Posted on 05/25/2012
Addendum 1/24/16. This blog was originally started on the date below, but I have gone through it to update it. It was originally on Wordpress on the Azgrand.com site, but is being updated on the Blogger platform. The information is good, solid information still today. Once you understand online sales techniques, and what you need, it doesn't matter what you want to sell. We don't offer any products of our own for you to resell, as many other marketers do. Most of those products are designed to sell only by their methods, and if you venture off into other products, you won't have the knowledge of other techniques. Rather, we offer the knowledge of how to sell "anything" online, no matter what it is.
Many people say they don't need to know marketing, because they are only writing a blog and they aren't selling anything. The only way that is true is if you are writing for a very limited audience and don't want any other traffic to their site or blog. But most people either write to be heard, or they want to monetize their blogs to earn money. Either way, you have to understand marketing if you ever hope you increase the readership and loyalty on your site or blog. Even if you don't sell anything, just gaining readers requires the same exact techniques as gaining paying customers. That means having the proper subscribe forms for people to follow your site or blog, and knowing where to put them. It means knowing what colors your site should have to attract the most readers. It means proper (and easy) navigation links to get them where they want to go, from the first post on your site to a particular topic of which they may be interested.
So in an effort to give you insight into the process, we are starting with the things you need to know before you ever choose a name or URL for your site or blog. If you have done that already, don't worry...we'll show you the work-arounds to still optimize for the search engines so the public can find you, and even how to use social media to gain traffic. We'll even get into how to set up your site, whether it be on Wordpress, Blogger, or any other platform or site builder. Are we going to show you a few ads in the process? Of course we are. That's how we make our money. It's your choice whether to buy from them or not. More about that later, though. For now, let's get back to the original post...
Today, May 25th, 2012, we begin a new era in internet marketing here at Azgrand. This site has been the mainstay of our business since we started in 1999, with many changes through the years. Today we are starting it’s most radical change.
Many people say they don't need to know marketing, because they are only writing a blog and they aren't selling anything. The only way that is true is if you are writing for a very limited audience and don't want any other traffic to their site or blog. But most people either write to be heard, or they want to monetize their blogs to earn money. Either way, you have to understand marketing if you ever hope you increase the readership and loyalty on your site or blog. Even if you don't sell anything, just gaining readers requires the same exact techniques as gaining paying customers. That means having the proper subscribe forms for people to follow your site or blog, and knowing where to put them. It means knowing what colors your site should have to attract the most readers. It means proper (and easy) navigation links to get them where they want to go, from the first post on your site to a particular topic of which they may be interested.
So in an effort to give you insight into the process, we are starting with the things you need to know before you ever choose a name or URL for your site or blog. If you have done that already, don't worry...we'll show you the work-arounds to still optimize for the search engines so the public can find you, and even how to use social media to gain traffic. We'll even get into how to set up your site, whether it be on Wordpress, Blogger, or any other platform or site builder. Are we going to show you a few ads in the process? Of course we are. That's how we make our money. It's your choice whether to buy from them or not. More about that later, though. For now, let's get back to the original post...
Today, May 25th, 2012, we begin a new era in internet marketing here at Azgrand. This site has been the mainstay of our business since we started in 1999, with many changes through the years. Today we are starting it’s most radical change.
Many people have asked about a blog, so now we have one. In fact the entire site is blog based, using WordPress (now Blogger, in 2016), which we believe is one of the best ways to go with any new site. I threw in a sub-title of “Beginner Web Marketing Training”, which can apply to many things. We do most of our marketing on our own web sites, although we also do some online auctions for some items. Web site marketing is what we do. We not only build web sites and blogs, but we also manage our own graphics and SEO.
Graphics don’t sell!
Many people think that just because they get a site or blog online that they are in the business of selling. Many blogs prefer not to sell, just to keep their sites free of advertising of any kind. That’s the users choice and right to do so. Still, unless they are only blogging for the benefit of a closed group, like a family, they want to acquire readers, and even that is a type of selling, only you are selling yourself. Your readership depends on your writing style, how useful your information is, and how credible you are. That becomes a form of psychological selling, and when it comes right down to it, all selling depends more on psychological effects on people, more than anything else. It doesn’t matter how good your product is, if something about your site or your presentation “turns them off”, they are going to end up going somewhere else!
A site or blog with the greatest of graphics is not what sells. You can have the ugliest of sites and make millions or you can have the fanciest of flash sites and go broke. It’s all in what you do with the site… not how it looks. As we provide information on this site, we hope to help you understand that.
Also, in order to gain readership, you have to follow the same techniques as one does when trying to make a profit, whether that is your goal or not. If you have no idea how to use keywords or to attract potential readers to your content, the search engines won’t be able to match up your blog to the keywords of searchers looking for your topic. It all boils down to learning proper marketing.
As we steer our business in the direction that we need it to go, we are also introducing new services and products. Many people have consulted with us in the past in regard to setting up a new web based business, or improving what they already have, and we have helped those that we could. Our fifteen+ years in this business and the knowledge and training that we have absorbed along the way can help many newbies get started in whatever they choose to do.
Free web marketing consulting!
We don’t currently offer our own products for you to go out and sell. What you sell and how you run your business is up to you. We can only guide you in the techniques to allow you to do that. We will always try to start newbies off by steering them toward free or open source products to get them started. We don’t believe in selling newbies a bunch of things that they don’t even understand.
How does internet marketing work?
Our very next post will be to explain how internet marketing works, and all the ways that you can make money by doing it. Although it’s nice to know all these different ways, not all will be suitable for your own needs. Maybe your goal is not to make money, but simply gain a following of loyal readers. As stated above, it still takes following certain techniques which are based on tested and proven marketing strategies.
Internet marketing requires dedication and concentration!
One of the worst things that happens to anyone trying to gather information on the webs is the inability to focus. With all kinds of links leading to all sorts of things, it is easy to get sidetracked with other marketing methods, and end up not working on any of them.
If we all share… we all benefit!
Everyone has certain talents in specific areas, and if we all work together, we can learn from each other in the areas we need that knowledge. No one person ever knows “everything” about the internet or about marketing on it. Each person’s needs, techniques and methods are different.
There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of ways to make money online, and not all are suitable for all people. The one thing that most marketers leave out in the “push” to sell their own products is how to help people decide what is the right path to pursue based on the customer’s own needs in this business. It doesn’t help you to understand the business by someone selling you a “package” and telling you what you need to do in order to sell just that one item by that one method.
Many packages are specifically geared toward leaving critical steps or knowledge out of it, in order to “force” you into spending even more on an “upgrade” to be able to continue. That may be a good marketing technique, and for making "them" money, but it takes away from what you are hoping to make as profit, and does you an injustice by not providing a full understanding of how to make money with other products and methods. And that is why our third post will be about helping you choose a path that is correct for you.
After that, we will discuss, and even “review”, some of the many ways to earn money online, and then you can make up your own mind what you wish to pursue, and we will be here to help guide you with your decision. Little by little our posts will work towards getting you on your way to making money online, but if you are already online and need some advice on your blog or site, contact me through the comments. I will read every one of them before I approve them for publication, and will help you with advice. The question you have is probably the same one that other people will have, so let's share our knowledge.
Remember the old saying that a horse can be led to water, but you can’t make him drink. The same goes with any learning process. I can show you what needs to be done, but even I can’t answer all questions that you have in your mind the first time around. If you don’t “raise your hand” (by commenting down below) and ask questions that I KNOW you are going to have, then your learning will never be complete. It takes participation to learn anything in any kind of class, and if I don’t see some comments, then there is no point in my continuing this free course, and it could go away!
Thanks for joining us!
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