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I met Sue at a recent networking event. She is an author and speaker, and promotes her products by speaking at events and selling her products after the talks. Sue has a web site, whose primary purpose is to sell her products and make more people aware of her expertise.
She isn't happy with the web site, though. "I have a great product, but I only had 2 sales in the last twelve months from the site. On the other hand, I can't keep enough inventory on hand for event sales! Something isn't right." So the coach in me had to ask a few questions and offer suggestions. "Tell me," I said, "how do you market your web site?" "Market?" she said. "I don't do much marketing. I have a great product, I am an accomplished author and well-known expert. People should be able to find me and buy from my web site."
Many business owners put a web site on the Internet and think that "if you build it, they will come." They, of course, being web customers. You have many potential clients out there, looking for someone with your expertise, looking for your products and services. However, it would be difficult for them to visit your web site and buy from it, if they didn't know it existed.
Help your customers find you - create a good Internet marketing campaign to reach your potential customers and make them aware of benefits of hiring you. Here are three main online marketing areas to get you started:
Your Expert Web Site - It should be user friendly, make the benefits of hiring you or buying your products crystal clear, and promote you, your services and your products.
Keep adding to your web site content. Write articles of interest to your target market, start a blog, and keep expanding your product line. Fresh content helps you with search engine positioning and keeps your potential customers coming back.
Curious how user friendly your web site is? Ask a potential or current customer to evaluate your web site.
Newsletter - It should be highly relevant to your target audience. Publish a newsletter that gives your readers a lot of valuable information, but at the same time leave them hungry for more of your expertise. For example, a professional organizer's newsletter can offer ten tips for getting kids organized for back-to-school, advice which helps the reader while inspiring confidence in the organizer's knowledge and experience.
Networking - Don't forget about networking. Social networking is becoming increasingly prevalent. You can network through many social networking web sites, such as LinkedIn.com Ecademy.com, and many more. Each one has a different focus, feel, and dynamics. Try several and see which one is the right fit for you. Online networking is an excellent way to connect with your target market.
When you are selling your services online, your web site is the image you project to the world. Often, it is the first thing your potential customers see before they decide to hire you. Newsletters and networking are there to help you build relationships with your potential customers, and help them learn more about you and your business. Strategic Internet marketing is the combination of user friendly web site, newsletter, networking and other online strategies that you use to market your business effectively.
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