Archive for February, 2010

Just like physical advertising has trends, there are internet marketing trends that can, if taken advantage of, make you hundreds of dollars and really up your customer base.  But just like real world trends, if you don’t jump on these online trends quickly enough, you’ll find yourself left behind.

One of the biggest marketing trends going on right now involved social networks like MySpace, Friendster, and Facebook.  These networks are all fairly similar; users sign up for a free profile and can post information about themselves, their likes, what they do for a living, etc.  Most let users also post pictures and videos.  Once they’ve made their profile, they can search for other people and add them as their friends.

The whole point of these networking sites is to get in contact with friends, family, and, sometimes, total strangers.  It’s the total stranger’s part that really interests us.  By creating a profile for your business and adding people as your friends, you can get the word out there to millions.

Some of these sites, like MySpace, even include special profiles for bands, authors, and filmmakers.  This makes it even easier for people to find your profile and add you as their friend.  It’s great when people add you, but when you invite people to be your friend, beware of looking like spam.  There are enough fake spam profiles on these sites that they’ve all cracked down on people sending out mass invites.  Be sure the people you invite want to see what you have to offer.

Another of the internet marketing trends is the use of keywords.  Search engine optimization, or SEO, is something everyone wants these days.  It involves using keywords, or words that describe your site and your products/services, a certain number of times on your website and in your siteís titles and metadata.

By using these keywords so often, your site will be much more appealing to search engines like Google and Yahoo.  The theory here is that if your site is listed on the first page of search results, you’ll get more views and more business than if your page was listed on the third or fourth page.  Of course, this isn’t always true.  If your page doesn’t include what the user is looking for, they aren’t going to buy anything from you.  Still, there is merit to the part of the theory that says you’ll get more traffic.

You can optimize your website yourself after studying a bit about SEO, but there are many companies out there ready to do it for you.  Be careful here: you don’t want someone writing text for your page that is nothing but keywords.  If your page doesn’t sound natural to a human reader, chances are they will pass it by in favor of one that does.

Taking advantage of both social networks and SEO practices can result in your website getting many more hits.  While, as stated earlier, hits don’t always convert over to dollars, it is important to get people to your website.  Following these internet marketing trends is one way to up your hits which, in turn, often does result in more business.

When it comes to creating an ebook internet marketing strategy, identifying your target market is the first and probably most important step to success. No ebook will interest all people online, so vague and general marketing that isnít aimed at any specific group will turn out to be mostly a waste of time and money.  Even if the subject of your ebook is very general and you didn’t spend time doing careful evaluations before you wrote it, you’ll want to narrow down your market possibilities to get the most from your ebook internet marketing strategy.

Most people who write an ebook have a market in mind when they do so.  If you didn’t, don’t worry, you can find your market now.  Think about who will benefit from your ebook.  Will stay at home moms get the most out of the household management information, or is your ebook filled with info about how to train a parrot, or make money online?  Picture the person who will best want and need the information you’re providing.  Then aim your ebook internet marketing strategy at that group of people.

If you, like most ebook authors, already had your audience in mind as you wrote, then it’s just a matter of skipping that step and moving right to targeting your market. What kind of an internet search do you suppose your target market makes on a regular basis.  If your key reader will be someone who wants to know how to make extra money online, then they probably search on phrases like ‘make money online’ and ‘how do I make money online?’  These are keywords and keyword phrases that will be an important part of your ebook internet marketing strategy.

Once you determine what your target market wants, whether it’s to do with internet riches or how to build a solar panel, and you come up with a few key phrases they’re likely to put into search engines, the next step is finding a list of keywords.  You can brainstorm and come up with some more valid ones, no doubt.  But to really hone your ebook internet marketing strategy, use a keyword tool online.

There are some good free ones out there associated with pay-per-click programs where you can put in a keyword and find several more. Plug in the best keywords you’ve come up with, and look at the results.  Not only will you be given a huge list of keywords that people have searched on recently, you’ll see which are the most popular, and how many other websites cater to that keyword.

Pick several of these keyword phrases.  Use some that are hugely popular, no matter how many other websites aim at those keywords.  But be sure to choose some keywords that don’t have many website results and aim at those, too.  Now, optimize your website for those keywords by providing content, one page per keyword is a good start, that people will find when they search on those phrases.  This ebook internet marketing strategy is a great first promotional step.