There are many people who think that there is some big secret to marketing online. Really there is not. Many of those same people trying to figure out marketing are already doing it, but may not aware of it. They just need to tweak their efforts a little bit.

Just about any business owner who utilizes the Internet for any purpose, will likely find that whether or not they intentionally organized an Internet marketing campaign; they may already be marketing their products and services on the Internet.

Do you have a website for your business?

Business owners who answer yes to this question are already marketing their products or services online.  Having a live website means there is the potential for curious Internet users to access your website. You may not be actively promoting your website, but you may still find that your website generates interest in your products despite the lack of promotional endeavors.

However, it takes more than simply having a website to increase your online presence and gain a loyal market that will buy from you again and again.

Do you participate in message boards and include a link to your website in your signature?

If you answered yes to this question then you are taking an extra step towards marketing your website online. Savvy business owners realize the importance of participation in industry related message boards. They know that these boards (forums) can be used  to create an interest in their products and services, establish themselves as an expert in their industry, and offer a link to their own website even if it is in the signature line of their posts.

If you are participating in message board and people know about your products, services, and website then you are inadvertently enjoying the benefits of Internet marketing. You may just be a part of the community because you enjoy it; but you are, in essence, marketing your business.

Now in order to reach your bottom line goals you need to make sure that when they click on the URL that leads to your site, that the landing page is marketing ready. You can do this by making sure that you site has everything it needs so that people know all about what you offer. Create some calls to action, have an optin box, and make sure that your content compels your market to pay attention. Present value for your visitors so that they want to come back to your website again and again.

Do you solicit feedback from your customers online?

Most business owners realize the importance of soliciting feedback from customers for business purposes. Whether it be via online polls, email, or client testimonials it is understood that client feedback is an integral part of business. Although the business owners may be doing this simply for a business purpose it is a part of online marketing.

There are several other ways that you may be marketing and did not know it. What you have to do is look at your overall plan, see exactly where you are marketing and how you can enhance the experience for full marketing opportunities. Discover those ways that you can leverage what you are already doing and add it to the market portion of your overall business plan. If you are not quite sure how to further benefit from what you are doing, it is a good idea to enlist the help of an online marketing consultant who can show you the way.

What are some of the ways you have been marketing and did not know it?

If you are reading this and you know how to market online, share your insights as well.

Your tour’s success depends a great deal on you. Even if you have help with organizing your tour, it is important to remember that it is YOU the people will want to get to know. This is why the first thing you need to do once your tour starts is to be present.

It is easy to have someone post content for you to their blog with your bio and picture at the end and forget to visit throughout the day. You want to be sure that you interact with the readers and those who comment during the tour. Take about 5 to 10 minutes to reply to comments, answer any questions that may come up and create a buzz among folks leaving comment.

Sitting back and tooting your horn because people are reading or listening to the comment will not work.

If you are going to be a guest on a podcast that is featured on a network like Blog Talk Radio make sure that you take a moment to visit the chat room if it is not too much of distraction.

The goal here is to share you in a genuine manner and not to appear phony.

You also want to be sure to promote during your tour as well.

• Remind your list and send them a copy of your itinerary.
• Tweet it, Facebook it, and talk about it every chance you get.
• Write about your stops on your blog. Highlight special points, comments you found interesting, etc.

I wrote about promoting your tour here in this post.

The bottom line here is not to do a disappearing act, expecting results. If you disappear so will your opportunity to increase your bottom line.

Have fun on your tour, be focused and most of all be PRESENT!

This is the end of this series. I hope that you enjoyed the tips I shared to help you organize your virtual blog tour. Remember this is a great free to low cost way to market your business, spread your message, and meet another segment of your market.

If you are ready to set up your virtual blog tour and would like to read more about how to organize one, I cannot stop recommending Nicole Dean’s Blog World Tour Guide. It is filled with valuable information that you can use along with the tips I share here to organize a dynamic virtual blog tour event.

If you are ready to set up your virtual blog tour but know that you can’t do it alone, Social Savvy Online Business Solutions offers packages that will help you spread the word effectively.

This is an easy one. You are ready to promote your tour. Promoting may seem hard but there are many ways to promote your virtual tour and most are free.

• I already mentioned Press Releases in this post. So read about them and get one written if it is your desire.
• Blog it. Talk about your tour on your blog. Let people know the who, what, where, when, and why of your tour. Also be sure to mention what is in it for them. And don’t just tell them about it the day off. Create a couple of posts that lead up to the day of the tour. Center the posts on the theme of the tour and peak the interest of your readers.
• Facebook It. If you are on Facebook then let folks know about it there too. Use the event application to create an online invite and invite your FB buddies to join you.
• Tweet Tweet. Talk about your tour on twitter everyday one week prior, the week(s) of and even after. Remember that those posts  interviews will be there for the long haul, so don’t stop talking about it when the tour ends.
• Invite your list. Jimmy D. Brown says that the money is in the list, so be sure to invite your list. Again let them know the who, what, where, when, and why. Tell them why the want to join you on the tour and what’s in it for them. You can even offer them a special incentive if they help you promote the tour. Offer a special checklist for subscribers only or a quick 5 page report. But they have to be able to prove they helped promote your virtual tour.

On Day 10 the topic will be Ideas for Giveaways and Prizes

If you have missed any part of this series, you can catch up by clicking here.

Dr. Daisy Sutherland is known to many on the internet as Dr. Mommy. She is in the business of helping mothers so that they can help their families.

She hired Social Savvy Online Business Solutions to help her put together a Virtual Tour. She wanted to stick with blogs and she wanted them to be geared towards healthy living. We decided to center is around the holidays.

I wanted to ask Dr. Mommy a few questions about her experience and she obliged.

Why did you want to do a virtual tour?
I chose to do a virtual blog tour because I wanted to give my site and my topics more exposure.  I recently added a podcast to my site and felt with having a virtual tour, I would have the opportunity to market my site and podcast to a larger group of people

How did you find the hosts for your tour?
Thankfully I had a social media strategist that was able to help me promote my upcoming tour on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn as well as marketing on my site.  The hosts who showed interest were given the information necessary to be a part of my tour.

How did you create the content for your tour?
Creating content was the easy part.  Since my strategist and I had chosen the theme, I simply found posts or articles I had written in the past that would fit the theme.  I then re-purposed them by changing the titles, some of the paragraphs and updating the topic to fit the theme better.  I also wrote some fresh new content but that was not entirely necessary.

What was the most beneficial part of your tour?
The most beneficial part of the tour was the opportunity for a larger group of people to learn more about my site, my information and my products.  It was also great for the hosts, because they were able to take a break from writing and allow me to share pertinent content related to the tour and their market as well.

What was the outcome of the virtual tour?
The virtual tour was very successful.  I had several sign up for my weekly Ezine, as well as many more downloads of my podcast episodes and sold several of my products as well.  All and all it was very successful.

Do you suggest that one organizes their tour with or without assistance? Why?
Although it is possible to organize a tour on your own, I suggest having assistance if available.  The assistance makes it easier for you to concentrate on providing the content.  The assistant will take care of the posting of your articles and communication with your hosts which is less work for you in the end.

Would you do another virtual tour?
I would absolutely do another virtual tour.  Marketing online is essential to any business whether online or offline.  With an online business it is even more essential to find ways to market your site, services and products.  A virtual tour gives you the opportunity to market to more folks that may not be aware of your business and what you have to offer.  If exposure is your desire, then a virtual tour is the way to go.

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I want to thank Dr. Mommy for answering the questions about her virtual tour experience. To learn more about all the Dr. Mommy does be sure to visit her site today. For healthy tips for better living check out her health tips blog.

Day 9 will be all about Promoting Your Tour.

If you want to catch up with all the posts on Organizing Your Virtual Tour click here.

The date of your Virtual Tour is close and it is time to start some adding the PR portion of marketing your event. Yes, this is an event! One of the best ways for you to get the message out about your virtual tour is through Press Releases. Maybe you are not quite sure what a press release is.

According to Wikipedia a press release is…

“… a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value. Typically, they are mailed, faxed, or e-mailed to assignment editors at newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations, and/or television networks. Commercial press-release distribution services are also used to distribute them.”

A good press release is not long. As-a-matter of fact most of them are no longer than a page in length.

It is a good idea to find a good press release writer. A good press release writer will capture the attention of journalist. This is important because journalist write and think in a way that most writers do not. They are about the facts of the stories – not the fluff. A good press release writer will focus on the who, what, where, when, and why of the event so that it catches the eye of the journalists.

In other words, you want your press release to read like a good newspaper article.

If you have never written a press release, I caution you to hire an experienced writer who knows how to craft the perfect press release for your virtual tour.

Your press release should be released no less than 2 to 3 weeks out. There are many ways to circulate your press release.

Those include…

• Having your tour hosts share it on their blogs or with their lists
• Submitting to free and fee based press release sites like PR Web. If you choose a free one please be sure to research it well because they are not all made equal.
• Send it to blog/sites  that allow you to posts your press release.
• Add it to your own blog or site.
• Put in your Facebook notes

Press Release must be crafted well. Be sure to make this a top priority should you choose to use a press release to promote your virtual tour.

On Day 8 we will have a special interview from Dr. Daisy Sutherland a.k.a. Dr. Mommy about her experience with a virtual tour.

Have you missed any of the Organizing Your Virtual Tour posts. You can read them all here.