Online Marketing and Content
Conducting business on the web does provide greater opportunities to getting your business/website and/or product noticed. However, I had to learn that offline marketing tactics does not work online. So what is the core of online marketing?
Content. On the Internet, people go to a website looking to solve a problem or answer a question. They are in essence, taking care of their individualized needs. You have to begin to ask yourself-am I offering people content that can solve a problem or answer a question that they may have? If not, that may be your first marketing problem.
Through quality content, with a link that points to a web page you can draw users to make a purchase if that is your purpose, while solving their problem or answering their question.
To conclude, whatever the purpose of your website, if you offer your readers great information, you will gain returning readers and customers. Why? You are engaging the reader/customer.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Is Social Media and E-Commerce Connecting?
Is Social Media and E-Commerce Connecting?
It seems that maybe e-commerce is coming full circle and now, joining the social media network. An example of this is Amazon new feature, though still in beta, which lets you tap into the Facebook network.
What's it's purpose? To allow you to get Amazon recommendations and discover your friends' "Favorites and likes". Here are some of the things that you can now discover with the new feature:
1. Recommendations for movies, musick, etc. Though this is also based on your Facebook profile.
2. See Facebook friends' Amazon Wish Lists more easily.
3. See upcoming birthdays.
4. Gift suggestions for friends based solely on their profile.
5. Explore your friends profiles to see who shares similar interests.
However, Amazon assures all that no personal data will be shared with Facebook, and the company will not attempt to contact your Facebook friends.
What does that that mean for Facebook? It means that the role of the social media network may increase through advertising. And, let's not forget about Google. With the increased competition between Google and Facebook may end up being a big win for e-commerce. Which means, not only the sale of virtual good but also the sale of merchandise.
This new direction by Facebook and Google was inevitable, but as with anything new, privacy will be an issue that may make some people a little skittish. Let's face it, do you really want their friends to know what your recent purchases were on say, Amazon? Maybe it doesn't bother you, but for some, it does. (By the way, Bing added a link to Facebook on their search results about a year ago. Interesting isn't it.)
To conclude, the old way of getting advice about a product or service was through word-of-mouth, which, as you all know, the advice may have come after you bought the "wrong product or service". On the other hand, online social media networking, can give you information/advice you need at lightning speed-and hopefully before you bought the product.
This means, for those e-commerce stores that give you a quality service or product, be prepared for an increase in consumer traffic. For those e-commerce stores where the experience is not up to consumer expectations, it's time to make some changes, because word on the Internet travels very quickly.
It seems that maybe e-commerce is coming full circle and now, joining the social media network. An example of this is Amazon new feature, though still in beta, which lets you tap into the Facebook network.
What's it's purpose? To allow you to get Amazon recommendations and discover your friends' "Favorites and likes". Here are some of the things that you can now discover with the new feature:
1. Recommendations for movies, musick, etc. Though this is also based on your Facebook profile.
2. See Facebook friends' Amazon Wish Lists more easily.
3. See upcoming birthdays.
4. Gift suggestions for friends based solely on their profile.
5. Explore your friends profiles to see who shares similar interests.
However, Amazon assures all that no personal data will be shared with Facebook, and the company will not attempt to contact your Facebook friends.
What does that that mean for Facebook? It means that the role of the social media network may increase through advertising. And, let's not forget about Google. With the increased competition between Google and Facebook may end up being a big win for e-commerce. Which means, not only the sale of virtual good but also the sale of merchandise.
This new direction by Facebook and Google was inevitable, but as with anything new, privacy will be an issue that may make some people a little skittish. Let's face it, do you really want their friends to know what your recent purchases were on say, Amazon? Maybe it doesn't bother you, but for some, it does. (By the way, Bing added a link to Facebook on their search results about a year ago. Interesting isn't it.)
To conclude, the old way of getting advice about a product or service was through word-of-mouth, which, as you all know, the advice may have come after you bought the "wrong product or service". On the other hand, online social media networking, can give you information/advice you need at lightning speed-and hopefully before you bought the product.
This means, for those e-commerce stores that give you a quality service or product, be prepared for an increase in consumer traffic. For those e-commerce stores where the experience is not up to consumer expectations, it's time to make some changes, because word on the Internet travels very quickly.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Niche Market-What Is It?
Niche Market-What Is It?
You probably have read or heard people refer frequently to "Niche Markets", right? But are you a little confused about what a niche market is or is not?
A niche market is a small piece of the pie of a larger market. For example :a large market would be dogs. But a niche market would be a small portion of the dog market, such as schnauzers. As you can see, I've selected a very small portion of the market, just one breed of dog to be my niche market. When you break it down in this manner, you can see that there is many niche markets within a general market scheme.
But why is it smart to choose a niche market? Internet marketing has grown, and thus, more people are trying to find their place on the Internet. In the past, internet marketers could go for the general markets and succeed. Not so today. Today's internet marketer is finding it to be more to their advantage to cater to a smaller market.
Ways to find a niche market?
1. To find a profitable niche market you can take advantage of keyword research tools to help you to determine how people are searching your chosen market.
2. Determine if your niche idea has a following, and whether their are any competing web sites.
3. Search for products that relate to your niche.
4. If your niche would benefit, create your own product. Examples: e-book, software, etc.
5. Most importantly create a website. The website, as I've stated many times, should contain original content that people will consider useful. If your content is useful you will get repeat visitors. backlinks and the search engines will reward you with frequent visits.
To conclude, niche markets are a viable way to getting started on the Internet. Yes, it will require research, patience and hard work, but all is part of the game of an online business. In fact, that's the same game for an off-line business as well.
You probably have read or heard people refer frequently to "Niche Markets", right? But are you a little confused about what a niche market is or is not?
A niche market is a small piece of the pie of a larger market. For example :a large market would be dogs. But a niche market would be a small portion of the dog market, such as schnauzers. As you can see, I've selected a very small portion of the market, just one breed of dog to be my niche market. When you break it down in this manner, you can see that there is many niche markets within a general market scheme.
But why is it smart to choose a niche market? Internet marketing has grown, and thus, more people are trying to find their place on the Internet. In the past, internet marketers could go for the general markets and succeed. Not so today. Today's internet marketer is finding it to be more to their advantage to cater to a smaller market.
Ways to find a niche market?
1. To find a profitable niche market you can take advantage of keyword research tools to help you to determine how people are searching your chosen market.
2. Determine if your niche idea has a following, and whether their are any competing web sites.
3. Search for products that relate to your niche.
4. If your niche would benefit, create your own product. Examples: e-book, software, etc.
5. Most importantly create a website. The website, as I've stated many times, should contain original content that people will consider useful. If your content is useful you will get repeat visitors. backlinks and the search engines will reward you with frequent visits.
To conclude, niche markets are a viable way to getting started on the Internet. Yes, it will require research, patience and hard work, but all is part of the game of an online business. In fact, that's the same game for an off-line business as well.
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