marketing management

Internet Marketing

John Reese

Building The Perfect Virtual Reputation: Internet Marketing

Marketing Mailing List
I, myself, being an internet marketing 'newbie' (endearing term used to .....

For the last six years I have been living in the beautiful mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina. Three years ago I experienced what many Americans have since 9/11; I was laid off from my job and there were few prospects in sight. After nine months of unemployment and only one call back in my field I had the inspiration to go into business for myself. I was lucky enough to find a talented, intelligent woman interested in investing in a business partnership with me and we began networking with and marketing to the local community. As time passed we realized what many other small business professionals have in the past, our best bet for success was on the Internet. Online we could reach a much broader client base, which would allow us to make more money and eventually support ourselves through the business.

Publishing Articles Online

One of the first steps my business partner and I took to begin marketing our company online was to write and publish articles through a variety of web sites. These web sites ranged from industry specific sites and e-zines to general web portals. Web portals accept articles on a wide range of topics and make them available to a variety of online and offline editors. As each article was posted to a new site a link to our company web site was included, this began to increase our web site traffic and our number of leads.

Vector Marketing

Zig Ziglar the famous self help guru was once quoted as saying "You can get everything you want in .....

As our marketing plan moved forward we realized this was a tool we could teach other small business owners to use and a service we could offer to clients who wanted to increase their web site traffic. My business partner and I created a seminar and offered it at a local microenterprise organization. We also began to use this tool when consulting on web site development and Internet marketing projects. Overall, my clients have seen their web site traffic increase, along with their number of qualified leads each month. Since the services my company provides are affordable the client simply reinvests a small portion of the current marketing budget into my company. The client's marketing budget stays the same while sales increase.

The Virtual Reputation, Is It Real'

I am not certain who first coined the term "virtual reputation". I know I put the words together in a business meeting one afternoon and when I began to research the idea I realized many marketing professionals had made the same connection. Many people I have shared my Internet marketing ideas with have a slight aversion to the idea of a "virtual reputation". They feel it implies a reputation that isn't real. I beg to differ.

Marketing Management
For the last six years I have been living in the beautiful mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina. Three years ago I experienced .....

The virtual reputation is not one of dishonesty ......