MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE
How can the Internet help you market your business? You might feel confused, cautious, or just plain curious. All that is normal. The Internet is just new technology. Consider the following snippets of conversations about past new technologies.
“Christopher Columbus, you’re crazy. The world is flat. You’ll fall off the edge.” “Who needs the train when we have horses and stage coaches?” “Fly across the ocean—are you nuts? I’m going to steam across and enjoy the comfort and safety of the Titanic.” “Talking pictures, what a goofy idea.” “Why would anyone want a computer in their home?”
Welcome to the Internet. Why it was created and how it was created doesn’t really matter. It exists and it is a powerful new marketing tool especially for small and medium-sized business. Don’t be frightened. Don’t resist. For you to ignore the changing technology might be business suicide. What matters to you is how you can use it to your advantage.
The Internet is changing so rapidly that even the Internet marketing gurus are getting headaches. So don’t blame yourself for not understanding it all.
Read this article to create a plan and checklist for your online marketing efforts.
Before you examine any tool, bring out the basics and test the tool against that. The fundamentals don’t change. The tools do.
The fundamentals of marketing are: 1. Grab Attention; 2.Demonstrate Value; 3. Build Relationships.
The important question is, “How can these new Internet tools help you do one or more of these three marketing fundamentals?”
Old school
In Internet time, websites have been around for eons and blogs for centuries.
Website
The question today is, not “Should you have a website?” The question you should ask is, “How many websites should you have?”
Of course you should have a website. Even if your customers don’t buy online, they research online. Your website might help you grab attention if you are in a competitive market and your site is search-optimized.
Your website can help you demonstrate value by providing useful information for your clients and prospects. It can help you build relationships by listing testimonials and describing your values and success stories.
How many websites should you have? At least one site for every distinct target audience that you sell to. Why? Because when your prospect arrives at your site you want them to exclaim, “Yes, these guys are talking to me.”
One of my clients in the funeral business operated both a crematorium and a mausoleum. These were two separate markets. Prospects for the mausoleum were willing to spend $10,000 to $50,000 for a crypt because of their religious convictions. Meanwhile prospects for cremation were more interested in the low cost ($500) of cremation and non-religious service. Two distinct websites were needed.
Blog
Should you have a blog? Of course. How many? Again, at least one for every target market. Your bog might be attached to your website or sit as a standalone website. I have four active blogs for four different markets. Visit www.Torok.biz to discover more.
A blog meets all three marketing criteria. It grabs attention— often better than your website. The search engines (Google) love blogs. In fact, never submit your website to search engines and never pay for that service. Instead, simply link to your website from your blog and the search engine will find your website quickly.
A blog demonstrates value with the information and links that you post. It builds relationships through the regular posts and opinions that you express. A blog also helps you get found by the mainstream media when they are looking for experts to interview.
For more tips and ideas on how to create content for your blog visit my marketing blog at www.GeorgeTorok.com.
Pictures, video and sound
These tools make it easy for those who don’t want to read. They want to look at a picture, watch a video, or listen to an audio. How many people do you know that fit that profile? Younger people especially fit this profile.
Videos
You can watch and post videos for free on YouTube.com. This is the easiest way to go viral on the Internet. If you haven’t yet heard of Susan Boyle, Google her name and watch the video. She became an overnight sensation because of YouTube.
Every business can create a set of videos. It might be about you speaking to your prospects, a tour of your facilities, or a how-to video of using your product. Check out my videos at www.YouTube.com/GeorgeTorok
Pictures
If your business is best described through pictures then post those pictures on Flickr.com and on SlideShare.net
Flickr is a photo-sharing site. If you are a flower shop you could post photos of your arrangements. A restaurant could post photos of the meals. A clothing store could post photos of the fashions. And here’s the bonus—every image can be search engine optimized with keywords and linked to your website.
Visit SlideShare to see what others are doing. This is a site to post your PowerPoint presentations—but not the typically boring PowerPoint presentations. Check it out before you post to learn how it is best done. I used SlideShare to post directions to my radio studio.
Article Sites
If you want to be perceived as an expert and if you want to get more links to your website, write and publish articles on the article directories. Here are five of the top article directories on which to publish your articles: EzineArticles.com, GoArticles.com, SelfGrowth.com, IdeaMarketers.com, and ZeroMillion.com.
You can publish your articles on these sites. And yes it is acceptable to post the same article on all of these sites. You can also research these sites to find and copy articles for your blog or website. (Give credit to the source and author).
Social Media
This realm can frighten business owners. I suggest that you stay away from MySpace. It’s mainly for kids.
But do create a FaceBook.com page and limit who you “Friend” with. “You can link to all your websites and blogs from your Facebook.com page. Create a Linkedin.com profile and sign up for several appropriate groups. Sign in to Linkedin every week and invest 30 minutes to an hour on this site. Answer questions. Pose questions. Start discussions. Post news items of interest to the group.
Get on the map
Register your business on Google Local Business Maps. This is one of the best ways to Grab Attention on Google Search. Go ahead and Google “Hamilton Motivational Speaker” and you’ll find me.
List your product or service on Kijiji.ca. It costs you nothing to list and only $4 to include a live link to your site. Google seems to like these listings.
Should you Twitter? Maybe. Should you Twitter in the way it was first established? No. You don’t have to play the silly games. Twitter.com allows you to create a free account and write posts of up to 140 characters. You can use Twitter as a marketing tool to talk about your promotions and link to your sites. Check it out—follow me at www.Twitter.com/GeorgeTorok
Conclusion
How can you use the Internet to Grab Attention, Demonstrate Value, and Build Relationships? Use the tools of the Internet to meet your needs and build your business.
George Torok is the co-author of the national bestseller, Secrets of PowerMarketing. Get your free copy of “50 Power Marketing Ideas” at www.PowerMarketing.ca. Learn about the Stimulate Your Business Summit at www.StimulateYourBusiness.com
