INTERNET MARKETING BASICS

Internet Marketing seems to be a common occurrence nowadays. Years ago, people like you and I, never really understood the power of the internet.  Now though, everywhere you turn, the internet seems to be the go to place, for all of one’s needs and desires. From booking holidays to planning weddings, from finding a cure for back pain to finding weight loss supplements and everything in-between. The internet is the almighty source and sometimes it’s hard keeping up with the Internet Marketing trends.

The fact is – If you’re a business owner and you’re NOT on the internet, then you’re missing out on a large number of potential customers. Be aware that your competitor is most likely dominating your target market while you could still be considering the idea.  No matter what business you’re in, there’s room on the internet for you to make money. The key is Internet Marketing.

Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing in a nutshell, is selling products and/or services on the World Wide Web. So, the key is to advertise your business in as many places as possible online. (E.g. Local directories and Social Networks such as Twitter, FaceBook and YouTube)

To get started you need:

1. Money Keywords
2. Domain Name (also known as URL)
3. Hosting Company (e.g. HostGator)
4. Website
5. Marketing Tools

Keyword Research

Keyword Research is searching for relevant keywords and phrases which will attract the most traffic from the search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo etc). Say you’re an Internet Marketing expert located in Toronto and your target keyword phrase is “Internet Marketing”. The chances of your website ranking high in the search engines is slim to none, because it’s a highly competitive keyword phrase and it’s too broad. The idea with Keyword Research is to drill down on the keywords to find your niche market. You could try “Internet Marketing Toronto” but if you drill down further and you’ll discover “Internet Marketing Training Toronto”. This is called a Money Keyword. The formula is based on low competition and high global monthly searches. The more specific your keyword phrase is the more targeted traffic you’ll get.

Note: The best tool to use is the free Google External Keyword Tool as it tells you the global monthly searches.

Choosing a Domain Name

When choosing a domain name, make sure the first word you use is the root keyword. So, going with the above example, make sure the URL is http://www.internetmarketingtrainingtoronto.com or http://www.internetmarketerstoronto.com etc. This will help you rank higher in the organic search engines for any highly competitive industry.

Note: The best tool to use is Whois.com as they have the most up to date domain registration software.

Choosing a Hosting Company

You can register your first domain for free when you sign up to a hosting company. I recommend HostGator because they provide great customer service, great SEO tools and they have a great reputation. (Rated in the Top 10 Hosting Providers). Their Control Panel (CPanel) is easy to navigate and their support team is second to none. They also have video tutorials to help when you first sign up.

Note: I recommend starting off on the Baby Plan and upgrading when you’re more established. This plan offers unlimited domain names and unlimited email accounts for each domain hosted. Felicia Newbury Consulting is built entirely using WordPress and is hosted by HostGator.

Creating a Website

You can easily do this yourself if you want to save money in the beginning or you could hire a professional team to build you a great website. If you are creating your own, I highly recommend using WordPress. (Note: In Host Gator it’s found inside the Fantastico De Luxe Software in the cPanel). WordPress is by far the best free Content Management System (CMS) I know and I build every one of my websites using it, though it’s best known for being a Blogging Platform. The beauty of WordPress is that it has free Themes (Templates) which you could use in the interim to build a decent site and you can use free plugins like All-in-One SEO Pack, which allows you to optimize all pages and posts (If you blog) to gain a higher search engine ranking.

When adding content to your site, always provide quality information so you can be perceived as an expert in your field. This builds trust and in turn makes customers want to buy from you.

Remember: Don’t focus on the bells and whistles, just get a website up and continue to tweak it as you gain more knowledge.

Gaining an Online Presence

One of the quickest ways to get traffic to your website is by joining the Social Networks. I highly recommend you create accounts with YouTube and Twitter, as well as a Facebook Business Page. You can then begin to build online relationships and attract customers.

Next step would be to hire experts like us or learn at least the basics of Search Engine Optimization, so you can rank your website high in the organic search. Check out – Internet Marketing Tutorial for more information on Internet Marketing.

**********************************************************************

I hope this article has helped you gain an understanding of Internet Marketing and the importance of building the foundations right from the word go.

Please note: We provide a range of SEO Services tailored to suit both your business needs and budget.  Please feel free to contact us via the Contact Page.

Please feel free to leave comments letting us know your thoughts and opinions regarding this blog post. Share this article with clients, friends and anyone you believe will benefit from its contents. 

Wishing you abundant Success and Happiness!

Felicia