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The Basics of E-business Marketing - Lesson 1
Making money from your e-business without major time commitments to it is not
a "pipe-dream". If you get the basics of your marketing right, you will be
well on your way to making money off the Internet. There are two main approaches
to marketing your e-business:
- Sell a product/service on your website.
You can offer your products or services to be sold directly on your website
or you can offer free information to lure people to another website where
there are products or services available for them to purchase. This is
the most popular way of making money on the Internet because it is easy
to set-up and you can start making money immediately.
- Attract the masses.
Excite visitors to come to your website with something special that you
can offer. You may have cool graphics, valuable information, help etc.
Once the number of visitors that come to your website is large, you can
sell advertising space on your website in the form of sponsorships or
banner advertising.
Hosting Your Website
Getting a reliable
web hosting is extremely important for the running of your e-business website.
When looking to host a website, a lot of small businesses jump between web
hosts trying to find the cheapest prices and best deals. One of the most important
reasons for getting a good web host even if you pay a little extra is that
you need good service from the people supporting your e-business. Some of the
better companies can even help you develop programs or systems and integrate
them into your website.
In more instances than not, budget web hosting can cause problems for your
e-business. You may experience slowdowns because the web host has oversold
their services and put too many websites on their service. This is immediately
a deterrent for many users. You need to make sure that your web host runs backups.
Your website is your business and without proper backup, a crash of the web
server could mean your business could stop operating. The other areas of concern
when using budget web hosting are hackers having easier access to your data,
loss of connectivity and bad customer service.
Website Design
Good website design is good marketing for your e-business. The following are
a few basics for successful websites:
- Make sure your website is very organised and easy to use. Keep your home
page simple with a table of contents design that is simple and easy to
use. Use simple words and paragraphs for any text, in order to keep the
reader interested.
- Make sure you keep it simple! People need to be able to understand and
grasp what you are saying quickly and easily if you are going to be able
to sell to them. There are countless websites that are not effective because
they are not simple. People need to know what you are offering and understand
the benefits they can get from it. When marketing your e-business you need
to provide this information in the most concise and basic form as possible.
- Make sure that navigating your website is very easy. A good navigational
system will allow people to go back and forth on your website without having
to use the back and forward buttons on your browser. Make sure that you
have text alternatives for all the graphics and links on your website.
- Make sure that your website downloads quickly. You have one shot and
one shot alone to keep visitors on your website. Ensure that they don't
leave because of long download times. Some statistics say that the average
user today will only wait 10 seconds for a website to download. Try and
avoid using graphics for decoration rather than functionality, especially
on your homepage. In cases where you need large graphics on your homepage,
a good idea is to have icons that link to the big graphics.
- Make it easy to buy on your website. The sales process on your e-business
website should be clear and easy to follow. Firstly make sure that the
benefits of your product or service are very clear. Then make sure that
you have built credibility and generated excitement and desire before you
ask for the order. The visitor needs to then be made aware of several clear
ways to order on and off line. You need to guide the user step by step
through the ordering process so that they are comfortable with ordering
online. If the customer is confused about the order processing or payment
processing, you can loose the sale.
- Make your e-business website completely automated if possible. The Internet
is an international medium open 24 hours a day. If you are able to fully
automate your e-business, you stand a greater chance of making more sales.
This would also free your time up. Having said this, make sure that visitors
have access to you in some form in case they have any questions that need
to be answered.
Content Rich Websites
The most effective Internet marketing method is to have a site with excellent
content and entertaining attention grabbers. There are hundreds of thousands
of websites on the Internet today that consist of nothing more than banner
advertisements thrown together on a page. These websites are all worthless
because they have no purpose. There is no point in creating a website if it
does not have content. The user needs to find value in the content on your
website. When you have good content make sure that it is easy to find, easy
to use and navigate through in order for your website to be effective in drawing
and keeping visitors.
Marketing Style
Internet marketing can work better than traditional media. However, it is still
new, so you have to develop your character online. There are two basic attitudes
towards online marketing:
- The silent marketer
The silent marketer gets sales directly from websites, newsgroups and email
without any direct interaction with the customer. You get customers visiting
your website without your personal involvement. The silent method does
not require any major time commitment.
- The mouthpiece
This form of marketing gets sales from active participation in newsgroups,
mailing lists, etc. You can state your opinion and help others with advice
in forums, thereby building a relationship with each potential customer
individually. This method is time consuming but your potential client
would have a closer affinity with you.
Test!
Do not be afraid to test different marketing strategies in the fear of loosing
sales. Just because your current idea is making a profit, it does not mean
that you should stick with it and not rock the boat. You must always be on
the quest for bigger markets and better profits regardless of how good your
profits are. Test your price, layout, headlines, copy, ordering methods etc.
The "Do Nots"
In order to run a successful e-business, there are a few things you must not
do. Here are four basic rules to follow:
- Do not use email for advertising unless you have a clear "opt-in" option.
"Opting-in" is when someone fills out a form or communicates that they
are willing to accept correspondence from you. You may use email for advertising
when you have gained consent from your audience. There are free email list
services available on the Internet. It is perfectly fine to market to the
members of these lists as they have opted to have commercial emails sent
to them.
- Do not advertise with email using an "opt-in" mechanism unless you
supply an "opt-out" mechanism.
It is absolutely vital to provide clear "opt-out" mechanisms for your users
when you have provided them with an opt-in option. Opt-out mechanisms should
be available on every piece of marketing material that they receive. Make
sure that once your audience have opted out, you remove them from your
marketing list in a timely manner. Opt-out mechanisms are generally an
email address or remove button. The user can either write to the email
address and request that they be removed from the list or simply click
the remove button to be removed from the list.
- Do not annoy anyone with your marketing.
Treat your audience as you would want to be treated and you are not likely
to annoy them. Make sure that your marketing is consistent and sufficient
but make sure that it is not too much. Be effective with your marketing,
not excessive. Monitor the amount of marketing material your users receive
and keep a close watch on the content of your material as well.
- Never mislead anyone.
What people want is good, solid, honest information about what they have
expressed an interest in and no more. Be careful not to become over creative
in your marketing and give your users misleading information. Only give
your audience the information they requested. Misleading information
can cause you to loose business. Because e-business marketing doesn't
have human interaction, your audience would need all the answers to their
questions answered as accurately as possible. Therefore, clear and honest
information will enable you to build good relationships with your client.
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