So you want to go into niche marketing. It is the wave of the future. With niche marketing, a business owner can take the business in a new direction. Someone who is just starting out can use niche marketing to see their business take off in a big way right from the beginning. The key is in the work that is done up front.
Researching a niche is the best way to find out if your idea has not already been overdone. Ideally you want an idea that is new or a twist on an already existing idea that has not been explored to the fullest. Here are five tips to make your research pay:
1. Flesh out your idea. Write down as much information as you can. Don’t leave anything out. Get as creative as you want. The more information you have to work with, the easier it will be to find a new niche to explore.
2. Use the Internet to help you. Search engines provide a way to find websites and businesses that exist and use the idea you want to base your business upon. You are not just looking for the top ten results, but also the total number of results that your search returned. A number in the high thousands or tens of thousands means that the search is too broad. But don’t stop there. Look up the top results to see what those sites are all about. Do they sell your product? Is it one of many or the only product? What services do they offer?
3. Employ keywords. It is time to think like a consumer. When you do a search on the Internet, what types of words do you enter in the search box to get the desired results? Make a list. For each keyword you enter, record the number of results. If the search results get lower and lower with each keyword or combination of keywords entered, you are getting closer to a market that could be tapped further.
4. Develop a niche within your existing business. Exploring a niche doesn’t have to mean looking outside of your current enterprise. Since you know all about the business that you currently run, finding a new avenue within it is the next logical step. Ask yourself: How can I offer new services or products to my clients that they can’t find anywhere else?
5. Give a survey. One way to find out what customers want to see is to ask them. A survey of customers and visitors to your website will give you an idea of what will enhance your business. This could be your newest niche.
Niche marketing can increase profits for your business. But, before you embark, don’t forget to do the research to find out the climate of the market.
Do you post on forums? They are a good way to find out what is going on in the rest of the world. Forums give each member a signature line to add personal information so that other posters can learn a little something about you. If you run an online business, use that signature line to your advantage.
What is a signature line anyway? It is the space at the bottom of a post where you can record something about yourself. It can hold five or six lines of text. You can simply use it to sign your name so people know who you are if your screen name is not your real name. Or, you can use it to advertise your business and get some free advertising.
Now, forums are used to exchange information between posters. Internet marketing forums are used to meet others who have small businesses and to discuss issues related to running a business. The forums prohibit anyone from advertising their businesses in subject lines and information in posts.
If you think that they won’t know, guess again. Forums have moderators whose job it is to keep up with that kind of thing. Forum posters can also report you to the moderator and your posts can be removed. You can also be booted off of the forum for not complying with their terms of service.
Instead, use your signature line to get the word out. Think of this as a mini glimpse into what your business is all about. You are not writing a book, so do be concise with your description of the business and how to contact you.
What do you need to include in your signature line? Start with your name. A physical address is not needed since you want them to visit your site and not your home. Include the name of your business. A business name that is catchy and short will stick in people’s heads better than something that is long and drawn out.
What is your business philosophy or the reason that you sell your product? Summarize this in a few words - no more than two of the lines. Be sure not to give away too much because you want them to find out more on the site. This is only a well-baited hook. Lastly, add the address of your website. Be sure that the link works and will not redirect them somewhere else.
Add this signature line to each forum that you join. The more exposure that you have, the better it is for the business. Take advantage of private messenger service on forums. Other posters can contact you in private without it being known by everyone else on the forum.
Signature lines are useful but few people take advantage of it. As a small business owner, see every situation as a way to get some free advertising.
Website promotion doesn’t have to be as difficult as some people make it out to be. Here are three website promotion strategies to help you get started.
Directories.
Directories are essentially libraries of websites. They’re generally organized by broad category like sports and then by more specific categories like baseball which is then broken down into micro categories like amateur, youth, video games, instruction, movies and so on.
The benefit to listing your website with a directory is they send traffic to your website and they help increase search engine ranking. The caveat is that there are literally thousands of website directories. Best advice, because manually submitting takes time, is to submit to a handful as time permits. For example when your website is up and running submitting to http://www.dmoz.org is a great idea. Additionally, you can submit to a couple more. Then plan on submitting to another five or so the next quarter. By the end of the year, you will have submitted to 20 directories and can reevaluate your plan and how much traffic has come from those directories.
Search engine submission.
One of the first things many people do once they’ve created a business website is to submit it to the search engines. This is a very straight forward process and many website hosts offer this service as part of their hosting package. The obvious search engines to submit your site to are Google, MSN, and Yahoo however there are a number of smaller search engines for which it can benefit your business to become a part of. They include:
There are actually hundreds of search engines however these seven plus the three listed earlier are a great start. To list your website with a search engine manually, that is without a submission service, simply visit the website. Generally they explain the process in their FAQs or in their 'submit a site' tab. For Google the process is straight forward, simply visit http://www.google.com/addurl/ and add your URL per the instructions.
Press and publicity.
Press releases are a great way to spread the word about your business and the benefits your company offers. Online press release websites like prweb.com are an excellent resource. They offer tutorials on how to write a press release and also offer various degrees of service ranging from manual and broad scope submission to professional submission to targeted publications, regions, or industries. One well written press release can generate a ton of website traffic, increase awareness of your company and present you and your business with new opportunities.
Website promotion is a continual process and part of an ongoing marketing strategy. As website traffic and awareness build, promotion strategies will naturally evolve. Submitting to directories and search engines will no longer be necessary and press releases and more sophisticated marketing campaigns will take over. However, to attain that level of success, take the time to implement those initial promotion steps; submit to a few major directories and search engines to get the ball rolling.
Business owners on a budget often turn to “free marketing” options to get started. While this can be an excellent decision, it isn’t always the ideal solution. Here’s what to look for and how to know when “Free” will cost you.
Free Business Cards – Business cards definitely belong in the marketing mix of any company no matter how large or small. It never fails, standing in line at the grocery or at a baseball game someone will inevitably ask, “What do you do for a living?” Being able to pull out a business card and hand it to them gives you the ability to seize a potentially profitable opportunity.
To do its job a business card needs to have contact information – this is a must. However to really make a business card worth the effort a bit of branding makes it memorable. Branding items include a logo, unique selling proposition and even a call to action. For example, “Visit www.newbabystore.com for a free report on how to prepare for your new arrival.”
The problem with free business cards…they don’t often offer the features necessary to create a memorable business card. Yes, they offer places on their templates for contact information and many allow users to upload a graphic – though the graphics quite often turn out fuzzy and blurred. Free business cards are great in a pinch, however to make an impression it’s worth spending the money. Sometimes a business card is your first and only chance to make an impression.
Free advertising – Sounds like a pretty good concept, right? Who wouldn’t take someone up on the offer of free advertising? Think twice before using this type of service. Free advertising offers several limitations. Most programs do not allow for any level of control. That means your advertisement is placed wherever – it may not help your website traffic at all. Additionally, one of the powers of online advertising is the ability to track data and statistics – the ability to know if your ad is actually working.
Lastly, free advertising programs can actually harm your search engine rankings if the links are coming from disreputable websites, link farms and so on. It’s important to investigate each and every “Free” opportunity to see if there are lasting costs to your business.
Free Email – Free email services are fantastic for businesses just starting out, right? Not always. Free email services, whether it is a database management and autoresponder system or simply free email like Gmail, definitely have some drawbacks. Free email like Gmail, hotmail, yahoo and the like have the benefit of being free and if you have a personal email account with them then the convenience of having a similar business account certainly makes a difference.
The drawback is that it doesn’t look professional. Who would you rather do business with…businessnamehere@gmail.com or joansmith@businessnamehere.com? The latter simply looks more professional and impressions make a difference.
Free email and database management systems benefit business owners because they’re an excellent way to automate email marketing campaigns and manage subscriptions. However when taking advantage of a free database management system pay attention to make sure there are features which allow your company to grow.
Some providers allow companies to have a free account until their email level or number of subscribers reaches a certain number. That’s fine if they then allow you to bump up to a higher paid level. If they don’t then you have to switch systems and that process is a real headache!
Free can be a good thing, however take extra care when taking advantage of it, no matter what the tool or resource. Free can also end up being very costly in the long run.
One of the major costs of business start-up is advertising. No one will buy your product if they don’t know that you exist. But, marketing takes money, right? Yes it does usually, but if your funds are limited, you can find ways to get started without spending too many pennies.
To market for free you have to start thinking free. What would entice you to try someone’s service or product? I look for information all the time on the Internet about how to get started in this or how to improve that. The one thing I hate to see (and I did say hate) is an offer to buy a program where some information should be.
I am more likely to revisit a website if they give me something to work with. Sure I will buy your product, but if I want information, I’m not going to pay when I am not sure it is even the information that I need. Consider giving potential customers a little taste with some tidbits to whet the appetite.
Offer free e-courses on your site. A site that is geared towards selling crafting supplies could offer e-courses in how to sew, or how to create crafts for flea markets. The e-courses should be geared around your product. You have told them about creating crafts and making money at flea markets, so they will now come back and buy their crafting supplies from you to get started.
Let’s say that I wanted to know how to grow vegetables. I need an easy guide. I would pay for that guide on your website but not without some proof that the information would be to my advantage. Upload free videos for customers to watch on various aspects of growing vegetables. The videos could be about choosing the right seeds or when to plant. You don’t have to steal information from you guide, but demonstrate other things that are important to vegetable growing that they would be interested in.
Give your customers an offer they can’t refuse. For a certain dollar amount spent, they get a free report on a choice of subjects. Have contests where the condition for entering is joining a free forum on your website. Once they are there, you can reel them in with other advertising strategies.
There are other ways to get the word out and keep people coming back to your website. Join forums and post on message boards. Talk about your business and what it offers to customers. Never miss a chance to advertise what you do and how people can find out more about it.
Marketing in ways that take very little to no money involves creativity. With the entire world at our fingertips via the Internet, we can market our product in a number of places without spending a fortune doing so.
Email marketing is often the single most important marketing effort an internet based business uses. It is an essential aspect of any marketing campaign. Bath and Body Works recognized the importance of this marketing tool and set a goal to create the largest retail customer database ever. How’d they do it? They offered coupons for a free lip gloss, to be emailed to the customer, in exchange for their email address. The result…ten million names worth an estimated $18 a piece.
While the vast number of email addresses on their database is noteworthy, what is more critical to notice is the value per email address - $18. That’s a per person estimate. Now not everyone who receives regular emails from Bath and Body Works is going to come into the store and make a purchase however for those who do, the value is tremendous.
You too can take advantage of email marketing, and if you haven’t already – start building your subscriber list! Every single email address added to your list is money in the bank. Why is email marketing so powerful?
Many reasons.
The person receiving the email has subscribed to your messages and therefore welcomes them, expects them, and quite often reads them.
Email with captivating headlines, offers, and interesting information provides value – recipients know this and therefore open emails even if it is just to take a quick scan of the contents.
Email is about as personal as you can get without picking up the phone or going door to door.
It’s opened much more frequently than snail mail.
In retail there’s a saying that once you get the product in the person’s hands, the sale is almost complete. Clicking through on an offer in an email is like putting a product in their hands.
Email marketing which takes the personal preferences of its market will be valued and opened consistently. For example, if your market tends to open tips articles and skips the promotional emails then a wise business owner will integrate promotions into the articles or post banner ads at the bottom of the articles and deliver the type of content reader’s open.
This brings up an important benefit of email marketing – it provides valuable information about your target market. Open rates, click through rates and bounce backs all serve to help business owners stay on top of their game.
Internet marketing is a competitive business, getting more competitive every day. While every business cannot build a database worth 180 million, building a database, communicating regularly with prospects, and using the data to create better and more profitable email marketing campaigns generates tremendous financial rewards.
You’ve accomplished the most difficult and significant part of the job, you’ve acquired email addresses and built a subscriber database. Are you taking advantage of the invaluable resource or have you let your subscribers forget about you?
Subscribers get neglected for many reasons:
Business owners run out of content ideas.
The system isn’t as automated as it can be and communicating with subscribers takes too much time.
The automation is a process that can be easily implemented. Find a database management and autoresponder system and let it go. You can then create a year’s worth of content, schedule it and then let it go. Your subscribers needs will be met and you’ll be taking a huge step toward increasing your company’s bottom line.
Running out of content ideas is another issue altogether. There are a number of solutions.
Hire a ghostwriter. Let’s face it; if you’ve been writing your own content for some time, you’re going to start repeating yourself. It happens to everyone – even professional writers. Sometimes it takes a fresh mind and a fresh voice to find new ideas. A ghostwriter may be able to present a wealth of new topic ideas so you can continue to deliver value and benefit to subscribers.
Mix up the offerings.
Articles and newsletters are great but they’re not the only red jelly bean in the bag. There is a wealth of content offerings to consider:
* Video
* Audio
* Podcasts
* Email courses
* Online seminars
* Workbooks
* Reports
* Case Studies
* Reviews
* Expert interviews, audio and/or transcripts
* Surveys and quizzes
The list goes on and on. Additionally, mixing up the type of content sent to subscribers will keep them interested in your company. Everyone has their own content preferences, some people prefer to read, and others love to watch videos. When you offer a mix of content, you make sure everyone get’s what they like.
How much is too much?
The big question for many business owners is how often should I communicate with my list? The answer is, it varies. Experts recommend no more than twice a week and certainly at least once a month. However, the key is to communicate with them as frequently as you promised. If they signed up for a weekly newsletter then by all means honor it and send them a weekly newsletter.
Consistent communication with your subscribers keeps them thinking of you. Timing is everything when it comes to making a sale. If you’re in regular communication with your prospects, chances are your timing is going to hit the target frequently. If you allow them to forget about you, they may fill their need for your products and services elsewhere. Don’t let them do that! You’re the best solution for their needs, right? Make sure they know it too.
There’s no denying the value of a virtual assistant. They can handle the more time consuming tasks involved in running a business and free you up so you can handle the bottom line profit making tasks, the core of your business.
The trick, is to find the right virtual assistant. The one who will make your life easier and improve your business. Here’s how:
Step One: Determine what you need an assistant to do. Do you need them to handle email? Blog posting? Bookkeeping? Define what you need an assistant to do before you set out to find the right one for your business. Each assistant comes with their own portfolio of skills and knowledge.
Step Two: Ask for referrals. One of the best ways to find any kind of provider whether it is a ghostwriter, attorney or an assistant is to ask people you know and trust for referrals. The presumption being, of course, that the assistant has an established history working with people you know and trust and is therefore trustworthy for your business needs too. Referrals can also help get a relationship off on the right foot because you’re both coming from the same place, a place of common associates and respect.
Step Three: Make Contact. You have your list of the tasks or responsibilities you need an assistant to handle, once you have a handful of potential assistants to contact, start at the top of the list and make contact with them. This doesn’t have to be face to face and in our virtual world it often isn’t however scheduling a bit of time to chat with a potential assistant via email or on the telephone can help answer a lot of questions you both might have.
Step Four: Ask questions. In addition to making sure they’re ready, willing, and able to take you on as a client, make sure they have experience with the technologies you’re using.
Step Five: Systems. Finally, to ensure that you and your assistant are on the same page, it is extremely helpful for them to have systems or a ‘how to’ worksheet for the tasks you need them to accomplish. Establishing these systems and procedures ahead of time will make their job easier and yours.
Hiring a virtual assistant for your business can be an intimidating process however there are steps to take to ensure you’ve found not only a capable assistant but one that will work well with you and your business.
Starting a business is an exciting time. Marketing a new business often gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list when there is so much to accomplish. However, to really get your new business up and running, move marketing to the top of your task list and watch business start pouring in.
Marketing your new business task list:
#1 Get listed. This is an easy step, get your business website listed on the search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Once you’re listed then you can go about increasing your search engine ranking. To get listed, you can submit via your website host if they offer submission services. If not, simply visit each search engine and manually submit your URL.
#2 Create content. Content is one of the best marketing tools if not the best marketing tool available to a business owner. Articles can be written and published on your website which in turn will drive traffic to your website as people search for information on your industry topic. Additionally, articles can be published on article directories which will drive traffic to your website in a number of ways.
#3 Become a social butterfly. Connecting with other business owners, people in your industry and prospects is a great way to marketing your new business. Social networking, meeting with others on forums, membership sites, chat rooms, social networking sites like LinkedIn, and even in blogs, is a great way to build relationships and credibility in your industry. Social networking is a great marketing tool because it isn’t about “Selling” but rather it’s about relationship building. For those who are uncomfortable cold calling, and who isn’t, social networking is a valuable marketing tool.
Once you develop relationships, joint venture partnerships often develop which lead to more marketing opportunities and more customers.
#4 Connect locally. Local networking is a great idea too. Local small business associations, chamber of commerce and community education offer excellent opportunities to market your business. Additionally, business owners can post brochures and flyers with some local brick and mortar establishments to connect with local prospects.
#5 Start a lead generation campaign. Lead generation campaigns, building your subscriber list or opt in list, is the number one best way to get the word out about your business. The approach is a little different because you’re not promoting your business when you implement a lead generation campaign but rather you’re promoting what ever it is you’re giving away to encourage subscribers to sign up. For example, many business owners give away a free report or e-book. This is what you promote with your lead generation campaign therefore it is important to come up with a lead generation product which offers benefit to your prospects and has an appealing headline or title.
Marketing your business is an ongoing process and the sooner you get started the better your results. As your business grows your marketing strategy will evolve however the most important thing you can do is start.
Even offline businesses receive tremendous benefit from creating and building an online presence. It is estimated 70% of internet users research purchases online before they head out to the store.
For local retailers, this can be the single opportunity to capture attention, sell a product, and build a customer relationship. One simple and straight forward approach to creating an online presence is to simply register your business with the local search engines. Read more
The Internet is awash with content. Content of all types can be found on websites and posted on forums. Just about any subject you are looking to learn about can be accessed on the Internet. Using articles to market your business is a free promotion that is highly effective.
What have you spent? You may have spent a few hours doing research on your topic and then you sat down to write some interesting content. The content was posted on your own site or sold to other sites that deal in buying articles.
The best way to use article marketing is to write about something that you know. A topic that is familiar offers a host of different spins on one subject that can be marketed in a variety of places. You can submit articles to online sites, e-zines, print magazines, and newsletters. Any one of these places will give your work more exposure.
The CAN-SPAM act requires business owners to jump through several hoops. They include:
Clear and apparent header information. Your email's "From," "To," and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.
Clear and apparent subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.
An opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. Read more
How do most people find out about things around town? They ask someone, or there is someone with the information who is eager to tell everyone else. Most people call this gossip, but in business circles it is known as word of mouth marketing and it can be a useful strategy.
The use of spreading the word is just as popular as wearing the product. You are a walking advertisement. Someone will inevitably ask you where you got whatever you have gotten. They will also ask how they can find out about the same thing. This is where it all begins.
It can be a thrilling feeling to start an affiliate program. Watching the number of affiliates grow, and seeing sales jump as affiliates start marketing your products. It's all a great feeling and one that if done correctly can have an affiliate manager eager to add more products to their lineup. After all, if it’s exciting to start selling one product through an affiliate program, it is probably really exciting to sell multiple products through an affiliate program, right?
Offering multiple products does have it share of benefits. For starters, having something new to offer to existing customers is a great way to earn more money. If someone buys something once, it's proven that they are more likely to buy again. They already have a relationship with the product owner and a built-in loyalty that only comes from a current customer.
For online business owners today, offering the options customers want is a vital aspect of winning the sale. Multiple payment methods give consumers a choice, but credit card payments are far and away the most popular. Credit cards are convenient for consumers to use and sites that accept them show higher revenues from impulse purchases and other add-ons.
There are two ways that ecommerce sites can arrange to accept credit card payments. One is by establishing a merchant account through the business owner’s own bank. Another is to use a third-party service to process the payments. Read more
Read the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earned $436,797+ in 2002 and now earns MUCH MORE than that ... just by selling other people's stuff online!
In her down-to-earth, sincere and often humorous style, Rosalind Gardner guides you through the entire process of building an affiliate marketing business on the 'Net.
Frequently revised and updated to reflect industry changes, the Super Affiliate Handbook now consists of 236 pages and 124 screenshots that will show you step-by-step how to become a Super Affiliate. You'll learn how to pick the best affiliate programs, negotiate a commission raise and save time, money and effort on everything from affiliate software to web hosting.
is an exciting time. Marketing a new business often gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list when there is so much to accomplish. However, to really get your new business up and running, move marketing to the top of your task list and watch business start pouring in.
