How Do I Know What To Market From My Website?

By Leon Brickey
Posted Sunday, September 26, 2004

When building a website there are many things you must take into consideration. You have your web hosting, web design, aquirement of products and services to market, marketing of those products and services, etc. and ALL are very important.

What I would like to do with this article is explain how you should decide which products and services you need to market from your website.

First thing to consider is what type site are you planning to build(market) and what are your hopes and plans for your online business? There is a key word here...."PLAN." If you don't have a "PLAN" get one! You're wasting your time otherwise. If you think you are gonna just "poke around" aimlessly in the dark and build a successful internet business FORGET IT. It's very, very unlikely to say the least.

Do you want to have a very narrow, focused site that is only designed to get visitors to buy one or two products or join one program, possibly yours? Or do you want to have a website that offers lots of, quality, up-to-date content and market an array of information, products, and services for the visitor to choose from?

Regarding the website that only markets one program and/or one or two products and services... these are usually brief, to the point, and try to close the sale or sign-up the prospect right away. They may make you want to go back once or twice to look closer but they generally don't encourage regular return visits. You get a domain and market your product, service, or afilliate program OR you could market someone else's product, service, or affiliate program. If you do a site like this you have to be able to convey excitement and command folks to take action NOW. A great deal of your traffic will be a one time visitor. If you miss the sale the first time, many of your visitors WON'T be back. These sites are quite often of the "hard sell" type.

On the other hand you could build a much larger site that offers lots of free content, encourages regular return visits, and offers multiple programs, products, and services.

It's really up to YOU...both have advantages and disadvantages, and you can be successful with either type.

But before you actually start to build the site you must decide which one is right for you.

If you choose the single program site you are going to need the absolute best copy writing possible, whether that's from you or you have to hire a professional copy writer. If it's any less than "top notch" you'll fail...PERIOD. And one more thing...the first draft probably won't be sufficient. You're gonna need regular tune-ups from time to time. There are only two things you want to do with this website... get the sale and/or recruit.

If you are relatively new to online marketing and do this type of site it is my best advice to tell you NOT to use a new affiliate program of your own. I know that's contrary to what some are teaching, but to be perfectly honest you won't have the credibility or knowledge to make folks want to buy your products or join your programs if you are new to online marketing. There are some really good, credible opportunities available currently from solid, well known, credible companies. No need to get involved with a flimsy, "fly-by-night" program that does not have a good reputation. And no need for you to create an inferior product, service, or program before you have the knowledge and skills to do a REALLY good one.

If you do an already established program you just market, Market, MARKET! (ie. make sales and sign-up recruits.) However if you are doing your own affiliate program I can assure you that you'll be doing MANY things besides marketing, and most of those things don't directly pay you money.

After you have some experience and have gained some knowledge start all the affiliate programs you want to start, but don't let it be your first project online. Get some expertise first!

The second type site I mentioned is a larger site that offers free content to visitors and promotes multiple products, services, and programs. One of the main benefits of these kind of sites is that they promote return visits and an ongoing business relationship.

A large site with lots of free content will draw visitors back regularly. These sites usually offer resources that are of value to small business owners and cause the visitor to drop in regularly, maybe even DAILY! Add a free ezine subscription to that and you have the perfect ongoing business relationship. Your chances of getting sales and sign-ups from this type site are greatly improved, because your visitors are coming back to your site regularly and your ezine allows you to email your visitors that subscribe regularly with updates, additions, and changes.

When it comes to actually choosing which programs, products, and services to promote, here is my very best advice. STAY AWAY FROM GET RICH QUICK FOR DOING NOTHING SCHEMES!! Think credibility! Promote programs that sell software, books, web hosting, technology products, and other reputable services that work. Look for full names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, etc. When it comes to references, look for references that give a name, website, and/or email address. I just don't believe a program that uses "LB from Virginia made $10,000 after joining this program" as a testimonial. And I would encourage you not to believe it either.

For a visitor to look deeply into your site and consider buying or joining they have to believe in you and they have to believe in your product, service, or program. Folks nowadays have their "scam radar" on high alert at all times, and rightfully so! Be honest and straightforward. If you can't promote your pogram honestly and believein it yourself, get a new one right away. Or else you will surely fail AND ruin your reputation at the same time.

About the Author
Leon Brickey is webmaster and owner of (http://www.appalachianmarketing.com). At Appalachian Online Marketing you can find everything you need to turn your struggling business into an explosive moneymaker! Free subscription to Absolute Internet Marketing Resources Ezine containing the most current, up to date online marketing resources on the planet.