Two questions I get a lot from people who are just starting out, or people who are looking to really “up their game” is:

How do I get myself, and/or my product out there?
&
How do I build a client base if no one knows who I am?

These are both very good questions, and over the years I’ve come up with a short list of ways entrepreneurs, home business opportunists, and individuals seeking more in life can successfully create a web marketing strategy the RIGHT WAY!  What I mean by the right way is not trying to trick the system.  You need to actually have a product or service that is valuable to people.  I am not a supporter of spam…a.k.a “Mass junk email marketing”.  If you are selling a guide entitled “How to lose 100 pounds in a week”, or a pill that promises to make you 30 years younger, then please read no further.  You are wasting your time, and I honestly don’t want to share my tips with you.  On the other hand if you offer a legitimate, valuable service or product then I hope you find use in these tips.  Here goes:

1. Establish a Website or Homepage – This is very important when starting a web marketing campaign.  If your potential clients don’t have a place where they can find information about you, clients you’ve worked with, testimonials, etc, then why would they choose to do business with you over the countless other companies out there who do have a website.

2. Build Contacts – In order to start building contacts you need to start building personal relationships. So let’s set the record straight right now: When I say “build contacts” I don’t mean build a bulk list of random email addresses for your outlook account so that you can send meaningless SPAM! What I mean by building contacts is to start building relationships with potential clients, like-minded individuals, and generally people who can help you succeed on the web. You will find that building personal relationships is one of the most important aspects of your internet marketing campaign strategy.

3. Offer Referral Incentives – Referral Incentives are a great way to draw in business, and referrals, if done correctly can be a large part of how you receive clients. I personally offer 15% referral incentives to anyone who sends business to me, and it has become one of my most useful business tools. Just think of it as having salespeople who work strictly for commission.

4. Advertise! Advertise! Advertise! – Advertisement should be a key part of your web marketing budget. A good advertisement campaign will take you a long way in terms of doing business on the web. Not only does it get users to click through to your site, but it allows users to see your business’s name everywhere they turn. This is the reason big businesses pay so much money for television commercials. When a potential client continuously sees your business name, logo, etc, then they will remember you when they need a service that you offer.

   There are several good web advertising options that you can go with. Personally I find that for my line of work, ads on Social Networking sites work better than general ad agencies such as: Google Adwords, Yahoo ads, etc. It’s all a matter of what works for your business though. If you are trying to market to senior citizens, or people who typically don’t use social networks, then you might not have much success with a social network ad campaign.

5. Blog & Tweet – It is important to keep up with today’s technology, and that especially includes tweeting and blogging. By blogging you not only provide insight into who you are as a person, but you also give people an idea of who their going to be doing business with if they choose you. Another great thing about blogging is that you are helping your search engine visibility. Don’t expect to be getting 1,000 hits a day overnight, but if you post one or two times a day…in a years time you should be getting a decent amount of traffic.

   Twitter is kind of like a mini blog that you can use to provide links to your new blog posts, little comments about how your day is going, quotes, etc. Twitter will help your search engine visibility, but will also provide some good referral traffic if you use it enough.

6. Offer Promotions & Freebies – Providing promotional samples, free trials, demos, etc is a great way to ensure that potential clients choose you as the person they want to do business with. Let’s face it…If Bob and Jerry are both selling Apples, but Bob offers a buy one get one free deal, who are you going to buy your apples from? Of course you’re going to buy your apples from Bob, because he offers the best “bang for your buck”. The idea is the same when dealing with your business. If a competitor is offering a better deal, and the same great quality, then why would a customer choose you over your competitor?

7. Email Market (The Right Way) – Earlier in this post I said that I didn’t like spammers or mass junk email senders. Not all email marketing is spam though! If you offer a legitimate service or product then there is nothing wrong with emailing a TARGETED DEMOGRAPHIC. What I mean by emailing a targeted demographic is emailing people who will most likely benefit from your product or service. Don’t just go off emailing every email address you can get your hands on, because email service providers will pick up on this quick, and mark you as a spammer. When emailing a potential client/customer you need to at least know their name, and preferably a little more about them so that you can make the message personal.

8. Link to Your Website – Anytime you have the opportunity, always link back to your website. Whether it’s in an email signature, on a forum, on a social networking site, on a blog, on youtube…wherever you are, it’s always important to provide a link back to your website. Also if the site allows you to do so, use anchor text. If you don’t know what anchor text is, you can check out my post entitled: What is Anchor Text & How Do I Use It. Linking back to your site is not only good because it offers people a link to your website…it is also important because it improves your google page-rank.

9. Know Your Clients – Knowing your potential clients is detrimental to your success as a web marketer. By knowing things about the people you are marketing to, you can market to them more efficiently. Let’s use Bob and Jeff again . Say for instance:

   Bob and Jeff are both jewelers, and they are both on Twitter. Dave just started following both of them. After Dave started following them, Bob decided to follow Dave as well, but Jeff did not choose to follow Dave. Dave’s anniversary is coming up, and he just doesn’t know what to get his wife. Since Bob is following Dave on Twitter, and he sees that Dave is having trouble figuring out what to get his wife for her anniversary Bob decides to offer Dave a great deal on a beautiful silver anniversary necklace. Bob gets the sale, and Jeff missed out on an opportunity. KNOW YOUR CLIENTS!

10. Be Yourself – This is something that I always stress to people. Always be yourself when selling your product or service. Clients like to work with real, down to earth people, not people who look like they just rolled off of the factory line. I’m not saying dress like a slob, and talk like you never made it past elementary school. I’m just saying…don’t try to be something you’re not. Being yourself helps you gain the trust of a client…if you’re lying about who you are, then the client may wonder what else you would lie to them about.