Internet marketing experts make mistakes promoting their websites because of inexperience, ineptitude or plain greediness. Here is a list of a few things that you should not do if you want to succeed at Internet marketing. The list is inter-spliced with things that you should do when you are Internet marketing. If you are currently running a comprehensive and full Internet campaign then there is a good chance that you are doing these things already; if this is the case then allow this article to reassure you that you are doing the right thing.
Do take a little time to research
Do take a little time every week to research new marketing techniques and keep abreast of current online marketing news. Take an hour every Saturday to read through a few blog posts, a few newsreels and a few online articles. You do not need to read them fully, all you need to do is skim read the text until you find snippets of information that may be relevant to your online marketing campaign. The affects of this are not always apparent, but you will find that the information you absorb will become relevant at later dates when you are trying to come up with further ideas for your marketing campaign.
Don’t install auto-start videos on your website
Nobody watches the adverts that auto start on websites. They simply close the tab, the browser window, or click back. There is absolutely no incentive to watch the adverts, and people will avoid them like rabid dogs.
Do use affiliate marketing to test market your website
You create an advert that is shown across the affiliate-advertising network. You determine how much you are willing to pay for clicks and if people click on your adverts they you have to pay up. Use these affiliate programs to run small test marketing campaigns. You can refine your choice of keywords and the adverts you place online. Run very small but very cheap campaigns and test see how many clicks you get. If you are getting lots of clicks then you know you are on the right track with your advert and choice of keywords. The only thing you then have to do is optimize your landing page so that viewers convert into buyers.
Don’t force a user
Don’t force a user to do any form of action prior to them seeing your website. This includes forcing them to watch an advert first, or forcing them to sign into Facebook and click “Like” first, or creating a pop-up that asks them to sign up to a newsletter first. Do not make getting to your websites content any more difficult than it already is. For that matter–you should also make sure that your website renders very quickly, and that it loads up and completes very quickly, as slow rendering and loading will deter a great many online viewers.
Do employ writers to create quality articles about your products and services
This takes all of the hard work out of content creation. It just leaves you with the slightly-less difficult task of finding the right place to put your new content. Consider the articles you buy as if they are bullets. The more bullets you have then the more likely you are to hit your target.
Don’t make your adverts all offer and no substance
Don’t forget the rules of marketing–it is your job to make an offer that the consumer can accept. Do not mistake the word “Offer” for “Special offer”, “Discount” or “Sale offer.” Think of the word “Offer” in its legal terms, in that you are supposed to have something to trade with your consumer. Do not fill your adverts full of discounts and marketing gimmicks; do not sell the sizzle without showing a little bit of steak (to adjust the old phrase). If you suspect that your marketing has become more about marketing gimmicks then go back to basics. Try to recall your products unique selling points (USPs) and mention a few of them in your marketing campaign.
Do use interesting, strange and scary images on your link adverts
Having links that are made up of images is not the best SEO (Search Engine Optimization) method for helping you to rank up your website because the link does not have anchor text. However, you should remember that even without anchor text–the link still has some SEO value. Moreover, you can add a title and ALT text to the image if you wish. Links that are made up of pictures that are weird, sexy or scary are going to attract the attention of inquisitive users. You can always add a link with anchor text underneath if you like.
Don’t use a reputation management team
There are very few legitimate reputation management teams out there, and the chances of you coming across a phony one are quite high. As soon as they have your web address, the phony reputation management company will start smearing your website across the Internet. They will then show you the results of their smear campaign as proof that your online reputation is terrible. You pay for their services and they remove the negative press that their third party friends wrote, and come back to you to show you what a good job they did. It is not worth the risk of even contacting a reputation management company. Manage your own online reputation by going out of your way to put your consumers first.
Do use a traditional offline consultancy
Do use a traditional offline consultancy, comprised of staff that visit your business and whom you meet physically before buying their services. Consultancy firms that you find on the high street (preferably ltd companies) are still very useful for Internet marketing. They often have a professional or two who has years of Internet marketing experience. If you give them a very specific online issue or problem then they will often come up with ideas that you may not have thought of. They will also help you to implement their ideas to be sure you get the highest possible return on your investment. Once again–it has to be an established real-world consultancy where you physically meet the consultant you hire.
Don’t use the Internet marketing firm
Relating to the point made above; do not use the Internet marketing or online consultancy firm. Anybody on earth can set up an online consultancy firm, and that is why there are millions of them out there. People in Egypt can set up consultancy firms on Miami servers and have all of their addresses based in Canada. There is no way of checking on the legitimacy of your online consultancy/marketing firm, which means you cannot risk hiring them. If you do hire an online marketing/consultancy firm then the best-case scenario is that they do nothing. Otherwise, they may start trying to promote your business in their unprofessional and unqualified manner and do irreparable damage to your websites online reputation and search engine ranking.
Do create a varied Internet marketing campaign
Do create a varied Internet marketing campaign that is made up of paid and unpaid means of communication. Try not to stick to one method of promotion, as it is a very old fashioned and limiting marketing method. Use both paid and unpaid means of marketing, such as advertising over affiliate networks as well as starting online chats with groups of people on social media sites.
Add Comment