I was reading an article by another writer recently who reduced the whole process of internet marketing into its simplest form. It reminded me of maths lessons in my school days; – reducing things to the lowest common denominator. His break down of the basics of online marketing was very convincing. We spend so much time worrying about the minutiae of the business it is very easy to forget the fundamentals. He pointed out that there are only three things we need to create and run a successful internet marketing business. These three things are: 1) Product; 2) Copywriting & 3) Traffic. This is, of course, true; but easy to overlook as our thoughts fly in many different directions. His article got me thinking.
First of all we need a Product to market. This has to be a product that people really want. It has been said that we should find a product that means something to us and sell that to like-minded people. However, just because we like a product does not mean that others will too. We need a product to appeal to a hungry market of potential customers whether it is something that we find attractive or not. This is where research is so important. The best approach is to find that hungry group of people first and then find a product to promote to them rather than the other way around. Once you have a marketplace identified, to locate or create a product to sell to them is the easy part; – there are so many options.
The range of possible products ideal for internet marketing is enormous. It is possible to sell exactly the same sort of items on the internet as you will find in a high street shop. The large supermarkets now offer online shopping which you order through their website and which is then delivered to your home. For someone running his or her own internet business, however, few will find it convenient to ship physical items of any size or in any large quantities. The majority of marketing online revolves around information products of one kind or another.
The second issue, Copywriting, is the way that you describe and present your product to your hungry people. One priority in this area is to have a ‘shop window’ which in the field of internet marketing will be a website. The website will, in essence, simply be a sales letter where you can expound the benefits and value of your product. There have been many articles, courses and e-books written to train marketers how to write a sales letter, (I have written on the topic myself) so I will not go into detail here. The aim of the website is to grab your potential customer’s attention and then create interest and desire leading to a sale of your product. A good headline is obviously key to catching the attention of the visitor to your website.
Other copywriting projects may be the writing of small text ads to run on the internet. To be able to write articles is a valuable skill too. It is through copywriting that you are able to promote your product to your marketplace. As marketers we are in the business of words. The addition of a few carefully chosen images can enhance your website but it is ultimately the words which will sell the product. If you feel that you really can’t produce the sort of copy that you want, there are professional copywriters who can do the job for you. There is a sort of intermediate way by the use of special software which will improve what you have written to produce high quality copy.
Having got your Product and produced your Copy to promote that product, the next step (many would say the most important step of all) is to get people to your website to read your copy and view your offer. If you can’t achieve that, it won’t matter how wonderful your product is or how brilliant your copywriting.
This brings us to the third issue, Traffic. There a couple of particularly good ways to get potential customers to visit your site, especially if you are new to the business and have little money to invest. Both are free! First of all, submitting articles on your product or service which contain a link to your website will help to generate traffic. Your copywriting will help here, however you decide to tackle that issue. The more articles you produce and post on free article sites the more traffic you will draw to your offer.
The second of the ways to increase your traffic is through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Choosing an eye-catching Domain Name which relates well to your product will score well with the search engines. Use keywords in your website copy which will also draw the attention of the search engines and get your site ranked well. As more and more people link to your site, this will help your ranking too. More links = higher ranking = yet more links = yet higher ranking, etc. etc.
So, find your marketplace and select an appropriate product; find the best words to promoting it through copywriting and draw traffic to view your offer.