It's all about the long-term relationship.

 Lead, Don't Sell

People instinctively want to buy from the seller who's best in class. Only in rare situations will consumers gravitate toward a company in second or third place. Granted, every company would like to think of itself as being in first place, but statistically and objectively, that's just not true. There is a reason why brand names dominate around the world, whether soft drinks, movies, music, clothing, etc. People are willing to pay a premium for the brand name, and that's simply because of perceived quality.

Quality is a given with market leaders.

Your goal as an online seller is not to sell per se but to build your business into the market leader position. You need to dominate your niche and develop your brand name so that it's recognized as a leader. When times get hard, as they are now, people gravitate toward leaders, not willing to risk their money for a product that may be of lesser quality, even if the price is better.

So have you established market dominance as a leader in your niche?

1. You must be visible. As we discussed above, you are your brand name. Your personal name recognition is essential for dominance in your niche. There are countless ways to do this, but one of the most important is to get your name out Your goal as an online seller is not to sell per se but to build your business into the market leader position.

You can do joint ventures with other marketers, perhaps even competitors in certain situations. There's no rule against print advertising, such as magazine or newspaper ads. The pay-per-click campaign, managed effectively, can be crucial in building your brand name recognition. Even if people don't click through on the link, they begin seeing your name over and over again on various sites they visit. One interesting way many online marketers don't think about is running an affiliate campaign. If you have affiliates who are compensated for selling your product, then they have every motivation to spread your name in as many places as they can. While you may give up some of your profits because you have to reimburse the affiliates, what normally happens if the affiliate marketing campaign is run correctly, is that your business gains momentum and begins to grow exponentially.

2. Establish your authority. You must be seen as the "go to" person in your niche. People automatically trust and take advice from authority figures. There are many ways to establish yourself in this position, and some of the more well-known methods are article writing, forum posting, and publishing e-books. Each of these methods will add to your authority as time goes by and more and more people become familiar with the quality of your work.

3. Polish your blog. Your blog is the one place that existing and potential customers can hear your real voice. Put your picture on your blog. Talk about your life. You are not obligated to reveal everything about yourself, but blogging gives your readers a taste of who you are as a person. Then, when you need to speak as an authority, they will be more likely to accept what you say. Of course, we should point out that authority once again can be quickly lost due to careless writing or factual errors. Pause and think before you publish each and every post.

Think of people in your own life who are authority figures for you. Why do you view them as an authority? Most likely, it's a factor of knowledge, experience, wisdom, and that gut-level instinct of knowing what to do and what not to do. The same principles will hold true in Internet marketing; you simply use different tools to get to the same goal.

Building your authority takes time and effort.

While there are many companies that claim to have a shortcut to establishing your authority, there really is no better way than the old-fashioned way. You must become known for consistent, persistent, and trustworthy content of the highest quality that actually helps people.

Take Advantage of Social Networking

Internet marketing is all about people. Social networking is a great way for people to stay in touch, and it is still the most popular tool for friends to connect with friends. The three top social networking sites are by now known to almost everyone online: establishing a relationship first is a big advantage, both in closing the deal and in developing future business.

Facebook (www.facebook.com)

MySpace(www.myspace.com)

Twitter (www.twitter.com)

In addition, more sites are coming online and growing in popularity every day.

It’s important to remember why people use social networking sites. It's to stay in touch with friends. You need to keep this in mind as you think about your Internet marketing strategy. If you have ever had a friend or family member who was involved in network marketing, then you are familiar with the challenges. Have you ever had to cut off all contact with certain “friends” because they simply could not stop talking about their "opportunity"? Their inability to turn off the business spiel may ultimately cost them the relationship.

That's the last thing you want to happen to you in your social networking campaign. While it's true that people come to your site with the understanding that you are selling products, you need to Find the delicate balance between being a helpful resource and monetizing your social networking sites.

It's important to remember the basics. People like to hang out with her friends. They like to buy, but not be sold. Keep these principles in mind as you develop your social networking strategy.

Establish a Long-Term Relationship Through E-mail Marketing

From a cost perspective, e-mail marketing is a tremendous boost to the bottom line. In the recent past, companies had to pay for printing, paper, and postage to stay in touch with their customers. And don't be deceived: off-line mail-order is alive and well today, and there is a place for off-line marketing when developing the long-term strategy of your online business. But, specifically, e-mail marketing is very powerful when managed correctly. There's a reason that people ignore most of their e-mails: They get too much spam.

E-mails getting stuck in the spam folder is the death knell to an e-mail marketing campaign.

Also sending spam e-mails could be the death blow to your financial bottom line. With U.S. government laws increasing the penalty for Internet marketers who send unsolicited e-mails, the risk is just too great for your online business to neglect compliance with this new law. At minimum, you should use your auto responder tool to ensure that everyone receiving your e-mails has opted in voluntarily.

Think about what you like as a consumer, and try to step into your customer’s shoes when crafting your e-mail campaign.

As far as e-mail marketing is concerned, you want to remember that the main idea is to build relationship with your customers for the long-term. Your goal is not to amass a list of hundreds of thousands of people who couldn't care less about your business. Your goal is to stay in touch with your client base and present the latest news about your products and services to customers who may be interested.

With those goals in mind, here are some tips on how to develop an effective e-mail marketing campaign:

1. First impressions count. Craft your first e-mail very carefully. Sign up to receive your own e-mails and look at your message as it comes into your own inbox. How does it look? If you were a disinterested customer, would you click on it? Because your first e-mail will follow closely after the customer opts in to your list, the odds that they will read it are high. However, you simply must grab their attention on this first e-mail and provide them with excellent content, or they'll probably never open another e-mail from you again.

2. Make sure the quality of the content stays high. People read e-mails in order to get information to learn things that will help them in their daily lives or businesses. They do not read e-mails to be sold. Be sure to provide good-quality content so people actually look forward to getting your e-mails. Use subheadings, bulleted lists, and short paragraphs to break up the content and make it more readable.

3. Be careful not to raise the reader's expectations too high. The plan is that you will be sending them lots of e-mails, so don't set a standard for yourself that you can't keep. It's better to under promise and over deliver than to have one awesome e-mail followed by a string of mediocre ones.

4. Try to add value with every e-mail, even if it means giving away something for free. The free item doesn't have to cost you anything. It could be something that you've learned from your experience, like a great website, the free report, a coupon for future purchases. Remember that anything associated with you and your business, even if it's free, has to be of the highest value.

5. Entice people to interact with you in the body of the e-mail. Use hyperlinks and HTML buttons to encourage people to click through to your website.

6. Spend extra time on the title of the e-mail. Be aware of the appearance of the e-mail on the various tools that people use to browse the Internet, such as smart phones and other handheld devices. Your title must grab their attention within the first few words. Make sure that you communicate in the title of the e-mail why they absolutely must open your e-mail and read your message.

Think of e-mails that you enjoy getting. Do you look forward to getting e-mails from a particular business? If so, why? Are there lessons you can apply from that business to your own? Think about what you like as a consumer, and try to step into your customer’s shoes when crafting your e-mail campaign.

Your goal is that your customers look forward to getting your next e-mail and open it the first time.

It's all about the long-term relationship.