Archive for March, 2008

Forum posting to promote an internet business

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Some people do not post in forums and newsgroups as they feel that it will be a waste of time. However, online marketers know that posting in forums can be a very good source of targetted traffic to any website, if done properly.

Some of the advantages of posting in popular high traffic forums are:
1. The internet is constantly changing and forums are often the first place where new ideas are posted. By posting or lurking in forums, an internet marketer remains updated on the latest trends.
2. The best selling products / services are those for which there is a lot of demand. New products / services can be developed by studying the demand for a particular product.
3. By posting in relevant forums, the marketer can reach the target market, who will visit their website for more information.
4. Making useful posts helps in building trust and credibility
5. Signature links can be used to promote products and services, which can be indirectly promoted in the posts . However, different forums have different rules regarding signature links and care should be taken to follow them.
6. Many search engines rank forums high in their search results, and posting can help the website get ranked in search engines.

Starting an online business

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Compared to an offline business the expenses involved in setting up an online business are less. Though goods have to be sourced for both online and offline stores, the owner of an online store does not have to pay expensive shop rentals or spend money on decoration and security. Many online stores have tie-ups with drop shipping companies who take of the packaging and despatch of the goods.

Like any business, it is usually some time before an online business breaks even. The time taken to break even depends to a great extent on the product selected, profit margin  and the marketing expenses. If the business owner has some free time, he or she can use the various free internet advertising options available.  These can be very effective, but are time consuming.
The other option for getting visitors to a website is using PPC (Pay Per Click) programs, but these campaigns are often very expensive for newcomers.

To earn money from a website, it is important to get targetted traffic. There are many programs that promise to send thousands of visitors to a website for a low price, but many of these “visitors” are actually bots or participants in Paid to Click schemes. It is important to measure  the conversion rate for different types of traffic and only try to get traffic which converts well.