8 STRATEGIES TO MARKET SUCCESSFULLY ON THE INTERNET
There is no doubt about it – the Internet is delivering an increasing number of sales, leads, branding and customer relations benefits to businesses around the globe. And in one’s own backyard. Increasingly people are complaining about receiving the “dead tree” Yellow Pages at their door, because they search for products and services online.
If your business does not yet have an Internet strategy – or several Internet strategies – it’s time to sit down and plan your road to success on the virtual highway. Here are eight Internet strategies you might like to consider.
- website that converts. Nothing else really matters if your website is not set up to convert visitors into buyers. Or into downloading your free report. Or into signing up for your email list. Or into picking up the phone to ask for more information. A pretty site is pretty. A site set up to convert makes you money.
- Credibility. More so online than in the bricks-and-mortar world, people crave your credibility. Give them every reason to believe in you – that you are both knowledgeable and trustworthy. Make your website not only truthful, but 101% believable. Testimonials and logos of accrediting organizations help with trust. Lots of great, informative content related to your topic helps with expertise.
- Search engine rankings. Search engines deliver the most visitors to websites, and if you target the customers properly, you have warm leads banging on your door. Why? Because most of the people who find you website got their by searching for your products or services, or for information related to them (your expertise demonstrated by the information is the soft sell that makes them need your services rather than a competitor’s).
- Email marketing. People still read emails, and as long as you don’t spam them, you can win big with email marketing. Be careful, though. Email is not free; it costs the reader time to open your email and read it. Make sure it is useful and welcomed every time, because you won’t get a second chance to get your customer’s attention.
- Social media marketing. This works best if you are running a B2C business, and it is something very delicate with a lot of nuances. If you are an operating very efficient at closing sales, outsource this to someone who is not sales-oriented; folks on social media websites smell sales a mile away…and that’s how far they’ll stay. Social media is where relationships are built and information is spread. Done right, it can build a loyal band of evangelists.
- Affiliate marketing. If marketing is not your gig, but you are great at moving goods, services and money, and good at managing vendors and suppliers, then why not set up an affiliate program. This is simply a matter of paying others to market your products for you and giving them a cut of any sale that results from a lead on their website. Many companies are making a killing through affiliate marketing; you just have to manage the program and let others do the marketing for you.
- Pay per click advertising. Not all search engine traffic comes through the rankings; some comes from the paid ads you sometimes see at the top or on the right side of the search engine results. Or the “Google Ads” or other such placements on popular websites. These ads require you to bid for a position on various keywords. This is something that is worth doing only if you have a significant budget and hire a specialist to maximize your profits. Hint: make sure part of their payment is based on ROI.
- Paid reviews marketing (or even better, free reviews). Nothing beats the stampede you’ll get at your door when a popular blogger reviews your product and gives it three thumbs up. Sometimes you have to pay for such reviews. Other times a clever marketer can find a way to get plenty of free reviews for you (OK, not entirely “free”; there usually are free samples involved).
Whichever strategies you employ, make sure you hire good help. The Internet is the Wild West right now and there are plenty of scam artists out there. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
David Leonhardt is a website marketing specialist, focusing on SEO, social media marketing and viral content. Learn more about his professional SEO services and his freelance writer services.