They say that globalisation is a thing of the past. Whoever they are. With the world economy changing and globalisation becoming something the world, its people and institutions will start to kick against individuals and groups will look to gain an income and living from other sources. To take control of their own economic situation that allows flexibility outside trade agreements or single markets. Therefore, an international economy of small home-based businesses that trade with each other freely is surely part of the future.
Let's put aside discussions about how the world has become too digital-focused. Or how society is becoming insolated and relying too heavily on social interactions through social networks than through real physical. Or the fact that when people are out socialising the vast majority of them seem to focus on the digital device in their hand over the person across the table from them. Also, let's park discussions about the sustainability of a digitally focused economic world over an industrial world where people actually have to make things and grow things and sell things.
All of these are essential subjects to discuss. But for here in this blog/book, we are looking at the digital world. The digital economy.
But how do you do this? How do you make money in a digital world? In a digital ecosystem that is so full of noise? How does a campaigner for social and behavioural or political change make an imprint on a low budget compared to big business with billions to throw at it? There are so many marketing technologies out there that people now have the job title Marketing Technologist? So how does a small business owner, someone starting a business in their bedroom or people looking to get their message across to bring about positive change, challenge social norms or get their charity of choice some donations get heard in all the noise?
As mentioned previously I have spent (at the time of writing) over 15 years working and testing out the digital marketing world. I started off as an SEO guy, and since doing so, I have had to adapt to the changes that have come and gone and believe me there have been a lot of them. There have been many fads that would “change the digital marketing world”, and many get rich quick schemes that do nothing but leave people that take part in them penniless and extremely wary of the digital world.
Every marketing technology company will tell you that their product is exactly what you need to get your product, service or message noticed and that you only need to sign up to their system to make money online or get noticed. Some of these technologies are great, some are amazingly sophisticated and can really get your message and brand in front of your target audience. Some are none of these. The point is, though, that you could quite easily spend a lot of money very quickly that will halt your business plans before they get started.
It's very easy to spend a lot of money very quickly in the digital world and very hard to hold digital technology providers accountable if you do not get back what you expect for your investment. But this should not put you off. What it should do is spur you on to make sure you do the research, understand the strengths and weaknesses of the technology and spend your hard-earned money wisely.
Taken as a straight guide to digital marketing this book/blog could save you thousands of pounds/dollars a year. It could also open up the world to you that you kind of knew might be there but you never really knew where to look. It will hopefully help you understand the questions to ask without the need to consult an expert who would look to charge you a hefty penny for doing so.
This writing also aims to expose you to this world while also helping you in making money and building your own digital income or getting your political or social message across to affect positive social change in an all too noisy digital world. Well, that is the aim. The objective is to make the highly technical and jargon-filled lingo of digital marketing easier to understand and as jargon-free as possible. To show you the systems and techniques at play and how to use them to your advantage in an ethical way as well as protect yourself from them and aid you in exposing their use when the aim is to manipulate or misinform.
The idea of this book/blog is simple. It might not be the most original idea in the world. It certainly isn’t the first book/blog on digital or behavioural marketing. The point though is for it to be the simplest yet most accurate guide to digital marketing it can be as well as a handbook to behavioural marketing insights with the overall purpose of questioning and challenging the ethics around the way you are using and the industry is applying these techniques.
I would like it to be simple. So, the average person on the street can pick it up and use it to market their business idea, promote their cause and get their message across and hopefully make some money online or make a social impact. If I can give small businesses or even people working from home the marketing edge that is usually only the privilege of large firms then that gives them a fighting chance of building a business or cause that not only gives them an income but makes a significant difference in their lives.
Why buy this digital marketing book or read this blog? After all, there are thousands if not millions of books and websites out there teaching you this and that in online marketing and how to make money on the internet. There are books on web design and e-commerce that could take you forever to read.
Well simply put this book/blog is here to dismiss some of the myths of internet marketing, get rid of some of the jargon and lingo and show some of the realities and teach the basic rules of thumb to a novice or beginner.
The aim is also to make it as future proof as possible. The technology of internet marketing changes so quickly that it can often be the case that it can have moved on before the book is ever printed. So, the intention is to publish this as an ebook only and mainly on kindle so that I can update it from time to keep it as fresh as possible.
If you want to make money online or you already have a business, cause or not for profit organisation and want to promote it online because you have heard that it is “the place” to promote and sell your products, then this is the book for you. Whether you use the book as a tool or guide to marketing your website or as a reference when employing someone to market your website for you, it’s the ideal companion for marketing your site online.
As I have mentioned, I have been doing this for over 15 years. No, I am not a millionaire. No, I don’t have a get rich scheme for you to follow and no you might not make $100,000 in two days using my techniques. Well, you might I just don’t guarantee it unless you have a product that will just fly off the shelves (if you do could you let me, we can come to some sort of arrangement).
This book/blog is a guide to marketing your website, product, service or cause online. Getting search engine results in the blue chips would die for and getting your business where you want it to be. No pyramid schemes or making money from selling nothing just real cold hard facts of internet marketing.
Authors side note: there is a hell of a lot of pyramid schemes being promoted through YouTube these days. Usually by people telling you how wonderful their life is and how they have the financial freedom that they could teach you “how to make money today” if only you keep watching. Usually, these are shot against a green wall or fake background that look very convincingly real, but if you actually pay attention, you can see that not all the perspectives and dimensions in the background look right in comparison to the host. Sometimes though the background is real and the person has hired the use of the “Mansion” or “fast cars” he or she “owns”. In the art of the con, we are told that the longer the person keeps listening, the sweeter the deal sounds. By this rule, my suggestion is to kill it dead, don’t watch the video unless it is to find the faults and fake parts to educate yourself or expose it online to others. There is no legal or ethical way for you to make thousands of dollars a day just by signing up to someone's scheme. All they will do is teach you to pyramid sell online and then you will become like them, soulless, pathetic liars bottom-feeding off societies poor by miss-selling dreams of getting rich to people who can't afford to take the risk
This blog/ book does aim though to teach you secrets the industry would not want let out. Free from techno-jargon so is easy for any man, woman or child to pick up and say “right that’s how you do it”. And completely free from pyramid schemes. I am doing alright marketing my own products online I don’t need you to do it for me.
Also as another side note if you work in online marketing and are looking for a highly technical SEO or digital marketing guide then this is not it. This will start off as a basic 101 guide for those new to online marketing for small businesses, social enterprises and those looking to bring about positive social change. It will in time progress to something more technical and advanced, but it will not be a step by step guide on how to do something.
In learning these techniques and technologies, you will also learn valuable lessons and facts in how your own personal online data is used. How it is gathered and used, not just by big brother to monitor you, but by big business and politicians to manipulate and persuade you, to create their own rules and realms of socialised structures that fit their agenda. To distract and dissuade you from what is really going on. To fatigue you into submission.
In recent posts, I have written here, and on my own personal website, I have discussed how digital marketing, data science and behavioural economics were used the US presidential elections and the Brexit decision in the UK. These points cannot be overemphasised, and if we are to arm ourselves against these techniques, then we need to have knowledge and understanding of them.
You only have to look at the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica saga to realise how bad the issue is. But we will go into that more as the subject matter expands.
For me the world of digital marketing has gone from the game of SEO hacking (not as bad as it sounds) in order to, as one guy, beat the big business multinational brands to the top of Google to something much more sinister the big brands, multinationals, politicians and mass media hacking the humans.
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Want more? More articles on digital marketing, SEO, and search engine marketing are below. Maybe some SEO hacking advice coming soon
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Managing Digital Marketing a Guide – 101 basic level – intro
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Search Engine Marketing & SEO
Content Marketing: it's important but is it still king?
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4 Secrets to Article Marketing: Series Marketing Your Cause
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A Return on Your Investment and More with Article Marketing: Series Marketing Your Cause
An Overview of the Concept behind RSS Feeds
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Article Marketing: It is Good to End With a Resource Box: Series Marketing Your Cause
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