Four years ago I was a total "computer dummy", not
even knowing how to turn one on (a computer, I mean!).
However, fortunately I developed associations with
some "computer geeks", who suggested marketing my
various books on the internet. This subsequently
developed into on-line creative writing courses (the
first one was free and I was completely overwhelmed
and going broke fast), which have been very
successful.

In spite of a huge amount of time and effort put in,
our first attempts at marketing products were
minimally successful. As "newbies" we tried the usual
techniques: search engines (all of them with
automatic submissions), web rings, banners, links
(with sites getting fewer hits than ourselves), free
classifieds and a guest book - all with very limited
success. (I never did try newsgroups). However, all
we got was other "internet pros" trying to sell us
something (we still get that many times daily - trash
bin). Fortunately, we had no money to spend on
promotion, so capital was not wasted. With our
"learners plates" on, this was all done on two
"freebie sites" (Geocities and Tripod). However, the
steep learning curve and persistence gave us a great
deal of new knowledge regarding internet marketing.

Things changed drastically once we got our own domain
at NZ Enterprise.com (with Webcom), and suddenly all
our sites got listed with Yahoo, as well as all the
major search engines. Must have been the PERCEPTION
that we were "successful" and "bigger" than we were.
Image is everything (as in life!). It also helped
having quite a unique product in getting a high
ranking ("creative writing courses"). Eureka, Hooray!
Incidentally, we submitted to Yahoo (Australia and
New Zealand); so I suggest you try the regional Yahoo,
rather than their main database. We also get quite a
few hits from some of the lesser known S/E's (see
even I'm learning the internet terminology!), like
Looksmart, Snap and Northern Light. ( we also tried
Go To http//:www.goto.com, but with limited success).
The traffic to our various sites started increasing
substantially and sales started materialising. Mostly,
our creative writing courses and money management
courses, but a few books too.

Incidentally, we do all our marketing on-line; but
hope to do some off-line too as more money comes in.
We are presently getting 200 hits a day plus, and
sales most weeks. Whilst sales are still nothing
like we would like (and I realise it's much harder to
sell products on-line than off-line), they are increasing fast.
We started to make a small profit after 18 months on-line and
sales a have increased substantially since then !

As part of our marketing strategy to INCREASE TRAFFIC,
I do a lot of submitting articles on self development
and writing to e-zines (extracts from my books) and
this has been the main focus of our marketing
strategy. We've found submitting my various articles
(with a resource box at the bottom of each article)
to ezines and publishers who bring publishers and
writers together, has made a big difference in
getting our sites noticed - in terms of both "hits"
and SALES. It's FREE ADVERTISING AT ITS MOST
EFFECTIVE.

Living in a small isolated " city" of 30000 people
near the bottom of the world with , made us realise
the tremendous benefits of distributing useful
information around the world at minimal cost via the
www. I truly believe e-commerce is the way of the
future (especially for geographically isolated, like
us). Also I started this one man business with NO
capital (just one or two "very clever" friends with
technical expertise) in the most economically
deprived region of "little old New Zealand". This has
now developed to 3 people working (and having heaps
of fun) in "Sleepy Hollow", together with an American
associate. I believe an idea, a big helping of
enthusiasm, together with a great deal of time and
effort in implementing it, belief, faith in yourself
and persistence (not necessarily in that order) is
the key to internet marketing success.

Having little capital can be a blessing in your
internet marketing efforts, as it makes us resourceful
through relying our initiave.

A final word to sum up...

Do the basics, then "hang in there, mate" (as good
Kiwis, New Zealanders say) and the results will
surely come.

Hope this helps and all the best in your internet marketing strategy

Craig Lock

About the author:

Craig Lock is an author of numerous books and the
creator of the ORIGINAL online creative writing course.
He has been writing for the past "lucky" seven years.
Craig has had five books published on various subjects
with another 12 manuscripts being published and market-
ed on the internet. He started the "ORIGINAL" (and still
highly successful) online creative writing course.

http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/creative.html

Craig's various books are available from:
http://www.novelty-gift.com/
or
http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/books.html

About the Author

Craig Lock
Check out my various books* at::
http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/books.html
and
http://www.novelty-gift.com/