The second dot-com boom is well under way, and thousands of people and businesses are flocking to the Internet to start web sites that will promote their businesses or that they hope will become their own businesses. Many Internet marketing opportunities work just like businesses in the real world, and many investors make several mistakes when they try to start a web-based business. Often, these mistakes depend on whether the business wants to give customers access to their product through the Internet or if the person just wants to get people to visit their site. In both cases, there are a number of things that should not be done.
People who start out on the Internet with dreams of making money should remember that they will need repeat visitors to be successful. Many people are very excited about the idea of search engine optimization right now. It is true that everyone who uses the Internet will use a search engine at some point to find something. It's also true that most Internet companies are well aware of this marketing strategy. As a result, many of the big search engines are starting to link to other search pages, which doesn't help customers find the information or ideas they're looking for and just leads them deeper into a maze. Also, putting too much emphasis on keywords or phrases can lead to articles that are hard to understand and boring to read. Customers will get so frustrated that they won't come back. Articles posted on a website should be useful and interesting to read. Keyword density shouldn't be used to replace interest.
Many people who want to get into Internet marketing also have too much information and try too many things at once in the hopes that something will stick. There are actually a lot of people doing Internet marketing, so it's best to focus on one thing and get good at it before moving on to something else. Building 100 bad websites won't be as useful in the long run as making one good one. Don't waste all your time trying out the newest marketing trick. Focus instead on solid business basics and building a brand identity that will make customers want to come back for more. Internet marketers who are successful are those who know that winning the marathon is more important than winning a short race. Almost all of the ways to get rich quickly end up costing more than they make, or at best, they only make money in the short term.
Websites should always look good and be up-to-date, but that doesn't mean they should take up all of your potential customers' bandwidth. Don't fill up your website with too many graphics that have nothing to do with your services and make it take longer for your page to load. Speed and ease of use are the keys to success on the Internet. If your customer has to wait a long time for your page to load, they won't come back.
