subject: Internet Marketing Myths: Debunk Them And Do Better! [print this page] Internet marketing can be a boon and a bane to a business. Like all other
kinds of marketing, Internet marketing calls attention to a business, or its
products and services. Internet marketing also brings the business to a wider
audience, and, if done skillfully, can widen a market base and earn money for
a company, provided that the marketing results in financial returns. However,
like other kinds of marketing, Internet marketing can easily stray into hard
selling, and can ruin a companys reputation as well.
And, like offline Internet marketing, Internet marketing has its own share of
marketing myths, or business practices that Internet marketing teams engage
in without regard for potentially dangerous or disastrous consequences.
Thanks to some good time of practicing Internet marketing, new Internet
marketing teams can learn from a few mistakes and succeed in their Internet
marketing schemes. They might also make a few mistakes of their own, since
most schemes are not as well-tested or documented yet.
The First Myth: One Good E-book Can Earn You Your Retirement Quick
Some Internet marketers make the mistake of putting all their eggs in one
basket and often, that basket can be difficult to sell, and it can look
like just about any other basket in the rest of the baskets of the Internet.
For instance, some Internet marketers preach or over-preach the power of
the electronic book, or e-book. Some claim that by selling one well-designed,
well-written e-book, and often at exorbitant prices, one can make millions of
dollars at once.
First of all, the e-book is difficult to read. There are only a few people on
the planet who have the patience, let alone the excellent eyesight, to sit at
a computer for at least an hour each day pressing the Page Down button.
Second, placing a high price on e-books can actually turn more customers off:
what makes an e-book so good that it can put up a good fight versus real
books or other e-books available online?
Instead of marketing a single e-book, market at least five, or split that
single e-book into modules. Better yet, market a product or service, and then
offer the e-book for free. Although an e-book can be useful for your
customers or clients, they will often prefer to get tips, facts, or lessons
for free.
The Second Myth: All You Need is a Long List of E-mail Addresses and Youve
Got Customers
E-mail marketing entails sending out e-mail messages to lots of people,
hoping that they will respond. This is good if you are sure to get these
people to purchase your product or service instead of getting your e-mail
straight into their Recycle Bin. Otherwise, a long list of e-mail addresses
means nothing.
In fact, Internet marketing is so much more complex than a list of people, a
product, a good sales letter, and a group of affiliates to add money to your
bank account. You need a combination of a good list of e-mail addresses of
people whom you know will buy your product or service. You need a product or
service that has been tested completely and is of high quality. If you miss
out on just one aspect of Internet marketing, you are bound for bankruptcy.
The Third Myth: Its All About the Keywords
Search engine optimization, or SEO, involves tweaking site content so that
certain words are repeated at a certain frequency. Many Internet marketers
use this principle, and utilize important words or phrases, commonly referred
to as keywords and keyphrases, respectively. Through this line of reasoning,
Internet marketers hope to attract the attention of search engine robots.
These robots will pick up these words or phrases and allow them to index a
site properly. With just the right smattering of keywords and keyphrases, a
site should climb to the top of the search engine results list and be the
most popular, right?
Internet marketing through SEO is far more complex than just getting search
engines to index your site - it means getting prospective customers to go
there, stay there, and keep on coming back. In other words, keywords mean
nothing if they are placed in poorly-written text, or boring articles that no
one will have any use for.
When working with SEO, think of exciting articles that are relevant to the
sites aims, and that will be exciting to the sites target market. Keywords
and keyphrases are only second priority.
These are only a few myths that live in the Internet marketing universe. As
more research is done, and as the Internet market evolves, todays techniques
might turn into tomorrows mistakes, and Internet marketing will change.
