This post was written by Biztone from http://www.biz-tone.blogspot.com

Ah yes, the PSATs, the SATs. Get the cap and gown, get the camera, get the high school diploma. Now what? The typical response? College of course! Apply for financial aid, apply for housing, and yes… apply for loans! “Wait… like loans I have to pay back?”

Now you’re on your way to college. You head to over to the enrollment office, and declare yourself a business major! A degree with an emphasis on marketing! After a quick trip to the bookstore, a candy bar, and a ______ university shirt; you realize that college isn’t cheap. “It’s okay,” you tell yourself. “I can pay it back when I graduate.”

At least once it’s all said and done, you’ll be to go out and get that great job with your degree in marketing! You’ll know exactly what to do, and bring in lots of sales! From those sales, you’ll make lots of money! Or will you Now, I’m not saying not to go to college. I am saying, study how to market on your own time as well…. especially if you are someone who wants to work for YOURSELF!

Face it. We live in a very fast paced and changing world right now. College is going to teach you traditional ideas, most likely from a professor who has never done it! You will be taught from a book that will most likely be out-dated and be obsolete, by the time you are handed your syllabus.

New business, requires new ideas. A new way of communicating as we shift into a global economy. In a global economy, if you’re not online… you’re not on the map! OK, so how do we get on the map? Well, I’d start by gaining visibility online. You never know who will find you online… it might be your next biggest client! Your biggest order! Your biggest account!

“Great how do I that? Dust off that old marketing text book?” Chances are that book is probably going to refer to a dial modem… if it has anything to say about the Internet. Not exactly the advice you’re going to need to compete today. What you need to do is give yourself a crash course in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). “How do I that?” Here are few ideas on where to start:

1. Find forums where webmasters use a Q & A format. Gain advice and knowledge from the people who know how to do it and are doing it!
2. Use search engines to help find SEO advice, and SEO services. If you can’t find it, rest assured… someone else knows it.
3. Look for webinars & seminars for SEO.
4. Search SEO blogs. Some bloggers have become very savvy when it comes marketing themselves. They will have great advice.
5. Submit your site to search engines.
6. Find out trends and niches in today’s products and services, incorporate them into your site’s keyword bank.
7. Find what people like. Have them advertise for you via word of mouth…. or should say word of type advertising? Viral marketing can be your best friend!
8. Build partners and affiliates! Why do all work of selling a widget when Amazon.com or MarketAmerica.com can do it for you?

Essentially, you are going to need to become a gorilla marketer. You are going to learn as you go. You are going to need to know your target market, and study the latest Internet technologies to be successful. You need to acquire lots of new information, and know where to get it. Be creative! Maybe you can blend ideas, use hybrid techniques. The truth is that your studying on the subject of marketing has really just begun.

Because technology changes, it will be an ever ongoing learning process. Search engines change their rules, and develop new ones that can help or hinder your cause. You in kind must learn to be nimble and change with them. Doing this will keep you ahead of the competition, and keep you profitable.

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