Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 3: Web Marketing at Work

In This Chapter

• Implementing a total marketing strategy
• Creating a long-term conversation with customers by using social media
• Offering newsletters to lure in potential customers
• Advertising through a pay-per-click strategy
• Marketing your business in nonelectric ways

Regardless of how big your online business is or will become, the power of the Web is a far-reaching and low-cost way to effectively turn people on to what you provide. One reason for Web marketing effectiveness is the power of one-to-one marketing. Rather than create TV ads that speak to tens of millions of people during a popular sitcom, for example, Web marketing speaks directly to your interested customers and builds a one-to-one connection between a potential customer and your business. These first-time buyers can become repeat customers who spread the word about your company to new customers; your business continues to grow with each wave. Online sites such as Craigslist grew in popularity because people came together not just to buy and sell stuff but also to find jobs, apartments, romance, and events in their geographical areas.

Many people believe that Web marketing works for only the big companies that can rent banner ads and host lavish Web sites with large e-mail distribution lists. The truth is that small businesses and entrepreneurs, just like yourself, can benefit from all the same techniques that the larger companies employ, by investing your time and effort along ...