As you plan your online marketing efforts you need to be forever mindful, that what worked great yesterday might not work so great today. I remind you of this because most of us are so busy that we don’t have time to waste on non-productive efforts. I know I certainly am forced to concentrate on what produces the greatest return for the time spent.
Let’s look at a few marketing techniques that have changed in effectiveness to see what I mean.
First of all – free-for-all links pages. They use to be a great traffic generator because people searched for them so that they could place their links. While there, many people
would look around and maybe follow a few links. Now I am willing to bet that a large percentage of people who post to ffa pages use automatic submission of some type. There are the automatic services such as linkomatic and then there are programs you can download to your computer that do the same thing. The stuff you download to your desktop often updates the database prior to submitting automatically.
So if a lower percentage of people post to these pages manually have they lost their utility. No, because now their biggest value seems to be in
the messages they can send out for the owner of the pages. He can get his message in many, many email boxes. If his title is intriguing enough, his message will get read. If the message promises some specific, useful benefit, it will get read. People do read these emails, and they do click through to websites. So ffa pages still have their utility. They also still generate some traffic to the posters’ website. A final benefit of posting to ffa pages is that the improve search engine position with some search engines.
Free classifieds have changed in about the same way. Many people post to these automatically too. Many people also seem to have these on their website. The scripts for free classifieds now send out thank you messages and messages notifying the poster when his ad has expired. Since these message also often get read, again the owner of the site is getting his messages into the mailboxes of prequalified prospects. Again, offering the free service brings in site visitors.
Another change I detect in the wind is people getting fed up with promises of $10,000 per week after a short time in the business. They want to know what they can realistically expect to earn. Exaggerated claims only serve to turn off potential customers who may be good prospect for your product or service. If the potential income was so great, a lot more people would be flocking to the business. People, know and hope that it is possible to earn a reasonable income working online. It is, but it’s not generally overnight. People getting ready to part with their hard-earned money want you to be honest with them. They are beginning to acknowledge that there is no such thing as something for nothing.
This change actually reflects a part of the business world that is central to doing business in many parts of the world. That is building relationships – then establishing longterm, mutually benefiting, business dealings. People want to know that you are going to be around if there are problems. They want to know YOU, and LIKE buying from friends. I know it certainly gives me a warm feeling to buy something I need from a friend or a business run by a person who has impressed me with his integrity and hard work. Building relationships takes time. That also tells me that you need to market a product with a nice residual income or a high enough markup. Otherwise,you will go out of business while building business.
There are many things that haven’t changed in the business world because the emotional and psychological makeup of man hasn’t changed. For example, greed is what causes too many people to fall for the get rich quick schemes. Slow down and look at the promises with a critical eye and common sense will override greed.
We all need to examine how we conduct business every day looking for outdated processes we use. This will allow you to concentrate your time, energies, and other resources on thing that work. We also need to make out goal to make all business dealings mutually benefitting. Make them win-win situations. Change is a constant, but if you strive to make your business dealings win-win you will succeed no matter how much things change, because you will be capitalizing on the one thing that doesn’t seem to change. Businesses built upon a solid, honest foundation thrive!
Willie Crawford has been teaching Internet marketing for
over 9 years. Take advantage of his uncanny insights and
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