Remember back in the old days when a website was a website?  I was listening to a pod cast (who knew what that was 5 years ago?) about Internet Marketing strategies this morning.  The good news was not only did I understand every single word he said, I thought his material was basic.  That’s progress because 6 months ago I didn’t have a clue.

My next challenge is putting it all into place.  At this point, I have this site, which has turned into a blog more than a blog & a forum.  I have a number of landing pages which are designed to sell a product and/or get someone to join my database.  I haven’t done a lens yet.  As near I can discern a lens (Squidoo) is basically a website that is very content rich.  Pick a subject, and then pull together information on it.  Monetize it with an affiliate program.  Squidoo is very picky on their lenses.  They can’t be spammy and have to provide good information.  And then there is the “website” which, I think has turned into the generic term for blogs, landing pages, lens, and anything else I have forgotten.

They all work as long as two things happen:  (1)  People show up and (2) People buy.  

There seem to be two schools of thought on how to accomplish these two amazing feats of commerce.  One is to keep casting your net further and further out there.  In other words, add to your database every way you can.  I have to admit, this is engrained into my DNA.  ”Build database” is my default setting for every venture I start.  My question is always “How can I add to my database?”

Lately, though, I’ve had a different perspective from talking to some very successful business clients and from reading one of my favorite authors Seth Godin.  (Author of “Purple Cow” “Meatball Sundae” and bunch more books).  The message from them is clear:  Listen and serve your customers.  Your business then grows by referrals.   

Marketing becomes less advertising and more promotion.  For example “Does it blend?”, my all time favorite YouTube video series, is sponsored by Blendtec, maker of blenders.  The question for all of us perhaps is: How can we create a brand that is unique enough that it could be part of a YouTube video series?  Or is the answer to create a friendly, resource rich site like www.AllBusiness.com, to attract 3 million visitors a month?  

Then once we got ‘em, what do we sell them?  Another lesson from “Meatball Sundae”, the typical bell curve of product sales is gone. It’s been replaced by a valley.  People buy cheap or they buy custom.  They don’t buy in the middle in the niche world that has been created.

I used to think I understood marketing.  But, wow, everything changed and I was almost caught asleep at the wheel.