Marketing is essential to the success of your company, be it an established bricks and mortar company or if you are contemplating starting an online business.

Promoting products and services can be a pain in the ass if you don’t know how to accomplish it. A large assortment of tools are available; however, which tools are right for you? Which promotional method provides you with the most benefits, the greatest market penetration, and the means to grow your brand online?

While any combination can provide some benefits, video marketing is one of the best methods to promote your product or service.

What in blue blazes is video marketing, you inquire?

Simply put, it is promotion of your product through the use of video. These videos are hosted online, through a video sharing website, your own website, and even through blogs. You tube is a well known location for video hosting but there are many more.

Why does video marketing constitute such an enormous advantage? There are a gazillion reasons; however, online videos are very effective at putting your offering in front of millions of people, give them an interactive, dynamic message, and connect with your target base on a unique level.

Normal promotional methods, such as TV commercials, print media, and even static online advertising cannot begin to approach the power offered by video marketing. These traditional media are much more expensive than online video.

For more information on video marketing and on online marketing in general, click here.

However, to market effectively with this method, you’ll need to know how to create the videos, how to host them, and how to begin promoting through them. With a few simple tools, you will be able to increase your online presence, boost your sales and create a much wider target audience.

Starting an Online Business

Whether your business is a sole proprietorship or a mega-corporation, it
will all start with a concept and a name. So what’s in a name?

The answer is - everything! The name you pick for your business will
help you build a brand and image in the marketplace. Therefore it should
be memorable, relevant and simple for your potential clients to remember.

Let’s look at the Google for example. At first glance, this is a
nonsensical name, but when you look a little closer - it all makes
good sense. Google does have a meaning - it means numbers without end
and impossible to count.

It’s a perfect name for a search engine – an endless number of searchers
using their engine. So the name matches the business, making it relevant.
It’s memorable, because everyone remembers a funny sounding name like
that, even if most of us may not know exactly what it means. It’s easy
and simple to spell. This has helped enable Google to quickly make the
name familiar and profitable.

As seen by this example, your business name is very important and you
should take time to pick the right name for your business. It
should be easily brandable.

Registering your name is not always done online, since businesses come
and go - but you will be registering your domain name. It’s best to
secure your business name with a DBA (Doing Business As license).

Here’s how it’s done:

1. Brainstorm names that are appropriate for
your business. Make at least 10 and then prioritize them.
These names should reflect your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

2. Go to www.uspto.gov/main/trademark.htm - the US Patent
and Trademark Office. You can do this in your own country
if you don’t reside in the US. Run a search to check that the name isn’t taken, and if it is, cross it off and move on to the next name on the list.

3. Do the search again on the website of your state’s or province’s
authority for establishing corporations (usually the Secretary
of State). You can locate this in Google. Be sure to do a special one for Nevada, if you are setting up a corporation or LLC there.

Verify both the LLC and corporation databases. Never have a
same name to any other business. You can seriously harm
your credibility and you may be forced to stop using the
name if the other company can prove you are infringing on its
trademark.

4. Do another search on your local DBA listings (fictitious
names). You would use a DBA if you want your business to be
known as something other than its legal name. For example, the
legal name associated with Empowerism is Life, Education And
Prosperity, Inc. The Doing Business As name is Empowerism.Register at
your city hall. This costs a little bit but it’s worth it,
as it will give you exclusive rights to your business name.

5. Now you can move on to your domain name. I prefer to include my “money” keywords in the domain name URL. This helps in achieving a higher search engine ranking for those keywords and you can still use your business name on the page for branding.

6 Now choose a good logo and slogan to match your
business name. This helps you brand your business.

All that being said, the most important thing is to focus on finding your first customer to make your first sale. Don’t get hung up in finding the perfect name, since even if you find it, it won’t make any sales for you!

One time only, backend, squeeze pages, landing pages - it sounds like a foreign language doesn’t it?  One of the challenges of starting an Internet business is learning the lingo while avoiding information overload.  Information overload is a term often used to refer to the amount of information that exceeds what one can take in or process at one time. It results from instantaneous access to a lot of business information online, which in this case, is information about how to start an online business.

Information can come from marketing forums, directories, blogs, search engines, article directories, reports, courses, e-books  and offline sources. The problem comes when the more information one gets, the less meaningful and confusing one becomes. Unfortunately, it can be a challenge to control the kind of information one gets online, both knowingly and unknowingly.

There are so many sources it can be difficult to know whom or what to trust.  And that’s part of the problem. The Internet is un-policed and that means there can be information that’s wrong, untruthful and untrustworthy.  For example you may think that wiki’s or online encyclopedias would be a reliable source of information but that’s not necessarily correct.  Wiki’s can be edited by anyone, regardless of whether they’re knowledgeable about the subject or not.

Diligence and special research is needed in order for one to get reliable information and make clear cut decisions when it comes to starting a business online. When reviewing a guide, read it at least twice or 3 times before making a decision.  Compare the information to what you already know.  Does it make sense?

Join a few forums related to your business and read back posts. Look at the qualifications of the person making the post.  If they make a statement like “I need to make $1000 in 10 day” and their signature line promotes a product that says “Make Money Fast,” you might think twice about taking their advice or buying their product.

There are literally thousands of different ways to make money online.  Even a single business model may have a number of different approaches.  Trying to learn all the ways of doing everything will likely result in information overload.

Focus is your best friend when you’re starting an online business. Focus on learning one thing at a time.  For example, if building a list of subscribers is your task, focus on that until you can do it in your sleep. Then move on to the next task.