IS ANYONE REALLY BUYING ANYTHING ONLINE?
by Jim Daniels, JDD Publishing

IS ANYONE REALLY BUYING ANYTHING ONLINE? by Jim Daniels, JDD Publishing

Before you really commit to spending your hard earned cash and valuable time on an online marketing campaign, you probably would like to know the answer to that question, right?

After all, staring at a 14" box and pecking along six rows of keys into the wee hours of every morning is NOT the definition of fun for most "normal" people. (For the record I don't consider myself to be amongst the "normals".)

So why do it?

Is it all going to be worth your while? More than likely, you've heard many people saying that it's NOT worth all the trouble, that people online are NOT buying.

"They are browsers, not buyers" I've heard from more than a few would-be netrepreneurs. I keep reading things like, "People on the internet want free information, they're not there to make purchases!"

Well you can believe all the naysayers if you want to. After all, those excuses are a great way to ease the frustration that accompanies a slow online marketing campaign.

The simple fact is, people online DO spend money. They ARE willing to shell out their hard earned bucks on the internet. I know this first hand. On top of dozens of orders received by email every week, I receive twice that amount in my mailbox that include printed email sales letters. I also receive many orders at my secure server each day. All of this action comes exclusively from my online marketing efforts. What am I selling? Information products. Not just any info products mind you, good solid manuals about inexpensive online marketing strategies.

So why are so many people under the impression that online marketing is not worth the effort? The naysayers must be bending their ears too far! Maybe these naysayers just don't have the "right stuff". Just like in any traditional marketing campaign you need all the right ingredients to succeed. If you don't have the "right stuff", you will not see the profits.

So what constitutes the "right stuff"? Simple. You need solid products that are in high demand and you need a marketing campaign that reaches your target audience.

First a little more on your product...

What's in demand on the internet? Well I can certainly vouch for information products. If that's what you're selling, here's a little tip. The key to selling information online is offering up to date information. Forget about those old marketing reports that were written twenty years ago. Internet customers want fresh stuff. Stuff that will help them succeed in this new arena. If you can help them, they'll pay for it.

If it's not information you're selling, how do you decide if your product or service is right for the internet? After all, some products and services are great for the net while others simply are not. Well you don't have to be a writer or publisher to make money in cyberspace. Other types of small businesses making money on the internet include web page designers, network marketers, and graphic artists just to name a few. The list goes on and on and the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Here's a good rule of thumb in determining if online marketing could work for your product or service. If whatever you are offering could serve a national or global marketplace effectively, you can use the internet to market it. Keep in mind however, you must also be able to deliver the goods! I found that out quickly when I started receiving orders from places like Portugal to Luxembourg and from The Netherlands to Singapore! Within months I had customers in over thirty countries, proving that this truly is an international marketplace!

Now lets look at the other ingredient to a successful online marketing crusade. As with any traditional marketing campaign, the most important aspect is to reach your target audience. But just who are the customers in cyberspace? Well believe it or not, most of them haven't even arrived yet! (That's right, it's not too late for you to set up shop.) Many industry experts expect the online population to explode to over 100 million by the turn of the century! With those numbers your potential customer base is virtually unlimited!

So what about the millions of paying customers that ARE online? How does one go about hooking up with them? Here are just a few methods the pro's are using.

• Frequent newsgroups. Schedule weekly or monthly visits to your favorite newsgroups. Read posts and answer them. Help your fellow netizens. The information you offer will return to you two-fold. Visit http://www.bizweb2000.com/freehelp.htm for a long list of business related newsgroups to frequent and post to.
• Participate in online discussions. Not only will you learn some valuable information, this is a great way to soft-sell some of your wares. Visit http://www.forumone.com/ and search for a few discussion groups in your area of interest.
• Subscribe to as many ezines about your subject as possible. Nearly all of them are free and they're filled with marketing tips galore. Many now offer low cost classified advertising as well. A fellow by the name of John Labovitz has put together a very comprehensive ezine listing at the following URL. Go take a look. http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/
• Build your own web page. Don't know how? Well that's no longer an excuse! There are many new software packages available today that do the work for you. Visit http://www.bizweb2000.com/az.htm for a link to some of the best ones.
• Surf the web at least once a week and look for products and services like your own. This is a great way to get ideas from other internet marketers.

Have you been thinking about committing some of your valuable time to internet marketing? Why wait any longer to get started. Start burning a little of that midnight oil. Hey, never before has there been such a fertile ground for success. Most experts agree that every business will be marketing on the net someday. Why not make your "some day" today!

(E-mail for a free subscription to the BIzWeb E-Gazette and visit visit Bizweb at: http://www.BIZWEB2000.com. It's full of free help for anyone interested in online marketing!)

Return to top of page