Is it as hard as the expensive online marketing companies would have you believe?

In a word NO. But you do need to do some work to dominate your market online. Here are seven important things you must do to succeed with online marketing.

1. Have a laser like focus. Your site needs to be focussed on achieving something important for your business. Nothing should be done that can detract from achieving that goal. So if you're after leads then make getting an email address and following up the only priority of your site.

2. Online marketing is a media just like ads on television or in the paper. Every marketing investment needs to make you money because if it doesn't you should spend your money on something that does.

3. Integrate the site with your business. Online marketing is still marketing so your strategy on your site should still be the same marketing strategy as you use offline, it's just the techniques are slightly different.

4. Choose your keywords carefully. If you want to make money online then ignore the higher traffic and less targeted keywords, go for those real potential buyers use. For example real estate is too broad and far too competitive but Real Estate Melbourne is less so. Real Estate in Bourke Street is even better. You'll get less traffic overall but more buyers and you won't need to wait so long for results.

5. Get expert online marketing assistance. You wouldn't hire a plumber to fix your electric wiring so why would you hire an ad agency to work on your site? Don't make the mistake of falling for their 'so called' online marketing area. The only marketing professional to hire is someone who does it for a living and is familiar with how to use a diverse range of inexpensive tools to drive buyers to your site.

6. Go for quick wins. You may not know but it is possible to get Top 5 Google rankings within days sometimes hours. You need to start small and build from there. Getting some quick traffic to your site can show you whether your site is effective at converting visitors to buyers before you make your full investment of time and money in your online marketing campaign.

7. Don't stop marketing. Static marketing kills your business. You need to be relentless in your domination of your niche market. The spoils are there if you will put in the right work.