Now What?

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Regardless of what stage you are at with internet marketing (or even just getting started)- there comes a point where you’ve got your website up and may even be ready to go with products, but there’s SO much information available for free (or to purchase), that you may find yourself saying, “Now What?”

The first thing you want to do is make sure you don’t become a “product collector”. If you’re even on just a few lists from other marketers, you probably get mulitple offers every week for the latest, greatest, must have product that will “sky rocket” your business and “double your traffic”…….sound familiar? If so, the most important thing you can do for your website and business is to just take a step back from all of it and evaluate where you’re at RIGHT NOW!

Obviously one of the most important things to do is to make sure Google knows about your site. Sounds basic, but with all the hype out there it doesn’t seem to be a common message. Many of you are already registered for our Google teleseminar series- if not, just click here to register (no cost to you!):

http://thewomenofinternetmarketingblog.com/events/

After getting set up with Google, what are your traffic strategies? Who is your target audience? Are you using the right keywords? Are you active in social networking? Are your profile links on your website? The list goes on and on- which is why many people get overwhelmed. Just tackle one issue at a time. In this business you HAVE to take the time out to stay educated and implement what you’re learning. Clients or no clients, this is part of building your business. It may not feel like work (watching a video for a new traffic strategy), but it certainly doesn’t do you any good to have a website and no visitors. We try to set a certain amount of time each day to either specific sites or certain strategies. You can’t do it all everyday and in the business, quality counts. And as we go into the holiday season, try to remember to step away from the computer, get some fresh air (even if it’s cold outside), spend time with your family and appreciate every moment, knowing that you’re building a business doing something you love.

You’ve Heard About Niche Marketing, But What Is It?

For those of you who have heard the word “niche” banded about the internet but aren’t quite sure what exactly people are talking about, niche marketing is defined as “a special area of demand for a product or service with the opportunity to buy or sell”.  All that really means is that a product or service is being sold to the people who are most interested in that particular product or service and not to the world in general.  For example sport is a general term but fishing is getting more niched and if you wanted to go deeper into a niche, fly fishing or trout fishing would fit the bill.

One of the things that make niche marketing so attractive to sellers is that their advertising budgets go further.  It costs less to advertise to a specialized market than it does to advertise to a broader market.   It also means that it is easier to become an expert in a niche field as business owners search out niche experts to help them run their business opposed to searching for a Jack of All Trades expert.

Niche marketing is usually designed to meet the unique needs of the targeted market.  Niche marketers must tailor their product to meet those unique needs and usually if you are in a niche then you would know your prospects needs inside and out.  If, for example, you have created a product to make poodle grooming easy enough for the untrained professional to do it, those who own poodles will be most interested in your product.  Those who own other types of dogs or cats couldn’t care less.  If you have written an e-book that will explain how to start and succeed at an online business, those who are looking for that information are your niche market although as competition online becomes more competitive you may have to define your niche even more and specify what type of online business to succeed in and what type of people it would be suitable for.

You should definitely consider niche marketing as it is a very effective and cost efficient way to advertise and sell specific products or services, especially online, to a specific audience or, hopefully, buyers of that product or service.  Have you found your niche yet?

Are you using Twhirl?

For those of you who are using twitter (and you should be….), there are a couple of good desktop tools that work great for making new tweets. What’s great about Twhirl is that you can also post to sites such as Pownce and Jaiku. Twhirl also has a built-in shortener for URL’s and can also connect to Friend Feed.

I’ve been using twhirl for a little bit- still not great at tweeting (what do they say, it takes 21 days to create a habit?), but using twhirl makes it MUCH easier. I just need to make sure that when I’m working on skype with a client or business associate that you have your alerts off or turn Twhirl off (it dings when there’s something new).

Would love to hear anyone’s success or comments about using twhirl….

Affiliate Elite Product Review

Affiliate Elite

I’ve tried my hand at affiliate marketing before, but never really knew where to start. I’ve purchased other products from Bryxen software and knew the quality behind the products.

Affiliate Elite allows you to search for products in your niche, see where they rank in both Clickbank and PayDotCom, check the gravity, how long the product has been listed, what the payout is, whether or not it has recurring payouts…you name it! You can also see what percentage of the product sales comes from affiliates. This is a great way to supplement sales on your site!

Only $4.95 for the first month! Well worth trying….
Click on image to learn more

Is your site optimized for online Holiday traffic?

With the holiday season approaching so quickly (or should we say here?….at least in the eyes of the retailers), now is a great time to make sure your site(s) are optimized for the kind of traffic you want. While many people may not have sites where you’re selling something in the ways of “gifts”, there are plenty of things you can be doing to take advantage of the increase in online traffic. This is also a great time to be talking about your business and what it is you’re doing in terms of growing during in spite of a challenging economy.

One of the things you can easily do is make sure you’re using the free tools that Google provides to look at your site statistics. If you haven’t signed up for a Google account, you need to do that right away. We recommend Read more