Top 10 tips for Online Marketing

We know that internet marketing is important. We know it can attract visitors to your site, sales for your business, reinforce or introduce your companies branding and make it easier for your prospects to find you.
For all of that, we still seem to make mistakes when it comes to online marketing. So the team here have helped put together a list of the top 10 tips to get yourself started.

1. Get a plan together. It sounds simple, but it’s not. Start with effective web design and development strategy. Understand what you want your website to do and what you want your customer’s user experience to be like. Work backwards from that outcome.

2. Find a way to increase your search ranking so you appear at the top of search pages. Google your company. If you’re not on the first page, find a way to get there.  Look out for an SEO firm that can help you with this.

3.  Email isn’t the sexiest form of marketing, but it still works. Learn how to use it effectively.

4. Begin a Business Blog. Want links to your site? Begin a business blog on your website, hosted on your own domain. If you offer excellent content and regular industry comment, people are likely to link to it, increasing your site’s PageRank.

5. Find out what’s not working on your website. Remember the adage that the first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one? Request an analysis from an internet marketing coach, follow what some of the internet guru’s are saying or request some help from an internet marketing consultant. Download vendor whitepapers and rate your site against their checklists; ask for an obligation free report by a vendor in this space – many are happy to provide the report for free with some great recommendations. And get some help!

6. Build a responsive email list. Only email things that are relevant, timely and consistent with your brand message. Remember what the customer wants to hear isn’t necessarily what you want to tell them. Remember that if you don’t know what’s in it for them – then they don’t either. Make them like you. Make them engage and respond. Make sure your messaging is relevant and engaging…

7. ..But don’t be afraid of a little self promotion when it counts! List news articles, issue press releases, testimonials, case studies and publish whitepapers or articles to showcase your expertise and lift your page ranking.

8. Organise contests, giveaways and promotions that are driven through your website. Give people a reason to jump onto your website. It creates an interesting proposition, because people who go on to your website to enter a contest, browse, play games etc. are there to procrastinate and ‘wander around’ window shopping. It means they have time to look through your website and offerings and you can take advantage of that by nurturing that prospect through to a sale or transaction.

9. Blog. Reply. Interact. Let them write to you and write back. Respond in a timely manner or don’t do this at all. This is opening yourself up for a dialogue and not replying or responding is the same as ignoring a customers’ email – bad etiquette and not recommended at all.

By following the above tips you’ll be on your way. Good luck!

P.S. You can learn from industry experts on how they successfully used online marketing to do business at The Internet Show expo.