O.K. so you think you have an idea or even a product to sell through your brand new internet business.
Internet marketing is a brilliant business to be in. There are boundless opportunities to run online businesses which can make incredible amounts of money, if you have established that there is a market for your chosen niche or product, and have done the necessary research.
All set, ready to go?
Er, not quite.
You should establish a presence in your market before you unleash your product to the world.
If you are about to start an internet business, then you should be wondering about attracting traffic to your site. There are many advertising options available, but if money is tight, some of these options may not seem practical.
Advertising can be expensive especially if you are not too sure what you are doing. Money can be swallowed up very quickly if you do not study advertising techniques.
Promotion can take many weeks or even months to show results, and then may not be effective.
Many courses and books sold by some of the gurus are sometimes out of date. Outdated material and tactics which you pay for then find they just do not work.
You may have an excellent website, but bear in mind blogging is now probably more effective than a static site.
Of course, the most traditional way of running an online business over the last few years has been websites, and is still a very successful method.
However, blogging has moved to the fore because search engines seem to favor blogs over the standard static website.
For those who can constantly add to or update their blog, visits by search engines will become a more regular practice, which will give you more chance of a high ranking in the search engines.
The reason is that search engines seem to prefer blogs over traditional static sites and it is possible to see a page on your blog ranked on the first page in Google within 24 hours.
With a blog, you are updating on a regular basis, sometimes daily, and search engines love sites which are constantly updated, giving you a better chance of getting ranked more highly.
Therefore, blogging is probably the best way to build traffic to your site at the same time enabling you to become an expert in your field in a very short time.
A blog is very easy to use and so adding content to a blog is easy to do. A blog is similar to a diary or journal with which you can keep up-to-date with your thoughts and ideas.
It is easy to keep your customers updated with information or products.
You can build a relationship with your readers, thereby building confidence and respect as you are projecting yourself as an expert.
A blog also allows your visitors to post comments, so you are also creating an interactive environment which of course further develops your relationship with your visitors.
If your subject is one you are passionate about, then writing 300 words each day should not be very difficult. It should be simple to find endless ideas to write about. Adding to a blog on a daily basis will not take very long. You need only write about 300 words every day, and it gets easier the more you write.
Always make your content informative and good quality. Don’t ever give rubbish to your readers. Your readers should always be treated with the greatest of respect. After all, once you build up a large líst of members, who hopefully trust you because you have always given them quality, they will then trust you enough to purchase the products you have recommended to them.
The easiest way to set up a blog is to use a Google service called Blogger. You can simply go to the website, choose a user name and the rest is simple. You can be up and running in minutes.
A big disadvantage with Blogger of course is that your blog is owned by Blogger and may be shut down by them without notice. Many thousands have been shut down without notice.
By far the best option is to set up your blog with WordPress because you will have full control over your blogging activities. Set up your blog with WordPress and host it on your domain.
The only downside with WordPress is that you must set your blog up yourself.
This actually is quite simple and there are many free videos on the internet to show you how to do it. There are also some freelance sites who will do it for you. You simply post your project (I want a WordPress blog set up) and people will bid to do your project for you. Elance.com or Guru.com are two good places for this.
The power in your blog comes from the quality information you put into it, attracting readers to your blog and therefore establishing you as an authority and giving you credibility in your market.
Once again, the more often you can update your blog, the more often the search engines will visit. The more you can write, the more exposure you will get.
Your blog post does not have to be a great literary work, it can just be a paragraph or two on your specialist subject, but always make your information quality content, between 350 and 700 words.
You should use your blog to help build a líst of members, because it is one of the best ways of building a relationship with people who are keen to receive information from you.
Building a relationship will also build trust and confidence. Your readers will look forward to receiving e-mails or blogs from you in which you can recommend products and services.
The keyword here is recommend, rather than sell or promote. If someone feels that you have recommended – not sold – to them, then that will go a long way to build loyalty and trust.
If you can build loyalty and trust with your subscribers through your blog which establishes you as a respected expert, then you are on your way to a successful internet business which can easily earn you a substantial income.
By Raymond Carr (c) 2010
