7 Strategic Methods to Promote Your Website

Internet marketing doesn't have to be difficult. This page consists of seven methods you can use to make your web site more profitable. You may use these methods to start an online business or to bring more customers and profits to your present Internet company. Here you'll learn ways to promote your online business that get results.

Putting up an Internet site is just like building a store in the middle of nowhere. You've got the store, but no traffic!!! Here's where a marketing edge pays off. You must now figure out a way to get the traffic coming. They're not coming to you so you're going to have to go get them. You can do just that using some of these marking tips.

1. Finding Your Target Market

Your online business should provide a product or service that a certain target market wants. Believe it or not, there are some products and services that don't do very well on the Internet.

Two of the most important things to know about your business are:

1. Who are your target customers?
2. Are they are on the Internet?

These two pieces of information could determine your success or failure with your online business. So, first of all, find out what type of person would become a potential customer and if they are online. This will give you a definite Internet marketing advantage.

Once you've established that your target customers are on the Internet, you can begin promoting your site to those target customers.

Before designing your web site, ask yourself the following questions:

A. Is the price reasonable for my product or service?
B. Is my web site designed to provide information or to just sell, sell, sell? (Internet customers are looking for information, not advertising.)

C. Is my web site too flashy? (Make sure your Internet site looks like a business and not a fly by night advertisement.)

D. What type of guarantee can I offer to establish trust with my customers and remove the risk?

E. Do I have testimonials to offer? (A testimony from a past customer is one of the most powerful tools in selling products or services.)

F. Is my Internet site address on all of my printed materials such as business cards, ads, flayers, envelopes, invoices, etc.?

G. Do I want my Internet business to become a success?

2. What is Your Customer Looking For?

Marketing on the Internet requires you to put yourself in your customer's shoes. If you were to accidentally stumble onto your own site and were a potential customer, would you stay in the site to see what it has to offer?

Does Your Headline Compel Visitors to Stay?

To insure that your home page will be results oriented, the headline at the top of the page should offer some type of benefit to your potential customer. You only have about a couple of seconds to keep that customer in your web site.

Remember, at the click of the mouse, they're gone forever!

Your company name is not your headline unless the name offers some type of benefit to the customer (e.g. If "Own Your Car at a Low Price" is your company name, then it can also be used as your headline. But, if "Sam's Used Cars" is the company name, do not use it.)

The headline is the most important part of the page. It will determine whether the customer stays in your site or not. Make sure that your headline offers a benefit to your customer, demands an action from your customer, and is compelling enough to read on.

Special Note: You can also test different headlines on the Internet to see which one brings results.

The wonderful thing about the Internet is that you can change your web site as many times as you want at no extra charge. This enables you to try different headlines, promotions, products, and services. It's great! So, take advantage of the opportunity to increase your traffic and profits. You can get more tips on writing headlines that pull by going to our Headlines Help Hot-line.

3. Fill It Up -- Move 'Em Out!

Online marketing should be packed with benefits for the customer. You're still thinking about the benefits that you can offer, right?

Hope so. Now that you know who your target market is and have a compelling headline, you're ready to "fill it up with goods." Your web site is almost identical to having your own store. If you owned a brick and mortar retail clothing store, what would you fill your store with? Probably clothes; and plenty of them! Your store would be made up of different styles, designs, sizes, and combinations, and would offer related accessories to meet other needs. Your online business should do the same.

To have an effective online business, you must offer plenty of information, benefits, and extras. Your customer likes to feel that there is great value in logging on to your site. Offering free information and benefits related to your product or service helps your customer to feel more like they're in a store - "Just Looking"!

If your site offers plenty of information and added value, the customers will not feel as though you are just there to sell them something. They will know that you are sincere and that you are in it for the long haul, not just for a quick buck. Building this type of relationship with the customer will bring sales, repeat business, and referrals. Earning the confidence and respect of your visitors is still the best method for successful Internet marketing.

4. Become a Success "Borrower"

Remember the old saying, "If you want to be successful, do what successful people do.."? This is exactly what I would suggest you do on the Internet. This stuff is not that difficult ... It's easy!

Visit Internet sites that you know are successful and model your Internet site after these. Get specific. Study sites that sell products or services similar to yours. You may not do everything identical to that company's site, but it will give you some great ideas.

When you visit the site for the first time, ask yourself, "What is it about this site that makes me want to own their product or service?". Use the same techniques in your own web site design and you will be miles ahead of your competition and much closer to online success.

5. Establish Credibility

In addition to giving customers the many benefits and advantages of your product or service, you also want to be believable. To establish credibility, you can use testimonials from past customers, other well known company names that are affiliated with you, and a strong guarantee.

The Strong Guarantee

When it comes to marketing on the Internet, the guarantee is one of the most powerful ways to close a long hard sell. Your guarantee should be the one final thing that makes your product irresistible and risk free.

The stronger the guarantee, the better! Many company owners are afraid to use guarantees. A misconception is that too many customers will take advantage of it and send the product back. To the contrary, that's not the case at all. Over and over, companies that have tested very strong guarantees ended up with less complaints and returns than those who offered none at all. Also note, the companies that offered the strong guarantee tremendously increased in sales as well.

The guarantee compels the customer to buy, but is often forgotten once the customer receives their product or service. If you are offering a good, dependable, and useful product or service, you can and should use the strong guarantee. (Remember, you can test this on the Internet at no extra charge.)

Extra: Credibility of your online site can also be established by placing your company name, address, phone, and e-mail address on each page of your site. Every page in your site should continuously be marketing your company name.

6. Getting Up Close & Personal - You Can Do It!

Keep it personal. Think about it. Country music radio stations all play basically the same type of songs. What makes one station more popular than others? The Announcer! The presentation and introduction of the music along with the personality of the announcer counts.

Talk to your customers as if you were face to face with them. Each sentence or link that you place on your Internet site should be written directly to the customer with the focus being on them, not yourself. This makes the customer feel as though he/she is the top priority in your site. It also places an actual person behind the scenes of your company, not just a computer.

Another way to keep it personal is to write a brief summary about yourself and employees and how the company was started. You may even desire to place pictures of yourselves on that page (put a face with the name). As in any business, people trust who they know.

7. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simply Simple)

When marketing on the Internet, make it quick and simple for your customers to buy from you.

It's amazing how some Internet sites are very compelling, interesting, and are selling fantastic products, but you couldn't buy them if you wanted. It's not only a waste of time and effort, but is also a disappointment when you get ready to buy something that you really want or need and can't do it! That's why your site should offer a simple way for the customer to purchase your product or service.

On your Internet site, the customer should be able to click straight to the purchasing page from each product or service that he/she has chosen. When the customer gets to the purchasing page, there should be several options to purchase the product such as by fax, credit cards, mail in, call in, online order form, etc. Check each purchasing option often to make sure that it is functioning properly. This is critical because you could lose many sales just by the order form being "out of order."

I hope these 7 steps will help you to become outrageously successful in your Internet marketing journey. Be sure to check out our other free marketing articles as well. But, if you're really serious about becoming extremely successful online, go here. Tons of success tips in this detailed Internet marketing course. I highly recommend it.

About the Author

Article written by Candice Pardue, Online Success for Internet Business. Go here to learn web design from start to finish. This one's for beginners...
http://www.webmastercourse.com/learn/web/design/from/home/

About the author

Emir Plicanic owns and operates a web design company (Asari), is a graphic designer at a nation wide company, and enjoys teaching Dreamweaver to enthusiastic students at a local college.