How should you market your business online? If you’re a business just venturing into the realm of internet marketing strategies you’ll encounter dozens of options, offers and approaches. The trick to adopting a successful internet marketing strategy is to define your targets clients or customers, set goals, and understand the potential and limitations of each method.
Let’s get into the particulars of some major internet marketing strategies:
Pay per Click (PPC) Marketing: A PPC-based internet marketing strategy focuses on paid ads interested parties will click through to get to your primary website or a dedicated landing page. This is an excellent option in highly competitive industries where search engine optimization may not provide immediate traffic. But to make PPC work you must have a defined sales funnel where PPC is just the first step. The landing page should provide a way for visitors to immediately take action and perceive a fast, powerful value for doing so. You may offer a discount or free product for submitting information, or in an e-commerce situation might provide rapid access to a product or service linked to the ad. Otherwise, the landing page should have content that makes it interesting enough to prevent a visitor from hitting the “back” button on his browser.
Google Optimization and other Search Engine SEO: Google is the most popular way for people to find products and services online. Tuning your site to comply with Google’s webmaster guidelines is a mandatory part of any internet marketing strategy. Beyond that, Google optimization improves your site’s rank on keywords search terms) related to your company’s products and services. Studies have proven that a higher rank (preferably the top 10) on important keywords improves traffic. Note, however, that industries with strong market leaders or high levels of competition make it very difficult to rank for the best keywords.
Like PPC, you must have a sensible sales funnel to take advantage of this traffic. Searchers use Google to find information first, so your site should provide clear, factual statements about the field in general and why your company is the best choice in particular. Like PPC, you should provide the means for visitors to easily take an action that draws them into your funnel, such as a special offer or immediate product selection.
Social Media Optimization (SMO): To use Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools for promotion you must respect the nature of each medium. That means that you’re part of a conversation – you need to be willing to use these services to go out and talk to people as individuals. While it is important to broadcast information to keep contacts informed about your current information, news and views on issues, you also need to get out there and query people about what they want and talk them into your funnel. Thus, social media is much like marketing by phone, with the advantage that this isn’t a cold call – you have prior contact.
The best internet marketing strategies don’t just use one of these digital marketing tools, but several of them in combination, both in parallel and cooperative processes. For example, you may run PPC ads beside your Google optimization and other SEO efforts. We can help you implement these internet marketing strategies – contact us to get started with a free site analysis.
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