To market successfully you must incorporate the Internet into your business plan, but be sure to follow these 9 tips for success on the net:

1 Get Sticky
Your site is sticky if it keeps visitors looking and returning to your site. A good way to do this is to have up to date relevant information or "heroin content."

2 Heroin Content
"Heroin content" is what web usability guru Vincent Flanders calls the information that people would crawl through a sewer for. Heroin is the most addictive drug on the planet so people will do anything for another fix. What does your website provide visitors that they just gotta have?

3 Customize
The unique quality of the internet is the ability to interact and customize content. Customized content keeps them coming back for more. Keep the connection alive by following up with useful information and news.

4 Start Your Engines
Customers that don't know you will likely find you through a search engine. The trick is getting the search engines to find you first. Invest in good search engine software, or pay someone who knows how it works.

5 Provide Answers
People use search engines to find solutions to their problems. Is your site about solving your customer's headaches? Most sites are self centered. Make yours customer centered by providing answers to their questions.

6 Hard Sell Vs Soft Sell
Build relationships by providing value before the sale. When it comes time to purchase, you already have an established relationship. Ask yourself what you can do for your customer rather than what your customer can do for you.

7 Navigate Straight
Don't create a million dollar website with ten cent navigation. Simple easy to follow navigation is far more effective than nonsensical animated graphics. Think Google!

8 Be Professional
Your site reflects your work ethic and the type of service you are likely to provide your customers. Put some time, effort and money into your site to show you are top notch.

9 Don't Be Professional
People are looking for an original and authentic voice, not the same boiler plate information. Nobody likes stiff and snobby people and they won't like their websites either. Take advantage of the rare opportunity when someone reads your content to make a real personal connection.

Michael Daehn is the founder of marketingenious consulting and author of the book The Seven Keys to Marketing Genius: The Complete Guide to Increasing Your Marketing IQ available at http://www.sevenkeysmarketing.com and http://www.borders.com

Visit his website at http://www.marketingenious.com

In The News:

---

Nationwide Credit Card Processing Provider, BankCard USA, Engages ...
MarketWatch - 15 hours ago
"Internet marketing is a large source of revenue for many businesses today," notes Alan Griefer, President of BankCard USA. "Click-fraud is more prevalent ...

Reply.com Launches World's First Marketplace for Enhanced Clicks(TM)
MarketWatch - 9 hours ago
"We are on a mission to make Internet marketing available to businesses of any size by making it easy and profitable to generated locally-targeted and ...

Tripology Appoints Internet Marketing and Lead Gen Expert to Board ...
PR Web (press release), WA - 13 hours ago
"His success as an entrepreneur and innovator in the field of online lead generation and internet marketing means he's done this before. ...

Business road warrior opts for Internet marketing to keep family first
DeSoto Appeal, TN - 21 hours ago
Around late April, Stephenson launched an Internet marketing company. Memphis Sudden Values could be coming to an inbox near you. "What I do is help local, ...

Pontiflex Launches ROI Calculator, Enables Marketers to Easily ...
MarketWatch - 11 hours ago
The calculator empowers online marketers and advertising agencies to proactively assess returns on their marketing dollars. This is useful especially in a ...

As a Busy Mum of Three, Daniele Launched Her Successful Internet ...
PR Web (press release), WA - 4 hours ago
Daniele started her Business following the Internet Marketing techniques taught in a course. Working from home on an Internet-based business is ideal when ...

Computerworld
Consumers Benefit from a Frenzy of Around-the-Clock Online Shopping
MarketWatch - Dec 1, 2008
Additionally, Bath and Body Works added social networking to their marketing efforts by offering their first online friends and family promotion. ...
Video: Online Retailers See Monday As Black Friday AssociatedPress
Online Retailers Dangle Free Shipping, Discounts Wall Street Journal
Local businesses attempt to participate in Cyber Monday sales rush Beaufort Gazette
National Jeweler Network - Atlanta Journal Constitutionall 1,978 news articles

Zeer Announces Formation of Advisory Board
MarketWatch - 12 hours ago
He has spent the bulk of his career in strategic marketing and consulting roles, and has been involved in Internet strategy since the early 1990s. ...

Internet Marketing News
Is the internet marketing future mobile?
Business Feet, UK - 9 hours ago
Internet marketing gurus may have to learn how to make their adverts miniature in future, if the latest trends are anything to go by. ...
'Now is the time to address mobile online marketing' Internet Marketing News
all 3 news articles

Social Networking Site Helps Effectively and Easily Build Blogs ...
PR Web (press release), WA - Dec 2, 2008
Internet marketing through blogs has spread gradually over the years. The relaunch of professional blog hosting and social networking site for internet ...

internet marketing - Google News