Five Steps to Success at Internet Marketing

AN INTERNET MARKETING business is a great business to start,
either part-time or full-time. It's exciting, because it's
always changing, and it can be very profitable, if run
correctly. One important thing to remember, though, is that
INTERNET MARKETING businesses are easy to start, but take
work to maintain.

Don't believe the hype you hear about making millions
overnight in INTERNET MARKETING. It's happened to a few lucky fools,
but that's about it. You have to use your head in INTERNET MARKETING, if you want to survive.

There are five extremely crucial rules to remember when
running an internet business. You still won't be guaranteed
success, but it will be a whole lot easier, if you follow
these rules.

1) EXPLORE FREE AND LOW COST MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES.

   Too many people jump into an INTERNET MARKETING business with an
expensive, flashy full-page ad in a big magazine. That's
great IF it's successful, but what do you do when your ad only
pulls enough orders to cover it's cost, and you have no
marketing budget left for new ads? Lick your wounds, and
close down your business.

   The smart thing to do at the start (and throughout your
internet marketing career)is to take advantage of all the free
and low cost marketing options at your fingertips.

   You say you don't know about any? Well, here are some ideas.

    Send a sample of your product along with a press release
to the product reviewers at the Ezines your customers read.
Also, write a short article about a subject or issue that will
interest your potential customers and that has a connection to
the product you sell, and submit it to those same Ezines

   For example, if you sell bass fishing lures, write an
article on the best times of the day for bass fishing. Offer
to talk about the subject in an article regarding this
subject.

   Cable TV, in particular, has plenty of talk shows with
specific audiences that are desperately in need of guests.

   In all of these instances, include a short paragraph with
information on how to contact you and a general description of
the products or services you sell. Offer your articles or
expertise for free, in return for this paragraph either
appearing at the end of your article, or being read after the
interview.

   Marketing yourself as an expert in your business will get
you far more publicity than placing an expensive ad, and it's
virtually free, except for your time, a few stamps and a few
phone calls. It works for me, and I know it can work for you.

2) PYRAMID YOUR PROFITS.

    What does this mean? It means that you should take at
least half of your profits and reinvest it in more
advertising.

    When you make your first batch of sales, don't take your
profits and throw a party.

    It might seem like a good idea now, but you'll regret it
later. A good way to grow your sales is by expanding your
advertising. If you can only afford one or two small ads in
the beginning, that's fine. If those ads are successful, make
sure you take the profits from the sales they generate and
reinvest them in four or five of the same ads in different
ezines. Then, reinvest the profits from those ads into
seven or eight ads, and so on. Don't be concerned about making
immediate money. You'll make a larger profit LATER if you
reinvest in your business NOW.

3) TRACK YOUR ADS. Suppose you have ten or fifteen different
ads running in different publications. All of a sudden, you
get a whole load of orders. Of course, you want to continue
running the ad that pulled in the orders, in the same
publication and in ones you haven't advertised in before.
This will bring in more loads of orders, right? But, when you
look at the orders, you have no idea which of your ads was the
one that people clicked on. When you're done crying, resolve
that, from now on, you will KEY and TRACK your ads.

   Keying and tracking ads is so simple that many people miss
it. Here's all you have to do.     http://ahrenlotze.com/art/track-web-traffic.html

4) DO SMALL SCALE TESTS BEFORE LARGE SCALE ADVERTISING.

Before you sink hundreds or thousands of dollars into a
large ad or mailing, test the waters.   Place a smaller ad
with the same message in the Ezine for two or three issues,
and see if it pulls. Or, if you're renting a mailing list, do
a smaller mailing to a small percentage of the list, instead
of just rolling the whole thing out.

Testing is important in this business. There are two
possibilities that can come out of a test. Either the ad
works, or it doesn't.

Now, it's up to you to figure out WHY it didn't work. Either
the ad copy isn't effective, or you're reaching the wrong
audience. Review the whole picture, find out what needs to be
changed, make the changes, then retest. When you hit on the
right combination, THEN take the big plunge.

5) DON'T BE AFRAID TO ADMIT YOUR MISTAKES OR FAILURES.

   Let's face it. You won't hit a home run in this business
every time your up at bat. In fact, just like in baseball,
you may strike out more times than not.

   But, the times that you're either lucky, and get to first
base on a walk, or you get a hit will make up for your
strikeouts.

    You need to keep a stiff upper lip, admit that you didn't
get a hit, and move on. INTERNET MARKETING success comes not
from overnight millions, but from steady trickles. Put
another way, INTERNET MARKETING is really a "get-rich-slow"
business. If you keep plugging away, keep learning from
mistakes, and keep trying new things as you find them, you'll
at least be headed for the road to success, if not on it from
the start.

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