#1 Common Marketing Mistake:

NOT USING THE PROPER TOOLS

One common thing a lot of those new to marketing do is “play” marketing. They do not want to invest in any business tools until they know that they have a sure thing. The problem is, you will never know the real profit potential of your market until you take your business seriously and give it all it is worth.

SOLUTION:

Project a professional image. Invest in marketing tools that promote this image such as a proper domain name, real Web hosting, and an autoresponder. If you’re trying to get by with, for example, a free web host, you’re leaving a lot of sales on the table. The reason is that the perception of credibility is a big factor when it comes to what influences your customers’ buying decisions.

NOTE:

An autoresponder is a ‘must have’ as capturing contact information of prospects visiting your site is most important. Most sales are not made on the first visit to a web site. People are coming to you for information. Having an autoresponder lets you follow up with them, giving them additional information, which can eventually lead to a sale.

#2 Common Marketing Mistake:

FAILURE TO TARGET THE RIGHT MARKET

IMPROPER market targeting is usually a case of choosing a market that is too broad. In this case, your conversion rates will be low. You’ll be driving a lot of traffic to where you think it should be, but you will usually find that sales are low. When this is the case there are two factors you must consider:

• Your product

• The keywords that you are using to describe your market

In other words, these need to match. It’s not just about targeting a market but targeting the product to the market.

NOTE:

The easiest solution for a new online marketer is to find an affinity market. This is simply a subject in which you already have a liking to and some knowledge of. Whether it is a lifelong hobby or even some area of expertise from your education or your work life. Having an affinity market makes everything you do 20 times easier. If you have limited knowledge of the marketing niche you choose, then you won’t know what information your prospects are searching for or what type of information they will pay a price to get their hands on.


#3 Common Marketing Mistake:

DRIVING THE WRONG KIND OF TRAFFIC

One problem most new marketers have is figuring out HOW to drive targeted traffic to their web sites. They often fall prey to traffic scams and fads that suck away valuable time and money, but doesn’t produce results.

SOLUTION:

How do you generate real traffic? Focus on learning the following methods:

• Pay-per-click advertising
• Article marketing
• Social networking
• Market-specific blogs, forums and groups

These methods drive qualified visitors to your web site. They allow you to laser-target your market and drive quality traffic without squandering your budget. You’ll also be learning what your marketing niche thinks is hot and what is not.

#4 Common Marketing Mistake

NOT HAVING A PROVEN SALES SYSTEM

How will you make sales online? Do you have a step-by-step plan for driving traffic to your site and then converting that traffic into paying customers? You have to have a system in place.

SOLUTION:

The easiest start for new online marketers is to create an affiliate review page. Instead of using a traditional squeeze page, create a page with a full-length product review and an opt-in form below it. You follow up (with your autoresponder), using more mini reviews, no hype-type information. In this way you’re positioning yourself as an expert, as opposed to a salesman. You’re pre-selling the product by putting more power and information into the hands of your prospects. It’s a simple system to set up, and takes a lot of the guesswork out of your marketing.

NOTE:

You’re doing the job of educating your prospect and letting the merchants’ sale page do the job of selling and hyping things up. You get a lot more sales this way, and you also get less in the way of refund requests.

#5 Common Marketing Mistake

INEFFECTIVE (OR NO) FOLLOW-UP

In order to be successful, you need a strategic plan in place for your follow-ups.

Three of the most common follow-up mistakes include:

• Using the solo affiliate e-mails written for you by a product owner without editing them or changing them up
• Too much emphasis on hype and hard sales pitches
• Failing to educate or pre-sell prospects

You could sum all of these mistakes up into just one: failing to develop your own voice. It’s really crucial that you cultivate your own style and tone. REMEMBER: Your subscribers are going to see plenty of hype on the merchant’s sales letter. What they really need from you is solid information. Resist the urge to hard sell your prospects in the first couple of emails.

What’s so special about the product you’re promoting to them? Will it address their concerns? How does it fit in their big picture? Answering these questions for your prospects should be deliberately paced over a span of days, or even weeks.

NOTE:

A lot of new online marketers are afraid to give out to much information about the product for fear that people will just take the information and run. Nothing could be further from the truth. By giving people a taste, you’re actually proving the value of the product to them and giving them an even bigger reason to buy.

#6 Common Marketing Mistake

MISSING THE LIST RELATIONSHIP

Part of the follow up process goes beyond “just promoting”. You’ve got to build a real relationship with your list. You want to increase their perception of you as a trusted source of value information, and throw in an element of surprise so that they always want to open and read your emails.

SOLUTION:

Insertion Messages

Insertion Messages are just emails that you send to your list apart from your preprogrammed, product-focused autoresponder sequences. You’ve got a five-part follow-up series for a product. Somewhere in between the messages in that sequence, you want to send out a surprise mailing.

The surprise would be in the form of a gift, which can be anything from a free report to a longer, information-packed article (or a link to a blog post). Specifically, a gift that adds an element of super valuable information or content. Something that would normally have to be paid for.

NOTE:

This is based on the principle that you do have to give in order to receive. You’ll get much more business when people see that you’re willing to help them and not just promote to them.

#7 Common Marketing Mistake

FAILURE TO MONETIZE THROUGH ADDITIONAL CHANNELS

There’s no such thing as a one trick pony. Gurus and Top Earners: they’re raking in the Big dollars by having multiple income streams. Money making opportunities are everywhere. You can squeeze way more out of your existing traffic than you realize.

Two Channels of Monetization:

-Multiproduct Affiliate Marketing

-Content Monetization via Blogging

In the first case, you should have all your products from one market into one site and promote them from one central location. This model works best when you are using an “Affiliate Product Review” Approach. You create product reviews for all of your products that you’re promoting and add each one to your autoresponder. You can create follow-up promotions for as many products as you want and present a variety of product options to your subscribers. If subscribers were interested in the first offer you gave them, maybe they’ll be interested in the next.

NOTE:
Be sure you’re promoting at least one product that pays you a recurring commission!

And lastly, let’s discuss blog monetization.

Creating a blog is actuallly an extension of your list. You need a place where you can put in-depth and value content, such as articles and videos which wouldn’t fit well into an email format. That way, when you send you subscribers over to your blog, you have additional profitable opportunities. You can put up product banners that link over to your affiliates page. You can also sell advertising space on your blog if you have enough readers. awaiting.

NOTE:
Your subscriber List is a ready-made source of traffic you can send to your blog.Find ways of continually recycling your traffic and place more profit opportunities in its path.