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Myth #1: Build it and they will come
Just because you have a website online it doesn't
mean people will start
pouring in. Even if you have your site
indexed by the
search engines you may only get a handful of visitors
each day. Getting visitors to your site takes a lot
of time and hard work. It takes several
different approaches to make your website
known, let alone well-known. If you re serious about
driving qualified traffic to your website, we suggest
hiring a
professional. In the meantime, here are a few things
that most of you can do yourself; list your website
in the major directories, have it crawled by the search
engines, create a signature file for your emails,
publish a free newsletter, exchange links, stamp your
domain name in your business cards, stationary, and
promotional material, advertise in traditional media.
Keep in mind that to be successful it will
require a lot of time, many times
months and sometimes years, so prepare yourself,
be
patient and don t give up.
Myth #2: We guarantee top placement with the
search engines
When it comes to search engines, because there are
so many variables that influence placement, it s
difficult to
make any kind of guarantees. If someone is making a
guarantee, be weary. The task of search engine
optimization is a lot like trying to predict the stock
market. Just as no stockbroker can guarantee you a
100% return on your money, no search engine
optimization expert can guarantee you top
placement. If you re serious about getting good
placement in the search engines, again, we suggest
hiring a
professional.
Myth #3: Make money while you
sleep
How many times have you heard sign up for
this affiliate program and your website will turn into
a lean, mean, cash machine: you ll be making money
in your pajamas . Not so fast. First, affiliate
commissions are usually small and typically only
average
a few dollars a month profit.
Next, most people see
the same links in thousands of other pages. The
probability of them deciding to make a purchase from
your site is slim. A more realistic
means of making a significant amount of money from
your website is to find a fairly
unique product that not many others are selling. This
typically requires a significant amount of investment in
both time and money to research your target
market, competition, find and get the rights to
distribute this
product, etc., not to mention the hard work to promote
it once all these things are done. If you just
want to run a couple of affiliate links at your site, that s
OK, but don t quit your day job.
Myth #4: Build an opt-in mailing list and become
rich
For years, we ve heard many tell us
that we just have to publish a free ezine or newsletter,
collect our visitors emails and laugh all the way to the
bank. This probably originated years ago, when web
advertising was all the rage, and all we needed to do
to sell ad space was to get a few thousand
subscribers. Nowadays, even sites with hundreds of
thousands of visitors can t rely on advertising revenue
for survival. Most ezines nowadays don t even reach
1,000 subscribers, and most of them won t be
interested in your offers. It won t take long for you to
realize that to sell something to your subscribers, first
you have to establish a relationship
with them. They will have to know you well, and
feel comfortable with you before they will
purchase from you. Some things you can do to help
build this trust is to post your
picture on your website, provide many testimonials,
post
positive press coverage from important media outlets,
have and list a physical address (not just an email
address or post office box),
and, if possible, conduct seminars so that your
subscribers can get to know you in person. Again, a
lot of hard and time-consuming work, but if you want
the big payoff, this is the way.
Myth #5: Give things away and they will buy
Most people that look for freebies, and receive
freebies, will always expect freebies. It is extremely
hard to turn freeloaders into paying customers,
especially on the web, where almost everything is
free. Instead of putting a lot of emphasis on your free
gifts, use your web space to explain your
product or service very well. Try to anticipate all your
customer s needs, answer all their questions, point
out all your benefits, and, after that, include a short
contact form so that interested parties can contact
you. The time you spend following up with those
prospects will give you much better results than if you
just rely on showering a large pool of unqualified
prospects with free gifts and see what trickles down.
Bottom line, nothing worthwhile in life is easy, and
marketing on the web is no different. Uncover the
myths, filter out the hype, plan well, invest time and
work hard, and you ll have a better chance of getting
results and being successful. Call Narrow Gate
Media today and get REAL help for
tomorrow.
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