"Suggestions For The Beginning Marketer"

"Suggestions For The Beginning Marketer"
(C)janes-place

I want to share with you some of the things that
I have learned on the internet. Unfortunately, I
am hard-headed. I get an idea and I want to do it
MY way. Sometimes that can be good, sometimes
it's not so good.

When I was trying to get my website on the
internet, some well-meaning people suggested that
I get a free site and try out some of my ideas
before going to the expense of putting up my own
website. Well, I signed up for a couple of free
sites and tried out the control panel. I found
that I was so restricted, that I decided not to
do it that way. I went back to my way.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have
used the free site to find out which direction I
really wanted to go in. Use the free site as a
"tester". I'm not telling you to stay with a free
site. The reason I say use it as a "tester", is
because I started janes-place out as one type of
site, but found that I changed it as time went
on, in order to satisfy my visitors. If you
don't satisfy your visitors, they "won't" come
back!

Use the free site and add different pages. Find
out what your visitors are interested in, then
you can go to the expense of purchasing a domain
name, getting a host and all the other things for
your website. You will also learn a lot about
marketing and find out what works the best for
you and your "audience".

My host offers free sites and you can get one at:
http://www.linkopp.com/banners/cgi-bin/refer.cgi?JF22091
If you get a free site through my host, I am
familiar with the control panel and will help you
out, if you need it.

Another suggestion that was made to me in the
beginning, was to find a "niche". My thinking on
this was, if I offered 'Something For Everyone,
Even Uncle Elmer', I would be able to attract
more people and give my visitors variety. Take it
from me. That may work for WalMart, but it
doesn't work on the internet. You will do a lot
better, if you find your 'niche' market. Let's
look at this example: You are interested in a
site for women. Ok, women are your 'audience'.
What type of women do you want to reach? Narrow
it down. Let's say that you decide to go with
crafts. Narrow it down even further. Let's say
that you have been crocheting for some time and
you enjoy crocheting. Ok, let's use that. So far,
we have decided that we want to reach women that
like to crochet. Let's narrow that down a little
more, to women that want to learn how to crochet.

Now that we have decided what our 'niche' market
is, we need to do some research. What are we
going to research? If I enjoyed crocheting, I
think it would be interesting to know some
history of crocheting. Search libraries on and
off line, until you have enough information to
write a "good" article on the history of
crocheting. Look for facts that are not well
known. This is an article for your website.

Now we need more content for the website. How
about some 'basic' stitches? Sit down and write
out the directions for a beginner to learn the
'basic' stitches for crocheting. This will also
go on your website.

You could write an ebook taking them from the
basic stitches to making their first 'project'
and on and on and on. Do you see where I'm going
here?

I have tried marketing on the internet "My" way,
now I'm doing it the "right" way! When people go
on the internet to search for something, like
learning how to crochet, that is the
information they are seeking. They aren't looking
for twenty other things!

Please remember: If you need help, I'm only an
email away!

Thank you for reading.