The beauty of the internet is that you don’t necessarily have to have a large budget to spread the word about your product or service… and you can monitor the success of your activities quickly and easily using tools such as Google Analytics.

You might be thinking, “Where do I start? I know nothing about Internet Marketing!”, but relax – it’s less about technical ability and more about common sense. As always, it’s best to keep things simple.

Ask yourself… Who is my ideal client?

If your client is the general public, then building a fanbase for your business across the social networking sites may be an excellent place to start.

If you’re aiming to supply other businesses then Pay Per Click and Organic Search Engine Optimisation may be your best route to market.

Is your business product orientated? Do you have an e-commerce system that can support affiliates? If so you should seriously consider affiliating. Make the comission structure appealing enough for affiliates and you can build a network of keen sales people promoting your products across a whole range of mediums, including their own sites – and the best part is you don’t have to pay out unless you get a sale. See tradedoubler.com which is an excellent way to source serious affiliate marketing. More and more companies, including the major brands, are turning to affiliating.

Shopping feeds are another excellent (and inexpensive) way of getting your products listed when users search for the products that you stock. Through Google’s own shopping feed or the many more, such as CompareStorePrices and Kelkoo, feeds ensure that your products are found even when you’re not ranking highly in the search engines for that particular product.

It’s not just off-site marketing either, what you do with the visitor on-site makes the difference too. Obviously your web-site should look professional and secure – consumer confidence is key. Would you buy from your web-site?
Other on-site marketing opportunities include:

• Send to a friend. Ask your visitors for their friends e-mail addresses who could benefit from what you do!
• AddThis (addthis.com) – A free button (with tracking) which can help users link to you via their social networks, bookmarks or e-mail at the touch of a button.
• Coupon Codes – 10% off if they buy today? A Gift Voucher for referring a friend? Encourage your users to act!

A top internet marketing strategy considers all the points above and more, working to your budget (if any) to maximise your sales revenues – giving you a clear, manageable and monitorable plan for moving forward step by step.
E-mail “hello (at)robstanway. com” if you would like an internet marketing strategy creating for your business.

Good Morning / Good Evening / Hello

The most common is “Good Morning”. This is not a good tweet. You offer absolutely nothing of value to anyone unfortunate enough to come across your tweet. At least elaborate about the type of activities you are undertaking that day and link it to the work you are doing and the type of customer that you are helping.

Links to unrelated news items

Many people who want to appear “in the know” will link to various articles around the internet that are unrelated to their business but most importantly highlight what they’ve been reading that day rather than getting on with some work. Linking to something unrelated to what you do will make you look like you severly lack in direction and it can be quite unprofessional.

Personal Life

Unless you are celebrating something that will be respected in your network, eg. Birth of a child, New Job etc then you need to avoid putting anything personal on your business twitter account. One tweet about how many pints you’ve managed to drink, or how hungover you feel will damage your credibility with your potential clients. Have a seperate, protected Twitter account if you want to connect with friends in this way.

Happy Tweeting.

Firstly, I don’t want to buy any pre-written American sensationalised rubbish about social media, I don’t even present that way myself.

Secondly, they’re missing the whole point of twitter. What they should be doing is using it to build relationships with both existing customers but also new, potential prospects. Twitter isn’t about a quick sell, it’s about a long term sustainable strategy that builds followers to your business that you can win business as you get to know people.

Unless you’re an eCommerce store giving out 24 hour/7 day “Coupon Codes” to your army of loyal followers that regularly purchase from your website, you should be prepared to get to know fellow tweeters, offer value and be interesting to follow – otherwise you’ll just waste the short time you do use twitter for business before you decide it doesn’t work!

Whatever you do – don’t waste your time following competitors or following the same tweeters as your competitors – not only do you look desperate – the amount of time you spend on them could be better spent building your own network.

When your competitors follow you, take it as a compliment and don’t follow them back.