Ten Steps to Successful Internet Marketing

Successful internet marketing is what we all want. We all desire to see our online businesses successfully generate profits on a day to day basis.

The problem is that it is rarely easy to know how to succeed when you are just starting out online.  

So in this article we will briefly look at 10 strategic things that you need to do in order to carry out  successful internet marketing. They will help you shorten your path to success and get more results from your efforts. Let’s get into them.

1. Have a goal in mind.  In order to be successful online, you need to have a goal.

You need to know exactly what type of internet marketing business you want to create, what problems it will solve for people, the various ways it will put money into your bank account and how much profit you want per month.

You also need to know your short term, midterm and long term goals so that you can strategically plan for the next phase of your online business.

You need to be very clear about these things. So it really helps to write them down and read them on a regular basis. That's the foundation on suceesful internet marketing.

2. Create a flexible plan. In order to carry out successful internet marketing, it is critical that you have a plan. Even if you have a goal, it will be very difficult to reach it without having a plan.

So you need a road map that will show you exactly how you will get to your desired goal. And your plan is that road map. It should show you what internet marketing strategies you will use, and how often you will use them.

It should show you how you will create value for your prospects and customers and how often you will provide them with that value. Your plan should include when you will attend to inquiries and what, if anything, you will outsource.

Those are just a few things your internet marketing plan should include. The more detailed, the better. Personally, I love to know exactly what I’m going to do next, so I really spend time on the planning stage.

Notice I said that you need a flexible plan at the beginning. The reason for that is that things may change as you go along so your plan should not be so rigid that you are willing to follow it until you fall into a bottomless pit.

Flexibility allows you to correct your course if your initial plan is leading you to obvious failure.

3. Provide Incredible Value. Few things will help you enjoy successful internet marketing results than providing your prospects and customers with incredible value.

Incredible value means that you should go the extra mile to give your prospects and customers more than they expect.

So, for example, when people buy a product from you, give them unexpected bonuses as well. Hugely valuable bonuses if possible. Or when people merely join your list, surprise them with extra free gifts that they never expected.

Doing this will set you apart in their minds because so many people don’t want to provide incredible value. They are focused on nothing but selling.

4. Invest in your continual education. It is very easy to get caught up in the day to day running of your internet marketing business. This may cause you to forget to upgrade your skills and knowledge.

The problem with that is that it can slow down your online progress. It’s like the story of the guy who was cutting down trees in the forest. He did nothing but cut down trees all day long. Eventually, his saw became blunt and could not cut down any more trees.

So what did he do? He continued trying to cut down more trees! But the saw could not cut through anymore!

A bypassing observer saw what was going on and advised the struggling tree cutter to momentarily stop what he was doing and sharpen his saw. Then he would be able to continue doing his work effectively.

Great advice indeed.

So no matter how much work you have on your plate, successful internet marketing requires you to take the time to “sharpen your saw”. Only by constantly increasing your skills and knowledge will you get ahead. Personally, I seriously follow this advice.

5. Choose a proven online business model and stick with it until it works. You can have a clearly defined goal and a meticulously prepared plan but if you can’t stick to one thing until it works, it is impossible for you to carry out successful internet marketing.

Impossible.

Quite alright, you need a flexible plan. But flexibility does not mean jumping from one business model to another before you finish. It simply means adjusting your plan to get to your predetermined goal.

Let me illustrate. A flexible plan will say I am going to sail from Sydney, Australia to Hong Kong. Along the way, storms may require you to adjust your route.

Other factors may require you to adjust your speed to arrive on time. Making such adjustments is flexibility. You are still sailing from Sydney to Hong Kong.

If on the other hand, you change your mind when you've sailed halfway to Hong Kong and decide that you now want to sail to India, that’s jumping from one goal to another.

If you keep changing your mind like that, you will never arrive at any destination!

You will always be sailing on the oceans of confusion and will eventually run out of fuel and disappear into oblivion forever!

That’s exactly what happens when you can’t stick to one business model until you achieve it. And I think it’s one of the biggest reasons that most people fail to carry out successful internet marketing.

So stop chasing after shiny objects and focus on one thing until you achieve it.

6. Avoid get rich quick programs. Infact flee from them! It’s kind of a paradox that if you want to make money fast online, you will probably progress very very slowly.

You will fall for products that promise to make you an online millionaire in 1 month or some other ridiculous time frame over and over again.

There are several crafty internet marketers who know that people are desperate and in many cases, need money yesterday. So they prepare outrageous offers designed solely to prey on the vulnerable. Shame on them.

So you need to make sure you avoid products that make promises that are clearly impossible to achieve. The internet is not a different planet or universe.

It is simply a marketing media that is part of the real world. Sure, it makes things easier. But you still need to work hard and smart to succeed.

I don’t know if that is good or bad news, but in any case, it’s the truth.

7. Design an effective website. Up till now, we have been looking at how to think. We have been focusing on your inner world. And for good reason.

It forms the bigger part of your ability to succeed online and in anything else. I’m not coming up with this stuff. Various very smart people have already revealed these things to us.

But let’s now look at a few other things that successful internet marketing requires.  To begin with, it requires a well designed website. 

As the physical presence of your business online, your website is your best chance to make a good impression. 

So you need a site that is visually appealing to your specific potential customers, easy to navigate and not overly cluttered with unnecessary bells and whistles.

You can easily find out what type of site people in your niche find appealing by looking at the most successful sites in your niche.

But that does not mean that you copy them. It just gives you a reference point when starting out, Infact you want to differentiate yourself as much as possible as time goes on. As they say, “differentiate or die!”

However, the real key is to test, test and test some more. Then stick to what’s working. Your website also needs well written information that provides your niche with the solutions they are looking for.

Of course you don’t have to give everything away for free.

But creating some high value content that you just give away for free will go a long way in establishing you as an expert in your niche and will open doors for joint ventures and other wonderful things.

8. Know your market.  In order to implement a successful internet marketing strategy, you must be familiar with your target audience.     

You need to know what they want and do everything you can to provide it for them.  This is a HUGE point.

You could offer your market products that have ridiculously high value but if it’s not what they want, you are doomed to fail. Even if you do a diagnosis and conclude that they need a certain product, you could still fail if it’s not what they want.

So it’s not enough that they NEED your product. They have to want it. Infact, they have to REALLY want it. So know your customers and what they want.

9. Aim for the right target audience.  Successful internet marketing means reaching out to the right audience.

You need to make sure that the people you are marketing to are the people who want your products. Sounds like the previous point?

Well, it’s an entirely different one. The previous point requires you to know what your market wants. This point on the other hand requires you to find out where your target market is once you find out what they want.

In other words, you need to promote your products and services in places where the people who want them can be found.

For example, if you are sell dieting products, you need to advertise in places like dieting ezines and on dieting websites, blogs and forums.

That would be aiming your marketing at your target audience. And it would help you to succeed much faster than if you targeted the wrong audience.

10. Make yourself stand out. There are an awful lot of internet marketing businesses these days and that can be the biggest stumbling block of all. So successful internet marketing requires you to make your online business stand out from the rest. 

Why should customers choose your business ahead of any of the others out there?  Give them a reason to come to you by pointing out what makes you different and more desirable. 

Furthermore, focus the majority of your time on marketing your products and services. It’s all too easy to get caught up in daily administrative tasks and think that we are progressing.

However, the reality is that it is the marketing and selling that bring in the money.

So do more article marketing. Create more marketing videos. Dial up your PPC campaigns (but watch the profit). Doing these things, as long as you test and track and manage the rest of your online business well, will help you to improve your results.

So those are 10 things you should focus on doing if you want your online business to succeed. As you can see, successful internet marketing requires some effort.

It requires clarity and taking the right action on a consistent basis. But if you persist, it can really help you build an online business that provides you with the money and free time that you desire.

And that’s well worth the effort!

You can find out more about Successful Internet Marketing here.

To Your Success

Bruce



[Home] › [Internet Marketing Basics] › [Successful IM]