Internet Advertising, E-Zines And The Small-Business Entrepreneur - Part 3
In addition to the previously discussed
considerations, having the right kind of
goods or services to offer to the public
may make a big difference in helping you
to convert traffic to sales. Besides the
obvious (i.e., you have that which people
want), what I mean by this notion is the
following. One should, if one can, have
something of one's own to offer - that is,
something which few, if any, other people
are offering.
Unfortunately, like the advice which
often is given with respect to stocks -
that is, buy low and sell high - the
suggestion to concentrate on developing
products and services of one's own is a
lot easier said than done. Yet, if one does
not attempt to find a way of doing this,
then, one must face the sad possibility
that one may get swallowed up whole by
the vast ocean of cyber-space - becoming
merely the financial fodder that feeds the
success of others.
I have seen some sales statistics
concerning the Internet. While I am not
completely certain as to how reliable this
information is, one seems on rather safe
ground to be able to claim that there are
two broad ways of categorizing the way
money is being spent on the Internet. The
first category involves all goods and
services that are sold through the Web
but which have nothing really to do with
the Internet itself. For example, a person
may purchase a book, music-CD,
computer hardware or some clothing
through buyfromus.com. However, none
of these items is really about the Web per
se.
In these cases, the Web is a medium of
exchange. But, the Web is not the object
of exchange.
The other major category of sales
involves those goods and services in
which the dynamics of the Web process
and the interactions which arise out of
that are the center of attention. Thus,
Internet Service Providers, Web
designers, e-commerce marketing
consultants, Web promotional services,
HTML text editors, and so, are all about
interacting with the Web as a process, in
and of itself.
There are a lot of people who are
making money by inducing others to
spend money in the hope of making
money on the Internet. Although I believe
that a fair proportion of the former
group of individuals and companies may
be making money, I am not so sure there
are all that many in the latter group who
are earning much of a living.
This situation is similar, in certain ways,
to some of the 'success-gurus' who sell
books, tapes, seminars, and personal
appearances that offer to teach you the
steps to success and wealth. Now, these
individuals are selling people on this
dream and, as a result, the gurus are
becoming fabulously successful and
wealthy, but I have my doubts as to how
many among the would-bees who have
emotionally and financially bought into
the dream being sold actually go on to
achieve any substantial degree of success.
There will always be a few disciples who
do well through these programs (but not
necessarily because of the program), just
as there always will be some individuals
who win lotteries. Moreover, the
personal testimonials of these success
stories helps to serve as a come-on to
others - as if to say: "Look what has
happened to me by following Guru Gus's
Genuine Gateway to Glory.You can
achieve this too."
The reality of the matter is that the vast
majority of those who have helped to
make the business guru, and a few of
his/her disciples, rich and successful will
never taste anything remotely like the
dream which is being offered. The gurus
and disciples may sincerely believe they
have a formula for success, but,
generally speaking, the only formula they
have is a means to be able to convince
others that they have such a formula and,
then, their success misleads others - and,
perhaps, even the guru himself or herself
- into assuming that the formula can be
transferred to contexts beyond that of
becoming successful by being subsidized
by people who have bought into the
illusion.
Quite frequently, the E-commerce
dimension of the Internet reminds me of
the candy, magazine and/or seed sales
which took place, from time to time,
during my elementary and high school
days. A gazillion kids would all be trying
to sell the same things to the same small
market, and even when people were
interested in what the kids were selling -
which was not all that often - there was
only so much the market would bear.
The manufacturers or suppliers of the
goods often did well because they were
able, through the kids, to reach much of
the targeted market. Most of us kids,
however, were lucky if we ended up with
a deluxe, glossy, suitable-for-framing
commemorative plaque extolling our
dedication and salespersonship.
There is entirely too much "me-tooism"
on the Internet. Rumors and promises of
'exploding profits' and 'skyrocketing'
sales run amok in e-commerce, but,
unfortunately, the reality of the matter is
that most of us end up just like the kids
in my elementary and high school days
who made money for someone else, but
not much for themselves.
This also reminds me of another part of
my childhood. In the town where I grew
up in western Maine, there used to be
public Easter egg hunts which were run
through the local radio station.
The DJs would give out a number of
clues that had to be solved in order to
find the proper location where the prize
egg lay in wait. When the egg was found,
this could be exchanged for some good
or service which was being offered by
one of the commercial sponsors of the
hunt.
There were a few clever people among
the contestants who were way ahead of
the rest of us. They would solve the clue,
high-tail it for the indicated place in the
city, discover the whereabouts of the egg,
and, then, move on to the next clue.
The vast majority of the contestants
would be hours behind these egg-perts.
Usually, the scenario for the rest of us
would be as follows.
We would all - sometimes, in the
hundreds - begin to gather at some
location after finally solving the meaning
of the clue. We would mill about
excitedly in small groups, wondering
where the coveted egg was, and staring
at one another, too dumb to realize the
game already had moved on to the next
stage and that we were attempting to
play a hand which had been dead even
before we arrived at the location
designated by the clue.
This passion play would be enacted a
number of times throughout the morning.
Finally, someone from the radio station
would mercifully announce that the hunt
was over, the winners declared, and
suggested we all go home because there
were no more goodies to be discovered.
I remember two emotions from those
by-gone days of yesteryear. One of these
concerned the tremendous excitement of
anticipation on the night before the hunt
and during its early stages the next day
when, in my deluded state, I still thought
that I might find one of the treasured
eggs.
The other emotion was a matter of the
disappointment I felt when the realization
slowly sank in that I never really stood a
chance. I, like so many others, were
always arriving long after the fact of
someone else's success.
In a way, e-commerce is somewhat like
the Easter egg hunt described above. We
hear about the billions of dollars being
spent on the Internet, and we go into a
sort of child-like frenzy of excited
anticipation to participate in the hunt for
these fabled treasures.
Marketing consultants and business
experts offer to tell us how we might find
our way to these riches of exploding
profits and skyrocketing sales. But, in
reality, by the time we find our way to
the designated locations, the game
already has moved on - if it ever was at
that location to begin with - and we are
faced with, yet, another set of clues to be
solved, and all we can do is mill about in
our disappointment, staring at one
another, and thinking about what might
have been.
The time has come for someone from the
Internet's counterpart to my childhood
radio station to tell people to do one of
two things. We should either go home, or
we should select a contest in which we
actually have a chance of winning.
In my opinion, one stands the best
opportunity of winning a game when one
has invented that contest oneself. As long
as one is playing someone else's game,
then the odds for success tend to be
disfavorable, although there always will
be exceptions to this general rule.
Competition is extremely rigorous on the
Net. Finding one's own niche in all of
this, helps to improve the competitive
odds a little - providing, of course, that
whatever one has to offer which is
unique - or relatively so - is something
which people actually want.
The niche which one needs to create
does not have to be sophisticated,
technically involved, complex, or
incredibly clever. All it has to do is to
identify and, then, fulfill or meet an
existing need.
One problem with having relatively
unique services and goods is that others
might not understand how much they
need or could use what one has to offer.
And, bringing people to understand the
wisdom and pragmatic value inherent in
one's goods or services can take time - a
lot of it ... perhaps more than one has the
budget to subsidize.
Having said the above, I suppose, this
brings us back to the issue of trying to
find the most cost-effective ways of
promoting one's "indispensable" goods
and services. As indicated previously, I
believe there are three primary avenues
to pursue, and the other eight or nine
methods listed toward the beginning of
this article can serve, to the extent they
are pursued at all - as secondary or
subsidiary supports to the "big" three -
namely, writing for other e-zines,
publishing one's own e-zine, and taking
out classified ads in existing e-zines.
If one has something useful, interesting
and, maybe even entertaining, to say, I
believe this will help form a basis of
trust, confidence and integrity in relation
to one's name, company and Web Site.
This can be done both through one's own
e-zine, as well as the e-mail e-zines of
other people.
There are a growing number of e-zines
on the Internet. They are very cheap to
produce and deliver, but they do have
their problems.
One problem faced by these e-zines
concerns the virtual space which, week
after week, must be filled up with new,
interesting, entertaining, and/or
informative ideas. This constant pressure
to find new things to fill up the old space
frequently forces e-zine publishers to be
on a, more or less, constant search for
articles, essays and other kinds of
written contributions from fellow
Webbytes.
In addition to the readership aspect of
things, one also should consider the fact
that a growing number of e-mail e-zines
are accepting advertisements. On the one
hand, this has created something of a
cash-cow for some e-zine publishers in
view of the relatively low overhead
associated with these formats, but, on the
other hand, this also has created a need
to offer quality content in order to be
able to attract the sort of readership
numbers which will be appealing to
potential advertisers.
These e-mail e-zines may be free, but
many of the same principles apply to
whatever may be free as applies to that
which has a price attached to it. For
instance, if you have little of interest or
value to deliver to readers, your free
e-zine will soon be free of subscribers as
well - a state of affairs which is not likely
to excite prospective advertisers.
Thus, in summary, there are two forces
in play which help to stoke the fires that
fuel the continuous search for writing
help. The need to keep filling up the
empty space which is created by the need
to publish yet another, new edition, along
with an increasing competitiveness
among those e-zine advertisers who
accept advertisements to produce quality
material which will attract readers who,
in turn, attract advertisers.
These facts of publishing life open up an
opportunity - for those of us with an
interest to do so - to contribute to an
existing publication which has - at least
for the moment - an active readership.
By being willing to share our
experiences, problems, insights and
knowledge with others, we have the
potential for helping three parties at one
and the same time.
First, we help the e-zine publisher to stay
in the game a little longer. Secondly, we
help readers by, possibly, introducing
them to ideas, information, insights and
experiences that may bear on issues and
problems which are of concern to them
and that are, very likely, among the
reasons why these individuals initially
decided to subscribe to the e-zine for
which one is writing. Finally, by offering
our written take on some part of the
universe, we might even help ourselves.
Most obvious in this latter respect is the
way in which writing for other people's
e-zines may help to draw traffic to one's
own Web Site. In fact, writing for others,
along with placing classified ads in some
of those e-zines may be a matter of
helping to place the horse in front of the
cart since unless traffic does come to
one's Site, then even if one publishes
one's own e-zine, no one will know about
it in order to subscribe to it and, perhaps,
over time, develop enough trust and
interest in one's goods and/or services to
actually consider purchasing them.
One does not necessarily have to be a
Nobel laureate or winner of the Pulitzer
Prize to write for e-zines. One only needs
to be willing to try to capture - in a clear
and, hopefully, interesting manner -
certain events in one's life that may be of
use to other people like oneself.
In all of this, however, I do not believe
there can be any hard-selling techniques
involved in such writing. In fact, one
should be writing& nbsp; about life and
its problems - whether these be related to
business or not, and not about one's
products or services per se.
One should, as best one can: (a) let
people know what you are about as
accurately as you can; (b) help them if
you are in a position to do so without any
expectations of financial reciprocation as
far as their possible purchase of one's
products and/or services is concerned,
and, (c) be genuine and sincere in one's
dealing with them. If one does this, then I
believe, in time, and God willing, sooner
or later, people will buy what you have to
offer if what you have to offer is what
they need or want and if what you are
offering - whether as a product, service
or as a person - has quality, competence
and integrity underwriting it.
Whether or not one is still in business by
the time people start beating on your
door is another matter altogether. But,
irrespective of whether one does, or one
does not, remain in business until that
long-awaited day, one will have done all
one can to help make such a possibility a
reality, and, in the process, one even
might have made some friends or helped
some people along the way - which is not
a bad day's work in itself.
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