Nowadays you need to do everything in your power to make your business stand out from the competition. Online marketing is imperative if you are to be a success. There are so many different ways to advertise and brand your business effectively by using the web. It is important to take advantage of these. Keeping that in mind, read on to discover all you need to know about the various ways you can promote your website…
First and foremost, let’s begin with social media marketing. Social networking has taken over. This is something that can no longer be ignored. You have a huge number of different social media websites to take advantage of. However, the main six are as follows, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+. It is not advisable to set up an account and advertise via all six platforms. Why? It will be impossible to advertise effectively. You won’t have the time to dedicate to all six sites and therefore you dilute your campaign overall. Instead, you should select two or three sites and focus on these. But, what sites do you choose?
This all depends on your company, what you do and what your target consumer base is. Facebook is probably the only social media website that all companies should use. Aside from this, you need to choose with care. Firstly, you should assess the demographics of each social media option to determine what one is going to best fit in with your target consumer base. For example, Pinterest is highly female dominated, and thus if you run a business that is aimed at the male consumer you may want to think about choosing another option. You also need to consider the way in which content is delivered. Instagram is all about photographs and short videos. If this is a content format that appeals to you, then you should definitely think about taking advantage of this social media platform. However, if you offer a service whereby there’s barely anything relevant to take photographs of, Instagram probably isn’t going to work for you.
Content marketing is imperative nowadays as well. As they say, content is king! It doesn’t matter what type of business you have, relevant content can really help to improve your company’s level of exposure and your credibility. Let’s begin by discussing what your content should include. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a must. You need to search for keywords that are searched on a regular basis yet have a low level of competition. Localized keywords work really well for smaller companies. You need to ensure your content is tailored so that Google picks it up and ranks your company near the top of the search engine result pages. Don’t opt for a quick fix, i.e. hiring black hat SEO services. These companies manipulate Google to get your website near the top. This will all come crashing down eventually, as Google is constantly updating its algorithms and therefore they will source out poor quality websites and they will penalize you.
Therefore, whilst including SEO is important, you also need to make sure that the content is engaging, interesting, original and informative. Bring value to your consumers. Give them pieces of content that they genuinely want to read. Not only is this great in terms of Internet exposure, but you will create a loyal consumer base as well. You are essentially educated your consumers with the hope that they then use this education to buy from you as a result. There are various different channels you can use when it comes to content marketing. You can post articles on your very own blog, you can use directory websites and you can guest post for other blogs. When taking advantage of the latter, make sure the blogs you select are relevant to the services you provide or the products you sell. You should also make certain they are credible and have a good reputation and following.
If you currently do not have a blog, this is something you should definitely consider setting up. It is becoming an essential part of all businesses’ web based marketing campaigns at present. This is a great tool to use because you are providing your clients with informative content that does not have a sales tone. You are essentially establishing yourself as an expert in your field, which will make people trust you. As touched upon previously, this will also help you to climb up the search engine significantly. Your visibility will improve more and more over time. If you are a small business it is advisable to make sure you blog at least two times a week.
Aside from the points that have already been mentioned, something else you should be considering is email marketing. This is a great way for engaging customers and creating a loyal consumer base. Use the subject line effectively in order to compel recipients to want to open the email. The last thing you want is for all of your emails to end up in the trash. You can entice customers with discounts and such like. If you really want to maximize the impact of email marketing you need to be sure to integrate it with other aspects of your marketing campaign, with social media being the prime example. Let’s say you are running a competition on Facebook, if so you should send an email to everyone on your subscriber’s list informing them of the contest you have going on. This will engage more people and it shows your entire campaign is integrated in order to reach optimum levels of effectiveness.
In fact, competitions are one of the most effective ways to drum up interest nowadays, especially when you host them on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. You can create competitions whereby individuals need to share a post or a picture to enter. By doing this, your followers are essentially advertising your business for you, as they will be sharing details about it with their friends and family. Just imagine how many people this could reach. Always try and encourage some form of sharing when hosting a competition, whether it is a Twitter re-tweet or an Instagram regram.
Last but not least, do not ignore video marketing. This is becoming more and more popular. After all, people tend to find videos more enjoyable when contrasted with text, and they can often be an easier way for people to digest information as well. Product demo videos and company introduction videos can work really well. This is something you should consider. However, make sure your video has a purpose, don’t create one simply for the sake of it.
To conclude, there are many different ways you can increase the effectiveness of your web based marketing strategy and ensure you brand successfully. You need to brand and advertise on all fronts. This includes everything from SEO, to social media, to email marketing, to content marketing and more. The sky really is the limit when it comes to online marketing nowadays. If your company is to be a success you really do have to take advantage of everything the Internet has to offer you and hopefully this post has acted as a great starting point.
