Building a successful business on the Internet takes more than simply creating your own information products and offering them for sale at your blog or website. To successfully market your products and services via the Internet you need to create the following:
1. Visibility - People won't be able to buy your products and services if they don't know they exist. One of the best ways to become visible on the Internet is with your own blog, which you update three to five times a week, at a minimum.
2. Credibility - Before customers or clients will purchase your products, they must see you as a credible expert on the topics you write about. You can start establishing credibility right now by writing short articles on topics in your area of expertise and submitting them to online article directories. In addition to credibility, you will gain more visibility through these articles as they start to show up on various websites, blogs, and in e-zines and online newsletters.
3. A growing mailing list - This gives you a way to reconnect with people who visit your sites. To create a mailing list you need a way to capture names and email addresses of people who visit your site. For this you need an opt-in box and something to entice people to sign up for your mailing list. Once you have an opt-in box, and something to offer people who sign up for your mailing list, you're ready for social networking sites such as Twitter, Ning, and Facebook. As you interact with people on these social networking sites, you'll invite them to join your mailing list.
4. Trust - People tend to purchase products and services from companies and individuals they know, like, and trust. There are a variety of ways to build trust. Start with an audio welcome message and your photo at your site. People feel they know you better right away if they can both "see" and "hear" you. Also, offer something free to people who sign up for your mailing list. Be sure this freebie is something your niche market will find valuable. Share your knowledge and expertise in your regular blog posts. All this will help people get to know and trust you.
5. Passive Income - This just means you create something once, then sell it over and over again automatically. Information products can be an excellent source of passive income once you have created enough visibility, credibility, and a large mailing list of people who trust in your products and services.
Start building your business through Internet Marketing today by incorporating these five elements into your overall marketing plan.
For more tips to help you develop your business, sign up for The Morning Nudge at http://www.morningnudge.com
Suzanne Lieurance is a fulltime freelance writer, The Working Writer's Coach, and founder of Build Your Business Write.