More than 10 years ago I began doing internet marketing.  Not like those crazy guru internet marketers that blast you with affiliate links and offers all the time, although I would probably be more wealthy today had I went that route.  Instead, it was 10 years ago I started helping companies build websites, publish eMagazines, and built audiences on the internet.

I am telling you this for a couple of reasons.  I am going to tell you a secret that will change the way you think about internet marketing, whether you are selling internet marketing services or looking to get internet marketing results.

The internet marketing secret is: To do internet market right, you have to continually do it and add to it and keep up with technology.  And you need a lot of hours or money to do it well.

The good news is that you can start small and grow your internet marketing effort over time.  But you need to have realistic expectations.  Starting small probably means getting small results.  You have to be disciplined and keep doing it.

Now you may wonder why I am telling you it is expensive and time consuming.  I am not doing a very good job of selling internet marketing services, am I?

Well, ten years ago when we started doing Internet Marketing, we were thrilled when we got our first client willing to spend $500 per month with us to do Internet Marketing.  Of course, we were fairly new at it and we tried everything to see what worked.  Eventually, he saw he was not going to get the marketing cost back each month in sales – he was selling a book -  and we lost the account.

What I learned from that is that Internet Marketing is hard if you are starting from scratch.  And while $500 may seem like a lot to some people, it is usually not nearly enough to make an impact.

How to get Internet Marketing Results

I am going to list the ways that you can get real internet marketing results.  You have a lot of options, but if you are looking for a quick, easy and cheap fix, it is not in the list.

#1 DIY Internet Marketing

You can do it all yourself.  However, there is a catch.  You have to have an automated business that is profitable and runs itself with little effort from you.  Why?  Because internet marketing is now your full time job.  You also should have some good money coming in, because to get good results you will need to do training courses, attend workshops and buy lots of books. Plus you will loose money experimenting with tool and advertising until you get your techniques down.

#2 Outsource Internet Marketing Tasks

If you have the time and desire to do strategy and management, but do not want to spend your days writing blog posts, doing keyword research and hanging out in social media sites, then you need to craft your strategy, identify your high value tasks and hire a team of Virtual Assistants to help you.

The mistake someone makes here is thinking one person working ten hours a month is going to make a big fast difference.  Remember what I said earlier, Internet Marketing gets results when you make a big effort.  I love the virtual assistant route, but you need a good plan, patience to find the right virtual assistants and to built a team that work on your behalf.

#3 Hire a Full Time Internet Marketing Employee

Certainly hiring and training a full time internet marketing employee is a great option for some people.  Just be sure that you document everything (right, I have never seen this happen) and cross train people.  The problem with hiring a full time internet marketer is that as soon as they get good at their job, they have the skills to go out and make a lot of money for themselves.  So there is a good chance that once you get them where you want them, you will lose them.

#4 Hiring a Professional Internet Marketer

When you hire a professional internet marketer, you are paying a lot more.  But don’t feel like you are getting a bad deal because of the cost.  If they are any good at their profession, they have spent MANY hours researching, learning and experimenting with internet marketing.  Trust me, I spend most of my day doing non-billable internet marketing activities to learn and increase my own income.  When I am billable, you are paying for the experience, not just the hours.

Remember that internet marketing secret?

Remember that unfortunate internet marketing secret?  It is not fast and cheap, despite the hype you read from people trying to sell you things.  It is going to either be someone’s full time job or you are going to have to assemble a team or hire someone that can do the full time job in less time (but at a higher rate).

The good news about Internet Marketing is that it grows and builds on itself and gets stronger when done well.  An advertisement starts at zero every month and you hope to get ROI.  An email list just keeps getting more powerful for you.  A blog will keep getting more search engine traffic if you work on it.  You can keep modifying your adwords and landing pages to increase profits until you get the perfect formula.

Internet Marketing has the best long term ROI, but getting from here to there is no easy task.  And it is definitely not something you buy once and forget about.

I was recently asked to do a review for a new launch and in a matter of 2-3 minutes I was able to send them back information that was very valuable.  Why?  Because they were too close to the project and were not able to think like a new, curious visitor.

Here are 10 questions you need to answer as you review your website, assuming you are selling something. 

1. Is it clear what you are selling, including the benefit someone will get?
2. Is it easy to contact you?
3. Are you tricking people into the purchase and finding most of your sales are abandoned part way through?
4. Is there something free to help you start the relationship?  A white paper or email course?
5. Are you transparent?  Can people read your blog, find you on twitter and facebook?
6. Is pricing clear?
7. Is payment clear if you are paying them an affiliate fee?
8. Do you have a good FAQ? 
9. Do you have great white space and is it easy to find things?
10. Do you have video tutorals?

Even when you think you have all these bases covered, be sure to ask someone that does not know what you are doing to review the site and make a list of questions that they would want answered.  Ideally someone that is in the demographic of your customer.

And even after you are doing well, consider adding a survey to the site occasionally and ask people what they would like to see and if there was anything they had trouble finding.

So you have some time to come and read a blog?  How about I give you a quick marketing to do list.

Your Quick Marketing To Do List

1. Leave a comment on this blog and at least one other – and be sure it links back to your site.
2. Email 3 people you have not talked to for at least 3 months to touch base.
3. Post a message with a link on twitter.
4. Add a friend to facebook
5. Add a connection to LinkedIn
6. StumbleUpon 3 Things Not Yours, and one thing yours  (Maybe this blog, hint hint)
7. Sign up for the free Buzz Marketing course if you have not already done so.
8. Set up a blog and start publishing.

Hmmm, ok that last one will not be quick if you have never done it before.

Why not develop a quick marketing to do list that you will do every week at the same time.  This is exactly the kind of thing we do with virtual buzz assistants.  They develop a list of quick online marketing activities that help you keep your profile high and they do the activities for you.

Then you can evolve this group of marketing activities into a social media marketing plan once you start measuring the results.

I have been in technology for longer than I care to discuss.  Long enough to see the entire evolution of Internet Marketing.  And also to see the evolution of me.

When I started in the 90′s, it was all about the technology.  We were really excited to offer eMagazine Publishing tools that cost us a fortune to build and were very cutting edge at the time.  We were doing Internet Marketing, but it was mostly about the technology.  Now technology is a footnote to marketing results.

Today, Internet Marketing is only about the technology if you are choosing to work with the wrong people.  You have to work with people that are marketing savvy first, and technology savvy second.  Otherwise, they will keep adding technology features thinking the next bell or whistle will get results.  It will not.

Internet Marketing should not have a big technology budget in 99% of the cases.

Instead, it is about publishing, aggregating, mashing and building relationships in your open source web real estate.

I have clients that build their first website with six figure budgets (not paid to us, we were never that high-end).  Today that just seems so silly.

Maybe they thought the big up front investment would mean they would stay ahead of everyone else.

But since the Internet and Search Engines keep evolving so fast, the investment did not stand the test of time.  Usually this kind of investment was for lots of fancy design and eCommerce.  They would have been better off keeping it simple and creating more content.

What does the evolution of Internet Marketing mean to you?

• Don’t spend a lot on technology
• Look for specialized tools already built that you can integrate
• Get everyone involved in Internet Marketing – Employee Evangelists
• Create more great information, but outsource your writing
• Don’t invest one time, invest in continual improvement
• Build relationships first – They will stand the test of time if you treat them well.

Internet Marketing will be very different in two years.  Marketing is going through a huge disruption as everyone tries to figure out what 10% of internet marketing will return 90% of the results.  You should bet on creating quality content and great relationships.  That is your best Internet Marketing long term strategy.

10 Internet Marketing Secrets the experts don’t want you to know

1. Free Blogs and Websites can improve your internet marketing results a lot.
2. WordPress is a great Internet Marketing tool that is free, other than hosting.
3. WordPress has great free Internet Marketing and SEO plugins.
4. The Internet Marketing Formula is simple and not an all or nothing proposition.
5. Good, regular writing is important to internet marketing success.
6. It is easier to get results with affiliates that are active instead of developing new people.
7. Employee Evangelism can super-charge your internet marketing.
8. Capturing relationships is critical – Use email marketing.
9. Use open source – It is unlikely you need big custom development projects.
10. Internet Marketing is most successful when you build an audience of people that respect you and want to hear from you.  That is hard to do with an old-style business website.

Bonus: Sure twitter seems silly, but it is generating great internet marketing results at times, and takes very little effort.  You should use it once in a while.

I was once at a great workshop where they discussed the business formula.  It basically broke down your business into some simple elements and said – If you increase your prices by 10% + Increase your number of customers by 10% + Decrease your costs by 10% you are going to have a very sizable jump in your income.

This same kind of formula works with Internet Marketing.

If you increase your traffic by 10% + increase your pricing by 10% + increase your conversion by 10% + create products with low or no delivery cost – you are going to be very successful.

This internet marketing formula breaks down for people for a variety of reasons.

• Zero Sales – 110% of zero is still zero.  Work on conversion or hire someone that knows internet sales.
• Too Busy – You get a couple of clients and are then too busy to keep taking new work – create easier products, outsource or hire people.  Keep growing the base.
•  Fear – Are you afraid to increase prices?  It depends on your market, but this is often overlooked as a source of additional income.  Test new prices and if it slows sales, use a coupon code or special offer to bring it back down.
• Delivery – You have to have a good way to deliver what you promised.  Your Internet marketing formula will break down if you are losing customers.
• Strategy – Internet marketing is a long term process.  Very seldom can you set something up and forget about it.  It takes continuous effort or eventually other people will take your traffic and visibility.  Need help?  Hire a virtual buzz assistant.
• Too tricky – don’t get too tricky.  Custom development of applications is expensive and should not be done without good reason.  A low cost WordPress blog with a little customization can yield huge internet marketing results with good writing.

Measure everything you do in terms of your custom Internet Marketing Formula.  Strengthen every area and watch your profitability soar.

Over the weekend I sent out an experiment.  I have always kept my main email list very professional – with lots of useful free Internet Marketing lessons.

But when I look at the people I read, they really do make you feel like you know them in the emails.  I get a lot of emails, and I open very few.  I get emails from companies that do marketing research, but the only emails I consistantly open are those by people I feel like I know.

So I realize a personal goal (weight loss) that I’d worked on for almost a year.  I still tied it into a marketing message but I was not selling anything and was just sharing my story.  I wanted to see the reaction.

Keep in mind that less than 1% of the people I sent the message to actually emailed me back (I did not ask them too) but still it was the largest response I’d ever gotten.

• 1 Person said that I was sharing too much personal information
• 1 Person asked if they could quote it in their upcoming book
• 3 People shared their stories about weight loss, one asked some questions.
• Many people congratulated me and expressed appreciation
• One person so far wrote that it was inspiring on their blog. They talked about how it changes their approach to writing for their blog.
• One person not on my list responded, saying it was being forwarded around.

I sent it out Saturday night (About the worst  time possible) and I am writing this Monday morning, so emails may still roll in.

Here are some important observations

• People that feel like they know me really responded well to the message.
• People that are in bigger companies that signed up for the free Buzz Marketing course may not like it as well.
• If my target audience is small business, the personal approach is very effective.  If my target is large organizations and busy professionals, it may be less effective and even alienate them – unless they have worked with me or seen me speak.

I wish I could get a thumbs up/down from everyone to give you more detail.  It is a perplexing issue as I would like to do more personal emails but I do not want to alienate some people.  If you read the email and did not reply to me, go ahead and comment on this post and let me know what you thought.

I had the chance to meet with a prospective client for our VA Network last week.   Nice person, but very unrealistic expectations.  They did not even have a website but they wanted to generate a bunch of registrations for an event in one month.  I had to tell her we could not help her with that, but we could help with a long term internet marketing strategy.

Virtual Marketing Assistants are the best option for many small businesses. They are a perfect solution that is not as expensive as hiring a marketing agency, but not as difficult as a business owner doing all the internet marketing activities.

The top reason that a Virtual Marketing Assistant fails is that small business owners just want them to do too many things – and have unrealistic expectations for the outcome.

A Virtual Marketing Assistant can help execute your marketing plan. But your marketing plan better be better than “go out and create buzz for me”. If you do not have a clue of where you want to start, you need to hire a Internet & Buzz Marketing Agency to help you craft your marketing strategy. Then you can hire Virtual Marketing Assistants to help you keep your strategy going month after month.

And you can do it all yourself. Anyone can do Internet Marketing themselves, but it takes a lot of time and willingness to continually learn, test and create great information.  Often a good VA will be your best option to truly stick to your plan.

Because online marketing is newer than other forms of marketing, it is easy to think of them as two different worlds.  However, if you think of business being about relationships and providing value, that barrier breaks down right away.

The question is not whether online will work for you.  The very legitimate question is, Do you have the time and inclination to use online tools to extend what you are doing?

I do not do direct mail.  I don’t want to, and while I may be losing out on some clients, I do not care because I do not believe in direct mail as an effective marketing tool in most cases.

For many business owners, they have a website, but they do not believe in internet marketing.  That is fine as well.  It is your choice, and it is less about whether it works or not, and more about your inclination to try to do it right.

Something that is often lost is that online extends off-line.  Here are some ideas on how to use your real-world marketing and online marketing to form a great marketing alliance.

1. Speech Teaser – When you give a speech, mention the limited time but let the audience know where to go on your website to find a video of 5 more secret tips.  Ideally it is after they sign up for the newsletter.
2. Direct Mail – Go to the website and sign in to get your secret discount code – or to see if you have won a prize.
3. Brochure – Expand your paper brochure with a website address that has video of your product, service, etc.
4. Business Card – Don’t just list your main website.  List your blog or other resources.  Use the back of your business card to add value.
5. Networking – When you have a chance to meet people and work with people, use sites like LinkedIn to connect and leave testimonials and endorsements.
6. Cold Calling – When you call someone and they are interested in your offer, get their email and send them a link or two to video or resources that will interest them but not be too sales oriented.
7. Print – Always have ways to get more information by visiting the website.  I recently saw a whole proposal done as a public blog to demonstrate the companies commitment to social media.
8. Advertising – No matter what your advertising, they should be able to explore the topic more by going online.

If you are doing all of these things, you could say that you are doing Internet Marketing, you could say you are doing traditional marketing, or you could just say you are a damn fine marketer.

OK, if you remember from the last article, we have assumed you are now sophisticated marketers that are blogging, writing and using social media effectively.

One of the big mistakes that I see people make, and that I have made, is by focusing on the big picture too much.

Lets take a business example of this first.  You probably know certain metrics for your business. 

• How many customers you have
• How much money you spend
• How much money you make
• How many hours you work

Good, you can calculate your profitability divided by your hours and get a clear sense of what you are earning.

But what would happen if you broke down each client as a profit center?

Unless you are selling widgets at the same price to everyone, you will see that some customers are much more profitable and take up less time than others.  If your business model is designed around maximizing value AND profit while minimizing your time involved PER client, you will have a successful business.

Internet Marketing is Exactly the Same

Instead of thinking of your Internet Marketing, start thinking about various Internet profit centers.  This can get tricky, because one could generate the lead and the second can generate the revenue.

Let me take my email course as an example.  It costs roughly $20 per month.  Our main website and several blogs generate the people that sign up for it, and this email system actually generates sales for us when people are interested in our products or affiliate links.  It has a high profit margin but by itself does not pay enough to support me.

I have other websites that do not sell anything, but they do generate leads for the eNewsletter, so the better they produce email subscribers, the more profitable they are even if they do not directly generate a penny.

This can all get fairly complex, which is why you have to think of each individual web effort on its own merit and with its own goals.

The outcome can be one of three things:

• Actual Revenue
• Links and Traffic
• Audience

Actual revenue might be a micro-site that is a one page website that sells something.  Since it probably costs less than $5 a month to host, you should be able to turn any website into at least a minor profit center with a solid product and good copywriting.

Links and Traffic are the currency of sites that you host, hopefully with minimal effort, that point to your higher value sites and drive traffic to them, as well as help them rank better.  These are “profitable” based on the total value of each visitor and link minus the cost to maintain.

Lastly, audience.  Also called the list and referred to as the most important asset a business has.  Have you given some thought to setting up a website that does nothing but offer a free white paper to build your list?  The long term value of your list, if used well should make your one page website & white paper download a big profit center, although not via direct sales.

Buzz Marketing is most effective with simple things that are easy to pass along.  If you keep focusing on the big picture, you are building bigger and more complex things and you may not know which parts are working.  If you create targeted efforts with clear potential for eventual profit, you will get more referrals and buzz.  It is just an easier message to communicate.