Find Your Marketing Strength - Part 2

In part one we talked about why focus in marketing is so important. This part goes into more detail about various forms of marketing, and why it's so important they be focused on.

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Possible one form of marketing that requires the most focus. Just throwing in a few keywords or doing link exchanges without a purposes will get you nowhere in the search engines. SEO must be learned, practiced, and studied. A site is not optimized, a page is. So you need to work on optimizing one page at a time.

Is it worth the time? Absolutely! If this is something which interests you, and you enjoy writing content. If not, you might do better with another form of marketing.

2. Blogs
You may have been told blogs are a great way to pull in traffic. This is true. But it's another form of marketing which requires dedication. Setting up a blog and putting up a few posts a year isn't going to help much. If you use blogging as a marketing tool, be ready to post to your blog at LEAST once a week (more if you want the blog to really help your business).

Blogs make great "search engine food" because they are pure content and updated on a regular basis. This form of marketing works well if you enjoy SEO as well, since they can be easily focused on together. Just like SEO though, if you don't enjoy writing content this isn't for you.

3. Article Marketing
If for some reason a blog is out of the question, article marketing may be a form of marketing for you. Similar to blogging, you need to be able to write. Not quite as much as blogging, but still several articles a month are required for this form of marketing to work.

Basically what you'll do is write articles related to your business. Pick out a few of the top article directories on the net and submit your article. If done on a regular basis, you will soon have a steady flow of traffic to your site. This form works especially well for those attempting to gain subscribers to a newsletter.

4. Forum Marketing
A newer concept in online marketing, but still one which can have a huge impact on your business. In part one we mentioned one of the "basics" of business was some involvement in communities (meaning you are a member of 2 or 3 message boards or groups, and offer advice at least once a week). Forum Marketing (or "network marketing") takes that a step further.

Instead of just stopping in occasionally, this is one of the only tasks you do. You aren't just a member of a few communities, but rather 10 or more. For those who have been told "don't spend all your time at groups and boards", well you will love that we've just given you permission to do just that. If of course you love to help people, share ideas, and spend all your day chatting. Yes this really IS a form of marketing!

The idea behind this is your are making a name for yourself at any given community. You aren't spamming them, but rather becoming a respected member. Although for it to be absolutely beneficial, you must be involved with a community that's also your target market. If you have trouble finding a community, start one. Either a message board or yahoo group works just fine. Actively chatting with your target market is a fantastic form of marketing!

5. Paid Advertising
While some may shy away from this form of marketing just because of the cost, others have built an entire business with nothing but paid ads. Those who enjoy math will flock to this form, since it requires figuring out your return on investment (ROI). The goal is to spend less than you make.......and use money to make money.

It too requires focus, despite what some may think. The rewards can be huge if you unlock this form of marketing though. Testing is required to see which ads pull in the most money for you. You also need to search for various types of paid advertising which will earn you the most ROI.

There are many, many more forms of marketing online and offline as well. We've only just scratched the surface! As we've mentioned in both parts of these articles, focus is required for ANY form of marketing.

However, it is acceptable to focus on more than one IF they are enjoyable and successful for you. As long as you are keeping a focus on what works, your business will succeed.

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com.

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