The aim of your internet marketing efforts is to find as many targeted leads as possible. But marketing isn't just about finding leads. It's also about getting those leads to visit your web site and then converting them into subscribers and lifetime customers. There are many different ways to achieve this goal but ultimately you want to leverage your efforts by finding the easiest and cheapest methods and techniques.



Obviously there are countless ways to advertise so I will list the ones that are effective, low cost and even free. I believe writing articles and submitting them to the article directories is the best value for money and most effective forms of lead generation available. With your articles getting picked up and going all over the internet to ezines and other web sites, your link in the author's resource box can be getting clicked on by thousands of people all over the world, for years to come.

Publishing your own blog (short for weblog) is another great way to generate traffic and to point them towards your site. Also, submitting your site to as many of the link directories as you can. All these methods are great for getting one-way links pointing back to your site and to increase your ranking with the search engines.

Don't underestimate the power of referrals, word of mouth, flyers, business cards and car signage. You'll probably have very little or no competition in the off-line arena.

Whatever methods of lead generation that you employ, it's imperative that you track your ads to find out where the traffic is coming from. Test your ads and tweak them from time to time to improve the results. Dump the ads that simply aren't working and for the ads that are working, keep doing it. But the only way you will know this is to TEST and MEASURE

Now that you are getting the traffic pouring into your site, you want to convert as many of those leads as you can into subscribers and/or customers. So check your web site stats to determine the number of unique visitors and number of sales. Now divide the number of visitors into the number of sales to find the ?conversion rate?. Once you know that, you can work on improving it.

Setting sales targets is a powerful way to boost your conversion. Why? Because as soon as you commit to a clear target, you suddenly work harder, smarter and you ?find? resources required to bring about the goal. Intention is a powerful force.

Once people hit your site, your headline needs to be targeted towards them, address a problem or need that they have, and compel them to keep reading. Different headlines will out-pull others so it's a matter of testing to find which is the best one. The sales copy must offer a ?valuable? solution to their problem and be loaded with benefits, not just product features. Educate the prospect as to ?what's in it for them? and how their life will be better for buying your product. Also, don't forget to include special bonuses and free gifts to not only entice them, but to give them greater value for the cash they are about to hand over to you. Finally, ask for the sale. Be very clear with the call to action so they know exactly what is required.

Keep in mind, a lot of your prospects won't buy from you the first time. Research seems to indicate that about 7 exposures to your site/product is required before a purchase is made. So obviously, it's important to be able to capture these leads so that you can follow up with them and build a relationship with them? to build TRUST.

So, rather than asking yourself ?How can I get more customers?? Narrow your focus more and ask ?How can I get more leads and convert more of them into sales?? This will change the way that you look at your online business.