Social Networking: 10 Steps to Finding Your Target Market in Facebook

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By Donna Gunter (c) 2009

Everyone is talking about social networking, and many claim social networking to be the panacea for all of your marketing ills. Marketing on social networking sites like Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter can help you boost the size of your email list and help you grow your business. The key to success with this strategy is making sure that members of your target market are in your network.

Facebook is very strict and very particular about how its participants contact each other. Facebook limits the number of new invitations that can be sent in a given day or week. The exact number is a Facebook secret and unknown to the public, but if you exceed this secret amount you can get booted from Facebook. However, I think if you stick with no more than 10 per day, you will probably stay within their limits. Secondly, you are permitted only 5000 friends in Facebook, so if you're successful in this strategy, you may ultimately need to create a waiting list of friends.

How do you find your target market in Facebook? Whether you're an experienced social networker or just a newbie, here are 10 secrets to growing your target market network in Facebook:

1. Update-to-date profile and/or Fan page: Before you begin a "friending" (i.e. request to become another's friend), be sure that your profile is up-to-date with an accurate description of what you do, your interests, and your contact info, including your web site URLs. If you have multiple businesses, invite people in your appropriate target market to become fans of your niche-specific fan page.

2. Follow the gurus. Follow leaders in your field/industry and "friend" them. Anytime you make a friend request, include a personal note, as that will improve the likelihood that they will accept your request. Say something like, "I'm a big fan and have been on your ezine/blog list for several years. I'd love to have you in my network in Facebook." Once they have accepted your invitation, make comments about their status updates to help you get on their radar and in front of their networks.

3. Friends of friends. Take a look at the people in the network of your industry leaders, as they are probably part of your target market as well, and send friend requests to those of interest to you. When you friend someone that you only know by association, send a personal note as well, like "I discovered your profile in 's network and would like to get to know you better by adding you to my network."

4. Use groups. Look for groups that may contain your target market. In your search for groups, use keywords that describe your niche, your industry, your geographic area, the interests of your target market, or whatever other terms you might use to find members of your target market. Join and begin to participate in the group so that they begin to get to know you. Then peruse the member lists for good prospects, sic as the members you've connected with or have gotten to know. Since you won't be able to view the profiles of the group members because they aren't in your network, much of your decision-making about whom to friend may be based upon appearance or how you might be connected to them via other friends in your network.

5. Check your lists. Friend people that you already know from your high school, college, alumni associations, and places of employment if they fall within your target market definition.

6. Facebook-recommended friends. Facebook typically recommends friends based on your current friends list when you log into your profile. I've found these recommendations to be pretty solid. Take them up on their recommendatíon and add those folks to your network.

7. Add by interest or industry. Do a people search by job title, industry, geographic location, or interest. Those people with those terms in their profile will show up in your search, and you can request to add them based on common interests.

8. Build the relationship. Once you friend someone, you need to begin to get to know them and start them on the like, know and trust journey so that you become their top-of-mind expert in a particular area. Begin building the relationship by posting a quick "thank you" note on their wall, as well as a comment about something on their profile that interests you or in which you have in common. Watch for their status updates, as well, and comment on these when appropriate.

9. Create a group. Once you've got about 500 followers, create a group for your target market. Provide the group with useful content and and ask questions to stimulate discussion and get the members to return to participate in the group. You can post articles, links to blog posts, or videos you have created. Invite group members to any free virtual or face-to-face events you're hosting.

10. Integrate into your plan. No marketing strategy works unless you consistently implement it over time. As a newbie to Facebook, you might want to spend as much as 60 minutes per day researching friends and participating in groups. As your network grows, you many spend only 15 minutes 3 times per week on Facebook. The key to success is to put this strategy on your calendar and make it a routine part of your ongoing Internet marketing tasks.

While social networking is an inexpensive marketing tool and can be effective in helping you grow your business, maintain your other marketing strategies, as well, and simply add this strategy to your marketing mix. A well-rounded Internet marketing plan that includes social networking and is implemented consistently will mean that your prospect well won't ever run dry.

5 Google Tools For Researching Your Market

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By Pete Moore (c) 2009

Internet marketers and webmasters have always had a love/ hate relationship with Google. Whatever you think of them they do provide website owners with some great market research tools.

No matter what market you are in or plan to be in, you will find these free tools provided by Google very useful when researching your market. You should be researching your market constantly, NOT just when setting up your site. The internet is ever changing and, if you're not keeping up with those changes, you will be left behind.

Market Research Tool 1 - Related Searches And Wonder Wheel

When you start typing in the main Google search box you should see a drop down box appear giving you some alternative search terms related to the word you typed. Note these phrases down in a notepad file or write them on a piece of paper. They will be useful as part of your keyword list used in the next tool. You will also see more related search phrases after you click search. Scroll to the bottom of the results page and you will see "searches related to:" Note down any new phrases shown there.

Recently Google has released Wonder Wheel which is also a related keywords tool but is shown in a mind map format. You can also click on the related phrases to find more useful search terms. To access wonder wheel: enter your keyword in the standard search screen, then at the top of the results on the left you should see a show options link. Select that and it will reveal a menu. Near the bottom of the menu you should see wonder wheel.

Market Research Tool 2 - Adwords Keyword Tool

We all know how important keywords and search phrases are. Let's face it, it's what drives the internet. Google has provided us with a tool that tells you what keywords and phrases people are using to find what they are looking for. You are able to search an individual country, more than one if you hold down the ctrl key on your keyboard as you select, or all countries.

The adwords tool is now more valuable due to the fact it shows actual search numbers. Previously you only had a green bar to indicate how much traffic the search term receíved. You can also see how competitive each keyword is amongst adword advertisers, showing us which keywords are commercially viable.

Market Research Tool 3 - Google Trends

Now that you have an idea what keywords your market is using you can use the trends tool to check the history of that keyword / phrase. Google Trends supplies data for the last 5 years, giving you an idea if the search term is consistent. You can also see if the search term is popular at certain times of the year, also known as a seasonal keywords.

Another important function of Trends is the section that tells you the popularity of a keyword by country, city and language - very useful if you are targeting particular countries or even cities.

Market Research Tool 4 - Google Alerts

Alerts is underused by webmasters. If you want to stay in touch with what's hot in your market, you can by using Google Alerts. All you have to do is enter the most popular phrases in your market. Google will then send you links via email depending on what type you select.

The types are news, web, blogs, video and groups. If you would like a mix of all, you can select comprehensive. You can decide how often you want to be updated by selecting either: as it happens, once a day or once a week. I hope you can see how powerful this is if you want to be seen as an authority in your market.

Market Research Tool 5 - Google Web Search

Finally, we have Google's standard web search which is not standard in my eyes. It provides a lot of information if you know what to look for. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of running a website. By performing a search of your market keywords, Google will tell you what type of content it sees as important.

If you see videos, blogs or images this gives you another way to reach the top 10 of Google. If you see Web 2.0 style sites such as Digg, that could be another avenue. If there are adword ads on the right side of the screen, that tells you the market is commercially viable and more importantly that the keyword you entered is good enough to pay for, especially if there are 10 ads or more.

As you can see, even if you don't have money to buy the latest tools, I have shown you there is a way to get some very important information using free tools from Google. Are you starting to love them now?

8 Secrets to Fill Your Business in 60 Days

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By Donna Gunter (c) 2009

Recently I was asked in an interview to imagine that I was starting all over again, and as a newbie, how I would fill my business in 60 days. Things have changed tremendously since I began my online business in 1999, mostly for the better. Most of the steps, however remain the same. Best of all, the strategies I recommend to fill your business are the same ones that can be applied to any business, and then applied again and again to other online ventures. Here are 8 secrets to filling the prospect funnel in your business in 60 days:

1. Success mind set. Don't gloss over this strategy -- it may be the most important of all. If you truly want to succeed in your business and are passionate about what you do, nothing will hold you back. This often means that you have to step out in faith that you'll succeed, and most importantly, believe in yourself as a success. Sure, you may stumble, or even fall, but you must be willing to pick yourself back up and persevere -- even without a safety net hanging under you.

2. Target market. The biggest mistake that business owners make is wanting to sell to everyone. If you've tried this, you have no doubt discovered that casting your net around everyone is a very difficult task. Narrowing that group to a more manageable number will actually serve you much better, believe it or not. If you can identify a smaller group of hungry prospects who are willing to pay for the solutions to the problems that keep them awake at night (or those who are willing to pay for more information about a hobby or interest that occupies much of their free time) AND who are reachable in groups (associations, membership sites, magazines, newsletters, discussion forums or lists, social networking groups, etc.), then you have made a key discovery that will catapult your business forward.

3. Client Attraction Device. You've heard it said time and time again that "the money is in the list." This still holds true today, as well. Without a list of interested prospects to whom you can market, you don't have a business. The quickest way to begin to develop a list is to give something away. Yes, you heard me correctly. If you have content you have already created, dig through that to see if you have something appropriate for your chosen target market.

If not, identify a problem of your target market, and create some content that answers one of those problems. Perhaps it's a checklist, a Top 10 list, an ebook or special report, an audio interview, a pod cast, a video -- do whatever is easiest for you. Just ensure that it is in a plug and play format, i.e. don't make your prospect download some weird software that's not commonplace to read and view this material.

Make sure that your Client Attraction Device has some valuable content in it. Nothing is more frustrating to me than to read a free giveway that only serves to remind me that I have a problem and offers no solution unless I pay for it. Don't be afraid to demonstrate your expertise by giving "how to" information away. Trust me, if you are truly good at what you do, there's no way that you can share everything you know on a topic in one short information product. Your Client Attraction Device starts your prospects on the like, know, and trust road that is imperative for them to travel before they will decide to buy something from you.

4. Email marketing system. You must have some way to collect your prospect's information and a system by which you can stay in contact with them. The best way to do this is by purchasing email marketíng services. Do not use a free service for this, nor try to send emails out of your Outlook program. If you want to be a serous online business owner, invest in the most important asset in your business -- your email marketíng system.

5. Blogsite. A blogsite, which is a web site/blog hybrid, is the quickest way to build an online presence. The two most popular blogging platforms, the fee-based Typepad and open source software Wordpress, can be used to create a blogsite very quickly. If you want either of them customized with a particular look or feel, that may take a bit longer and require a greater investment. However, either will work well to get you started, and both will permit you to enter your email marketíng system's signup code onto a page so that you can immediately begin to collect contact information from prospects who have requested your Client Attraction Device.

6. Stay in touch. Whether you do this by submitting regular blog posts or publishing an email newsletter (or both), you need to reach out and touch your prospects at least weekly (or several times a week if you are blogging). Give them some insights about what's happening with you personally as well as sharing some aspect of your expertise with them by creating a content-rich article or answering their questions. And, don't forget to sell -- provide some product or service in each email newsletter, or submit regular blog posts that remind your readers about what you are selling.

7. Social networking. Never before have we had the opportuníty to connect with others online easily and inexpensively as we do now with social networking. Create profiles on the social networks) used by your target market, do research to add friends/followers in your target market, and use the status updates to be useful to your followers, i.e. by sharing resources, asking questions, and updating them about how you help clients/customers.

8. Drive traffic to your site. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but my favorite starts with writing an article. Once it's written, I publish it in my ezine, my blog, and to my web site and syndicate it on article directories all over the Web. Then I have the option of making a pod cast with the content; creating a screencast video or "talking head" video from it; writing and submitting a press release; creating a teleclass; create a Q&A radio show interview opportuníty; breaking up the points as separate Twitter posts, or Tweets, and tweeting them to my followers; or sharing it on my Squidoo lens or other information-sharing portals. The point here is to work once and profit, profit, profit. Repurpose one article as many ways as you can to drive traffic back to your blogsite and thus get more and more prospects to sign up on your list and ultimately convert them to customers.

The advent of the Internet makes it easier than ever to create and promote an online business with very little startup capital. And, if done correctly, the strategies will results in you filling your business in 60 days with eager and willing prospects ready to buy what you are offering.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

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Affiliate is a word synonymous to "referrer". If you are into affiliate marketing, this means that you are the intermediary link between the owner of the goods and the clients.

The owner of the products and services that are being sold online is called the merchant. But the merchant does not market his services directly to his customers. For that job, he relies on middlemen like you, who are the affiliates.

Simply put, you are only the person who is making the sales happen. You are the salesman, who receives his money as a part of the commission that he makes from his sales.

So if you make no sale, you get no money.

To promote a product in order to earn revenue from the sale, you will need an affiliate program. The programs actually help you by driving the traffic of visitors to your site. It is very difficult to choose the right affiliate programs, since there are so many of them out in the Web world, and only a few that you can blindly trust.

More importantly, when the companies that you are working for go under, they might not even let you know, so that your payouts turn out to be very small, and sometimes, months go by and you never get to see your payday.

Another disadvantage of the affiliate marketing is banners. If a company gets its banners all over, a lot of confusion is created in the web sites so that the visitors start to face too many options. In such cases, they become easily overwhelmed and deterred.

Affiliate tracking could also turn out to be a bit of a problem. The companies will assign special code to you that you have to use in order to report your sales. This code assures that no other affiliate gets your pay by mistake.

You must have this code pasted in your site correctly and without errors so that you do not lose out. Or else you may send a lot of potential clients without any reimbursements.

In order to look for an affiliate program, all you have to do is go to the search engines and type in the keywords. You will get many affiliate programs displayed soon, but before you make your choice, it is better that you read up the reviews and see whether people had any problems while using those programs.

The affiliate marketing mainly depends on the craft you possess in marketing goods and services to the clients. This will determine your success and failure in this business.

You can start to use the available tested marketing methods after adding certain tweaks of your own creativity to them.

There might be certain obstacles in the way, but the affiliate marketing is still very important -especially if you hoard the skill to sell even a fridge to an Eskimo! You will get your pay according to every sale you make, and this situation turns out to be pretty simple and easy.

5 Reasons Why Most Internet Marketers Fail

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By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009

When it comes to starting any endeavor, whether it be learning a new hobby or starting an online business, we all have to start at ground zero. We all have to start at the very beginning from the very same place. Granted, we each bring different skills and backgrounds into the mix, but for the most part we are all on equal footing at the starting line.

If this is the case, then we really have to ponder why is it only a choice few go on to succeed, while most people don't. Just what are the reasons why most online marketers fail? This is the core question that has to be answered if you want to fully understand Internet marketing and how it works.

What are these basic reasons?

What are the causes or stumbling blocks that hold many marketers and webmasters from reaching their full online potential? If we know these factors, we can learn how to avoid them and even overcome them in our own online marketing. These reasons can be a solid reference point or even a source of inspiration for any online marketer just starting out.

Speaking from the viewpoint of someone who has started from the very beginning with little to no knowledge of computers or even marketing for that matter, I can honestly relate to the beginning marketer. I even had to learn HTML from scratch in order to construct my own webpages. Probably my only advantage, I did have a background in art but designing webpages was completely different from anything I had done previously to starting in online marketíng.

But from my own experiences I have drawn some general conclusions about Internet marketing and why some people succeed while most people fail. So here in my honest opinion, are some of the main reasons why many online marketers fail:

1. Overwhelmed With Information

Perhaps, one of the biggest obstacles I faced when I first started my website - I was bombarded with so much information on how to proceed I didn't have a clue which direction to take or who to believe. Thousands of different info products telling you to do this, not to do that... so much marketing information to absorb that you end up scratching your head and looking like someone auditioning for a zombie movie.

Completely overwhelmed with so much information, many marketers or webmasters enter a state of paralysis where nothing gets done. You go from one course to another or from one method to another, without any real understanding of how to proceed or how to get a detailed blueprint to follow.

Information overflow can effectively crush all that novice enthusiasm and literally kill even the most eager of entrepreneurs. Anyone starting out must be aware of this obvious but insidious pitfall you have to avoid at all costs. One of the best remedies, simply try concentrating on just one or two marketing plans/marketers for all your information. Try to eliminate the clutter by just working on one marketing system. Just have a few key marketing resources you go to for information, not a hundred! And do your homework, only pick marketers who can back up their claims with observable results on the web. One obvious checkmark - just see if those marketers have top rankings for their sites for popular profitable keywords associated with their sites or products.

2. Lack Of Key Marketing Basics

There are some key marketing basics or fundamentals you must learn about marketing online. Internet marketing has some key elements you must get right or you will have a difficult task in succeeding on the web. Just simple factors you must get right or it's game over before you even get started.

Most marketers fail to realize the web is "information driven" and you must supply quality information or content in order to truly succeed. You must provide a valuable service or function to your visitors. You must help solve their problem. You must give them a solid reason to use your site or product. Quality content is and always will be King on the web.

You must also understand much of the web is "keyword driven" and you must construct your webpages to take full advantage of these keywords. You must have at least a rudimentary understanding of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how you can use it to get top rankings for your keyword phrases.

3. Lack Of Time And Resources

Another major reason why many marketers fail is because they simply can't afford the time to learn and build their online business. Most people just can't stop everything and work full time online because they have bills to pay and families to support. It may take months, probably years, before you can build up a successful online business that gives you a comfortable living. The average person just doesn't have the time or the resources to spend months learning how all this works.

Keep in mind, getting a business or website going is probably the most inexpensive way to start your business. Domains are cheap. Web hosting is cheap. Web design is cheap if you can do it yourself... Compared to starting a business in the "real" world, creating an online business will only cost a faction of the normal expenses connected with starting a business. But the main problem is having the resources to pay your living expenses until your online business is profitable. Many beginning online marketers don't have these resources and the main complaint from these marketers: "I Simply can't afford the time to work at this online stuff."

One solution is to work at your online marketíng in your spare time and gradually build up your business until you can afford to do it full time. It will obviously take longer but you can still get to the same end goal.

4. Lack Of Necessary Skills

Actually, you don't need many skills to succeed online. However, one of the major skills you must have or you must learn is communication. You must learn how to communicate. The web is all about communicating your points to your visitors or viewers so you must acquire good communication skills.

It really helps your marketing if you are a good writer because you can easily get your points across with written text or copy on your site. Writing skills can be learned but many beginning marketers don't fully understand how important their writing skills will be to their success. You must be able to communicate on your site, in your newsletters, with your customers... might sound a bit obvious but you would be surprised at how many marketers lack this simple, yet necessary skill.

But don't fret, because once upon a time, the written word was king online - but not any more. Videos are rapidly taking the place of the printed word so anyone with a camera can now be a success online. Of course, you still need good communication skills even using videos, but many marketers have found this is a much easier way to communicate information about their site or product.

5. Lack Of Persistence

For me, one the most significant reasons most online marketers/webmasters fail, is because of a lack of persistence. They simply give up too soon. They try something for a few weeks, even for a few months and then they conclude this is not working and they give up.

Building a solid online business or viable website takes time, a lot of time. Just because your business is online, doesn't mean everything will fall into place overnight, it takes time to establish a customer base. It takes time to build your business relationships with others in your field.

Sometimes, it may take years before you see some solid returns. It was three years before I saw any significant revenue coming from my online ventures, and another year before I could summon enough courage to do this online marketing full time. If I had given up and not persisted at this web stuff, I would not be writing this article right now.

Building top rankings for your keywords in the search engines (especially Google) can take months, even years before you see any results. The real key is to be persistent and keep at it, day after day, until you get those top rankings. You simply must be persistent or you will fail.

In conclusion, having said all that, you must also realize there are plenty of exceptions to all of the above. There have been countless success stories on the web where someone has come up with a novel idea or product and become successful overnight. The web can provide immediate success for some, but for most of us, it will take some time and hard effort on our part to build a successful online business. Just try to avoid many of the pitfalls or reasons listed above and you will have a better chance of placing yourself in the success column.

How to accept credit cards for small business

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The benefits of accepting credit cards almost always outweigh the risks, and the chances of this are greatly improved if you do your homework before opening a merchant account. In this article I’ll talk about the importance of accepting credit cards, what to expect as you compare merchant accounts and how to keep your merchant account in good standing once you begin processing.

Convincing a business owner that they need to start accepting credit cards isn’t as tough as it once was and it’s getting easier every day. Credit and debit cards are a staple in consumers’ wallets and the trend isn’t showing signs of letting up any time soon. For merchants, the ability to accept credit cards often translates to larger average tickets and greater gross monthly sales volumes. Of course, along with the greater sales volume comes the expense of processing credit card transactions. Fortunately, profit from increased sales typically far outweighs processing costs.Here are a few helpful points that you should know before beginning your search for a merchant account.

Merchant account fees are not standardized
Merchant account Rates and fees vary widely from one provider to the next. Aside from the amount of fees charged, some accounts will have entire categories of fees that others won’t. As you being to research your options, look at every account as an individual.

Credit card processing rates and fees are not written in stone
Haggling is the name of the game when it comes to negotiating the best merchant account rates and fees. Consider the rates and fees of an initial merchant account quote as a starting point from which you can start to reducing costs.

There are a lot of providers competing for your business
Don’t begin and end your search at your local bank or even with the providers in your town. There are thousands of merchant service providers all competing for your business. Use this competition to your advantage to get the best rates possible. Consider using a web site like CardFellow.com to get quotes from multiple providers from a national market.

Once you begin contacting merchant service providers, you should expect to encounter some pretty good sales people that may employ high-pressure sales tactics. The key is to remain methodical in your search process and look at the facts surrounding an account, not the salesperson’s interpretation of them.

The best and truly knowledgeable salespeople will use the rates and fees of their merchant account quote to help portray the benefits of their offer. They’ll take the time to learn about your business, present calculations and estimations of processing expenses using an effective rate, and they’ll take the time to answer your questions in a consultative manner. These are the salespeople to look for, but not necessarily the ones to expect.

Once you decide upon a merchant account provider and start accepting credit cards, your education about credit card processing has just begun. Don’t look at the task as complete, but as just beginning. The bankcard industry is always changing and new regulations that affect you are commonly brought to legislative attention. The phrase “knowledge is power” translates to merchants in the bankcard industry as “knowledge is money.” The more you know about credit card processing, the more you will be able to save yourself in processing expenses.

Once you begin processing credit cards, frequent reliable and unbiased sources on the subject to keep yourself up to date about the industry and ways you can optimize your merchant account to lower costs. The best sources of merchant account information are the ones that aren’t trying selling you processing services.

Multiply Your Marketing Like a Virus

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By Michel Fortin (c) 2009

In today's Internet, conversations are cropping up all over the place. People are talking. They are talking about products. They are talking about businesses. And they are certainly talking about their experiences.

When you look at how blogs, forums and social networking sites have exploded in the last few years, you can see how powerful word-of-mouth is. But the question is, is it all really important? Can it really help your business?

Yes.

And I'm not talking about traffic. And you don't need to be controversial, either. I'm talking creating systems to leverage, manage and profit from the "buzz."

Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful lead and business generation processes there is. Online, some people call it "word-of-mouse." But we know it more as viral marketing.

Viral marketing is the process of implementing means or tools through which the knowledge of your existence self- propagates. Like a virus, your visibility spreads throughout a network of people who refer you to each other.

Notwithstanding the power of backlinking, traffic and SEO, viral marketing is key for a number of reasons. Success in the offline world is "location, location, location." The Internet is no different. Your success depends highly on the number of locations you appear online - places on which your site, link, company or product name exist.

In essence, to expand your reach, you need to be in as many places as possible, talked about by as many people as possible and be in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

With viral marketing, there are three ways of doing it:

Create content
Create applications
Create systems

The first is self-explanatory. Your content may be controversial or buzzworthy. It may create raging fans - or enraged enemies.

The second is simple: you create an application — whether it's a video, audio, file, software, document, etc - that people can pass around, and thus proliferates the knowledge of your existence on the web through other people's efforts.

I might write about these two at a later time. But for now, the one on which I want to focus is the third: creating a system.

Before I give you some examples, let me explain why word-of- mouth works wonders. Those who get to know you or to know about you through a third party grant you a higher level of confidence, credibility and loyalty. According to Dr. Robert Cialdini in his amazíng book, "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion," this is social proof in action.

Remember a dictum a mentor of mine once told me, which is: "Implication is far more powerful than specification." In other words, if you tell people you're the best, that you're the leader in your field, or that your product is the best solution to their needs, your self-serving promotional bias makes it all suspect.

However, if someone other than you - whether it's on a blog, in an email, on a social networking site or in person - says to another that you are indeed the best or that you do have the best solution to their problems, how much more believable will that person's statement be? How much more credible and trustworthy?

The answer is "definitely more."

Accordingly, word-of-mouth is not only important because it creates an awareness of your business (let alone traffic), but also it is important to the degree to which third party marketing indirectly communicates greater credibility, superiority and value of the products or services you provide.

In his book "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding," Al Ries stresses the importance of leadership and how that leadership is communicated.

According to Ries, people don't buy the best - they only think they do. They usually buy the leader (or what they perceive as being the best). And that perception is often molded by what they are told and by what others do, not by what is fact or by what is being advertised.

Coke, for example, outsells Pepsi. But according to Ries, taste tests reveal that Pepsi is the better tasting brand. So, why does Coke still beat Pepsi in sales? It is not because it is the leader in the marketplace or promoted itself as such but because it is known as the leader. And the reason it is known as the leader is because Coke was the first cola "in the mind" of the marketplace.

It is the one most talked about, even to this day. When a person is introduced to cola for the first time, they are often told to try Coke. Restaurant patrons still ask for "coke," even when Pepsi is the only cola served. Why is that? While other colas are bombarding them with marketing messages, people have heard of Coke first, and most likely from other people.

Consequently, if people hear about you from other people, and not some advertisement or pitch, this social proof will create not only a certain buzzworthiness about you but also an almost instant trustworthiness.

How do you do that? The most significant method is to be the first. If your business or website is unique, focuses on a niche or is the first in some category, the knowledge of your existence will spread quite naturally, almost like wildfire. It becomes viral in and of itself, in other words.

Now, I'm not saying you need to be new. I'm only saying you need to be unique. Or better yet, you need to be the first. Whether it's catering an existing product to a new niche, or adding a new twist to an existing product, you become the first.

I said it before: don't be the best, be the first. But more important, as Ries pointed out, "Don't be the first in the marketplace, be the first in the MIND of the marketplace."

That said, there are ways to use systems that will leverage the spreading of that message, on the other hand, which helps to multiply your marketing punch. Such systems both simulate and stimulate word-of-mouth advertising.

Networking systems, for example, include strategic marketing alliances, joint ventures, and affiliate programs. And unlike the more traditional traffic generators such as ads and search engines, these specific tools are much more effective since they are used by third parties and not by the original advertiser.

Top 5 Reasons Most Internet Businesses Fail

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By Mark Yarrobino (c) 2009

If you've been online for any amount of time, then I'm sure you've heard many of the success stories about internet entrepreneurs, and how they're making millions every year, and you've probably heard how easy it is for you to do it, too.

And the truth is, it actually is kind of easy, but not as easy as most salesmen would have you believe. There is a little bit of work involved, and anyone who's really been successful has put in the time and effort to get there. And they've managed to avoid the pitfalls on this list.

If you're trying to start your online business and things haven't gone as well as you've hoped so far, then hopefully, these suggestions will help.

Here are the five most common reasons that most internet businesses fail that I've seen, in no particular order:

1. Information Overload

You've probably already been inundated with emails explaining how some new money makíng scheme is the hottest thing on the planet and you need to get in now so that you're on the cutting edge of internet marketing.

The problem is that you haven't finished working on the previous hot new thing yet, and as soon as you start this one, yet another hot idea will hit, and so on, and so on.

In every valid email you get, there should be an "unsubscribe" link at the bottom. Start clicking on it, and just stick with a few of the people who you know are giving you good information about building your business from start to finish in the right order without any distractions.

And make sure that you see every task through to completion before moving onto the next one. It's the only real way to get anything done.

2. The Curse of Perfection

Speaking of seeing tasks through to completion, also consider that not everything on your website and in your sales process has to be absolutely perfect before you can unleash it on the public.

So many home busíness owners who are just starting out have a habit of obsessing over every little detail forever before they'll allow themselves to launch their site.

Stop it. It doesn't have to be perfect. That doesn't mean that you don't need to make sure your website is working properly first. It means that you can work on adjusting small details, such as the color scheme, the sales copy, the images, later on. In fact, if you're planning to do any proper testing (and you should be), then you should be constantly working on those items anyway.

So get your website out there, get some traffic, make sure the big things are working right, and then worry about adjusting the small details.

3. Waiting for the "Magic Bullet"

Let me just start by saying that there is no magic bullet when it comes to running your business, or doing any kind of work online.

I know that a lot of salesmen make it sound that way when you're reading their sales letters, but it simply isn't true. They're lying to you. And even if they're not lying to you, and let's say their system does work, it's only going to work for a short period of time, and it's only going to make you a little bit of money. Not the millions they're promising.

That's why I constantly warn people away from the "business-in-a-box" opportunities. The result isn't ever very good. Maybe you'll make a small bit of side money, if you're lucky. Besides, why would you want to sell the same thing everyone else is selling anyway?

The only way to have lasting success online is to have a website that is unlike anyone else's, that you've built up into a success, with a loyal customer base, one step at a time.

4. Being a Shopaholic

This goes along with #3 above. Stop paying for every new scheme that comes along because they're promising you instant riches. All that's going to do is drain you of your money.

And then, if you're like so many others, there's a good chance you'll get frustrated and give up on the whole thing, because you don't know who you can trust anymore, and you don't want to take a chance. So your dream of workíng from home is over before it began.

Or, maybe they're not selling you a scam, but in fact have valid programs that many people use successfully in their businesses. That's great, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's right for you right now. It might be something that will be a good investment for your business later on, but you should really concentrate on getting your website up and running first. Otherwise you end up with information overload as described in #1 above.

5. Fear of Technology

Just because you haven't tried something before doesn't mean that you can't learn to do it. Think about pretty much everything you've ever done, especially the things you're good at. Did you always know how to do that, or did you learn it over time?

I'm guessing that you learned it, and you can learn to do a lot of the work on your website, too. I constantly have to tell the people I meet that it's in their best interest to learn at least a little bit of the technical stuff that comes with having a website.

I'm not saying you have to be a programming expert. In fact, if you need heavy duty programming done, then you should definitely get someone to do it for you. It'll save you a lot of time, for one. But there's no reason why you can't learn some of the basics of HTML so that whenever you need to make a small change to your website (such as the testing we talked about earlier) you won't have to pay someone to do it for you. And you won't have to wait for them to have the time.

It's not as hard as you think. It just takes a little time to learn it.

Conclusion

The most important point I'm trying to convey is that, in order to be successful online, you need to remain focused on one task at a time. Finish that task and move onto the next one. Finish that task and move on. And keep going until you're done.

Stop investing in every fancy new program that comes along. There are no "magic bullets" anyway. Stick to the plan from the beginning, and see it through to the end.

Starting a new website does require a bit of work at the beginning. There's no way around that if you want to succeed. But the great thing about working online is that once you have everything set up, you can put almost all of it on autopilot and bring in money 24 hours a day with a minimum of work.

So get started now, don't be afraid that you can't do it, don't get frustrated, and don't let anything distract you. You could be making very good money in very little time if you do it right.