Ecommerce Marketing Strategies For Small
Businesses
Author: Mark Walters
Everyone who uses the Internet or generates revenue from an
ecommerce business learned that cyberspace does not operate the
same as the real world does. Attracting business on the net
follows the rules of Celebrity PR more than the rules of
business. There are several strategies that can generate revenue
including:
1. Affiliate Marketing
2. SEO Optimization
3. Blog Marketing
4. AdSense
5. Link Exchanges
6. Social Bookmarking
7. Sponsorship Advertisements
8. Article/ Content Marketing
Each of these tools can be used individually, or in
combination, to find a way to market a particular product or a
service. Small business marketing on the net does not require
the money spent by brick-and-mortar businesses, but it does
require some strategies used by Public Relations agents.
A good knowledge of web marketing can make any of these tools
work for them. But, true success will not be reached until the
business owner stops looking at their company and their product,
and focuses on the customer.
A webmaster can put a blog and a forum on their site, and fail.
Another webmaster can use a basic static site with a few
downloadable e-courses or PowerPoint presentation, can generate
massive wealth.
Take a look at the search engines. Myspace and Facebook drive
more traffic than Yahoo and MSN. In fact, Google is starting to
worry about web2.0 because it is taking control of the net,
damaging their revenues. When one person leads another person to
a product or website, the search engines lose their power - and
that is what is happening.
That is why many ecommerce sites have turned away from SEO and
are turning to Myspace. But, this is not the solution for
everyone. The marketing aspect of attracting clients is
something that marketing procedures needs to cover. It is not a
matter of being able to cover a large target market, but
reaching the right market. Ecommerce business owners need to
stop thinking in terms of millions of hits, and start thinking
in terms of high conversion rates.
Many ecommerce business owners jump on the bandwagon building
hundreds of links into their site. Each one costs the business
owner money and, or time, but each will not attract the right
target market - those ready to buy.
The internet has three levels, entertainment, education,
exchange.
Entertainment
The first group are interested in entertainment. They want to
have fun, meet people, and replace their television time with
socializing on the internet. To reach these groups a website
needs to hit places like http://youtube.com and find amateur
movie makers. Buying a few dozen videos, and letting members
upload their own videos, can make the difference.
Education
One of the main reasons why people `hit the net' is to solve a
problem. Once the problem is solved they leave. These people
have no interest in buying a product. In fact, they will
probably tolerate their problem instead of spending money on a
solution.
Exchange
These web surfers are ready to buy. They usually buy a product
that is mentioned in their forum, friend's list, or is
bookmarked. If they have not saved some information on a
product, they will buy from the first site they hit.
If an ecommerce business is flagging, then look at it and ask
whether it is designed to do all three. If it is only designed
to do one - it will fail.
About The Author: Mark Walters is a third generation
entrepreneur and author. He offers free training and investing
videos designed to speed you towards financial independence at
http://www.cashflowinstitute1
