August 29, 2006
Marketing on the Internet: A Primer
Imagine that you're an author of a book on Internet marketing and that you need to get your book into bookstores so as to get the word out to the offline folks about how to do marketing online the right way.
You walk into the bookstore and after finding out who the store manager is you proceed to have a brief conversation with her. A conversation something like this...
"Hello, my name is Johnny (Janie) Marketer and I just received 10,000 copies of my 300+page book that I would like you to sell for me."
"Oh. How many do I have to sell?"
"Well, preferably as many as you can, the more the better. But let me explain a little bit about the book to you first..."
"Okay."
"The book is titled: Making Your Business Work on the Internet and it consists of 303 information packed pages of how-to's, tips, and guru advice from your's truly on how to succeed at marketing any type of business online. The book has 31 chapters and a full biography of myself at the back of the book."
"Can I take a look at one copy to see how it comes across at first glance?"
"Sure. Here ya go."
"Hmmm....it's heavy enough. But, why does the chapter index state that chapter four is about fixing your television using the latest techniques and chapter nine is about finding the best magazines that provide the best movie reviews."
"Oh, um....ah....that's just in there to give people er, ah, a...a well-rounded view of what happens when they aren't doing Internet marketing and their t.v. breaks down while they're searching for a late-night movie."
"Ah...yeah, right. Now, why is every page in Chapter 17 completely blank? Wait....and every chapter after that? What's up with THAT?!"
"Um...ah...you see...ah...I didn't get time to finish the book but I needed to get it published so, ah, um...I figured the reader could fill in the pages... yeah, they could fill in the pages with what they learned in the first 16 chapters! Pretty smart eh?"
"Hmmmm... Okay, what about the back of the book? You said that your biography was on the back of the book and this picture isn't even you. It's a picture of a 'Hugo Blandfish' from Tuktoyaktuk up in northern Canada and the writeup below his picture says that he saves beached whales on Arctic beaches and that he's done this his whole life."
"Well, er....I figured that his life was, ah, more entertaining than mine so I put a writeup about him in there instead. Pretty interesting reading, wouldn't ya say?"
"Ah...yeah, right."
"So, can you help me get known as a quality Internet marketing expert and auspicious author and buy all these books from me to sell to your offline readers and customers?"
"Mmmm...I think I'll pass."
~~~~
Now, is that story too far-fetched from what is really happening online today? I think not.
How many websites do you come across that focus on a potpourri of topics all from the one same website? Truckbed covers, microwaves, Monte Blanc pens, and diapers for adults are all related and can be detailed from one site, can't they? For the average person doing business online, I think not.
How about the websites that are forever project's 'under construction', if at least partially? The site looks pretty darn good but then there's the ubiquitous 'we're still writing this particular page so check back soon' text making one think, well that was a waste of my time to go to that page on their site.
And how about the websites that don't have any indication of who developed the site and go to great extents to have the reader NOT contact them directly. No toll-free number to call. No email address to be found anywhere. How about a physical address to show what continent the owner lives on? Forget it.
I ask you, why put up an off-topic, incomplete site on the world-wide-web and then hide who you are? Doesn't make sense to me.
But this is exactly what many, many people do with their sites. Especially Internet marketing newbies, that is, the people who follow most everything they come across regarding Internet marketing teachings online.
The Internet is one humongous retail store/reference library. If one wants to buy something, somewhere on the Internet it can be found. If one wants to research a particular topic, information most likely exists in multiple websites.
Think about going into a retail store and finding a boys Avatar toy on the shelf yet after opening the box you find a girls Powerpuff Girls action figure inside. This is akin to my off-topic analogy detailed above.
The product needs to match the expectation. The information needs to match the search. One wouldn't go to a library and find a shelf full of books with empty pages on them (unless they're a joke book titled Everything A Woman Needs to Know About A Man and they're filled with empty pages ;-).
Again, this would be akin to my analogy detailed above about the empty chapter pages. Make sure your site has all it's relevant pages finished and that the information is actually useful information that the seeker would actually be able to use.
Do this when doing your Internet marketing and keep this in the front of your mind when building your websites and you'll be sure to give the Search Engines the type(s) of website that they'll love to spider.
And just how can I be so sure of this tactic? Because that is what one of the longterm Internet guru's like Ken Evoy, whom I have followed seriously for years now, has been espousing since the late 1990's.
Sure other Internet marketing guru's have taken different stances to marketing online; however, after following their teachings for a number of years one will find that the vast majority of these teachings sway like trees in a strong wind.
The backbone of the Internet was always the sharing of information. Relevant information that people want to learn about once found. This hasn't changed in over ten years now.
So, keep your website efforts on-topic, focussed, and relevant and you'll do just fine over time. Forget about the 'secrets', the 'tricks', the 'hype', and all those darn $1,487 value free 'bonuses' you might be missing out on.
You see, the need of the Internet is not going away and as long as you provide evergreen information for people seeking out your information you'll still be marketing online ten years from now.
And won't that be good for you.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 12:17 PM | Comments (2)
April 12, 2006
Internet Advertising and Website Design: a Refresher
I'm writing this article to get a minor Internet advertising / website design issue/beef off my chest. It's more of a soapbox rant then anything else but it's worthy to read if you own a website, or do any sort of Internet advertising for yourself, or website design for your business.
I read Google News everyday since I don't read any newspapers, watch television, or listen to regular radio stations. So what I see on a webpage is my exposure to 'current news', so to speak.
Regardless, what has really annoyed me in past years, not so much now since it has significantly changed for the better, is the whole so-called 'need' to have advertising on a page that actually mimics movement or animation.
I'm finding out that I'm getting more and more rigid in my opinion in the necessity of this type of advertising, especially since my computer screen is the only way that I get my daily ingestion of events occurring in the world around me.
I've clicked on certain prominent website links from Google News and there flashing in my face are advertisements that use, for example, a static picture of people jumping and that causes the ad to 'move' so that the people appear to actually be moving up and down across the screen.
This is just one example. I'm sure you can empathize with what I'm relaying here through your own experiences and visits to numerous website over the years.
But, nevertheless, I find this type of ad extremely annoying.
So much so that I am literally unable to focus on the text that is mere pixels away from this cyber-mess of a promotion. It is a real shame that any website would allow this type of advertising on their webpage, or at least those that approve these kinds of ads for their readers.
Nowadays, all I know is that I have zero tolerance for this type of advertising. It really is unnecessary on today's Internet. After all, if I want to view this type of movement on my computer screen I'll either slip a DVD into my laptop's E: slot. Or I'll go watch 'real' movement on the old glass-tubed 'telly.
As a gentle tip, if you're a web designer, or you own a website or websites, or you allow others to pay you for advertising on your site, or you're a consultant involved in advertising in any manner, heed these words.
Please.
There's a reason that most cities don't allow advertisements that are placed next to the road to contain moving images. People need to watch the road, not the roadside advertisements.
And just like roadside limitations, there should be a reason most websites and webmasters don't allow movement on their websites. That is, certain people don't surf the Net to watch dancing hamburgers, flashing text, and jiggling images of... (whatever).
Summarily, my plead is that if you absolutely MUST have movement on your website, at least hold off until the books, posters, and books found in the Harry Potter movies become commonplace in our world.
Then Muggles like me will, literally, have nowhere to turn for visual stillness.
...And no more reason to rant and complain.
Yeah, rrrrright.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 2:15 PM | Comments (1)
December 7, 2005
How to Become the Next Internet Guru
Have you ever given serious thought to what actually makes, say, an Internet guru an Internet guru? This may seem like a rather rudimentary statement but please, let's discuss this further to ensure that all is understood in the proper context.
Let's start at the beginning...
When one finds themselves drawn to another who seems to be successful in some manner, in this case, successful online, what exactly is it that is so appealing about that person?
Is it because they are at the point of success that the aspiring person wishes to be at?
Is it because that online guru is making the kind of money and has achieved the level of success that is desired by that person, that follower, or seeker?
Is it because the person who achieved that guru status amongst the Internet community somehow discovered the magic online bullet that propelled her or him to success? And if only one could also find that magic bullet that they too would be at the same peak of success?
Let's understand exactly what is going on here.
What has that person really done with their success, and how DID they get to be so successful in life online?
Did they really discover a new way to do Internet marketing that no one else has done before and now they're sharing it during that one-hour teleconference call?
Have they really found that true online Internet 'secret' that no one else was able to tap into, at least until they came along?
Did they somehow come across a magic combination of factors that no one else had discovered before and unless one does exactly the same things in the same fashion, level, and manner they will not achieve a similar level of success?
To all of these somewhat rhetorical questions this author adamantly espouses, no, no, and, finally, no. In my opinion, these people did not become gurus because they discovered any of the above 'secrets' to success online.
Now how can I go about making such a bold statement when I am nowhere near-considered to be an online Internet guru? Well, let me answer that by going into a unique insight I had a couple of days ago when listening to a world-renowned health expert.
This person is literally known around the globe for his knowledge of health issues. And he offers well-rounded advice for others to follow to maintain or improve their health.
The watershed moment that occurred for me while listening to this man was when I realized that this person really didn't do anything special so as to become considered a world-renowned 'expert'. Pretty much anything that he did, with the exception of going to an elite Ivy-League school, most people also could do.
Let me explain...
This man did not make a new scientific discovery in the health arena that he was able to get published in all the latest scientific and medical journals for the world to view.
He didn't create anything 'new' -- for example, like Einstein did with his never-before-seen E=MC2 equation.
This man didn't discover some secret to health that no one before him had done.
He did not make any new discovery in the field of health and healthy lifestyle living.
He did not do anything of that sort.
But, he was no slouch either. Why? Because of what he DID do.
He did ensure that he was schooled in the latest knowledge being released in the field of health.
Over the years, he made sure that he continued to stay abreast of new information in the field of health.
He made sure that he personally retained this new information and was able to be relied upon as a reliable SOURCE of information on health related topics.
Essentially, he became his own little encyclopedia of health subjects. Anytime someone asks him if this or that is a good or bad health choice he was able to pull from his personal mental file drawers information to help that person to make an informed decision based on the information he shares with them and had learned or personally experienced.
Do they follow him because of new discoveries he make? No. They follow his 'advice' because of the reliability and up-to-date-ness of his information shared with them.
They can trust what he says and know that he is a person who is reputable and trustworthy.
So, does that mean that he is successful in his field because of what he discovered or because of what he knew through experience? Obviously, his success is because of what he knew through experience only.
And does that mean that people listen to him because he developed some untapped secret answer to health issues or because he offered trustworthy information for others to follow? Obviously, because he was trustworthy.
So, getting back to our online Internet gurus...
Why is it that we follow them and hang on every word they espouse? Is it REALLY because they discovered a magical secret to doing business online or is it because they have information about what one needs to do to make themselves successful online? Because they have the information, of course.
And are these Internet gurus followed around the Internet bandwagon path because of the magic bullet to online success that they own and if only one of their followers can squeeze them to reveal, or is it because they are a trusted source of information and knowledge? Of course, because they are trustworthy.
Think about it, the gurus that we are all following online (and elsewhere in our lives) are our gurus because we want to learn the 'secrets' they know. You know, the 'secrets to their success' kind of secrets.
But if you really detail what it is they share about being successful online and what one needs to do today to get to that magical guru status, one can actually see that by personally getting the information and knowledge and trustworthiness that these gurus have is really all that one needs to do to eventually get that success as well.
But just how does this happen to average Joes and Janes like you and me? By us doing what one has to do to get that information, knowledge, and trustworthiness through personal experience and encounters.
Not by learning it in a ebook, or buying the newest razzle-dazzle Search Engine automation software, or listening to a one hour teleconference on the latest Internet trick or method.
But by actually internalizing what it takes to GET TO guru status online.
Plain and simple, do what that health guru did.
That is, learn what you need to learn in your desired field of expertise, become a good resource of information over time, be trustworthy with what you know, and take the time to obtain the experience to give you the knowledge.
Do ALL the above and you too can become the next online Internet guru. It really isn't that hard, of course, if that is indeed what you really desire.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com
'Learn About Life From Another Perspective'
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)