Online Marketing Strategies

As with a land based business, online business requires planning, commitment and dedication . Many people are invited into online business with dreams sketched that involves huge financial backing with great returns. The reality is that there are allot more low cost ways of growing an online business than most of us think. The advantage of starting an online business with low cost is the reduced chances of risk. But the question remains, how do I do online marketing with a small or no budget? The answer is, it can be done with the following techniques.

SEO

SEO is the study of web design techniques to ensure high rankings on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. Since 1998 when I first joined the SEO scene professionally many things has changed. These days it has become a true specialist field where you have to monitor the movement of your rankings, on a daily basis to ensure you do not miss a thing. the following are proven techniques to ensure that you follow the basics.

Join SEO forums. SEO is a science that with the help of others can easily be learnt. Forums such as Digital Marketing has some of the best SEO professionals in the business. Also they are willing and able to help newcomers to the industry.

Do proper planning of your web site according to international web site standards as explained at W3C. This web site contains invaluable information for webmasters in order to proper plan and code their web sites.

Proper planning of a web site structure.

Increasing the size of the site with as many pages as possible

Listing your site on as many Directories such as DMOZ as possible.

Obtain as many back links to your web site as you possible can. These back links must preferable be from sites with the same theme as your site.

Despite what other SEO specialists might say, ensure that your site have the correct Meta tags and that the keywords used in the meta tags correspond with the actual site content.



Become part of the online community

The internet in many ways resembles a small town. What this means is that people with different interests come together on the internet to form a community. By becoming part of that community you earn their trust and respect, which will provide you loyalty and support. So how do you become part of the internet community? Here is a few pointers.

Join forums and discussion groups related to the products you will sell. This provides targeted traffic from people that shares your interests.

Write articles about the features of the products you have to offer or guides to making use of the product or service.

Write content for your subject related blogs.

Form partnerships with related sites and get their support.



The most important point to remember when entering a community is to have interests in the theme of the community. Also first get to know the rules and values of the community as it can lead to failure if you don't.

Ezines and newsletters

Ezines and newsletters are some of the best e-marketing techniques there is. An Ezine is an online magazine distributed by email but is web site driven. Here are a few guidelines.

The most important point to look at before you start an Ezine or a newsletter is to ensure that you have a proper P3P (Privacy) policy in place. A proper P3P policy will protect you from becoming a victim of a spam complaint .

Structure your Ezine or newsletter in an Easy to read manner.

Use little or no images so the letter can load fast and always look good, even after being forwarded to a friend.

Ensure that the width of the mailer sent doesn't exceed 400 pixels. this will make it look good at any resolution the user might be using as a screen setting and prevent unnecessary scrolling to the sides.

The content of the mailers should contain a catching summary of the actual letter with a link inviting the recipient back to the web site

Always research the content in order to make your content original and as current as possible. Avoid the use of content from other related sites but rather ensure that the content provided are original and your own.

Ensure that your home page have a section that is regularly updated with the latest content of your newsletters or Ezines. This will provide size and authority to your web site.

Offer a opt-in and Opt-out options for recipients to unsubscribe or newcomers to subscribe to your Ezine or Newsletters

Outsource your mailers and sent it from a trusted source for example Dartmail. Dartmail offers you a database and maintenance on your subscriptions.

A very affective way of monitoring the success of your newsletters or Ezines is to offer readers the opportunity to add their comments.

Despite the stigma that clings to the use of Email marketing it still remains one of the most successful e-marketing techniques. Therefore when you decide on this form of marketing do it with true commitment and discipline. Also ensure that you meet all the P3P standards on privacy to ensure that you are not labeled as a spammer.

Other Online Marketing Resources

So far we have discussed free marketing methods. There is also other marketing methods that we can discuss. These methods involves budgeting and solid planning. Here are a few examples :

PPC - Pay per click - Many Search engines such as Ask, Yahoo and MSN makes use of companies such as Overture for their paid listings. You pay for the clicks that you get, in other words you pay for every person that sees your web site. The success of PPC or any similar kind of marketing depends on the following points. Load speed of your site - A person that clicks on these links needs to see results immediately.

Perfect selection of keywords - Ensure that you choose keywords and descriptions that is most descriptive for what your site has to offer. the last thing you want is to pay for a click but the traffic that it the click gave you didn't convert.

A catchy landing page - the landing page where the traffic ends up must be thoroughly planned with the end user in mind and not with your own needs in mind.

Constantly tweak and improve your keyword selection and descriptions - A handy keyword selection tool can be found at Digitalpoint .


Banner adds - When selecting advertising space it is important to ensure that you will receive targeted traffic. The best web site. to advertise on is a web site. that has the same theme as your own. I would also like to add that by profiling your visitors you might also benefit from advertising on sites that has visitors that you profiled as your target mark