Business plan…. checked!
Tax ID… checked!
Identifying potential clients… checked!
Launching a website… checked! But wait, your work is not over yet!
One of the most common mistakes that business owners make is just having a website designed for their business and then forgetting about it. This may have been acceptable years ago, at the beginnings of the internet, but today having a brochure-type website is an outdated approach. The days of Yellow Pages are gone, and business owners nowadays need to consider a range of strategies and methods to attract new customers – and Digital Marketing must be at the forefront of that strategy.
So having a website that is just a collection of data about your business is no longer acceptable – then what is its purpose? A successful online presence in this day and age means generating leads through your website and eventually converting those leads to paying customers.
So, besides website content providing information about your company, your products and services, and your approach on business, it also need to be a modern website that is mobile friendly, quick to load, has great call to actions plus you also need to integrate into your website the following tools:
Landing pages
So now you’ve made people know, like, and trust you, as a marketing quote says – what’s next?
Something that you’ll never find on old-school brochure websites are landing pages or good Call to Actions. Indeed, businesses need to interact with prospects and get their attention, but they also need to take an extra step, get those prospects through the marketing funnel, and encourage them to convert to customers, and this can be done through landing pages using effective ‘Call to Actions’. Here potential customers leave their contact information, call you or take some other form of action. For instance, they apply for a service, download and ebook, require a free estimate, sign up for a web application, make a reservation, or schedule a demo.
SEO
SEO increases your website visibility by making it rank higher in the search engine results.
There are two types of SEO tactics that you can use: on-site and off-site. The first is optimising web pages so they are easily tracked by search engines, and the latter refers mainly to link building (creating links toward your web pages on other people’s websites), compelling content & Social Media etc. No matter what kind of strategy you start working on, it’s important to remember that SEO is a long-term effort, not a quick fix.
Advertising
Digital Marketing (especially PPC or pay-per-click advertising) is a must for any online business because it is cost-effective – you’re only paying when someone clicks on your ad.
Other reasons to consider online advertising are the high exposure, being able to advertise 24/7, and the accessibility of tools that allow you to measure results. Most online marketers choose to advertise on Google and on Facebook; you can start with very low advertising budgets and allocate more funds as you fine-tune your advertising strategy and improve your skills. While you may have the smarts to boost your Social Media posts etc. Google Adwords is a much bigger beast and having the right partner is crucial if you want to get it right and not waste money trying to do it yourself.
Content
The whole idea behind content marketing is creating an expert reputation and providing audiences with interesting and engaging content instead of pushing products at people through aggressive promotion. There are multiple content marketing instruments you can choose from: blogging, ebooks, videos, infographics, webinars, podcasts, client testimonials, case studies, and so on.
Social media
Nowadays social media is not just an option – the question is how well we do it. Most important aspects to consider include identifying on what network is your audience active, using automation tools to ease your work, creating content for social media, tracking results, and handling well negative comments.
Email marketing
Email marketing is considered the one online marketing method with the highest return on investment; the reason it works so well is that you are communicating to people who have already expressed their interest in your company by providing their email address.
Include an opt-in form on your website and choose an email service provider that will allow you to get the most from this valuable tool.
So, is your website now top priority? It should be, knowing how many efficient marketing tools it can integrate!
Source: Visual Marketing
