Small Businesses Need to Master Internet Marketing

Copyright 2006 by Janis Pettit

When you think about attracting clients from all over the world, you may think that's something that's out of reach for your business.

If that’s how you're thinking, you’re missing a golden opportunity. If you have a service based business you can easily sell your knowledge and expertise to a national or even global market and dramatically increase your sales. No matter what business you’re in, you undoubtedly have some level of expertise that’s of interest to others. Mastering Internet marketing is not optional, it's crucial to your success.

When I started my small business growth consulting and business coaching practice, the internet was just catching on as a marketing tool. Now of course, it’s indispensable. As a result of my online lead generation I have clients and subscribers from all over the US and the world.

Yet so many small business owners or solo entrepreneurs I work with hadn’t even begun to utilize this untapped market. We wear so many different hats and get so bogged down sometimes with daily operations, that we fail to “see the forest for the trees”. Tactical concerns eclipse strategy and what I call “multiple streams of income planning” never gets off the ground.

I could write a book on all the ways you can take your small business global through your website and the internet, but let’s start with just a few suggestions for what you could market globally:

• Tele-seminars (low international rates and VoIP make this affordable for customers)

• Online video workshops or “webinars”

• E-books or downloadable knowledge products

• Downloadable audios and videos

• Detailed reports and survey results

• For profit internet radio shows and podcasts

• Multi-media E-courses (including downloadable audio and video)

• Books and CD’s (can be easily shipped or sold through a source like Amazon)

• Any easily shipped products that can be purchased online

• Affiliate sales—here you have two choices

• You sign up as an affiliate for another company’s product or service that would interest your target market. Each one you sell pays you a generous commission without the hassle of dealing with payment of delivery

• You create a knowledge product and create and market your own affiliate program. When others sign up to sell as your affiliates they essentially become your virtual sales team *

• E-bay auctions or online stores

• Joint ventures with other complimentary businesses who have a large database of hungry customers who would love your product or service. Pay a great per sale commission, do all the legwork and benefit from your JV partner’s huge database. I’ve done several of these and they can be a great profit generator. Plus, many of your JV partner’s customers who buy your product, will end up on your mailing list as well.

You don’t have to be a savvy internet marketer or webmaster to learn how to create a global market for your information products and achieve online success.  Much of the set-up can be outsourced once you master the basic skills you'll need and you understand how to achieve your online goals. Even if you sell a service that relies on a local clientele, like for example, interior design, personal training, real estate, or staffing, there’s a way to add a global component and a new income stream to your business.

You can  outsource most of your traffic generation tasks like social media, article marketing, video marketing, and link building. The results will be amazing if you do this consistently every week!

Ready to start building an online profit center
and turn your website into a virtual sales tool?  

Learn How

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