How do people advertise online?

Advertising is a major contributor to the internet economy. When you browse a web page, you will often see advertisements for other products and websites. Advertising online allows consumers to find out about new products and services that are available and gives businesses a cost effective way to advertise to their customers. While a company can spend a lot of money on a big billboard or TV ad and never know exactly how many people saw it, let alone actually acted on it, web advertising allows companies to track exactly how many people saw their ad, clicked on their ad and even how many actually purchased. There are two main types of web advertising.

Impression Based

Impression based advertising works basically like a billboard on the side of the road, except companies pay to advertise based on how many people see the ad. This is often used by big companies that are just trying to promote their brand and get awareness.

Pay Per Click

A more recent kind of advertising online is called Pay Per Click or PPC. This is when an advertiser only pays when someone actually clicks on their ad. This is far more cost effective than impression based advertising because the company is only paying for people who actually click on their ad and go to their website, rather than just anyone who sees their ad. The most obvious example of PPC ads are the “Sponsored Links” in the Google search results (see the how to use Google video). These are companies or individuals who have selected to have their ads placed near the search results when someone searches for some specific key words. When you click on one of these ads, you are taken to their website, and the company pays a small fee, anywhere from a few cents to $50 to Google for the traffic.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is something you probably encounter every day on the web – but you may not even realize what it is! Affiliate marketing is basically an online system where someone gets paid for referring sales or potential customers to another business. An affiliate is like a middle man (or woman), they find people who have a problem or need and put them in contact with someone who has a solution.

Often when you search for something on Google, for example “Dog Training”, many of the sites that come up are actually affiliate sites. These sites may have a whole bunch of articles to do with Dog Training which you can read for free. At the same time the site may also give you a whole bunch of examples of paid products that could help you train your dog. Their site might even review a whole bunch of dog training products to give you an idea of what is the best product to buy for your price range. These are affiliate products. When you click on a link to go to the website that's actually selling the product, an extra bit of information is contained in the link that tells the person selling the product who sent you there. This means that if you buy something, the person who sent you there gets a commission on the sale.

This form of online marketing is really popular for a number of reasons. Merchants like it because they only have to pay affiliates when they make a sale. Affiliates like it because they can make money relatively easily by promoting other people's products and customers like it because affiliates make it easier to find products and services that they need.

Affiliate marketing is an incredibly popular way of starting a business online. Most affiliates start out just doing it part time or as a hobby but there are thousands of people who make full time livings promoting affiliate programs, and some who even make millions of dollars a year doing it!

If you want to find out more about how to start a business online with affiliate marketing, check out the rest of the Affilorama Affiliate Marketing Training Portal. At Affilorama we offer tons of free lessons on how to set up an affiliate marketing business from scratch. All you have to do to get access to all this material is sign up with your name and email address. To find out more about what Affilorama has to offer, click Join Now below and start learning how you can set up your own business online using affiliate marketing!

What is e-commerce?

Ever since the invention of the internet, businesses have been coming up with ways to utilize it to sell goods and services and market their products online. Today there are hundreds of different ways money is exchanged online, from traditional businesses using the net to advertise or sell products, to entirely new businesses that have sprung up around the internet that have no physical presence whatsoever.

The best bit is, e-commerce isn't just reserved for big companies – pretty much anyone can get involved in the internet economy and many people set up their own businesses from home, either as a full time job or just as a hobby to make a bit extra on the side. Here are some of the main forms of business online:

Ordering

Many traditional businesses now sell their products online – some have even moved to exclusively using the internet to process orders. Websites often use a 'shopping cart' model, where you can look around the different products a company offers and click the ones you want to buy. Once you have selected everything you want, you 'proceed to the checkout' by clicking a button and view your entire order. Typically customers pay by credit card or Paypal, which is an online payment system that allows you to pay using just your email address and a password.

A good example of a site with a massive ordering system is Amazon.com. Take a look at Amazon.com here.

Market Place

While some sites sell products from just one company, other sites allow anyone to sell anything they want on them. The best example of this is eBay.com. At eBay you can list anything, from old items around your house that you no longer use, to items you brought wholesale and are now selling off at a profit. eBay is also a great place to look for cheap products too. Often you find things much cheaper there than if you brought them at a store.

Many people set up businesses using eBay and have a full time job buying and selling online. Some use wholesale directories like this one to find products at the cheapest price they can and then sell them off on a regular basis. Many people make this kind of buying and selling their hobby, and really enjoy looking for the best deals. Have a look at eBay here.

What are digital products?

Some products exist only on a computer, however they are still sold for real money. Examples of these include eBooks (which are just like normal books but instead of a hard copy they are just a file which you can download), training courses (on anything, from learning Spanish to learning about internet marketing), software and much much more.

The advantage of selling digital products is that you don't have to pay any manufacturing or distribution costs. Once you've made the product, everything you sell is virtually profit! This is why many people create their own digital products themselves, for example writing an eBook on a subject, and then selling it.

What are online scams? How do I avoid them?

Unfortunately, because anyone can access the web, it's not just nice people who you will encounter online. There are many people who try to trick you into giving over confidential information so that they can steal from you. It is an unfortunate reality, but when you're using the internet, you have to be on your guard. However you shouldn't let this discourage you from using the web or even purchasing products on the web. You just have to be mindful of what you're doing and skeptical of what you read on the internet. A good rule of thumb: If it really seems just too good to be true, it may well be!

Using your credit card online:

Your credit card is usually the simplest and safest way to pay online as false charges can be disputed. That being said it's important that you take precautions any time you give out your credit card information. Never give credit card information out over email as it is not secure, only enter it into a proper secure online form. You can see whether a web page is secure by the little padlock that will appear either in the status bar in the bottom right of your browser or next to the web address at the top.

Also the web address with change from 'http' to 'https'. If you don't see this, don't buy or check why it's not showing. Finally, make sure that you check your credit card bill every month. If charges appear that you don't recognize, chase them up with your credit card company immediately. Most of the time false charges can be recovered.

Five most frequent online scams:

Auction Fraud:

Auction fraud is one of the most common internet scams and occurs when you buy something from a marketplace site like eBay, make the payment, but never receive the item. Chasing down the seller often proves fruitless and wastes more time and money.

HOW TO AVOID:

Be careful when buying anything online. If the price of an item just seems way too low, you need to look in to things a bit more closely. Look at sellers feedback on their eBay or auction profile. Do they get good feedback? Do they have a lot of negative comments? Do they sell lots of items all the time? Use these factors to decide whether the person selling the item is reputable. For example don't buy from anyone who doesn't have any feedback or a feedback rating of less than 5.

Phishing Scams:

A phishing scam is when you receive an email requesting that you urgently update your account information for your bank account or other financial site. The link on the email takes you to a fake site that looks like your banks, but is really a front that will steal your account information and then your money!

HOW TO AVOID:

No reputable bank or financial organizations will contact you by email asking you to update your information. Be wary of any emails you get requesting information. Also check whether the email is actually addressed to you or if it just says 'Dear Sir'. Spelling mistakes and other errors also indicate scams. Finally always remember, if this matter was actually urgent, wouldn't your bank contact you directly by phone?

Nigeria 419 Letter:

You receive an email, usually badly written and full of spelling mistakes, addressed as 'Dear Friend' or 'Dear Sir/Madam'. The letter is usually from some supposed government minister, businessman or executor of a some rich never-before-heard-of extended relative that wants your assistance in transferring a large sum of money (usually multi-millions) in return for a percentage. They request contact information and then typically request money for “taxes”, “lawyer costs” and other fees in advance to make the process happen. People who fall for these scams usually lose several thousand dollars.

HOW TO AVOID:

It is amazing that people do actually fall for this one, but unfortunately some people are just far too trusting! Just think, 'why out of everyone in the world would they be offering this to me?' This is one of those 'too good to be true' scenarios. Don't reply to the emails. Simply delete, or mark as spam.

Postal Forwarding or Reshipping Scam:

You are asked, either via email or after answering an online ad to receive goods for a company that doesn't have a US postal address and then forward them on overseas. You may be asked to receive money wired to your bank account and then transfer to another account after collecting a percentage. In reality the goods were probably purchased with stolen credit card information and you are essentially being used to aid criminals in transferring stolen property. Or you're transferring stolen money to hide the trail of money.

HOW TO AVOID:

Ask yourself “If these guys were a legitimate company, wouldn't they be able to figure out a proper way to receive mail or transfer money?”. Ignore any requests to transfer goods or funds on behalf of someone you don't know. While you might make a little money in the short term, when the scam gets busted it's you who's going to be left with their hand in the cookie jar!

Congratulations, you have won an iPod/laptop/Xbox/etc:

You see an ad or email telling you that you've won the latest cool new gaget like an iPod or an Xbox, the only thing you have to do is hand over your credit or debit card information to pay for shipping and handling! Great deal right? Except you never receive anything and mysterious charges start showing up on your card.

HOW TO AVOID:

When did you enter a contest to win an iPod? While companies do give away free stuff as part of promotions, they usually want people to enter in order to have their information, or have them join their website or something of value. Randomly receiving a prize is 'too good to be true'. And if this company has the money to buy all these fancy prizes, why can't they fork out $15 for posting it to you?

If you're not sure

If you're ever not sure whether something is legitimate or not one of the easiest ways to check is to do a quick Google search. Read about other people's experiences and you should quickly figure out if they're for real. Although be aware that some people set up defamatory websites or post negative comments about other companies, either because they're competitors or because they had one bad experience with a company (more often than not it's their own fault!). Make sure you read reviews and comments from a few different sources when checking out a website or company.

You may also want to consider emailing the website or company and asking them for more information or to prove their legitimacy. Asking for a mailing address or a phone number can be a great way to find out – scammers will often shy away from giving out that kind of information.

Article Writing: Paragraph and Grammar Structure

1. Capitalize the first word of every sentence.

2. “I” is always capitalized, along with all its contractions.

Example: I can do it.

Example: I’ll do it tomorrow.

Example: I’m going to do it now.

3. Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence.

Example: She said, “I can do this.”

4. Capitalize a proper noun.

Example: Eiffel Tower

Example: Christopher Knight

Example: Federal Bureau of Investigation

5. Capitalize a person’s title when it precedes the name.

Example: Doctor Smith

Exception: Mr. Smith, the doctor at the hospital,

came to check up on me.

6. Capitalize any title when used as a direct address.

Example: “Will you please answer the question, Senator?”

7. Do not capitalize names of seasons.

8. Capitalize points of the compass only when they refer to specific regions.

Example: I have relatives visiting from the South.

Example: I drove south to the end of the block.

9. After a sentence ending with a colon, do not capitalize the first word if it begins a list.

Example: These are my favorite foods: chicken,

potatoes and bread.

10. Capitalize the first word and all the words in titles of books, articles, works of art, etc. excluding short prepositions and conjunctions.

Example: “Articles Writing and Marketing”

Online Basic Strategy

For most businesses, the first thing to do is set up a Google AdWords campaign. It doesn't matter how long it takes to make that work. Every step of the process teaches you very important things, even if it's through trial and error.

Google AdWords it's just about the only way to get a steady, predictable stream of traffic day in and day out. Most other sources of traffic, like free search engine listings and PR, are things you have no real control of. You can easily track the level of response and test different campaigns simultaneously.

Once it's working on AdWords, you take the same messages and sales process and roll out your product in this order:

1. Google AdWords
2. Search Engine Optimization
3. Other PPC's like Yahoo and Bing etc etc.
4. Email promotions
5. Affiliates
6. Press Releases
7. Direct Mail
8. Print Advertising

Items #2 through 8 are more expensive and less "controllable" than Google.

Usually pay per click traffic represents only a tiny percentage of the people who are potential customers for you. When you roll out to items 2 through 8, you can often make five to fifty times as much money as you were making with AdWords. And no longer is it necessary to risk more than a few hundred dollars on a marketing campaign!

How to test New Products/Services for Under a Few Hundred Dollars

You've got a product idea. The product itself costs $50,000 to develop, and you're sure it's a good idea because it really solves as specific problem that many people are dealing with.

What you do is : You write a report, e-book or white paper about how to solve that problem. You create an opt-in page where people can get your report in exchange for their contact information.

Then you buy keywords, send people to that page and see how many people you can get to opt in.

That alone will tell you something.

And if you absolutely cannot get anybody to opt-in to your report - or if you can't find keywords that anyone is searching for - then that's a good sign you should abandon the project before you throw any more money at it.

When people do opt in, you can send them an email (or even call them on the phone) and ask them what they're really looking for. If your report is any good, they'll be happy to talk to you, and you'll get LOTS of input about the kinds of problems they're trying to solve.

It's impossible to do this and not learn some major things that you did not know or anticipate.

Not only will this process validate that you're solving a worthwhile problem; it will also fine tune your efforts so that you're dealing with the real problems that real people have!

It's worth repeating: after testing your concept, you'll never throw good money at a lousy product idea. And when you need assistance or investment money, you'll have proof that people are looking for what you have to sell.

AdWords or Free Search Engine Rankings: What is best?

A lot of people ask about the merits of buying clicks on search engines with AdWords, vs. getting free visitors with search engine optimization, where you load up your web page(s) with strategic keywords so you can get a good rank on search engines.

At first glance, of course free is more attractive than paid. You can do a lot if you are very creative and think out of the box when you market.

When doing it for free, remember that you can only optimize a website for ten or so words and phrases, so you should choose your words very carefully. Always check on the competition you are facing on those keywords. Find unexplored niches.

It is extremely important to choose the RIGHT words and phrases that in you specific case, will attract many interested prospects every day, and will filter prospects that will really appreciate – or are in need of – you product or service.

However, if you don't use a pay per click strategy to determine which words and phrases actually attract paying customers first, you will almost always choose the wrong keywords.  The words you initially think you want are almost always different than the ones that actually work.

Be aware that it takes 30 days to several months to see results when you're playing the search engine optimization game, so the faster you start targeting the correct keywords, the better.

When you do pay per click campaigns properly, you'll see that there are almost always a few really productive words and phrases that only 2-3 people are bidding on, instead of 10 or 20 bidders.  What that means is that those people are not optimizing their website(s) for those same keywords either.

Just like pay per click, search engine phrases have varying degrees of competitiveness.  If you want a #1
ranking for the phrase "Printer" it's going to be a LOT harder than getting a #1 ranking for "Brother MFC" which is a popular printer.  And the traffic will be much more targeted, too.  When you do search engine optimization, you must pick battles you can win.

When you are setting up your pay per click campaign, determine which keywords are productive, then do
search engine optimization based on what really works.

Trying to Sell Sophisticated Products on Google?

If the product you are selling is expensive, sophisticated, is technical and/or involves a complex buying process - or if your company sells to other businesses - one of the most powerful marketing tools that can help you is a White Paper.

A White Paper is a document, usually a few pages long, that states your company's position on how a problem should be solved. So if you sell drills, you can write a report on how to make better holes, and you'll get lots more sales leads than merely advertising information about your drills. Why does that work?  Because: Nobody who bought a drill wanted a drill.  They wanted a hole.  Offer information about making holes and you'll be much more successful.

If you give away information like that, Google AdWords is a great way to get web visitors to come to your website, fill out a form and download your report or white paper.