What Are Your Goals?

I tell you I read a lot of internet marketing material all the time and sometimes I think there just can’t be so many strategies and techniques out there – every time I open my email, the next new thing, strategy, workbook, system etc etc. And yes Ive been very guilty over the last few years of having spent a small fortune buying up many of these plans – its only $27.

Its like a drug, you read the sales pitch, you’re hungry for it, your credit card is burning a hole in your pocket – out it comes, purchase made, download it and then what do you do??

You put it in a very safe place on your pc, take a glimpse, a peek then you say to yourself I’ll look at it later – Yep I know you have been there, we all have. But hey the point I’m getting to is this and as some very successful IM guys here in the UK said to me “Keep it simple – do it, rinse, repeat – again and again and again”. And they are so right, so my point here is 2 real simple things to do that can be considered massively powerful ‘passive’ marketing strategies which will pay dividends I promise you, so here goes … 

Do You Post on Message Boards & Forums?

Have you ever posted on a message board and included a link to your site in your signature?  You may not know that this is a technique used often by Internet marketers to get backlinks.  What we do is post helpful messages on boards and forums, or make comments on blogs, and then you have the ability within your signature for it to be a link back to your site

Other folks who are looking at the forum, like your comments & help, click on the link especially if they have found useful information from you may be doing this already, hopefully you are but I tell you know do more of it – spend a few hours posting good quality responses then check your visitor stats – you’ll be pleasantly surprised I promise you – try it.  If you’re involved in any online community make sure you use the signature to link to your site, (even if you post comments just for fun!).

Don’t Make This Mistake Though

Now I’ll tell you a story a mate of mine was pretty active on certain forums, posting pretty much daily, he also had a site up but had totally overlooked the opportunity of using his signature line to promote himself and his site. You should have seen his face when I identified this little gem to him – a real light bulb moment, yep he felt a bit daft but was pretty grateful after he’s picked himself off the floor.

So the moral is don’t worry about being daft, just make sure you’re using every marketing opportunity that you come across to its greatest potential – work it and work it hard because your competitors will.

Do You Ask for Customer Feedback & Testimonials?

Do you ever ask for feedback or testimonials from your customers? If you don’t your missing a great marketing opportunity.  In doing this, you’re passively marketing again so it makes sense to have some testimonials on your site.  It’s also a very important tactic used by marketers that we call “social proof.”  We know from monitoring statistics and running tests that this builds trust and leads to more sales.  You may be doing this just as a simple step in building your business, but it’s also a technique that Internet marketer’s use

TOP TIP

Always use originals, always keep copies of them on file and always be prepared to show the originals if some one questions their validity. Don’t ever, ever be tempted to make them up – it’s not only dishonest but extremely bad practice- just don’t do it!

Remember this online or offline we are all marketers its just the well worn phrase of Internet Marketer means you utilise the power & reach of the internet to market your business, the terrific advantage of this is naturally its 24/7 and the global reach especially if you’re selling a downloadable product make profit margins massively better without any distribution and delivery costs.

Few casual business owners would go so far as to say that they’re “internet marketers,” but if your on of them and you do any of the above things, you actually are one but just remember to focus on your activity and ensure you’re getting maximum exposure from the effort you’re putting in.

These are the same techniques that the SEO experts use, but they use them in a more laser-focused, highly targeted way for bigger numbers and charge a pretty penny for doing so – but remember you can and should be attempting most of this activity yourself first before you consider hiring an internet marketer as your consultant to help you create a campaign that will get results. DIY means you’re learning all the way – that’s vital.

If you want to boost your internet marketing and connect with more customers online, get out there, use all the power of the internet, social media and then when the traffic is flowing, the dollars coming in then and only then in my opinion is it time to use outside experts to help you take your business to the next level.

Tony

 

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