When you first start out marketing on the internet it can be very frustrating, but with a little research you will find that there are some golden rules to follow that have proven results. In essence its like plugging in the pieces to to a puzzle. Follow the rules and you too can become a winner at the internet game!

Every internet marketer started out just like you and I, no road map or light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully after reading this article you will gain some useful knowledge that you can start applying right away towards your internet marketing campaign.

Golden rule #1 Investing time in market research in the beginning will save you thousands of dollars later.

Ask yourself this; who is your premium market? What market is least desirable? What kind of person is your market? Where do they live? Are they educated? What is their daily routine like? Question’s like this will help you define your market, to get in the mind of your market.

Think about other markets that your premium market group may also be apart of. Find websites related to those markets and ask the webmaster what it would take to put ads or links on their page. Some webmasters will offer it for free if you also put their link on your page. Dont be afraid to negotiate, that’s how it’s done. Use your bargaining power to get yourself out there!

Golden rule #2 After your site is built invest time and money into (SEO) Search Engine Optimization.

There are two types of SEO that can make or break your internet presence within the rankings. The first being onpage optimization. Onpage optimization in basic terms means developing a website that is up to industry standards. It involves proper use of code and ethical practices in the sites development. Many companies do not include onpage optimization when they create your website, and some will not tell you that. If you are not sure you can ask your web designer if they did onpage optimization on your site.

If you already have a website and your not familiar with these terms, then they probably didn’t include onpage optimization when they built your site. Onpage optimization is one the biggest and most crucial elements when trying to rank in the search engines. I like to see onpage optimization like the foundation and linkbuilding like building the structure.

Offpage optimzation is the process of building links back to your website from other websites. This is better known as backlinking. You can acheive backlinks many ways. All you have to do is place a comment, an article or status update into social media sites, internet directories, websites related to your niche, blogs and many other online sources. Include a link back to your website and wa-lah you created some backlinks!

Backlink building is the easiest thing that a new internet marketer can start doing to improve their rankings within the search engines. Onpage optimization takes far more skill to accomplish and should be left to the professionals until you are confident that you can tackle it. Most Seo experts start just like you. They start from writing blogs, placing links through out the internet, and social networking.

You do not necessarily need to be a web designer to do onpage optimization, but you do need to know html and some design code. Both onpage and offpage optimization increase your rankings within the search engines and are labeled as search engine optimization.

Golden rule #3 “Content is king!” Improve your rankings with keyword enriched content.

When writing content for your websites pages be sure to include all the popular keywords that you want to rank for when people are searching for your products or services.

Keyword research plays a vital role in the development of the website and the business in general. For most of my clients I do the research for them. I hand the list of keywords to them and ask them to write the content. They know their business better than anyone, but often I will modify the content to maintain proper keyword density.

By working with the client like this I can better define their business, target their audience, create an accurate business image and ultimately attract the premium market.

There are several online tools to help figure out what keywords other websites related to your niche are using. Check the internet for “Google keyword tool”.

With your list of keywords in hand write 300-500 words for each page. Try and use specific keywords only on the pages that apply to those keywords. Keywords that no one else is using, with less competition rank much easier. The more specific that you can get, the better you will rank for that keyword.

A good way to go about developing your website is to write the content ahead of time, then give it to your web designer. Ask them for package prices on onpage optimization and web design and they will take care of the rest. Your web designer will love you for it!

Once the onpage optimization is completed and the website is built, then the backlink building process begins. Start with signing up with the top blogging platforms, article directories and social media sites. Make it a point to write two articles of 300-500 words a week. Insert those articles into your blogs and aritcle directories. To gain backlinks be sure to include links back to all the different pages of your website. When you are finished inserting the content into the blogs and article directories talk about your blogs and articles within your social media sites. Include links back to them.

Focus on building a following within the social media sites. The more people that are reading your blogs and the longer that they are staying in your blogs, the better those blogs will rank in the search engines, thus further improving your rankings.

*** It is very important to maintain your website, add pages and update it regularly. Search engines will actually give you page rank when you add pages and update them on a regular bases.

Golden Rule #4 Be sure that your website has a sitemap.

Sitemaps are very important because they tell the search engine crawlers which pages to crawl and which ones to index. When getting a quote for a website be sure to ask the designer if a sitemap is included. Many search engines allow for sitemap submission, this insures that your website gets indexed quickly.

Golden rule #5 Track your statistics by connecting Google Analytics to your site.

Google Analytics is website tracking software that monitors who is coming to your site, how long they are staying, what link they are coming to your site from, amongst several other statistics. Best of all it’s Free!

Tracking software is very important to let you know what is working and what is not. There is an old saying in marketing, “If it works, keep doing it!”

There are several other softwares that you can use to track your web statistics. Many web designers prefer Google Analytics because it is free and easy to install.

Golden rule #6 Go big with advertising in the beginning.

For any new business owner I always recommend going big with their advertising in the beginning. As you develop your client base and improve your internet marketing skills you can taper back on the high dollar advertising.

Organic rankings take time. AdWords is a proven paid marketing avenue to start with while you wait for natural rankings and you are assured placement in Google.

AdWords takes constant monitoring to draw the right customer at a low cost. If you do not know where to start I recommend paying an AdWords expert to maintain your AdWords account for you. After awhile you can ask your AdWords expert to give you consultation on how to use it and hand the keys over to you once it’s built and running efficiently.

Golden rule #7 Social media marketing. Make new clients and friends along the way.

Facebook is a must for any business owner. The connections that you make in business and in life are critical to your success. Facebook allows the opportunity to reach out to over 400 million potential users! The shear volume of people using Facebook is staggering!

It is also recommended to become involved with several other social networking sites. Twitter and LinkedIn are two more “must haves”. Keep your eyes open for up and comer sites. They are popping up all the time.

Social media sites are an excellent way to experiment with new marketing campaigns, connect with potential clients, and make friends! Quite possibly the most fun you will have marketing online!

Final note.

The search engines are genius! If ever lost, or in doubt, focus on truly helping people and your efforts will be rewarded. Provide your market with information that they are researching, that they can use and success is sure to follow.

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