There are a lot of little details that people tend to overlook or undervalue when getting their first businesses up and going online. The name of the game is to make money, but all too often, the energy that goes into making that money is slightly displaced. I haven't been in Internet marketing as long as some of the gurus that offer their advice on such topics, but I have learned a few very important things. Probably the most important is that you need to know exactly who you are selling to and why they want what you are selling.
Old School Methods Don't Work
The other day, I talked about how the Old School marketing methods are no longer valid when it comes to online businesses. They don't take into account all of the great new tools we have access to and for that reason they can actually cost more money than they generate. To be successful as an Internet Marketer, you have to understand the immediate needs of a customer at the exact moment they will find your product. It's much different than slapping a billboard over the New York City sky line and hoping as much people as possible see it on their way to work each morning.
You Must Find the Niche
Unless you are selling a product that quite possibly everyone who uses the Internet would want to buy, you have to know who your market is. You have to narrow down your potential customers as much as possible, target their needs and be willing to do what it takes to show them your product before they can see anyone else's.
When I started working online, this was still an abstract concept. You don't know what product you are gong to sell right away. Nor do you know what product will be most successful and what the people who would most like to buy that product actually want. It takes a little bit of time and research to narrow everything down to the degree needed to actually understand the customer and that is where so many people mess up.
Whittling down a niche from the gigantic, information-laden beast that is the Internet is downright hard. It takes a lot of time and energy and sometimes doesn't translate into success, causing new marketers to give up or try to fast track their newest programs.
Not Every Niche is a Winner
And not every niche will work out. That's why we research them. When you start researching a new niche online, you must ask yourself three questions:
[1] Who are the people in this niche?
[2] What is the one thing they want more than anything else?
[3] Does my product meet those needs?
1. If you cannot answer one of those questions or the answer is not what you were hoping or expecting, start over and try again. Many times, the biggest problem is that you have not been specific enough in the niche you selected. There are hundreds of micro-niches within each general field of interest online. You would not write an AdWords campaign for "women's clothing" if you were selling shoes or handbags. Sure, they are in the same general category, but are the people clicking on your ads necessarily looking for shoes or handbags? Probably not.
Marketing with a Goal
Every task you undertake when marketing a new product, service, or website should have a very specific goal in mind. If you write and submit articles to a dozen websites, what is your goal in doing so? Do you want those articles to provide direct traffic, new links, or raise your Page Rank – and if so, by how much?
The same can be said of the niche you select. Why did you select the niche and what are your goals by working within it? If you cannot answer these questions, you probably need to do more research, get to know your customers a little better or possibly even think of a new angle for your product.
As far as lessons go, this was probably the most important one that I learned. Having the right mindset will do wonders, not only for your first product, but for every website and product you launch from here on out.