Marketing and on line strategies - part of your marketing plan


Have a compeditive edge, establish a marketing plan and or online strategy.

So many businesses don't have marketing plans or a online strategy - this I feel is a huge part of running a successful business.
Here are some hints and information about on line strategies.

On line strategies
This will vary depending on your business size, product, resources and budget.
I would recommend that you consider your online strategy & the tools in your arsenal as part of your marketing plan.

Some tools include:

Blogging
Does Google like blogs?, oh YES!
As its robots and search bots look for fresh text. With a blog you can add text, photos and show case your wares via one or two regular updates per week, to get extra visits, you can review or comment on a new product relevant to your industry.

E books
For lovers of the written word, basically its a electronic book. This can be accessed by PC's, palm pilots, book readers and mobile phones.
There are popular viewers to store and read your purchases and there are online libraries.
Check out http://www.ebooks.com/.
They started in 2000 with just 50 titles, now you can search for well over 100,000 titles in 3 file formats.
Many people are now making money by writing e books and selling them through their websites or specifically set up websites - with landing pages that capture the reader/ viewer with specials and 'cant live with out' motivational text as I call them!
Just Google or Bing an e book with your industry sector name. ( eg: marketing e books )

Website
With out a doubt I'm not sure how businesses can not have an online business card these days. Nearly 400 Million people have computers when you add this to the amount of people with mobile phones= 5 Billion.
It pays to be online and have an up to date one!
I nearly cry when I see wonderful businesses with out of date websites.. heartbreaking...

I like CMS websites - content management systems.
Basically a company sets up a template for you and you can alter pages, articles, photos and text, you have control over the content when and where you want.

Facebook
What is the fuss all about? Its a free access social networking website that allows individuals and businesses to upload photos, post messages, videos and much more. Its a great social way of keeping in touch with customers, relatives and friends. Its is fairly easy to set up and you can log on anytime of day and stay in touch. Set up a personal one first then set up a business one, be careful what you comment about and or post as this is a global platform and your comments can be viewed by thousands.

E- commerce
This is a website that allows you to conduct commerce electronically i.e. selling products on line whether it be produce, product, information products or services.
To have a full capable e -commerce website you must have a self authoring content management system (CMS) that is e - commerce enabled.
Or you must own website building or editing software such as Adobe Dream weaver Cs4 ( with e commerce Made simple - a PayPal e commerce tool kit added), or you build a website using open source free website building tools and templates ( Joomla or opensource.org) or your third option is to ask for a CMS template to be built by companies such as Websitegurus.

hope this helps with your marketing plan and online strategy decisions.
happy marketing!