10 Online Home Business Marketing Tips

I get asked from people all the time, "What is the most important part of online marketing? Is it having the best website? Or is it having the right product?" The answer is...neither. While this may surprise some of you, it's really the truth. Here's why.

You can have the most amazing website with audio, video, or flash, etc., along with the absolute perfect product, but unless you have traffic coming to your site...you don't really have an online home business. People have to be able to find you in order for you to experience the massive success you're looking for. And isn't that what you're really wanting?

So what are the best ways to get an endless parade of visitors to your website? Here are some of the best methods to begin getting the most amount of traffic...quickly.

1. Pay-per-click search engines. With this method you are paying for every targeted visitor to your site. You bid on specific keywords, or keyword phrases, and when someone clicks on your ad, you pay the amount you had set up for your bid. Goggle Adwords and Yahoo Sponsored Search are the two major players in the pay-per-click arena. This method is great for those who are looking for immediate traffic. You can be set up and have your ad showing in the search engines in minutes. But be careful, PPC ads can get very expensive in a hurry.

2. Search engines. You're going to want to optimize your website no matter what other types of marketing you do. You will need to optimize your web pages in order to achieve a higher ranking in the search engines under the keywords you've chosen. You can do it yourself, or you can find companies that will do it for you for a price. Anything lower than a page 4 ranking is not going to generate much traffic to your website. For do-it-yourselfers, a great place that teaches search engine optimization is searchenginewatch.com/.

3. Link exchanges. Make a list of other websites in your product market, preferably ones with a high search engine ranking, and ask them if they would trade links with you. You both will benefit from this by getting increased traffic from each other's sites. In addition, many of the search engines place a high relevance on the number of link partners you have. Those who have more links will often get a higher placement by the search engines.

4. Ezine Ads. Ezines are a great way to have targeted traffic going to your website. The ads are quite affordable, and best of all, they work. You can find a list of ezines in your target market by doing a simple search through one of the search engines. I highly recommend this form of advertising.

5. Online forums. Another great way to build your Internet home business is through online forums. Do a search online for a list of forums in your product, or business area. Then you can sign up for the various forums and offer your expert advice in your targeted area. By posting in the forums you will soon become a recognized expert in your field. At the bottom of every post you make you can add your signature file that includes a link to your website. This will generate a great deal of traffic from those who are reading your posts and interested in knowing more about you and your business.

6. Referrals. This is one of the oldest and easiest online marketing tips there is. Simply ask your customers who they know that may also be interested in what you have, or what you're doing. You can even offer your customers an incentive for recommending others. Use your imagination with this.

7. Newsletters. By having your own newsletter you can quickly keep in touch with your subscribers and customers. This will help to build your credibility and allow you to continue to market your products, or business opportunity, on a consistent basis. You can even offer a drawing or giveaway to your readers to generate increased interest.

8. Articles. Writing articles about your area of expertise and submitting them to ezine directories can generate lots of traffic to your site. At the bottom of your article you will include a small "about the author" paragraph, along with your website address. Your article could appear in literally hundred of sites due to the high demand for quality articles. This is a great long-term strategy to getting traffic to your online home business.

9. Get indexed. You can list your website with indexes such as the Open Directory, or Yahoo! Once you're indexed, you can expect a significant increase in traffic to your website.

10. Give away an e-Book. Or better yet, give away a viral e-Book. You can simply offer a free e-Book to all of your website visitors who fill out a form you design. In exchange, you're able to build your list of prospects that you can send emails to forever. Encourage others to give away your e-Book. By doing that you will have countless other people also going to your website. This is free traffic that you had nothing to do with.

The bottom line to Internet marketing is being consistent with whatever you do. Pick out 2-3 methods from this list that you like, and do them continuously. Not just once in a while, or when you feel like it, but all the time. Make a commitment to yourself, and to your online home business. In doing so, you'll begin building a long-term, successful business.