Internet Marketing 101

• Leverage your skills, talents and knowledge (Intellectual Property) by duplicating yourself. What do you know that would be of value to businesses and individuals? Put that into a sellable format such as a blog, e-book, online video, DVD, CD, podcast, etc.
• A Blog is a great way to market yourself, share your knowledge and put yourself out as an expert in your field. You can use it to sell your intellectual property and build a following.
• Create an e-mail list, newsletter, membership, etc. so that you have someone to market to.
• Content is King. Unique and valuable website content is important for SEO and traffic.
• Take your content to where the traffic is (Facebook, YouTube, Squidoo, Ezine Articles, etc.) and use your Blog/Website to bring it all together for those who find you on the social networks.
• Keywords and Key Phrases. What are people going to search for to find a company like yours?  Optimize your content to those words/phrases.  Use them throughout the content of your website, but don’t over-do-it. Be wise. Use the Google Keyword Tool for suggestions.
• Most Bloggers gain their traffic from 3 sources, inbound links (other sites linking to yours), search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) and social media (Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, Digg, etc.).
• Remember that your front page is the most important part of your website. It’s your WOW!  That’s what people see first.  Your call to action should be very clear and focused on the front page.
• Service Providers. If you offer a service (i.e. carpet cleaning, plumbing, auto mechanic, coaching, etc) and/or have a physical office/storefront be sure to list yourself on Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, Yellowpages.com, Superpages.com and other business directories.
• Advertise. Google AdWords and other ad services are a profitable route for some businesses.
• My recommended Social Networks / Social Media sites: Facebook.com, Linkedin.com, MySpace.com, YouTube.com, Twitter.com, Digg.com, Squidoo.com.
• Other resources: dailyblogtips.com, weblifellc.com, poorrichards.net, inspiredstartup.com, seomoz.org, http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal, google.com/sktool.

No worries.

This is were leveraging the power of the internet comes in – this could make or break your business.  First, you must be offering what others consider valuable.

Did you know that the recession is not effecting businesses that are providing value online?  If you are providing information or services that people value and will actually help their business or another aspect of life, you will probably not feel the recession… unless you’re not leveraging the internet like you could and should be doing.

For some ideas on how you can leverage the internet refer to my post about duplicating yourself.

No I don’t mean cloning! I mean duplicating yourself; leveraging your skills, abilities and knowledge to create more value and help more people.

How to Duplicate Yourself With Your Intellectual Property

First, consider these questions… What business are you in?  What products/services do you offer?

Even if you don’t currently have your own business. Perhaps you have a marketable skill, talent or expertise? What do you know that could benefit others if they had that same knowledge? This is your IP (Intellectual Property). What is Intellectual Property? It is information, it exists first inside of your head and is then reproduced in various forms (printed, spoken, tangible, recorded, etc.)

Now, here comes the duplication… How can you turn your Intellectual Property into a tangible form? i.e. a book, website, DVD, CD, e-book, digital product, etc.

It is in the creation of an educational product, based on your expertise, that you can duplicate yourself.  The amount of people you can personally visit with and talk to one-on-one is limited. Offering your service as a product you can sell to others allows you to influence an infinitely greater amount of people.

Here are some examples of how others are duplicating themselves.

A Financial Advisor who teaches people how to get out of debt, rather than meeting with each individual in person, can create an audio CD or visual DVD teaching people the same strategies.

A Business Coach, Branding, or Marketing expert, can take their clients through their process via a video or audio CD.  This can even be done online on a website.

A Home Gardening Expert can create a video showing a step-by-step process of home gardening.

There are so many things that can be taught, so many ways to do it, and so many experts out there, the possibilities are endless. Some of the richest people in the world have made their fortune selling books and other products that teach others how to do what they do.

Now ask yourself: “What skill, talent, trait, knowledge, or expertise do I have that can be turned into a product?” (DVD, CD, book, e-book, website, blog, newsletter, software, etc.)