A simple reality check about what you need to know about the online world if you know nothing about the internet marketing.

Pick a good Domain Name

Your Domain Name is your business name online. A good domain name is the same fundamentals as the basic business principle (location, location, location).  It should be short, easy to remember and easy to spell.

Your website

Let’s take a look at the basics if you’re going to be working online you going to need to be seen by the rest of the world. It all starts with your website.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is thinking you can just build the website yourself. Paying 50.00 – 500.00 for a template website. If you knew anything about building a website it would be done already. Sense it is not, you’re going to need a professional. Design is a major part of the process. A professional designer is going to cost you money. The key to this is to just get someone that is already good at this job.If you’re going to be on the right track always hire the best and most qualified person and or company. The price of a website can vary depending what you want or need.

Using Professional Audio

Most sound that appears on a website is annoying. So it might be a good idea to avoid sound. However someone with extraordinary knowledge in communication knows how to use it right. The places you going to need it will involve areas of the website like video, movies, animation or even interactions. Seek the advice from a pro. And I’m sorry unless you’re an audio engineer just forget about it. It’s also going to cost you money.

Using Professional Video

I would recommend using professionally shot video. There are a lot of methods but think of like a commercial. This could cost a little or huge amounts of money depending on what you intend to do. I would say if you can’t afford to do it right, then don’t do it at all. As doing so could cause you more harm than good.

Using Professional Photography

If you’re selling products or even a picture of yourself you need to remember to use professionally shot photography. Making this mistake will just make you look bad and send potential customers packing.

Flash Animation

Flash creates a fresh look, makes it look like your company has resources. Bottom line, it makes you look good to your customers. Be sure to keep in mind that it’s going to cost you. This is a well worthwhile investment.

Web 2.0

This is a new standard for the look, feel and functionality of website. This includes updated images, video and graphics. If you don’t have a web 2.0 website you might as well forget about generating money online.

Blog

A blog is important for letting the world know about your company’s latest news and information. This should look similar to your website and be under the same domain name. It is also important to remember that you don’t have to have a blog, but it will help your efforts.

Forum

A forum is great for customers to ask and find out information about your services and products. This is not a requirement, but it will help your efforts. Remember if you choose to do this, it will take time and effort. I would recommend hiring a person to handle this. I would hire internally or externally.

Ecommerce – Are you, or not

Building an online store is going to cost you money. This will of course need a budget. I think it’s important to remember that it will require more money than your average website. Prices vary, but be prepared to pay more. This website should be dynamic and will include custom programming. I do however need to mention that your website should be easy to navigate. Your customers need to be able to know how many steps until the order is complete. All products need to have information clear and easy to understand.

Also products need to professionally shot by a photographer.

Custom Backend Programming

Anything can be done with 1’s and 0’s. How will you know if you website will require custom backend programming. Well here is an example, say you’re an independent pizza shop. You already have a website and you ask your webmaster this. “I need customers to order my pizza off my website.” It can be done but don’t expect to pay less than $2,500 additional dollars. Any time you add custom programming or you need your website to do something it is going to cost you money. The truth is almost anything can be done,  but prices can very all the way up to $50,000 month with a team of programmers working round the clock. It all just depends on what you need but keep in mind that it requires money.

Targeted Traffic, what is it? And yes you need it!

Targeted traffic is the type of traffic that is much more likely to convert to a sale or phone call. There is a science to this, but you should keep in mind that this can be generated via search engine marketing, search engine optimization or via a pay per click campaign. If you plan on making any money online you’re going to need to generate targeted traffic.

Search Engine Optimization a reality check

Is your business national, local or global? Depending on what type of business you have different approaches need to be taken. What do you need to know? Some companies will offer local business packages as cheep a $300.00 to $500.00 a month. Remember to hire a professional. You can try to learn about it and do it yourself, but it would be better to just pay an expert, as this could require full time concentration. Another reason to hire a professional is that while driving traffic is important, converting traffic to money is a talent all in itself. If I could tell you anything it would be that as much as $300.00 – $500.00 dollars a month can sound like a lot. If it increases your bottom line, it’s well worth the investment.

Pay Per Click Campaigns – What you really need to know about making a sale

The cost of managing a Pay Per Click Campaign is 10% of the total budget. I would not attempt to run a campaign for less than a couple hundred dollars a month. The four main places are going to be on Google, Yahoo, Bing and Microsoft. There is how ever other websites and programs out there. I would also recommend a marketing expert as the landing pages will need to be optimized for the customer. This is a major reason to hire an expert, as making this mistake will only cause you to lose money and potential conversions.

What some websites really cost

Just because you surf the internet, and have seen other websites, does not mean that it’s really cheap and easy. Remember that a website like Amazon cost millions of dollars to develop. A website like YouTube has tremendous operating costs. When trying to run a business online. It’s important to remember, that you have to complete a project within your budget. If you don’t have a budget, then this will make it almost impossible to succeed in the online world. It should also be noted that if you can’t afford to do it right, you should not attempt to do it at all.

Search Engine Marketing -

Using videos

The internet is going into the video age. The truth is people find it easier to watch something than read. If you have the budget this is something you’re going to want to take advantage of. Remember you should only try to attempt this is you have a budget and or you have resources. Please do not attempt this if you do not have a budget as this will only make you  look bad, and even worse cheep. And remember image is everything.

MySpace

It’s possible to generate traffic from MySpace. This could even convert to customers. Please remember this will require time and this is all part of search engine marketing. If you have ever had a MySpace account, then you know this alone could turn into a full time job all in its self.

Facebook

This can be affective and should be used as a multi campaign in search engine marketing.

Twitter

This can also be an important part of driving traffic, this is part of search engine marketing.

YouTube

Videos that create many hits can bring thousands of visitors a month to and website, and can push a product with mass volumes. This can be an effective tool, but I would hire a company with experience. This would be considered under search engine marketing.

Your business is an offline business, why should you care about the online world?

There is an online market for just about any type of market out there. If you’re a local plumber, doctor, lawyer, auto shop or coffee shop, having an online presence is important. You could be missing out on your local market. Look at it from this side. If you’re not getting business from this, then you’re losing business.

Be excellent at your business, Hire a professional Search Engine Marketer

Even though it’s possible to learn just about anything, just marketing yourself online is the equivalent to a full time job, if not multiple jobs. Quite trying to learn how to do everything yourself and messing things up. Think of yourself like a director and you need a crew to shoot your movie. You have to trust your crew to just do the best possible job. One way to do this is by hiring professionals. Look you already have one business to run. So run it. Let an expert run your online business and you will succeed. Page Propeller offers every type of service your company will ever need. So remember the secret is hiring a professional, and you won’t have any problems.