Most of us have spent a pile of money developing products and ideas, wracked our brains and worn our knuckles raw trying to sell these exciting products only to learn that nobody wanted to buy them? I know I certainly have. In fact, I get the impression it is almost a law of the universe that we start out our marketing careers with all kinds of pre-conceived notions about what will sell, what people will buy, what people supposedly need, only to find that we were simply wrong.

Of course some of us are lucky. We hit on a product that people really do want. We stick it in front of them. And they buy.

Marketing? Who needs marketing when you're such a genius?

But for the rest of us, the first step in the marketing process should be: to "Find a product that people want", or, at least, to put it negatively, "Don't try to sell things people do NOT want".

If they aren't searching for it, they don't want it

We're talking internet marketing here, so the question is: "How do you discover if anybody wants your product?"

Answer: You test market it.

Fortunately there are some very powerful and inexpensive tools available to online marketers. Virtually all of these tools are based on analyzing "keywords". So if you don't know the significance of keywords, the following is a very quick primer.

Since the web presents all of us with a vast ocean of material, there must be a way for people to find the things they are interested in. Search Engines (SEs) scan the millions and millions of pages out there on the web and they use "keywords" or "key phrases" within the pages as hints of what those pages are about. Then they classify all those pages according to their keyword findings.

Then a person who is searching for something on the web — say it's something about "pet care" — goes to her favorite search engine, types in "pet care", or "caring for pets" — and voila! — up pops a list of websites about "pet care".

Once you understand this process it shouldn't take long to realize that what people search for determines how you should describe your product.

Say you have a product idea for something called an "inverted hydraulic grommet installer". It may be a wonderful idea, but if nobody ever searches for that specific key phrase, it basically does not exist as far as the web is concerned. Nobody will ever see your website or your product, because nobody ever searches for "inverted hydraulic grommet installers".

Finding out what people want

In most cases, the challenge will be to find the most productive keywords relevant to your product that people DO search for.

Then you can determine if anybody is willing to actually BUY your product.

The easiest way to do this is to use a two stage process:

First, find a keyword analysis tool like the Overture keyword tool (http://www.small-business-online.com/seo-tools.shtml), and do a quick analysis of various keyword possibilities. This tool will tell you whether or not people actually search for your term, and it will suggest other derivatives or related terms you might use instead.

Then, once you have an idea of your best keywords, set up a short Google Adwords campaign to test market your product idea.

Google Adwords are those little text ads that run down the right side of the page when you do a Google search. The nice thing about an Adwords campaign is that you can have it up and running in minutes, and you can let it run for as long (or as short) as you want. All you need is some idea of the marketability of your product. And often an Adwords campaign can tell you what you want to know after just one or two days.

The other good thing about Adwords is that you only pay when people click through to your site. If you don't get any clicks you've found out that nobody wants what you're advertising. It also doesn't cost you anything.

Of course it is sometimes difficult to run a test campaign for a product you haven't yet produced. After all, that is one of the purposes of the test — to determine if you should go ahead and produce the product. In that case you may want to try a technique suggested by Perry Marshall in his little course called "Five Days to Success with Google Adwords".

Begin by defining your product in terms of the PROBLEM it is supposed to solve. Then write a short report or "white paper" describing the problem and detailing how to solve it (using your product of course). Now create a page in your website (usually called a "landing page") dedicated to describing the product and promoting your white paper "solution". Make sure to create an opt-in form which interested people can use to request your white paper.

Then create your Google Adwords campaign around this free white paper. Point your ads to the landing page where you encourage interested people to send for your report.

As Perry Marshall says, "if you can't get anybody to opt-in to your report - or if you can't find keywords that people are searching for - then that's a good sign you should abandon the project before you throw any more money at it.

When people opt in, send them an email (or maybe even call them on the phone) and ask them what they're looking for. If your report is any good, they'll be happy to talk to you, and you'll get LOTS of input about the kinds of problems they're trying to solve."

(from Five Days to Success with Google AdWords, by Perry Marshall)

Google Adwords can be the easiest way to try something before you spend a lot of time and money on its development. Who knows, the product might even be a winner!

Rick Hendershot is a marketing consultant, writer, and internet publisher who lives in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He publishes several websites and blogs, including Trade Show Tips, Web Traffic Resources, Marketing Bites, SuperCharge Your Website with Power Linking, and many more.

References in this article:

Perry Marshall Google Course

Like email itself, "autoresponders" have been around for quite a few years. The idea is fairly simple. Say you want to promote your new ebook called "Dog Care Fundamentals". Here is how you use an autoresponder to promote it:

Step 1. Create a text or html promotional message, for example, "Intro to Dog Care Fundamentals".

Step 2. Enter the message into the autoresponder program.

Step 3. Create a web page that promotes your product and offers a "Free Intro" — the message you created in Step 1.

Step 4. Put a web form on the page that allows people to "submit" their name and email address to the autoresponder.

Step 5. Program the autoresponder to send out your "Intro..." message when someone submits their name and email address using the special web form you created in Step 4.

Step 6. Create links in email messages and on web pages that point to your special promotional page.

Now whenever you send out an email message, you include -- for instance, in your signature -- a link that says "Click Here for your Free Intro to Dog Care Fundamentals". When someone clicks on one of those links they are taken to your special promotional page. If they are interested in receiving the "Intro...", they fill out the form and submit the information. The autoresponder automatically sends the "Intro..." message you created.

Problems with email

Since it is based in fairly simple email technology, the autoresponder concept is what you might call "old technology". And since email is taking a bit of a beating right now (because of anti-SPAM measures), autoresponders have fallen out of favor in some circles.

One criticism is that email messages are often filtered out by anti-spam systems. If true, this would mean your messages would be sent straight to the "delete" folder and never be seen by their intended recipients.

Another criticism is that it is relatively difficult to set up an autoresponder system. What was your initial reaction to the 6 Steps I
outlined above? As hordes of new "internet marketers" come on stream, many of them have no real knowledge of web page programming. Since the learning curve is too steep, they look to other, less technical solutions. It is much easier just to put your "Intro..." message on a web page and leave it at that. Someone clicks on your link, and they are taken to the web page. No need for any programming.

Advantages of Autoresponders

So why not just take the easy way out — put your "Intro..." message on a web page along with a sales pitch and leave it at that?

Three reasons immediately come to mind...

1. You have no effective way of tracking people who visit a web page. But when people ask for your "Intro..." message via a web form, you capture their name and email address. This is a form of "opting-in". These people are essentially put on an "opt-in" mailing list and are generally considered fair game for receiving information about your new product. Don't abuse this. For instance, don't put them on a general mailing list and send them all kinds of emails about other products.

2. You can use your autoresponder to create a sequence of follow up messages, sent out every three or four days. Every marketer knows that repetition creates familiarity. And familiarity creates trust. And trust leads to sales. So the odds of getting a sale after sending out three or four follow up messages are much higher than the odds of getting a sale from someone just looking at a web page pitch.

3. You can use a sequence of messages to gradually "unfold" the features and benefits of your product. For example, in the first message you talk about doggy diets, in the second message you talk about doggy grooming, in the third you talk about doggy training, etc. And you can even use each message to introduce a different but related product. Since your respondents are already interested in your "Dog Care" book, it is safe to assume they might also be interested in some of your other "Dog Care" products.

If you would like to see a couple of autoresponders in action, go HERE

The oldest, most established supplier of autoresonders is still the best, IMHO. You can find them at AWeber.com

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The interactive message board is up and running in the Linknet Marketing Forum. Ask qustions about online marketing questions, web building, paypal, email self-serve-blogging, article marketing, etc.

Go to the Linknet Interactive Marketing Forum (registration required.)

Blogging programs were originally developed in the late 1990s by ardent web surfers whose primary purpose was to "filter" and comment on the web content they found most interesting and valuable. This mostly involved surfing the web, finding interesting, perhaps obscure articles or resource material, providing a link to it, and perhaps to some related or alternative points of view, and often adding a short commentary.

So the very first blogs were not so much "journals" as they were ongoing works of personal reference.

As Rebecca Blood points out in Weblogs: a history and perspective this original idea was developed over a very short period of time in 1999 by a very small handful of "bloggers". The emphasis was on community, interaction, short, pithy and often sarcastic commentary, and extensive inter-linking.

This original concept began to morph into something different in late 1999 and early 2000 -- the blog as personal journal. According to Blood the main reason for this change was the structure of the new blogging software that was rapidly becoming popular. In particular it was Blogger (since purchased by Google) that set the tone and gave impetus to the shift. As Blood says,

Blogger itself places no restrictions on the form of content being posted. Its web interface, accessible from any browser, consists of an empty form box into which the blogger can type...anything: a passing thought, an extended essay, or a childhood recollection. With a click, Blogger will post the...whatever...on the writer's website, archive it in the proper place, and present the writer with another empty box, just waiting to be filled.

The result was the development of two different forms of blogging: blogs as "filters", and blogs as "journals". The resulting content can be very different. You can still see this in the design of Blogger (blogspot.com). Unlike "real" blogging software that emphasizes commenting, trackbacks, and pinging, Blogger seems to make a point of de-emphasizing these things.

This was pointed out to me a few months back when I first began developing my own blogs. A webmaster who was interested in my Linknet project commented that I should eventually get around to doing "some real blogging". Being very new to the whole blogging scene at that time I was not sure what he meant, or even whether this was an innocent suggestion or a meaning-laden insult.

In retrospect I realize he was commenting on the way I had turned most of my blogs into a series of articles. Clearly I was using a journalistic style. He was suggesting that "real blogging" is something different. I took him to be saying that it is somewhat contrary to the spirit of blogging to develop your own ideas in a kind of cocoon. Better to use web content other than your own as a taking-off point for your own comments and opinions. The "filter" model.

Actually, now I realize many of my own blogging exploits do not conform to either of these two original models. If a personal journal must consist of top-of-mind ramblings, then I am not particularly interested in doing personal journals. I prefer posting things about half way between free form ramblings and carefully worked out articles.

On the other hand I cannot see why one cannot simply develop his or her own ideas independent of what others may or may not have said. It seems to me this is the potential downside of feeling you have to conform to a blogging formula. "Horrors! I can't find a link...!!! Now what do I do?"

On the other hand I have come to appreciate the "coverage" you can get by using your blog as a "filter". In fact it often seems like a perfect way to break out of your own little isolated world. It gives you a chance to take a close look at what other people in your field are talking about, and bounce it off your own stuff. If you happen to develop a few readers, you'll be doing them a favour by pointing them to a broader spectrum of opinions and observations than the narrow range they're going to find in your own blog.

At the same time I think it is a bit odd to suggest there is something called "real blogging", and that to really do it right you should conform to some predefined model.

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