Internet Sales and Marketing Cyberspace Secrets

The debate is over. Any business that doesn’t realize the value of an Internet presence will fall far short of their potential in terms of reputation, sales volume, and cost of doing business.

Market research proves newspaper readership has dropped over 60% in the last two years while online social networks and purchasing decisions have grown to incorporate over 244-million or 79% of adults and youth in the United States, according to Pew Research Center 2010 .

No other medium comes close to matching the reach of the Internet; the fact that this is accomplished for so little expense is astounding, yet there remain many who ignore the Internet and it’s possibilities. Those who have figured it out will appear on the first page of a search while all the others show up on page two through ten thousand.

Who out there will read past the first page or two? So on one hand there is the thrill of being able to market for pennies, on the other hand there is the agony of never being seen. What can be done about this?

Here are a few points to remember:

The optimization of search engine marketing will take time to get you on the front page of a generic search. The truth is, the search engine is run by a “virtual” spider, robot, or web crawler with “virtual” intelligence crammed into their “virtual” brain, and its first inclination is to snub you – with prejudice. None of them believe in love at first sight; you will have to go through a courting ritual for about six months.

What do they love? What kind of courting works? They love original content, a lot of it, not on one page necessarily, but on many pages. They love visitors and links and key words intelligently placed ­and so much more. Others who are experts at this will take the ball and run with it, but it is up to the business principal to know what direction makes sense for the business they are promoting.

Beyond the basic web site is another emerging opportunity that has proven results if done smartly. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and others, are extremely popular and provide a huge audience, but they require a careful check when it comes to advertising or marketing on those pages. It also requires almost constant monitoring. Again, study the subject and position your product or service accordingly.

Know who you are talking to on these sites and how they are motivated. Studies by top business schools such as Harvard and Wharton have provided valuable insight that cannot be ignored if a business wants to be successful in social networking.

For example, did you know there is a demographic in social networking that will absolutely NOT buy something if they recognize their peers are buying it? As stated earlier, your effort here needs to be thought out and carefully administered. 

Finally, there are the “Sponsored Ads,” “Banner Ads,” and Pay Per Click Ads. It’s not uncommon to lump these all together as one, and this gets little play here because these have their counterpart in print advertising.  Still, it’s an important component of marketing on the Internet and deserves serious study.

We part on this quote: “Within a relatively short twenty years or so, the Internet has gone from a technical wonder to a business must.”. Good luck, see you in cyberspace!

About Author

Mr. Rickman is a respected analyst, innovative expert in business development and web media marketing services with over 30-years experience, published worldwide. He is also the author of several books including Eight Billion People.  Mr. Rickman holds advanced business and technical degrees from Boston University. For more information visit : http://www.sustainablevirtualbiz.com  or  call (503) 621-4953.