Methodology for an Online
Marketing Campaign

The methodology for planning an online marketing campaign splits nicely up into three categories.

1. How Online Marketing Strategies Work
2. Online Copywriting Assignements
3. SEO Optimization (Site Copy Maintenance)

How Online Marketing Strategies Work
What I outline here is one online marketing strategy that has been proven effective for many types of businesses. It is a strategy that will take you from startup to profitability.

The first principle of online marketing is that e-mail works best when you are sending to people who already know you.

Successful online marketers build their list using the process I outline here. They then sell to those people using e-mail marketing.

Start by building a website that positions you as an expert in your field. Your site is your base of operations for your online markeitng campaign, and many clients are able to modify their existing site to accomplish this.

Your web site should include a homepage, an about the company page, your biography and the pages with a brief description of your product or service. An essential element of site design is usablility - keep your site easy to navigate and as free of clutter as possible.

You should add an articles or report page where you display everythnig you write on your area of specialty. (You can add it after your site is up an running, if you like.) Allow visitors to read and download these articles for free.

Publishing articles is an excellent way to put your business into the public eye and generate traffic to your site.

Write a special report or white paper on your area of expertise and make it available to people who visit your site. This is a "bait" piece taht visitors can download in exchange for their e-mail address and name.

Offer an online newsletter - an ezine. You should publish the ezine at least once a month and as often as once each week. Visitors to your site can subscribe simply by giving their name and e-mail address.

An important element of your site, and your newsletter (ezine), is that both must give visitors useful content. The more useful information you supply to visitors, and recipients of your ezine, the easier it is to develop a marketing relationship with those people.

They will enjoy using your site. They will enjoy receiving your ezine. And they will tell their friends about both.

The model is to drive traffic to your site where visitors give their name and e-mail address in exchange for a free report or a subscription to your ezine. They become part of your list and you can now market to them through e-mail at no extra cost.

One thing to keep in mind is that you must continuously supply useful information. Allowing it to degenerate into nothing more than a regular pitch to sell your products is going to end up destroying your list.

In online marketing, having a large list of qualified prospects is like having a continuous stream of repeat customers in a bricks and mortar store. Just as traditional, repeat customers tell their friends and acquaintances about their shopping experience.

The bulk of your online leads to sales and profits will come from repeat e-mail marketing to your list. As people see your useful content and that the marketing is complementary to the information they will tell their friends and pass your e-mails on to other people.

Your goal is to build a large e-mail list of qualified prospects as quicly and inexpensively as you can and then treat them like the golden goose they are.

Online marketing strategies that can drive traffic to your site and build your list include:

• free publicity
• e-mail marketing
• banner advertising
• co-registration
• affiliate marketing
• search engine optimization (SEO)
• direct mail
• blogging
• ezine advertising, and
• article marketing

I can help you choose which ones will work best for you and write the advertising copy you need.

The key to achieving success is to use multiple advertising channels at the same time. It's called the Agora Marketing Model. You measure the results from each marketing channel, drop the ones that don't work, and do more of the ones that are effective.

Keep testing the successful channels to continuously improve results. (It's also wise to return to the channels you drop and test them again once in a while. Markets and their responses change over time.)

Online Copywriting Assignments
There is often a lot of confusion about what is involved in online copywriting. We all tend to use terms interchangeably, and that makes us unsure how much copy goes into a particular assignment.

Here are the online copywriting assignments I write for my clients with the definition and scope of work for each.

Long Copy e-Mail

This is designed to sell a product or service directly. The long copy e-mail drives your reader to a short copy landing page or transaction page.

This type of e-mail is generally sent to an audience that you know is hungry for what you are offereing and who is VERY familiar with you. It's the online equivalent of a three to four page sales letter (1,500 to 2.000 words)

Teaser e-Mail
This is a short e-mail designed to generate interest and bring the reciprient to a micro-site or long copy landing page. It's equal to a sales letter of two pages or less (<1,000 words).

Lead Generation e-Mail
This is similar to the Teaser e-Mail with the difference being that you are driving readers to a landing page where they request a free white paper (or other information) rather than making a purchase. (<1,000 words.)

Micro-Site
This is a one-page, long-copy web site dedicated to selling a single product or service. A micro-site is used to market something like an e-book or coference. It's roughly equal to a six or eight page sales letter (3,000 to 4,000 words).

Long Copy Landing Page
This is a shorter version of the Mirco-Site. A long copy landing page is often used for B2B offers and products that require less description (e.g. software). It's roughly equal to a sales letter of two to four pages (1,000 to 2,000 words).

Short Copy Landing Page
This is the online version of a trade ad. it has a headline, a few paragraphs of descriptive product copy and an order form. It's often used for white papers, software demos, event registrations and other online enquiry fulfillment. This type of landing page is shorter than a two page letter (500 to 750 words).

Transaction Page
This is where the profit happens. The transaction page is similiar to a short copy landing page that has even less descriptive copy. Its primary function is to provide a form where the visitor can either order a product or request free information. (<500 words.)

You can see how the first three assignments - writing e-mails - lead to the next three assignments - landing pages. And all of them naturally lead to the last assignment - the transaction page.

Here are four more online copywriting assignments that come from clients:

Site Page
You're reading a site page right now. It's an information page on your site. This kind of page includes your bio, the "about" page for your company, and methodology pages (just like this one).

As with editorial copywriting, site pages are not focussed on selling. They should, however, take advantage of natural, logical opportunities to promote relevant products or services.

An ideal site page - optimized for SEO - is only 500 words. This keeps it short, easy to read, and friendly to the eye. Pages as long as this one only work in the Methodology area because people are expecting to learn something from your methodology pages.

E-Mail Conversion Series
This is a series of follow-up e-mail messages sent via autoresponder with the intention of converting an inquiry into a sale.

For example, when someone signs up for your ezine...you should have a conversion series that educates them about your company and introduces them to your entry level products or services. It might be seven to ten messages with only the last few containing a marketing message.

Online Ad
This is typically a 100 word classified ad intended to run in an ezine. It drives readers to a landing page. It can also be a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ad which is much more rigidly structured. A PPC ad will be four lines with each line being assigned a maximum number of characters.

Site Copy Maintenance
Fast and frequent experimentation (testing) is the nature of online marketing.

Whether your results are outstanding and you want to squeeze even more sales from your landing pages, or you want to improve on initial results that were not quite what you hoped for - ongoing testing must be part of your marketing plan.

Hiring me to maintain your site means I'll devote 10 hours each month to working on improving your online sales for as long as you want me to. Improvements can include new headlines, different leads. changing the order device or whatever element you want to test.