The Five Laws of Internet Marketing

by: Lee Shatto Copyright © 2002 all rights reserved.

What are the 5 basic principles of Internet Marketing? They are mutable, flexible, still growing and changing. But they form the backbone of internet marketing today:

1 Give them a reason to come

2. Free Stuff

3. Trust

4. The Law of Attract & Provide

5. The Law of Find Your Niche

•  Give them a reason to come.

Rule #1 : Developing a website is like building a store on a dead-end street. If you want shoppers, you must give them a reason to come .

"If you build it, they will come" is a common myth propagated by the inexperienced. It doesn't work on the Internet. But, novices continue to build websites without the concept of a viable marketing plan. The best designed site on the web is useless unless people visit, learn and purchase. The reason that most great craftsmen are not millionaires is because they make a great product, but don't have a clue about marketing. Ask yourself, before you build your website: How do I get people to visit? Then, write a marketing plan or consult an expert. Your marketing plan may look like this:

•  Use banner advertising for two months to promote name recognition (Brand Awareness).

•  Focus on Search engine optimization and registration to enhance positioning on Yahoo and Excite during the first quarter, then Infoseek, Google, Lycos, and Webcrawler during the second quarter.

•  Acquire reciprocal links with industry organizations and use paid listings in industry directories.

•  Promote a contest in the third quarter; try to get media coverage using press releases. Consult and use a Public Relations or Marketing agency if necessary.

•  Develop a company newsletter that offers industry news, not just Company propaganda, to begin the fourth quarter (start collecting e-mail addresses now).

Then it’s decision time; what aspects of the plan can be effectively handled in-house what items need to be outsourced. Assign each item a dollar value, and allow for them in your marketing budget. Marketing Plans differ and hopefully yours will be more detailed than this example, but you must give visitors a reason to come.

Too often the sites I visit are vague and many times useless. Yes, they offer information about the company, services, and location but nothing worthy of a bookmark. Compelling content is what you must put on your site to make someone want to return? Content is primary.

The benefits of quality content are numerous; Enhanced search engine positioning, you can say, "Link to us, we offer everything a buyer needs to know to select the right advertising agency. When you offer a public service, you suddenly become newsworthy. Trade journals and magazines begin to mention you, and traffic follows. Give visitors a reason to come, and they will.

2. Free Stuff

The Law of "Free Stuff" says: Give away something Free to attract visitors to your site. Then sell something additional to those who visit .

This marketing has been successfully applied for decades in countless brick-and-mortar stores.

"Free 3 days 2 nights hotel stay to the first 25 people who visit our agency for our annual One-Day Airfare Sale on December 1." Give them something free, then try to sell them something. Inf-inet Business solutions uses this very strategy. We launched our website design business with the goal of attracting business online – nationwide.

Challenge: How do we succeed on a national level ?

#1 : We identified small to medium size businesses and advertising agencies as our target market.

#2: What do they want? Web Design and Hosting is an obvious need; But they also want to know how to successfully market their business on the internet.

Solution: Offer articles, links and solutions on Internet marketing. So we began a link list of articles and resources. Every month, we relentlessly research the Web again looking for more free beneficial material for our visitors, customers and potential clients. The Internet Information Center has grown into a vital resource containing links, articles, resources, and tools for business owners and entrepreneurs. In addition, I write articles and newsletters explaining to business people how to market their site. We are a Destination Site and our business prospers.

The strategy is simple:

(A) Attract people to your site by giving away free information or a sample product.

(B) Inform people know about your products and services and provide the opportunity to buy. Give something away, and sell something. The strategy works.

3. Trust

Let us assume that your products or services are competitively priced and of good quality, the single most significant barrier in sales is trust.

Trust is essential for Web based business; without trust, business grinds to a halt.

Established brand names come from hundreds of positive impressions accomplished by expensive advertising campaigns. The companies that purchase these ad campaigns buy brand trust. Most small businesses can't afford the extensive advertising necessary to achieve this. Nevertheless, you can build trust utilizing your website in many ways.

First and foremost, Solidify your business in cyber-space by providing your full address and phone number (definitely provide a toll-free number if possible). If you have an office or retail location, provide photographs or better yet a virtual tour. Always show pictures of yourself and / or your staff. Customers can now view you as real people instead of some faceless entity from who knows-where.

Trust can also be built by selling well-known name brand products, by providing clear shipping and return policies, by being a member of nationally-respected organizations (BBB On-line for example), and by offering a guarantee. You will build trust with a user friendly navigation system, professional design and user interface, most importantly a SSL secure server for credit card transactions. Third party verification and SSL Digital Encryption Certificates are extremely important for gaining instant credibility. It can’t be stressed enough that professional site design, as opposed to something Uncle Bob created in the basement over the weekend has a huge factor in developing trust with your potential customers. Sales will result once you've established trust. Repeated contact with site visitors is a very important tool for establishing trust.

The fourth law describes how.

4. The Law of Attract & Provide

Law number four of Intenet marketing is: Attract people to your site with quality content, and then provide information to benefit them on a regular basis via e-mail .

By their very nature, Web-sites are passive tools. They just lay waiting until someone

“enters the door”. Then the best websites come alive and guide you to the desired destination and propel you to take action. On the other hand, e-mail messages are pro-active tools, always ready to go where you send them and deliver beneficial information, and an invitation to return to your website to explore the newest products or services you have to offer.

Websites attract you by pulling you in with the promise of content, while e-mail provides its message to your previous visitors' mailbox. As a rule; most businesses can't survive on only one-time sales. The cost of acquiring customers is too great for just a single sale. Businesses need to attract satisfied customers back over and over for repeat sales. The Law of Attract & Provide accomplishes this vital task.

The key to this strategy is to get an invitation to send e-mail to your visitors. Provide an Opt-In Subscription Form to collect e-mail addresses. To convince visitors to give you their e-mail address, you need to promise two things:

•  That you will provide them something of value (via e-mail), and

•  That you will respect their privacy and won't sell or rent their e-mail address to another company (Thus the need for a privacy policy). Understand that once the visitor has given you permission to e-mail additional information, you have tremendous marketing leverage.

How do you use it? You should develop a monthly newsletter. If someone in your company is a skilled writer this can be handled in-house, Beware. It takes real commitment and self-discipline to send out newsletters on a regular basis. Or this undertaking can be provided by experienced professionals. A regular newsletter will be a tremendous asset to your business, and will build trust with customers while bringing them back to your site again and again. Suddenly your company has top-of-mind Awareness. As you do this month after month your brand recognition will continue to grow. Even if you're not a writer, you can send out monthly specials, pertinent content (with permission) from other sites.

Whatever you do, do it with excellence. Anything less will lose your business the confidence you've tried to gain. This law, too, has its own rhythm. Attract the customer to your website, and then provide quality content and beneficial offers to the customer via email to draw them back to your site.

5. The Law of Find Your Niche

The Law of Find Your Niche is Small businesses succeed when they find niches that are either unfilled or only partially filled, and then fill them with excellence.

Unique Selling Proposition

The key to savvy niche marketing is to prepare a carefully written business plan that identifies your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Be brief and concise (you only need a sentence or two). It will define why your business is unique compared to other competitors in your field and it will identify the exact niche you seek to fill, and how you plan to fill it. I receive many phone calls from a wannabe Netrepenuers , who ask “How much it cost to set up an online store”. My standard reply is: "What kind of products do you plan to sell?" “Home décor items and knick-knacks” are among some of the replies.

Now in my mind I’m trying to visualize this Internet newbie going toe-to-toe with Target.com and Wal-Mart.com. What is your niche is generally my next question

"Those niches are pretty well filled already, can you define your niche more precisely.” "Well…" and usually the conversation doesn’t last much longer.

It is conceivable to build an information center that would attract many people in your niche market. You could offer books, links to articles, host an e-mail discussion list and sell a line or two of products that match your carefully defined clientele. If you developed it with real excellence, the chances are good that you could carve out a profitable business. It takes a carefully crafted USP to succeed in any business; on the Web, on the street, mail order, in a retail / office location, any business -- you need to identify your precise USP. With a USP you can succeed. Without a USP you don't stand a chance! The Law of Find Your Niche isn't any more or less important than the other Laws of Internet Marketing. They're all important. Combined they provide you with a path leading to a successful Internet business.

The topics covered in this article provide the working knowledge necessary to be a successful Internet Marketer. At the very least, it will help you assess what you are capable of doing on your own and where professional assistance will be beneficial to the success of your Internet project.

More information and assistance is available; Inf-inet.com is a comprehensive resource company with the ability to handle all of your marketing needs, Internet or traditional. Contact Us today.