PDA

View Full Version : Interenet Marketing Question



businesscrazy83
02-05-2011, 06:02 PM
Ok does anyone know how to market on the interent effectively. My wife has a candle business and I want to get it out their. Now I know about marketing with google, yahoo, facebook and I guess maybe twitter and myspace. Has anyone use those, and if so how did it work for you? Also do any one know any other places especially for free and works as good if not better?

vangogh
02-05-2011, 06:43 PM
Hard to answer that in a single post, especially since your asking about both search engines and social sites.

With social sites the key is to genuinely be part of any community you join and actively participate. Think more about what you can give to the community than thinking about how to get something out of it. Interact with people on the sites and get to know them. Provide something on the site that others will want. The key part of social sites is the word social. It's really not all that different than networking with people offline at its core. Each site will have a different community with different rules, but in general you're seeking to make connections with people in those communities.

With search engines you start by having content on your site real people are interested in. There can be a lot to how to do well in search engines, but it boils down to

1. Keyword Research - Find out what words people will use to search for you and which words are more likely to lead to your desired goal. You also need to determine which words and phrases you can realistically get a page on your site ranking well in search results. You have to keep in mind there are other sites that would also like to be #1

2. Site Development - How your site is built plays a role in how well search engines can find your content and how well they can understand what your content is about. This part gets technical as you might imagine.

3. SEO Copywriting - SEO stands for search engine optimization. In this step we'd include things like how you integrate the keywords and phrases you researched above into your copy and other elements of your site.

4. Link Building - What others say about you counts more than what you say about yourself. I'm generalizing, but think of a link from page A to page B as a vote for page B by page A. More votes usually wins the election. However it's not just about more. Different links are of different quality and one high quality link might be worth more votes than 1,000 low quality links.

5. Analytics - Doing well with search engines is not a one time thing you do. It's an iterative process so you want to track what happens on your site. Where are your visitors coming from? What are they doing on your site. The data collected by an analytics package can help you determine what is and isn't working so you can improve your site.

There are a lot more details, but that should give you some basic idea what's involved.

businesscrazy83
02-05-2011, 06:59 PM
Great info thanks. Hey do you have a business?

vangogh
02-05-2011, 07:41 PM
Glad to help. I'm a freelance web designer and developer. You can view my site by clicking any of the links in my signature. I also own this forum. By the way I've seen you ask a few times what some members here do for a living. Most of us have signatures below each post with links pointing back to our sites. Easy enough to find out what we do by visiting our sites.

If you want to set up your own signature to link to a site or a Facebook page or similar it's not too hard. Click on Settings in the upper right and then look for Edit Signature in the menu on the left. If you have any trouble let me know. I can walk you through it or even set your signature up for you.

KristineS
02-07-2011, 01:06 PM
With social sites the key is to genuinely be part of any community you join and actively participate. Think more about what you can give to the community than thinking about how to get something out of it. Interact with people on the sites and get to know them. Provide something on the site that others will want. The key part of social sites is the word social. It's really not all that different than networking with people offline at its core. Each site will have a different community with different rules, but in general you're seeking to make connections with people in those communities.



Definitely have to agree with Vangogh here, the key to being successful in with Twitter or Facebook is being a part of the community. If you're just there to post a link to your products over and over again, you won't get much out of it. If, however, you support others, choose your friends, fans and followers carefully and spend some time, you can be very successful using social media.

vangogh
02-07-2011, 03:52 PM
And yet it's amazing how many people never seem to grasp such a simple concept. Most people dislike being sold to or to have and endless stream of self-promotion thrown at them. For some reason those same people seem to think others will respond when they publish an endless stream of self-promotion.

TotalPC
02-13-2011, 04:41 PM
some other methods of promotion you could use are: ebay, classified sites (eg: craiglist). Maybe make a free e-book or some type of info that you can give away about candles. Get links from or guest post on related blogs, maybe arts + crafts type blogs. Post on related forums, using a signature. etc. etc

Paid traffic is the fastest way to results, but it does require lots of optimization.

SiteSciences
02-15-2011, 12:21 PM
There's some good info posted here so far, but "Internet Marketing" surely means more than just SEO, so I'll chime in (I'll cover a more direct marketing method). Also, ranking for candle related keywords isn't incredibly competitive, but it's certainly not something a novice could easily do:


http://i.imgur.com/DR6Ch.gif
Source: seoMoz (http://www.seomoz.org/keyword-difficulty)


Like any type of marketing, you need to have some basics out of the way first. People forget that Internet Marketing is a double edged sword: it can be extremely effective if done right; if done incorrectly, it can burn holes in your wallet really, really quickly.

What you should have before you spend money on promoting your message:

an effective website. this doesn't mean it has to be visually stunning; it means your site should be written and organized well enough that it drives sales.
a clear idea of who your target audience is, where they spend time on the net, and when they spend time there. Quantcast (http://www.quantcast.com) is a good place to research sites before placing ads on them.
website analytics installed. Every type of online marketing is measurable in some way (social media gets harry, but that doesn't really affect you). Track everything. Cut what doesn't work. You should always have a clear understanding of how the money you're spending is driving new sales.


Now, the secret to marketing online, like any other type, is creating multiple "touch points" with a person. Think about it: Yankee Candle has massive brand power because they've lodged their name into the minds of millions through consistent marketing carried out over time. Nobody sees a product and instantly becomes a fan unless they already have a connection with the underlying company. You don't need to compete with that directly, but as a general rule of thumb, people will not purchase a product of yours online from seeing just one advertisement, or one e-mail blast, or one link of yours on Google. If you plan for this and address it accordingly, you will already be ahead of most online businesses.

And thanks to technology, this doesn't have to be difficult. I'm using a picture from my website to illustrate my point:


http://www.sitesciences.com/images/ss-marketing-model.png

If you want to sell a lot of candles, try this:

Use Google AdWords to draw new traffic. If you'd like I can provide you with a free $105 voucher to get you started. ( I don't recommend doing this yourself without some training/experience)
Most people who come to your site will not initially buy something. Create an e-mail list, encourage them to sign up for discounts/promos/whatever
Use Google AdWords to target people who leave your site without purchasing. This is key! This is your one way of reaching people who would of otherwise have drifted off through the abyss.


It doesn't have to be overly complicated, expensive, or done all in one weekend. Hopefully this helps.

Cheers!

greenoak
02-15-2011, 10:04 PM
are you out in the real world at all? like at local shows or a shop? ...putting your internet info on your reciepts and on signs might be a way to get your site in circulation....... website is great but facebook might be easier at the start...

Harold Mansfield
02-16-2011, 03:24 PM
A friend of mine also recently started a candle business. She seems to be starting to do well with some of the local shops in her area, but sadly she doesn't listen to any of my tips to increase her orders online.
But then again, the web isn't the only way to be successful. If she is busy keeping shelves filled in her area then she may as well continue to capitalize on what is working and expand that way.
When she gets around to it, the web will just offer an additional outlet to increase sales.

My point...try to make friends with some of the local merchants to get your product on shelves. Putting your web information on packaging, receipts and so on can help spark more traffic and give you some free word of mouth referrals.

businesscrazy83
02-21-2011, 01:36 PM
Hey thanks for the info guys. Really means alot to me! Im going to have to really figure out my tactics!

Duston McGroarty
02-27-2011, 10:23 PM
Hey John! I found this pretty interesting... I'm a web marketing guy and my wife is a consultant for Scentsy (scented wickless candles). She's been doing real well with it but has put forth a lot of effort to do so. She has set up booths at local craft shows, hosted parties and friends and families houses and just today she had an open house at our house.

I helped her create a direct-response letter that she mailed to her current customer list and friends and family and over 50% of them showed up today! Pretty cool!

I've also created a web site for her to try and capture new online leads. It has done pretty well too. Let me know if you have any questions.

jpohl
03-03-2011, 10:59 AM
Vangogh's list at the beginning is gold for your web site. Treat each step as important as every other step. The thing I see most often (and keeps me in business) are business owners putting up a web site then thinking they are now on the Internet. Technically maybe so but they are a long way from getting traffic. So, again follow every step he listed and research each step. You don't (and can't) have to do every step all at once but never the less, do them.

Duston also gives great advice. The only thing I would emphasize is to make sure you get and keep the contact information of EVERY customer or potential customer you can. Duston gave a great example of one reason. My wife sells one home party product will be selling another home party product in a few weeks. Guess what, she has an amazing contact list already as she has a relationship with hundreds of people via her newsletter already. The point is, keep a conversation going with your customers. Let them know once a month that you are around. if nothing else when christmas comes around, your going the be the one people think of when that special hard to get gift is needed. Good luck and it appears you are asking the right questions.

vangogh
03-03-2011, 11:13 AM
Jeff it's the "if you build it he will come" syndrome. When people first starting putting up websites, say 15 years or so ago there weren't many other sites out there so if all you did was put your site online it was possible everyone would find you. Now there are thousands or hundreds of thousands of other sites just like your they might find instead. Today you have to do something to stand out from all those other sites and that really comes down to marketing. Unfortunately many people still have an image in their heads of how things were 15 years ago and assume the web is still the same today.

jpohl
03-03-2011, 08:58 PM
Exactly Vangogh! I tell business owners that unless you have something really unique an totally new to say, the search engines aren't going to find you. If I put up a site about "red tomatoes" with half a dozen great articles, why would google put my content in front of others like Wikipedia? As a new site, I have no track record and search engines (especially Google) are most interested in giving relevant information from established sites. So until my site gets some street cred, the Search Engines will watch me but not really show me much. Sometimes it goes so far as putting me in the sandbox.

On the other hand if you put up a site about "blue tomatoes", now you have hardly anybody to compete against. of course unless there is some genetic transformations, there probably is not a lot of search volume for blue tomatoes.

BTW, Vangogh, I am new here and you have a nice site with very respectful user base. Good job.

vangogh
03-04-2011, 11:35 AM
Thanks Jeff. I've been meaning to welcome you to the forum too. We've been having conversations, but feel free to start an intro thread so everyone can give you the official welcome.

I think people still assume al you have to do is put something online and suddenly millions of people know it's there. That was true when you were possibly the only one or one of a few with a page about some subject, but those days are long gone. I also think most people believe or convince themselves that they have great content. The reality is most don't. It's not an easy thing to admit to yourself, but for most sites there's close to 0 reason why anyone would really wan to visit let alone stick around.

Everyone wants their page to rank #1 or at least on the first page of results, but so do the thousands of other people who have pages with pretty much the same content you do. The average searcher isn't going to see much difference in many of the pages so how do you decide which of the pages to display first?

If we want people visiting our sites instead of the sites of competitors we need to give them some compelling reason to choose us, whether it's because what we have is remarkably better or because we're different enough or come at the topic from a new perspective. Those are all hard things to do. Most people would rather take the path of least resistance and follow what everyone else does, which puts them in the position of always playing catch up.

vikrantsharma1
03-05-2011, 04:55 AM
Now I know about marketing with google, yahoo, facebook and I guess maybe twitter and myspace. Has anyone use those, and if so how did it work for you? Also do any one know any other places especially for free and works as good if not better?

You can look for forums about candle making and advertise your business there for free. For search engines and social sites, the key is to create interesting and engaging content with the right call to action. If you can do this the results will follow automatically.

jpohl
03-05-2011, 04:15 PM
Engage with your customers. Who buys your candles and why? My first suggestion would be to hit interior decorator sites. Become the guru of use of candles in interior decorating. In effect I suggest small business owners do some form of personal branding. There are hundreds of media outlets in your area, network, get to know a local radio personality or call in when they are talking about your subject. To get an easy start on that perspective, try signing up for helpareporterout.com Its a site that puts reporters needing subject matter experts together. They send out 3 emails a day with a couple dozen reporter requests on all sorts of topics. Most of us probably want to stay more local but wouldn't be great if you owned a local car service center and you became the local face of car fixes on the radio? Who are people going to run to?