The Driving Force of Internet Marketing
Synopsis
What keeps the world of Internet marketing going? What is its fuel, the energy that it drives on? The answer to that would be the reason why billions of people visit the Internet each day. Why do people come to the Internet? We need to know the answer to that in order to find out what makes it possible to build a whole business world on the Internet.
The answer to that is knowledge. People may come to the Internet for various reason, but the one reason that really keeps the Internet world ticking is the quest for knowledge.
Most of the people come here to know something or the other, whether it is to find out the walkthrough for the latest installment of Call of Duty or it is to find out how to install a sump pump in their factory.
There best thing is that the Internet never disappoints any of these people in their quest for knowledge, however different their requests may be. It always tells them what they like to know, and in highly effective ways.
You may have used the Internet on several occasions to find something out too. But, one thing that you might not have realized at that time—and that thing may be screaming out to you right now—is that when you looked for that information, some or the other product was promoted to you. You were the part of a big promotional strategy, and that becomes one of the cornerstones on which the world of Internet marketing stands.
The basic mantra of Internet marketing is that give people information, and give them a product in the process. Make them a part of your business. This is what most people are looking for anyway. They do not mind the hard sell if they are getting the information they want.
In this chapter, we are going into the details of how this works. We are going to see what the average Internet user is looking for, and what mindsets they have when they are using the Internet.
This is a highly important chapter for you because if you want to become a successful Internet marketer, it is important that you are able to delve into the subconscious of your potential customers’ minds.
The Driving Force of Internet Marketing
Before we get into the tricks and techniques that work in the online world, it would be a great idea to first understand the mindset that works here. In the previous chapter, we saw what the customer is looking for. They seem to be like too many things, but at the end of the day, there is just one thing that really motivates the online customer today. And, that is information.
Information can rightfully be called as the driving force of Internet marketing today. It is information that people are looking for, and it is information that compels them to buy a product.
There are so many examples where people have been looking for information on how to make a particular task easier and then stumbled on some product that does that for them. They research about that new product a little, they read reviews, they check out videos and if they like everything, they may even interact with the sellers of the product. That is it… this may eventually lead to a sale. An entirely new product that the world doesn’t yet know about fully ends up getting sold just because someone was looking for information.
That is why you should focus on providing information. That is one of the most profound ways to notch up sales in the online world right now.
What Kind of Information?
Text-based Information
Previously, it was text-based information that was all that was needed. This information was given out in the form of basic website content. Marketers would post articles on their websites themselves and if people liked them, they would get the link to buy the product right away. In present times, you have the option to put up text-based information on the article directories as well. Here are 10 of the most popular article directories where you can put up information about your product or service:-
These are article directories that take up general content. However, if you are looking for some specific type of content to post, then you could consider the following:-
If you are looking at a more interactive experience where people can share and distribute your articles with their friends in a better manner, then you should take a look at these websites:-
Why are these places so popular? The reason for that lies in the fact that people can get the information they want here. All these directories have their easy search tabs where you can type whatever you want and you can find information. As an Internet marketer, you can leverage this to your advantage. You can put up articles on topics that people want to read about. All these directories have top SEO ranking, which means they will automatically show up in the search engine results without people needing to look for them by name. So, if your article has the right keywords, then it is enough to bring your article to the top of the search engine pages. People will read them and, if they like what you have written, they will click your business link and visit there.
At the end of the day, remember that it is knowledge and information that attracts the people on the Internet. You have to ensure that you provide them with these basic necessaries. If you are able to do that, with high quality, then you can be assured of a continuous flow of traffic to your online business.
Another way in which you can use text-based marketing is through blogs. You could build a blog for yourself by using the following resource:-Blogger.com (http://www.blogger.com/)
However, if you are looking for a more professional blog, through which you could run a business, then you might want to have a blog through the following resource:-
Wordpress.com (http://www.wordpress.com/)
Both these resources are great to get you started with your blog. There is no learning curve with Blogger whatsoever; only with Wordpress you might need to go through a little training until you are set up. In any case, both these blogging platforms can help you become a great blogger quite easily.
Blogs are great for giving out information because you can make posts here. These posts can contain your opinions about your industry, which help in establishing your credibility in the online world. You tell people what you know about the product or service that you are dealing with and they, in return, tell you what they think. Blogs are places where people can place their comments and remarks on what you write; hence, they are a truly interactive portal which helps you come closer to your clients.
A successful blog is one that is updated constantly. It is a place where you post regular articles, so that people can read them and give their opinions if necessary. You should note that a regularly updated blog is also viewed favorably by the search engines. When you make regular posts, it counts for good search engine optimization as well.
Video-based Information
In recent times, though text-based information is still quite popular, people are relying more on video-based information for their needs. This kind of information is becoming more popular because it can show people visually what they are looking for.
For example, if you are selling a water purification machine for the home, you could do very well to show a demonstration of the product in a short video rather than in an article. The article has its own advantages, but the video creates a visual appeal for the product. People can see the video and right away understand what you are trying to tell them. Hence, a video can make a greater impact on the general public.
The biggest resource for distributing video-based information is YouTube. You can make a free account for yourself here:- http://www.youtube.com/
Once you have your account here, you are ready to upload videos. With YouTube, videos of most formats are easily accepted. You simply create a video through your digital camera or camcorder and then directly upload it on the Internet. This video has a limitation of size, which depends on the quality of the video, but you could easily make a 10-minute video if you want and post it on YouTube. That is more than enough time to tell what you want to tell. In any case, there are people who make just 1-minute videos and generate an absolutely strong impact in the market with just those.
YouTube is not the only video marketing website out there right now. There are many others, though none of them are as popular as YouTube. The following are three others that can be used for your marketing purposes.
With all these video submission websites, you are permitted to post your marketing videos. YouTube is, of course, more special than the others. It has more features than other websites. One of the most amazing special features that YouTube has is that it allows you to post your business link in the video itself and make it clickable. So, anyone who views your video may click at a link within the video itself and visit your business website, which will be loading in the background.
Another specialty about these video submission websites is that they allow people to post comments about the videos and to share the videos with their friends. The commenting feature is certainly very useful. It helps keep your video in the reckoning. It also helps the video link to be regularly clicked upon, and keeps it updated, due to which the search engines begin viewing your video links more favorably.
With YouTube, you can also make a channel for yourself. On this channel, you can keep submitting several videos about your business. The more videos you submit, the more popular you can become and the greater is your chance of exposing your product to the public. There are marketers who make series of videos. For instance, if they want to explain how to use a software application they have developed, they do not need to do it all in one video. They can make a series out of it, and they can post them all on YouTube.
People who like one video are immediately shown the other video in the list by the YouTube internal software. This is a great way to keep a person riveted to the information you are trying to give them. If someone is really interested, they will check out all your videos and then become totally impressed with you, and may visit your business link with the intention of doing business with you.
At the end of the day, it is information that you have to give out if you want to reach the levels of super popularity on the Internet. The bulk of the people who visit the Internet are doing so because they are looking for something. They may not be interested in buying something right away, but Internet marketing is a domain of soft sell. You don’t ask someone to buy a product or service right away, because that kind of blatant advertising would never do on the Internet. Instead, you work at arousing the interest in your public in the product or service that you are trying to sell. If you are able to hook people’s attention to realistic levels, then these people will become your customers sometime in the future.
Why Video Marketing Works Better than Text Marketing
The human mind has a tendency to visualize things. Whenever someone thinks of something then his or her mind starts visualizing it. That is why it is a good idea to produce a video for marketing purposes in order to capture everyone’s mind than using simple text.
Nowadays the world is all about helping people to look at something just by a click of a button. Not everybody has patience to read text- based advertisements. Videos are not just attractive but also less time-consuming. For example, it will take much more time in reading a text message, whether it is in the form of a blog post or an article, than watching a quick video advertisement.
Moreover, many people love to look at things before reading about them. As such, marketing by videos has become very popular these days. Most marketers regard video marketing as a boon to their business.
Video marketing can create great impact on the minds of people than text-based marketing. Moreover, it is this reason why most of the conventional and online advertisers are opting for video clips. However, this video clips about the target product will not cause immediate purchase of the product, but you can spread your marketing message to your targeted audience.
What is more believable? Of course, the things which can be seen in front of the eyes are more believable than static texts.
Benefits of Video Marketing
For video marketing to hit the market, the first thing you need to have is an excellent video clip that can hit people’s mind. The video must be precise and highly relevant to your product. Online videos are becoming more and more popular as they help to attract maximum number of customers around the world. Online video definitely is the most cost effective way as it is inexpensive and reaches target customer faster than TV ads.
Why Video Marketers Are Paying Great Attention to YouTube
On the well-known video sharing website YouTube, people can upload and view all categories of videos. It is the number two