make residual income.


Finding A Viable Market...

You probably already have some idea of what you want to market. A good marketing strategy is to do some research and determine if an actual market exists. Maybe we need to define what a viable business market is...

Remember, a business exists to make money, so we are looking for prospects willing to buy what we are selling. These prospects are our market and we need to know as much about them as is possible.

What about competition?

Can I compete here?

How many prospects are there?

What do they want and what are they willing to pay to get it?

Learn their terminology

Dont Make This Mistake


Your idea of what is good, and what the market wants may be entirely different. Don't develop the product and then look for a market; you may be wasting a lot of time and money. Take your time to research and then get started building a good plan. It must be tied to what the market wants and needs and is willing to pay for to be successful.

What are YOU waiting for get busy; don't worry about everything being perfect it never will be. Get your feet wet; make mistakes like the rest of us and learn from them and get better results.

Take ACTION Now!!! The longer you wait the longer it takes!!!

More to follow...

Got lots of Money

You could start by paying someone to do the work for you. If you are like most beginners (newbies) you probably don't have the cash to do it the easy way. Later, you may be able to afford to use paid services but for now...


If Your Not Loaded With Cash, Then...

Start with your idea and use the Internet's free tools to help you research a profitable niche. Search Google™ WordTracker™ and other similar sources to determine your market is one where there is money. How many searches? Are there Ads using the keywords of these sites.


Start here With Keywords

The Search Engines are a great place to start and the cost is right. It is possible to determine several things using the search engines. Keywords are the method search engines use to find what people are interested in gathering information on. So you need to start by determining how people would search to find your niche. If you were looking for something what words would you use?

Make up a list of at least 20 keywords that might be used to find the niche you're interested in. Using the search engines input each of your keywords in many cases they will give you additional keywords being used. Then, begin answering the questions as to whether it is a viable business niche. Pick the top two or three listings and any ads on the page.


Some things YOU need to ask:

Like the amount of competing webpages, also your top competitors. Check out their webpages and determine what makes them work. You may even be able to use the >View>Source on your browser and check out their meta tags related to keywords.
Take NOTES...LEARN

There are a few different ways to get high rankings on search engines but probably the most prevalent is by paying for it. If people are paying for their position it indicates others must be buying. If there are ads or sponsored pages on on the first page the search engine returns; there is a good possibility that a viable market exists. Click on the ads or sponsored pages and check them out, try and determine why they work.


Insurance???

If the ads and sponsored pages show up day after day it is a real good indication that money is being made. That, or some nut is just throwing money away without any return. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and figure money is being made.


Be UNIQUE...
Maybe not quite that unique!!!

You need to remain unique so don't just start copying, create your own model incorporating similar but different ways of presenting your offering. I'm sure you have received email offering exactly the same product sales page and all. What happens after the first couple; I bet you just delete and go on.

Smart marketers find ways to create a unique package

You need to do the same thing.


Some methods being used:

Review Product

Create Tutorial

Offer Bonuses

Write your own sales page

You might find this...

I bet you have read all of this or most of it before; but did you actually apply it?

This method has worked for many and it can save a lot of time and effort. Sorry, there just isn't any magic here; just some easier ways to get started. If you're like most of us; you will still make some mistakes but that's expected. Learn from them and soon you'll be doing things better and easier.

More to follow...

Many people think that successful marketers are lucky or knows magic and maybe they are. Sucessful marketers make what they did sound easy and almost like it happened overnight. When in reality they actually had to work their way to success and it required a lot of effort on their part.



Everyone has to start from scratch and some methods will lead to faster results than others. The more you learn the easier it gets to make better decisions and your luck will usually improve. Understanding what you are trying to accomplish and creating a logical plan to do it is critical both in time and likelyhood of success.

Once you have completed the research and planning; implementing the plan takes center stage. Implementation sometimes will expose some problems with the initial plan and you just have to work through the problems. When the plan has been implemented probably the most important step in the process must be accomplished. Testing to see if you are meeting your expectations for whatever you were trying to accomplish. If not, then your process or some portion of it may require tweaking to attain your expectations. Testing and tweaking may require several tries before successful completion.



There is always the possibility that the best laid plans still fail. Testing will help make this determination much quicker. If after several tries you still haven't reached your expectations; consider moving on. There is no sense spending more money on a losing process or idea. Sometimes you just have to take your lumps and move on.



I had a CEO that once asked me to go take a look at a recent undertaking. It seemed that we couldn't create enough production to sustain a profit. My instructions were to evaluate the process and determine if production would ever allow us to profit. He told me that he would be willing to spend a few more dollars if it was possible to save the project. The last thing he told me was there was no sense putting any more good money on a bad money idea.

We had already invested several million dollars in the project; so I knew it would be best if we could save it. The only problem was I only had one work day for my evaluation. We were lucky it only took a couple minor changes and a few dollars for special tooling to resolve the problem. The next few years we realized a nice increase to our bottom line.

This was a large corporation, but the same thing applies to any business. In the case of small busineses most of the time the pockets may not be as deep(lack of capital). This requires making the right decisions as fast as possible. Testing and tweaking is the fastest way to reach satisfactory completion.

Domain Names...Pick Wisely

If you have completed all your other work; now your ready to begin setting up your website. It will take a little time to decide on the right domain name for your website. It's suggested that it has to follow along with the theme of what you have planned. Some even try to incorporate their main keyword in the domain name. Make a list of what you think will be good names; some will probably already be taken. The domain name can help SEO if picked wisely.


Costs...Look for a good buy

Their are hundreds of domain name registries: I don't know that one is better than another. I usually look for a registry that offers the lowest price. A $7.95 cost will do just as well as a $30 cost. You will be asked for a suffix (.biz, .com, .gov, etc) I suggest .com but that isn't always possible for the name you want. Many registries give alternate name suggestions and it doesn't hurt to look; if your choice name isn't available.


Alternate Possibility:

Some hosts offer free domain names with the purchase of their hosting service. Be sure to check what happens to the domain name if you change hosts; some won't relinquish the domain name. Others will but you will usually have to wait until the date of renewal before you can claim it.


Hosting Services:

Hosting is another area that there are hundreds if not thousands of suppliers wanting your business. Newbies can start with very low cost or free hosting services initially. I would opt for the low cost as they will look more professional; the other usually put ads on your site. Downtime and bandwidth are probably the most critical areas of concern. Bandwidth isn't usually a big problem for a beginner; but check into costs associated if you go over what is assigned.


With More Experience:

As you progress you may want and need more capability. One thing to look into is what happens if you go over your allowed bandwidth. If you do something that uses up your bandwidth purchased initially; the hosting service may charge very high prices for the additional used.


Critical Area

The most critical thing is that the hosting service has a 98% or better uptime. You can't do anything if your website is down; you might want to check with some friends and see what they are using and ask about downtime.


Easy To Use:

There are hundreds of hosting providers available; so I'm sure you can find one that is satisfactory. I started with one that was easy to use; they had templates and it was basically a fill in the blank type site. Then everything was done for you; of course if you wanted any whisles and bells you had to pay extra. They didn't allow for any scripts; today, most hosting services has lots of selections and you can add almost any script.

Of course, this means having to understand a lot more about installation; unless you pay someone to install the scripts for you. Today, most scripts come with pretty easy to understand instructions and the cpanels are fairly easy to understand.


Service Counts

Some hosting services are better at service and I would definitely look for one that provides excellent service. There are many tutorials offered by the better hosting services that can help considerably. Ask lots of questions up front and you will be able to determine the hosts that have the best service. It's always nice if they have 24/7 live chat; that is really nice.


In Conclusion:

There is enough competition in the hosting area that most offer pretty good options at resonable prices. I didn't discuss email accounts or auto responders and they are also important but these seem to be pretty constant among hosting services. Most hosting services offer a form of cpanel and once you get past the learning curve it's pretty straight forward.

TRAFFIC is always one of the subjects that all marketers are always looking to find. There are in my opinion 2 types of traffic; General and Targeted. It is easy to get general traffic; but more difficult to get targeted traffic that converts to sales. Making money is why most businesses exist and they do it by providing a quality product at a reasonable price.

Traffic in general is ok; if you don't have to pay for it. Costs are determined by the conversion rate; and general traffic won't convert to sales that well. Targeted traffic will do much better, and if you did a good job of targeting, conversions and sales should be good.

There are many ways to get traffic; you can buy it, trade for it, subscribe to forums and give valuable information, write good articles, subscribe to forums and give valuable information, and add to comments area of various publications that include a good "signature file" at the end.

Work on search engine optimization and at creating "good" links back to your product or webpage. I place this last because you have less control over the ways search engines evaluate and rank pages. Good relevant content and continually updating is in my opinion the best method of gaining rank and I haven't seen anyone slapped because of it.

I know that all of these methods can work because there are people every where telling of successes using all the above mentioned methods. Social networking has been the big buzz words for sometime now. I haven't been working this area long enough to have learned the ins and outs of it.

I have been participating in a forum discussion about forced continuity that I call recurring payments. I have decided there are basically two opinions depending upon whether you are an affiliate or a purchaser.

Many purchasers have the opinion that it is OK with one condition well maybe two; first it needs to be stated very clearly on the sales page and best if it is next to the purchase button. The second is that the purchaser should have direct control over cancellation.

The second part was because if you authorize someone to collect the payment directly from a credit card; the seller is the only one that can cancel the payment in an easy manner. If contacting the seller doesn't work; it turns into somewhat of a circus. You could cancel the credit card which may end up taking around 6 months and proof every step has been taken to try and take care of the problem. Some say it is best to report the credit card as lost; but I'm not sure that wouldn't just get you another card.

There is an article in the U.K. I forgot who wrote it. I will try and come up with the link. It sounds pretty negative about this method and the possible results. I mention this here as a lesson that may require learning the hard way. Due Dilligence is still the key to some safety in purchasing.

Here is the link

There was a couple things that led me to this position and everything stated here is my opinion based upon many documents and discussions. I just learned of the FTC's new update document about "Can Spam Law" and a video on YouTube by Newt Gingrich.

I hate to say this, but I actually agree with him about most of the situation and the dire straits we have placed ourselves in. I would guess we would take opposite sides on resolving the issues. I believe we look at taking a strong position from very different sides. I believe in strong coalitions and going to war as a last resort; but I wouldn't idly stand by and watch anyone trying to destroy my way of life either. I was a Viet Nam Vet in an unpopular war that we tucked our tails and left; rather than take on China.

Here is a good example of how our government works. They the various agencies speak with a forked tongue in most cases. If they can find a way to make something that can't be deciphered by the common man they are made Directors or at least managers. There is something wrong with a system that tries to create documents that have to interpreted by lawyers and decided by judges.

You did notice I said "interpreted" because that's all you get from a lawyer. It may never be challenged but if that happens look out you may be in court systems for years trying to get a decision.

Most of the time, the common man can't afford the costs associated with such actions. This means that unless someone like the Civil Liberties Union will take the case the common man is left out in the cold. Only large entities can afford such outlays and then they will write them off as tax deduction in many cases.

What's this got to do with marketing?

Most small businesses don't have the capital to take on a major battle in court. Many just give up and shut the doors. Our Government says that a large percentage of jobs being created is in the small business areas.

I just learned that one marketer has been working with the FTC and made suggestions for the "Can Spam Law". You know the one that doesn't do anything to stop spam; but forces every Internet business to keep jumping through hoops. Here is a link to a publication with 109 pages dealing with the "Can Spam Law".

They(FTC) allow the advisors to capitalize on documentation related to the publication. One of the advisors is now selling ($39.95) documentation with there interpretation of the new FTC regulation. They(FTC) enacted it and placed a very short time frame in order to comply with the updated regulation.

I have been advised that the advisor has been trying to create a new revenue stream for someone and I'm sure the Government will get their share. The idea was to charge for any email being sent on the Internet. The only good part is it might impact those sending out bulk spam; but it would also negatively impact many small businesses. Since most send out to large double opt in lists; many of the lists only produce 1 to 4 per cent sales.

The failure rate for small businesses is around 50% and if it is Internet based it is more like 95%. The government intentionally creates regulations that are very ambiguous. That gives them a good excuse for not enforcing them until some court system points at them as being responsible.

The GAO has pointed out many times about the lack of good auditing principles in many Government Agencies. Of course, the GAO is just as bad with no teeth to enforce. We need to downsize the Government and the bureaucracy that spends more time writing positive press releases to protect the directors than accomplishing the job they were created to oversee.

Any Government that creates problems for the majority of people will eventually end. Taxation has caused many a nation to decay and die; and as long as we the people, put up with shoddy work by Government agencies...

The President and his Cabinet, the Legislature's, and the Judiciary are suppose to act as checks and balances to keep the sytem on an even keel. They are elected by the people, or appointed by elected officials; so we have to accept part of the responsibilty for what is going on. The people have to hold their elected officials responsible for making decdisions that is best for all concerned. Instead, it seems that unless you have great wealth and can afford to lobby, you're out of luck. There should be "no" handouts, special considerations, nor money transfer hands without legal ramifications(ever).

The voters should decide on pay raises for anyone elected to office, not the legislature. They evaluate their own merit instead of having an evaluation based upon cost savings. The same goes for insurance and pensions; if the politicians have the same benefits as the comman person. They would have a much better understanding of the problems faced by the middle and lower class.

It is time for a change, but it will have to come from the people. The last President, and his party decided to spend their assets(votes) and push all kinds of things through the legislature. If my memory serves me correct, he didn't win in a landslide; infact it was so close the courts had to decide. I believe his opponent actually had more votes but the electoral college made the final decision.

Their Party philosophy(in my opinion) was to support large business and those businesses would create more jobs and better wages. Funny how that worked, a lot like the war in Iraq that was declared to be won in about a month. Today, our economy is in shambles and the war rages on, the enemy just moves back and forth. They managed to divide us and make us fight on many fronts and the end results are far from clear or over.

BIG business was subsidized even though they increased prices and lowered or just maintained wages. They and their friends were also in the forefront of any government business contracts. Then there is the war in Iraq, and Afganistan; the money just kept flowing to friends and large businesses.

We will have to pay for their spending for years to come; poor planning and under estimating the resolve of the enemy has cost us dearly. They were so busy passing out tax benefits and subsidizing; with no though about responsible accounting. We may never recover, but the President will be leaving a BIG mess for his predecessor, and other newly elected officials. Responsibility, never was his(President's) main suit; but he was very good at spending and using fear as his weapon and driving force.

His resolve to never allow anyone else's opinion to be seriously considered has led to the lowest satisfaction of any recent President. Many of his cabinet members have expressed some opinions after resigning that puts his Presidency in question. If he hadn't been able to have his parties complete backing and support; he would have probably been impeached.

Other leaders have been held accountable for their transgressions to others; this is what happens without checks and balances. If our economy gets back after this Party's lack of responsibility; it will surprise many. When the taxation begins to pay for all the spending; I imagine we will see more large corporations going offshore.

I almost hope the present Party is re-elected; just to see if they would ever govern responsibly, and pay of some of the debt that will be passed on to our children. Who am I kidding, they have already begun showing loyalty to the very things that has led us almost to recession, if we aren't already there and just don't know it yet.

They are writing checks their budget can't cover; and getting loans from China, Kuwaiti, and other foreign countries. That's the reason we can't take a strong stand against many countries that don't value civil rights. WE talk BIG, about maintaining a strong position and protecting our Country; but actually we are in a weaker position now than in recent history (40+ years).

The UK is about the only country even considering taking our side; and they just forced out the last Prime Minister because of his support for the War in Iraq. Russia is beginning to take a much tougher stand against us now; than during President Reagon's tough policies using a large coalition of the World Government's. We are now seen as the "BULLY" instead of the Peacemaker; and some say we are just as bad as those we are fighting.

If small business is to survive, there will have to be some changes made. Major changes and a willingness for us to make responsible decisions and agreing to "pay the piper" for past indiscretions will have to happen. We have done a bang up job of creating a very poor infrastructure and beefing it up will be another expensive undertaking.

Hopefully, we will find better ways of dealing with our resources than we've done in the last 8 years. It will take some forward thinking and someone not afraid to make the tough decisions from the beginning. They won't have time to think about being re-elected; but instead how to correct the poor decisions of the past.

They must maintain a sharp focus on world events and keep preditors at bay; including those from within. They must not think they know everything and quit listening to others with different opinions. They must be uniters not dividers; or we won't recover. It's probably better to carry a big stick and speak softly; than being a bully and using fear and false talk to get your way. Power should only be used as a last result; and then only if the majority of world countries agree.

Small coalitions built to satisfy a false premise will always be hard to defend. We need to get back to a time when we were respected, not feared. Sorry, for getting on a soap box but these are things I believe have caused us to be near recession. CHANGE is a necessity and necessity is the mother of invention; so we may begin using some of our better thinking to get out of this mess.