Getting Your Internet Business Promotion Off On The Right Foot
Entrepreneurs abound on the Internet from the savvy, slick types to the guy next door trying to make a buck selling his old junk in an eBay store. In today’s world, when it comes to setting up and promoting yourself on the Internet, everyone is trying it. There is, however, a right way and a wrong way to accomplish this task. Some folks sign in to chatrooms on the off chance that they will find people of like mind who will want to visit their site. In the middle of the dialogue, these would-be promoters will launch into a salespitch. Others will go the unsolicited email route, spamming everyone and anyone they can find trying to drum up traffic. Unfortunately neither approach is successful; the person just winds up annoying the world.
Annoying is the operative word. Most people understand that when new business people come online, they make mistakes and will eventually stumble into the correct approach. As a result, they will simply ignore the chatroom promoter, kick them out and with email, delete it without reading it. Once the promoter learns the correct ways to approach netizens, then traffic acquisition is easy and straightforward.
Realizing that the issue is not that people advertise, but that the method of delivery is incorrect is the crux of the problem. A prime example of this would be forum advertising, long a mainstay in the entrepreneur’s arsenal. When a forum is targeted to the product or topic being promoted, it is easy to get visitors.
Let’s take this out of the abstract with a concrete example. Say you have a website that sells software that will allow a PC to receive satellite television. You find and join a forum of satellite TV lovers who watch it on their personal computer. They have discussion threads and questions which you and your business can answer.
After you have joined the forum, start participating, answering questions, commenting on existing threads and giving useful information that is relevant. Avoid talking about your own website, just let it be listed as a signature which will appear at the bottom of all of your posts. In this way, your name is constantly being seen at the bottom of your posts, but you are not advertising your website. It is a subtle but very important difference that will make or break you in the forum arena.
Test your signature just like you would any advertising by creating two landing pages. Check the visitor logs on both pages to see which signature draws the most attention. You can also use it to prove to yourself the need for picking relevant forums. Pick out two different types of forums: targeted to your niche and one that is broad and general. Use two different signatures, then check your logs. You will immediately realize the need for finding a forum that is close to your topic.
In the end you need to realize that while this can be time consuming, it can also be extremely effective. It is, however, a very effective method of getting immediate traffic flowing to your site. Traffic equals following, following translates into sales. All you have to do is get started to take advantage of this opportunity.
