3 Internet Marketing Lessons I Wish Someone Had Shared...

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3 Internet Marketing Lessons I Wish Someone Had Shared…

By Todd Brown | August 13, 2008

When I look back over the last handful of years I’ve been involved in the Internet Marketing Game, there have been a few moments… or realizations… that have each had a monumental impact on my business development and growth.

It was during these times that I was able to gain clarity and see, for the very first time, some major leverage points within my business… and frankly… any and every other online business as well.

In essence, it was during these few times throughout the last handful of years that I was finally able to see past a lot of the busyness, hype, and misinformation out there about internet marketing, and really see for the first time each of the these different “keys” to growing and sustaining a thriving business on the internet.

In this blog post I want to share 3 of those “keys” with you.

I’m sure in future blog posts I share more of the others. There have only been a handful, so it shouldn’t be that difficult.

Internet Marketing “Key” Lesson #1: Modeling, But Improving!

For the bulk of the first handful of years I was on the internet, I followed the example of who I believed were successful selling online. Gurus, in essence.

I paid attention to their website design, sales copy, email promos, upsells, etc.

And, then I simply modeled what I did after what they did.

I figured… if it was good enough for them, it should be good enough for me.

And, it was.

It made me a lot of money. And, still does.

And, there’s a lot to be learned and a lot of value to be gleaned by paying attention to what’s working already on the internet. I think it’s Armand Morin who says, “Success leaves traces”. And, it does. So, you should certainly pay attention to those “traces”.

HOWEVER, if you simply copy or emulate what others are doing, you’ll always be a follower and never a leader.

Instead, what I recommend is this:

1. Pay attention to what’s working already on the Net.

2. Figure out how you can improve on it.

For example, if you see everyone else doing Camtasia-style screen-capture videos in your marketplace, with a little intro and outro music, instead of just following along, improve it. Take it to the next level.

Incorporate better quality music. Use more images. Do some picture-in-picture. Maybe even move it over to a simple video editor or something and spice it up even more.

The point is this - model, but don’t just follow along and copy.

Instead, model; then improve.

Be a “bar-setter” and constantly raise the bar with what you do, how you do it, how often you do it, etc.

That’s key #1 to experiencing a breakthrough in your online business.

Internet Marketing “Key” Lesson #2: Constantly Scale Your Marketing!

Scaling up a business… SERIOUSLY SCALING up a business… requires the proper management of lead generation, lead flow, conversions, etc.

And, at the root of that management is your marketing, especially your paid marketing efforts.

If you lack the ability to manage those things, you lack the ability to scale your business.

So, what would cause you to “lack the ability” to manage those things?

A poor metrics and web analytics tracking system.

Let’s face it… if you don’t know what’s truly working in your business and what’s not when it comes to marketing and the investments you’re making into paid advertising, how can you make effective business development decisions?!?

You can’t.

And, that’s the point… and the key…

What held me back from really building my business some years ago, and doing it quickly, and what holds 99% of internet marketers back from ever experiencing significant business growth is the lack of scaling with marketing.

In other words, when a marketer can NOT do more and more PROFITABLE marketing each month, they are going to struggle to experience significant business growth.

So, what stops most marketers from doing more and more profitable marketing each month, you’re wondering??

*Well, a lack of tracking with their current marketing numbers, therefore a lack of confidence in whether their marketing is actually making them money or not, and hence a reluctance to do more beyond their current comfort zone.

Meaning, because most marketers don’t really properly track their marketing and advertising metrics and web analytics, they don’t know what’s really working and what’s not, and therefore it’s very, very difficult to make decisions about doing and spending more.

The end result is that they’re hand-cuffed by their own lack of numbers and tracking system.

Fortunately, this is easy to fix.

Begin by holding every single dollar you invest in your marketing accountable to produce at least a dollar in return. If you can’t track it, don’t spend it. Period.

As well, hold every hour you invest in your business accountable for a positive return on investment. Make sure you’re getting maximum return.

Once you’re tracking ALL of your marketing and paid advertising INDIVIDUALLY, begin by testing new sources of potential leads (i.e. banners, classified, CPA networks, other PPC engines, offline pubs, etc.). The new sources that prove profitable (or at least breakeven on the front-end), continue with. The ones that don’t, dump ‘em.

Then, just continue to work that system so you can continue to scale up your marketing and lead generation efforts and reach on a regular, consistent basis.

When you have a system like this in place, you’ll feel comfortable knowing that you’re totally on top of the key elements within your business, are totally in control of your key area (marketing), and possess the ability to make proper and effective decisions.

All good stuff!

Internet Marketing “Key” Lesson #3: The Value You Give!

hugs It’s very easy online to lose sight of what your primary business objective should be.

With soooo many people talking about this marketing tactic and that marketing tactic, sometimes it’s very easy to take our eyes off of our current and potential customers and the value we’re giving them (or, supposed to be giving them), and instead just wind up thinking about how we can extract maximum value for our company from them.

In other words, for many years what I thought about when it came to the development of my business was…

“What else can I do to increase the lifetime value of a customer?”

“How I can get them to spend more money with me?”

In essence, as is the case with so many internet marketers, the focus was on how I could get my customers to add value in way of dollars and cents to my company, instead of me and my company adding value to their lives.

How reverse and wacked is that?!

The right way to think about growing your business, is NOT to think about how to extract more and more money from your customers. Not at all.

It’s to think about how can I give MAXIMUM VALUE to my customers in exchange for their investment in me and my company.

The correct line of questioning should be…

“What else can I do to give my customers more value?”

“How else can we help them achieve their objectives, and achieve them easier and quicker, in a more enjoyable fashion?”

“How can we add more to their lives?”

And, even though on the surface, this may seem like just a different way to express the same sentiments, it’s NOT.

Here’s the deal:

If you really want to experience a breakthrough in your business, fall in love with your customers, instead of your products, website, company, etc.

Think about them, not you.

In essence, it’s the mindset famous sales expert and teacher, Zig Ziglar, has been trying to teach us for many, many years…

“You can have anything in life you want, if you’ll help enough other people get what they want.”

I actually like that saying reversed…

“If you help enough other people get what they want, you can have anything in life you want.”

I like it reversed because it puts helping others (our customers) before getting what we want.

If you take that mindset within your business, all of the time, and combine it with the other 2 “keys” I’ve listed for you, you’re virtually guaranteed to experience serious, serious growth to your online business. So, get ready!

(If you found this post helpful, and you’d like me to share more of the “keys” let me know by posting a comment below. As well, I’d greatly appreciate you bookmarking this page.)

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