Business Owner's Internet Marketing Basics Guide
Ten Tips & Tactics You Need to Know Before You Spend a Dime on Internet MarketingI wrote this book a few years ago to help my clients and potential clients understand what internet marketing was all about. It was very unclear to most people back then how the web could help them grow their business. Today, it’s obvious it can, the question is how will you use it?
Internet Marketing Basics Guide
Ten Tips & Tactics You Need To Know
Introduction
Based on real-life situations, this is the story of two young men who each set up a website to help grow their business. One succeeded while the other failed.
In a small neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada lived two men who shared similar life stories. They went to the same schools together growing up, they graduated together and then went to the same university, and they even opened up similar businesses after a few years of working in the industry. Though they knew of each other, they barely ever exchanged a word until the summer of 2007.
January 2009
After 8 years, John and Max finally met each other face to face for the first time since they graduated university. They met at a Web Design course, of all places.
Actually John was the first face Max saw when he entered the class. It was strange, because that morning Max said to his wife, “Honey,…it’s funny, I’m kind of nervous. Almost like I’m going back to elementary school or something…..”
On the way to the course, Max remembered his childhood and wondered about all the kids in his class. What are they up to now?
As Max entered the room with memories of his childhood on his mind, he immediately laid his eyes on John. Both their eyes lit up, their mouths dropped and they started to laugh.
“Hey, what are you doin’ here?” John asked.
Same as you, I guess. What’s new?” Max replied.
They shook hands and smiled and then the instructor walked in. They each took their seats and said they’d talk after the class.
About 45 minutes into the class, John looks at Max, yawns and says, “Wanna get out of here?”
Max was kind of startled. He was really interested in what the instructor was saying. Max already had a website built by a designer but wanted to learn how to make it better. How to make more sales, get more calls and even increase his walk-in business. He knew there were strategies and formulas and principles that made some sites work better than others and he wanted that for his site.
John was in the same business as Max, and he had a website too. One he got his nephew to build for him for next to nothing. He signed up for the course because he had a free voucher and figured he had nothing to lose.
Max told John that he was going to stay for the rest of the class. This made John think twice about leaving. He told Max, “You know, I think I’m gonna stay. Why not?”
The two stayed for the whole class and decided to grab a coffee afterwards and catch up.
They realized that they never really talked before. They wondered for a while why that was. And then Max said, “Everything has a reason. I’m sure we’ll uncover that soon enough.”
So they talked for hours about their businesses and realized that they pretty much did everything the same way. They were also getting pretty much the same results. Not bad for an offline, local business. They were both pretty successful – except when it came to the web.
The café had a wireless internet connection and Max pulled out his laptop. John showed Max his site first and Max just kind of sat there – not knowing what to say. Then he asked “So, you get much action from that website John?”
“Nah, nothing really. I can’t even find the damn thing on Google. But it looks real nice hey? Yeah, my nephew made it for me. I tossed him a couple hundred bucks and he did the whole thing in a couple of days. He even wrote everything for me.”
“Oh Yeah? I spent a bit more than a couple hundred. More like ten thousand. I thought if the designer was more expensive, they’d do a better job.” Max said.
“What do you mean?” John asked.
Max responded, “I’ll show you my site. I hired a designer to make it for me. I gave him all my content – I wrote everything on my own. He did a really nice job – he did some Flash animations for me and a splash intro and I thought it would be good to get all the bells and whistles. You know, it would make my company look better.”
“And how’s that working out for you?” John asked.
“Not too well I’m afraid. It’s pretty much a ghost-town for me too. A beautiful ghost-town – I don’t get any calls, or leads, or quick sales.”
The two men sat in amazement. They just came out of a web design class and didn’t learn a single thing that could help them.
That’s when Max said, “I’ve got to find the truth. I have to figure this one out. I just can’t understand it. I can see why your site gets no action – no offence, but why doesn’t mine get me any results? That course wasn’t even any help really. We signed up for web design but I think we should have looked into Internet Marketing or Sales Strategies for the Web or something like that.”
John told Max, “Ah, forget it. It’s not worth spending any more time or money on it. The web just isn’t for our business. Things are going well for you aren’t they?”
“Yeah but John, if you do a search on Google for our type of business, there are millions of results. There wouldn’t be so many pages if people weren’t interested in it. I think I’m going to look into hiring a consultant or someone like that. Someone who’s been there, done that and can show me how to do it for my business.”
“Max, I think you’ll be wasting your money again. Just forget it.” John said.
As Max turned his head back to his laptop, he said “No, I don’t believe so. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. This is perfect!”
Max had done a search for ‘internet marketing consultant’ on Google and found a site offering a report called “Ten Tips & Tactics You Need to Know Before You Spend a Dime on Internet Marketing”. It was only $27 and there was a 100% guarantee that if the information wasn’t extremely helpful, the publisher would offer a full refund, no questions asked.
John said, “Max, what are you doing? You’re wasting your money again!”
Max said, “No John, I think I’m on to something. Let’s get out of here. I’m going to read this report as soon as I get home. I’ll drop you a line soon, ok?”
In the weeks that followed, Max’s website underwent a major transformation.
Max hit the nail on the head this time. After reading the report, Max knew what needed to be done and he knew that he didn’t have the time or experience to pull it off on his own. So without procrastinating, he went out and hired the internet marketing consultant who wrote the report that changed his perspective and showed him what he was missing all along.
What happened in the months that followed this major transformation to Max’s site was incredible. Max started getting a lot more business – he was selling product online, around the world, and also getting more walk-in business too.
Things started to get a bit too busy, and Max’s warehouse was getting too cramped. That’s when he called John.
“John, sorry I haven’t called you since the night of the course but I just got caught up in it all. There was a lot of work to do but it was worth it. You have to read that report I bought that night and then you have to talk to my “Internet Guy” Max said enthusiastically.
John asked, “Are you still on that internet thing? Oh forget about it already.”
“No, seriously John. I invested in my internet business a few months ago and I’m already reaping the rewards. My business is growing and I’m thinking about opening a new website for a specific niche. I know it sounds unbelievable John, but it all makes sense now. Read that report.”
A few days later, John calls Max and says, “Thanks Max, I get it now.
I’m meeting your “Internet Guy” on Monday. I’ve got nothing to lose and as I can see from what happened to you, I have a lot to gain.”
Within a week, John, Max & the “Internet Guy” all met for an intense, but exciting strategy-session discussing a joint venture between John & Max.
That joint venture would make John & Max the leading internet business in their field. Soon enough they were recruiting Affiliates to help them dominate the market and increase their strong foothold in the market.
When John and Max were interviewed by Entrepreneur Magazine later that year, they attributed their success to “The Internet Guy”.
That report is in your hands now.
To learn what they learned, keep reading…