7 Myths About Internet Marketing - By: Jinger Jarrett

The thing I dislike the most about internet marketing is all of the hype that's involved. Want to sell a product or service? Invent some kind of phony crisis to convince others that your solution is the best solution.

Then there are all of the submitters that will blast your blog comments, emails, and other marketing materials to millions of blogs, as well as millions of people. Although there is some good submission software out there that isn't black hat, a lot of these submitters are so untargeted to your market that it's a waste of time and money to even bother using these tools.

Over the years I've seen a lot of internet marketing ideas that were simply mistakes. Although there are some who would argue with me, one thing I've learned is that if you respect the search engines, as well as your visitors, it will pay off financially, and you'll have a business you can be proud of.

Below are seven myths you can avoid and market your business more effectively online:

1. You have to have a website to make money online.

Tell that one to people like Anthony Borelli, and he's not alone. I'm sure there are at least another million marketers out there who are marketing without building their own websites, and you don't need one either.

Find a good merchant with a good product to solve someone's problems, and you have a winning combination.

Although many free internet marketing techniques will be off limits to you, if you have a little money to invest in search marketing, it won't matter.

2. Articles won't do you any good because of the duplicate content penalty.

If you're an article writer, this really shouldn't be your concern anyway. It's the publisher of your article who can be concerned.

Articles are still one of the most effective ways to market your business because you are offering value to your readers and showing them how you can solve their problems. Articles can build backlinks, raise your rankings in the search engines, and cause others to perceive you as an expert. It's targeted traffic; those who want to buy what you offer.

The search engines are more concerned with publishing good content, and their algorithms
aren't foolproof. Multiple copies of your articles will almost always show up in the search engines.

Keep in mind, those who visit article directories have their favorite directories, so you want your article to be where they are read. Syndication benefits both you and website owners.

3. All you have to do is send your offer to 100,000,000 email addresses, and you will make sales.

This is the biggest pet peeve I have, and it's the most untargeted traffic on the internet. Worse, it's SPAM.

When you see a site that offers you millions of email addresses for a low price, RUN. Don't walk. RUN. These are emails that have been harvested from the internet, and the person you are sending your offer to most likely isn't interested in what you are offering.

Build a list. Build a relationship with your readers. Address the concerns of those who are on your list. You can't be everything to everyone. Target your specific market. It isn't everyone.

4. You can't get good rankings in the search engines unless you use black hat techniques.

Maybe I am stretching this one here a little bit. However, if you're thinking of buying search engine optimization services from a firm who guarantees you top 10 rankings, again, run. The only real guarantees in life, according to my mother, are death and taxes.

You can get good rankings in the search engines, using legitimate techniques. It may take longer, but your site won't get deindexed like Mercedes.

These techniques include linking, article writing, search engine optimization of individual pages and others. Do your homework.

5. All you have to do is post your offer in an many places as you can find, and you'll make sales.

This ties into the email addresses, as well as using forum submitters, blog submitters, and other types of tools that blast your offers all over the place. The problem is, again, that the traffic, if you get any, is untargeted, and you're likely to get deleted and blacklisted anyway, so you won't be able to post on those sites again.

Your addition to a forum or blog should be a contribution. If you're not contributing to the conversation, then your wasting your time. And mine.

6. All you have to do is build a website, get it in the search engines, and you'll get traffic.

I don't do phone consultations unless I get paid. I've learned the hard way that these are the people who will take up the most amount of your time and give you the least amount of money. Although I don't eat a lot, I do have to eat, and so I spend my time doing things that contribute to my income, not waste my time.

Usually the person wants to know how to get traffic. That's easy. You have to do something that will make your site get traffic, and not just any traffic, but targeted traffic.

What you have to decide is whether you have the time, or the money, or both, to invest in doing things that get your site traffic: writing articles, SEO, posting ads, pay per click. (There are others.)

Match your marketing to your personality. Find a way to market that you like to do that brings your site traffic and then do it.

7. Free internet marketing techniques don't cost you anything.

Although I am probably the biggest advocate of free traffic techniques on the internet (teaching others how to do it is how I've carved out my niche), free techniques are not free. Although I believe they are more effective than paid techniques, they do cost you time.

Remember, regardless of whether you are spending your time, or your money, on marketing, your time is valuable. Spend it doing techniques that are effective, work for you, and make you money.

"Free" techniques can do that because you're contributing to the conversation online. What does your business have to say?

About the Author

Find these tips helpful? Get my free internet marketing ezine for tips on marketing more effectively. Get my free internet marketing membership for tutorials, free downloads. Jinger Jarrett is the author of the book, "Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE." It's available on Amazon.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Jinger-Jarrett/157

Additional Articles From - Home | Internet business | Internet marketing