Guerrilla Marketing (Part 2)

I am going to use a number of actual Internet examples in this series. Some of them will be my own sites. If you are, in some way, offended by that kind of blatant promotion then you probably won't want to read the balance of these articles. Let me state clearly that I don't expect anyone here to purchase, or feel pressured to purchase, anything from me. I am using my own sites as examples because I know them best and I know the numbers that apply. It makes it easier for me to make the points and it makes the points better made for you to learn from them.

Also, let me state that my own examples are not necessarily the best examples of the points I will be making with them. They are good examples, or I would not be using them, but it is certainly possible to do better than what I have done. In fact, I continually work hard to improve my own results over time. Marketing, just like so many other parts of your business, is a journey not a destination.

So let's start with an example. For several years I sold listing templates for eBay listings on eBay to other eBay sellers for use in their eBay listings. For some time these listings template sales comprised a significant portion of my income and I marketed them heavily. I ran both regular auction listings and listed them in our eBay store which we had at the time. And I did a number of other things to promote them that I will discuss a little later.

The thing is, listing templates are no longer a significant portion of my business. I still sell one from time to time, as people still seek me out, but I haven't listed one on eBay for many months -- perhaps as much as two years or more! So how do people keep finding me to ask about them?

First, I have developed an online identity. This is probably the most crucial and important factor in your online marketing strategy. Without it much, if not most, of what you do will be wasted. It certainly won't have much impact. My own online identity forms an important part of my marketing strategy. A lot of people know me as "the wiz" or just "wiz". So, if someone was looking to buy an eBay template from the wiz they might do a Google search for "wiz eBay template". Give it a try and see what happens.

You will likely get around 800,000 returns. There's a lot of "wiz" and "eBay" and "template" combinations out there. I'm not the only wiz and listing templates are not the only kind of templates either. The Internet is a crowded place even with the best targeted search terms or keywords.

But notice the search returns. You will see that I have the first few spots on the first page as well as the majority of the spots there. I also ring up a few hits on the second and third pages. That's not too bad for search terms for a product I haven't really promoted in two years or more! It is also amazing to me how many people who purchase websites tell me that they started looking for me to create a listing template. Now that's not bad marketing or conversion either. So, let's start looking how this came to be and how you can do it too.