Internet Marketing Strategies

Yesterday I decided to leave the laptop at the office. I just wanted to spend some time with my wife without the urge to check my stats and email every now and then. It was a great relief. I really don’t know why I enslave myself with the laptop. You can’t imagine the sense of freedom I get when it is not with me. To think, oh! I can finally get to do something else other than stare at the computer screen all day and night. I won’t lie and don’t say I don’t get withdrawal “pains” every now.

Anyway, so I today I woke up a bit late i.e. 6am and spent some time chit chatting with my wife. So what’s the point with all of this Mfundo… well I am trying to say I had a clear mindset in the morning and I could think clearer.

So I thought about my business model, my marketing strategy as a whole. Marlon Sanders says you need a strategy no matter what you do online and I fully agree. I pulled out an old business plan of mine I wrote 2 years ago. Read through my plans and was amazed at how well defined it was…well, except for the strategy.

So I decided to take a look at my operations, what I have done to date and what I plan to do and how I plan to do it. I wanted to find that common link to all the activities…the strategy that drives my business.

After a careful look I discovered it, I am using an encirclement strategy (Some call it the envelope strategy). In war this strategy is used to  describe, the ability to isolate and surround enemy forces, on a strategic scale. The great executor of the strategy was Hannibal.

In internet marketing this strategy involves targeting several smaller untapped or underdeveloped segments within a market (niche) simultaneously. The goal is to surround the more popular websites with a number of small highly targeted (long-tail based) sites.

For example, I am launching a campaign in a Records Search niche within the next few weeks. Now there are already hundreds of bigger sites that dominate this niche. More than 20 of those sites are owned by companies that are investor funded…with millions of dollars and some are already making profits of more than $50 million annually. The sites dominate the first 10 pages of Google with multiple keywords. At a glance entering this market seems detrimental but my previous tests stated otherwise. I am getting in but am not taking these companies head on.

I have discovered smaller “unserved” niches within this niche. You see big companies don’t bother targeting keywords that attract say 100 visitors per month. They are after the big keywords because they have the money to compete at that level. I have discovered that there are thousands of these small long tail keywords that attract 100 visitors or less per month and I am taking them ALL.

My strategy is to build about 200 small sites, with highly targeted-long tail domain names having 10 or less articles each. The plan is to get at least 500 visitors to each of the sites and subsequently get 100k visitors. At a typical conversion rate of 1% I plan to make 1000 sales per month of a product that has a payout of $20.  That means $20,000 per month.

Now this will not happen overnight, it is a 6-8 month plan but because I know my strategy and tactics I will achieve my goal.

Before I conclude please note that the envelope internet marketing strategy can be successfully executed if:

Ø  There are a number of long-tail keywords to target and you have the tools to extract them all. I use keywordsnatcher by Jon Leger

Ø  The keywords are not targeted by too many competitors.

Ø  If you have the resources to build as much content as possible i.e. articles of niche sites

Ø  You have the resources to maintain the sites and articles i.e. build links to them, distribute them all over the internet etc.

Ø  You have a team of outsourced workers or inhouse staff that knows exactly what to do without you being there all the time

Take away points from this post:

1.       You need to know your strategy: look at your business, what you’ve been doing and find that link that connects everything you do and name it as your strategy. Military theorist Carl von Clausewitz put it another way: “Tactics is the art of using troops in battle; strategy is the art of using battles to win the war.”

2.       Focus on your strategy until it brings results: do not be listen to too many ideas and next best products being launched every day. Rather work on modifying your own strategy until it is perfect. Hannibal won all his battles by executing the same strategy and improving it every time. Do the same.

3.       If you ever get overwhelmed simply leave your desktop at the office and take a break. Do other things that you love and you will get some perspective after a while.

I will be sharing more on different strategies you can use in your marketing warfare in the coming weeks. What strategy are you using and how is it working for you? Please share below.