Online Marketing Strategies part 1

U.S. citizens spent $1.8 billion for online content in 2004, mainly in the entertainment/leisure category. This figure is up 13.7% compared to 2003. In this, I’ll define four market categories that may help you to bring in the dough and I’ll expand on one category – content – to show how commerce, communications, and search mechanisms can be added to build online revenue. Additionally, I’ll begin to examine how one man’s unusual Web site compares to these models.

Build Content and Commerce on What You Know

When people encounter sites that carry information, services, or products for a price, they usually have one of two reactions – they either move on or they pay. You probably experienced the same feelings yourself, especially since you pay to read the articles and books that DMX and its affiliates offer online. Sometimes you pass on articles because you may feel that they won’t hold your interest. Other times you may feel that you didn’t receive what you paid for, and at still other times you might feel that you received more than your money’s worth.

Did you ever ask yourself why you pay for knowledge, services, or products online? Are you a self-help type of person who enjoys solitary learning? Are you after a singular goal like learning how to “play” the stock market? Would you rather pay shipping charges than pay for gas when you venture out to purchase products? When you investigate your motives about why you pay for information, products, or services online, you begin to understand why others might pay as well. If you understand your market through this process, you have a leg up on your competition. However, it also helps to know how the Internet is seen by specialists, because this information may help you to streamline your offerings.

From the Ground Up: How to Build Online Revenue

In the last article I gave you some ideas for a basic business foundation that includes community, including a link to information about how to develop a business plan. As you create your business plan, you might decide whether you want to become an affiliate salesperson for a product or service, or whether you might decide to sell your own merchandise or skills. How can you incorporate sales and still maintain some integrity with your site? In this article, I’ll demonstrate how you can become a small business “expert” in sales without appearing overt or downright scary to viewers.

One-Person Revenue-Producing Sites

Some of the examples I used for the last article were rather large sites, like C|Net, EBay, and Suite 101. These sites employ many people just to maintain and build a site, let alone to run business operations. What if you are a one-person operation? Do you have a chance to make money, or are you doomed to draining your bank account with your Web site? If you build and maintain sites just for the heck of it, then more power to you. Many of us, however, need to make enough money to pay for the server, bandwidth, and any other small (or large) expenses that come across our paths.

You can either sell your own merchandise or services, or you can become a sales associate or affiliate for another business. Even if you carry your own products, you might incorporate another business’s products or services to enhance your sales. Below, I’ll talk about some advantages and disadvantages between selling your own products/services and then how you might incorporate third-party sales.

Taking Design to the Desktop

Taking Design to the Desktop

How many of us use a background on our desktops? I think if I were to post a poll about it, I would get at least 95% of people saying ‘yes’. But what is it most of us see when you look at the same familiar screen 2 thousand times a day? A good looking woman, a sports car, or a tranquil scene of some fish floating around on a reef somewhere exotic is a good place to start when you try to envision other people’s monitors because the majority of people never stray further past the default wallpapers Microsoft ships with windows.

A few create their own wallpapers or use programs such as Microsoft PLUS to extend their desktop capabilities, when in fact there is a really cool way of using the desktop which was introduced back in Windows 98 which not a lot of people know about or care to use if they do.

That forgotten feature is the ability to use web documents on the desktop. And the fun doesn’t stop there. Not only does it support HTML, but if you use a page from the web then the options are quite open for what you can view.

Locally (using files off your own machine) you can use HTML, CSS & Flash documents.

Remotely, I haven’t tested it with all file types but I have ASP & PHP pages displayed with ease, so I’m assuming CFM pages etc. should run ok. If not you always have your trusty browser to rely on ;)