Size Has Its Disadvantages

The Internet has become big business. Corporate marketing strategy seems to be based on who can afford to waste the most money for the longest period of time before giving up.

The smart home worker can take advantage of current trends and do more for less earning an advantage over the big guys. Nothing makes me feel as good as beating them at their own game.

First Lets Look At Some Current Trends.

Two Thirds of US Companies Advertise Online, Spending on online advertising in the US tripled in 1999, with the average company devoting almost 2 million for Internet advertising, according to the fourth annual survey from the US Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

Production costs for online campaigns have increased by over 50 percent in 1999 with the average of $441,000.

It now costs an average of $536,000 to develop a website and an annual average of $591,000 a year to maintain it. e-commerce sites cost $836,000 to build and 1 million to maintain every year. Maintenance costs do not include salaries or overhead costs.

I know it sounds extreame but I really couldnt have made this up

For the full article see the following URL:
http://www.ana.net/about/ananews/05_09_00a.htm

A Strategy For The Rest Of Us

There is no way we can out spend the corporations, but we can out-market them on a shoestring budget.

I remember an old saying.

"Its better to be a star player on a minor league team than to be a bench warmer in a major league team."

We can outsell the corporations by getting a higher percentage of business from within a very narrow niche. We can pinpoint our focus; do well on a smaller profit margin.

We can do most of the work ourselves saving thousands of dollars in the process. Every dollar we save comes back to us in the form of additional profit.

The more time and effort we put into our marketing the more profit we can earn. Its really difficult to make that first $1000 a month. Its much easier to boost that $1000 income into $10,000 or even $100,000 a month. Its all about smart marketing.

The secret to smart marketing is leveraging your strengths. Test everything on a small scale while gradually spending money only when you are sure it will bring you profit.

WHERE TO SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY

Most of us dont have a limitless amount of money to promote our products and services online, as the fortune 500 companies seem to have. Our only option is to spend our money carefully where it will do the most good.

The following are the most productive ways that us little people can invest our limited resources.

1. Invest Is Training You wont outsell anyone who knows more than you know about marketing your product or service. So become a marketing expert in your niche.
http://www.smithfam.com/training.html

2. Test And Re-Test Your Ads Carefully Select the newsletters and ezines already having access to your targeted customers. Once you develop an ad that sells you may expand into more publications. Never quit testing. Study magazines and newsletters in your area of special interest.

You can usually assume that ads running issue after issue are making money. Follow their example. If you want what they already have you need to do what they do, just do it better.

3. Buy Keywords On Search Engines There are now 19 search engines in which you can purchase keywords and others that will display your banner for specific keywords. Spend time comparing rates and test until you are sure you have a winner.

4. A Professionally Designed Website Its fun to design your own personal website but if you are spending money to develop traffic you cant afford to waste any of your advertising budget. Consider having your site developed professionally. Dont let them to be disappointed or confused when they visit your site. Most important, make ordering as easy as possible.

You can take advantage of a special offer through Advanced Commerce Technologies. You can get your shopping cart, website and e-commerce solution all from one source and you cant beat the price either.
http://www.smithfam.com/special.html

5. Two Step Marketing The entire cost in acquiring a lead is paid to before you earn a prospect. Develop an informative follow-up system to send your leads free and useful information. You can follow-up with your prospects over days, weeks and months. First give them brief doses of high quality information, then ask for the sale.

6. Earn Free Traffic From The Search Engines The cheapest way to attract traffic is through the search engines. Learn how to target your pages to obtain top listings. There are three ways I use to get thousands of visitors every day.

a) Make your Site Sell is a $17 Internet Marketing e-book; it contains the best strategy I have read on developing free search engine traffic.
http://www.sitesell.com/smithfam.html

b) Website Submission Software Traffic Builder is now the highest rated submission program on the net. It comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. The pro version can even write your meta code and fill out the submission forms automatically in seconds.
http://www.smithfam.com/spider/

c) WebPosition Software The free demo is a valuable tool to learn how to achieve a top listing. Later buy the complete program if you can.
http://www.smithfam.com/wpg/index.htm


7. Develop Your Own Associate Program Dont make someone else rich. An Associate Program is the least expensive way to acquire new customers in the shortest period of time. You pay advertisers only when a sale is made.
http://www.smithfam.com/assoctrac.html

Dont overlook our advantages over fortune 500 companies. We can earn a fortune targeting niches often considered too small and insignificant for the big corporations.

We can target more precisely, move faster, and do more with less. In fact, its because we have much less to spend that we must be more productive.

Size has its disadvantages, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Best Wishes
Bob

About the Author

:To contact see details below.


bob@smithfam.com
http://www.smithfam.com/