THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF INTERNET MARKETING - PART TWO by Craig Lock
About the author:
Craig Lock has been marketing products online
for the past six years. Craig is a writer, who believes in
sharing information, as well as encouraging and helping others
to find their talents and gifts, to strive for and accomplish
their dreams in life - whatever they may be.
*
To follow on from Part One...
6. Do not launch your product before the market is ready for
it. Test the market first by doing a survey. Ask yourself: Is
there a NEED for your particular product? In what way is it
distinctive (and superior) to the competition (world-wide,
remember!)? Have all your systems in place to market it... then
always remember, all products have a definite life cycle...and
some are relatively short.
7. Take the business of internet marketing seriously. The world
online population is exploding daily and exponentially (big
word, eh...but what does it mean?). I'm not sure how many people
are online world-wide, but think it may be in the order of
150-200 million at present and increasing daily. In addition, I
"guess" there are a similar number of web sites (and many more
pages) "up there in cyberspace". So the competition is "pretty
stiff"! As the "cyber-revolution" gathers momentum, imagine if
everyone is online one day? Impossible perhaps, but who knows!
What will that do for your business and you? An unlimited target
market for your PRODUCTS - if you are still going strong by
then. VERY EXCITING!
8. Have an effective web presence. Your site should explain
immediately what the visitor will get for their time online. If
it is not clear WHY they should stay, they'll leave before they
try to find out. Therefore make your site as interesting and
informative as you can. I've seen many sites, where I don't know
the webmaster's objective, their purpose. Are they purely for
information, or trying to sell something? Make sure your site
loads quickly, because people soon get tired of waiting in
today's fast /instant (coffee) world.
9. Always remember MARKETING YOUR PRODUCT EFFECTIVELY is the
key to the success of your business. If you don't get adequate
results, you'll soon be out of business... as recurring bills in
the post-box without income to pay them soon take all the fun
out of your venture into "cyber" self-employment.
I spend at least two hours a day purely on internet marketing:
mainly through my various article submissions to various lists.
Most effective!
Don't forget to use traditional methods of marketing to promote
your business, as in advertising (radio, news- papers,
brochures, and the most effective of all, word of mouth in your
local community). The two strategies (both on-line and
off-line), I believe, work best together in your marketing plan.
I plan to do more off-line advert- ising, by allocating a
portion of revenue to marketing, as it comes in.
Even if you have the greatest product in the world, you will
never sell anything if you don't tell people about it. It's like
having a billboard in the middle of a forest or a desert. An
example: Just because you have a phone number in the phone book,
doesn't mean that a stranger will call you. So it is absolutely
vital that you advertise effectively to bring people to your
site; because without advertising, there will be no TRAFFIC...
and without prospects there will be NO SALES. And without sales
there will soon be no business!
...and finally and most importantly,.
* 10. We are at the forefront of one of the most innovative and
far-reach- ing inventions in human history. The net is the most
cost- efficient, INSTANTANEOUS, EXCITING and effective way of
marketing products and services around the globe through modern
telecommunications. We live in one of the most exciting times in
human history; so exploit the AMAZING POWER of the internet to
reach hundreds of thousands of people and perhaps even millions
around the world. Use your creative energies and imagin- ation
to the fullest, by thinking of new ideas of how to market your
particular products. I keep a notebook by my bedside and leave
to my creative subconscious mind just before I go to sleep. And
we all have great powers of imagination as the source for
creative ideas, through the amazing power of the human mind.
Share them to make the lives of other people around the globe
easier in some way.
SUMMARY:
I believe INTERNET MARKETING is the KEY to internet success,
especially if you have a limited marketing budget, like us. As
mentioned, I allocate at least two hours a day purely to
internet marketing, through submitting my articles on numerous
subjects to various ezines and publishing resources. I find it
by far the most effective way of free advertising to get traffic
(= SALES) . Always remember to have a resource box at the end of
each article, together with your web site address.
Carefully monitor what's working for you and what's not on a
regular basis. REVIEW YOUR STRATEGIES REGULARLY.
FOCUS ON WHAT ACTIONS GET THE BEST RESULTS.
Remember Bill Gates's wise words: "There'll be two types of
business in the year 2000 : those online... and those out of
business.
A few final words to summarize...
There are no 'magic secrets', and there is nothing mystical
about making money online. Other than the advertising budget,
it's a level playing field around the world and anyone, like the
self-employed entrepreneur working from home, like you and I,
can compete with the "big guys". And we have ONE BIG ADVANTAGE:
These corporations are too unwieldy to react swiftly to changing
circumstances and markets. So we "one and two man bands running
our technology through number eight fence wire* have got the
jump on them".
* Only joking, but Kiwis (New Zealanders) have a reputation for
ingenuity (big word) - mainly caused by our geographical
isolation near the bottom of the world.
(Note correct word order!)
With heaps of hard work, dedication, discipline and a little
perseverance, I believe absolutely anyone can achieve online
success, even taking on the big corporations. At Eagle
Productions, working in association with Bill Rosoman of the New
Zealand Enterprise Centre and Nugrow Technologies, we've done it
all on an absolutely "shoestring" budget (no-one could believe
the story!), lots of hard graft and heaps of pure faith. We have
been reasonably successful to date (the past six years), but
have hopes of far greater success in the future. No matter, we
are enjoying the journey in a totally new field and are having
great fun learning and extending ourselves each day. I hope you
too take pleasure and have great success as you travel along
your very individual journey in "cyberspace".
No matter where you may live on this planet, cyberspace can
produce income to so many "budding netrepreneurs" . The www
gives 'ordinary people' without much capital, like you and I, a
great BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY: the opportunity of self
employment(and of a life-time) by reaching out to a GLOBAL
market-place. Each one of us has a responsibility to ourselves
and our families. It is up to each one of us to reach out and
help many people around the world through being innovative and
original in our ideas... and the money we earn from selling our
array of unique products can be used for many good purposes,
like perhaps even helping others achieve their dreams. In doing
that, WE WILL BE MAKING THE MOST USE OF OUR UNIQUE (God-given)
ABILITIES.
The successful cyber entrepreneur of today could well be the
equivalent of the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Kennedy's, Paul
Getty's and Henry Ford's of yesteryear, especially in the new
ENTREPRENEURIAL (nice big word) AGE, which I believe, is even
more important (and a more appropriate term) than the
information age.
N.B: Use the Internet to build a better world - to make a
difference, your life to count in some way to help others. Your
efforts, what you do TODAYcould repay you (as well as others) a
hundred-fold tomorrow...and there is just one rule:
If you really BELIEVE in your product (as well as yourself, of
course), then get onto the playing field (or perhaps you
Americans call it "the ball-park") of cyberspace. Then as the
famous shoe ad says,
JUST DO IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT AND BE HAPPY!
GOOD LUCK
Craig Lock
P.S: * "We can all use the internet to reach out to the
"global community" and build a better world in this new
"Information Revolution" that is upon us. Let's use it wisely,
respect our diversity and unique cultures; but celebrate a new
world in union. One where, like your founding forefathers in
America, you can first celebrate the Independance Day of the
strong burning creative spirit that lies deep within every one
of us. If this spark is set alight, it is a flame that will burn
long and brightly for future generations and make your personal
VISION of the future a REALITY... and perhaps even fulfill YOUR
UNIQUE DESTINY on this planet."
"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm."
- Colette
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is
no path and leave a trail."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
The various books* that Craig "felt inspired to write" are
available at: http://www.craiglock.com
* Hard copies and e-books: Fiction and non-fiction, novels on South Africa, travel, humour, inspiration, self help and money books.
More articles on ONLINE-ADVERTISING
The Ten Commandments of Internet Marketing - Part One
The Ten Commandments of Internet Marketing - Part Two
The First Steps to Getting Noticed on the WWW - the Vast and Unchartered World of Cyberspace
Cheap Advertising Methods That Work!
Misconceptions and Lessons of Advertising Your New Business
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