In the modern business world you need to have a clear and concise offline and online business plan. Many businesses I deal with have a reasonable grasp of where they want their business to move in the offline world but the online market is a different story.
Many business owners are happy to spend $10,000 plus on yellow pages advertising and don’t know what there ROI on it is. Whereas they can be hesitant on spending the same amount on online advertising even though every cent you spend online is totally trackable.
What makes up Online Marketing
When I talk about Marketing Online, I am including everything that is incorporated in getting your business noticed online, more traffic going to your website, and once you have the traffic, converting the traffic into sales. The following list is a snippet of what we incorporate into ‘Online Marketing’.
o Website Design
o Search Engine Optimisation. This involves both on page and off page work.
o Social Media – YouTube, Facebook, Forum marketing etc.
o Social Bookmarking
o Article marketing and distribution
o Opt-in forms on your website for collecting emails and building your mailing list
o Auto responders which are automated email series that get sent to your subscribers lists
o Email marketing
o Pay Per Click Advertising with networks such as Google
o The list goes on!
When I speak to prospective customers my first question is where is there current business coming from and how are they tracking there marketing campaigns. The most common answer is they are using TV and print media but they are not tracking there ROI at all. This is basically like throwing mud against the wall and seeing how much will stick.
The beauty of online marketing is absolutely everything is trackable down to the very last cent. Unlike the yellow pages where you pay up front and hope for the best.
How has Online Marketing changed
If we go back 8 to 10 years most small businesses did not have a web presence. Move forward to 2011 and most businesses regardless of size will have a website. Plenty of businesses are optimising their sites for search engines such as Google and plenty are not. It’s not enough just to have a website. A website alone does not qualify as online advertising. The online marketplace is now so large unless you are on the first page of Google you are wasting your time and money.
Get creative with your Online Marketing
Remember that Online Marketing is only part of your overall marketing strategy. There are so many ways to get your name out there and relying on only one method puts you and your business at risk. Never build your business around only one platform, or one strategy. Utilise all the different strategies and tools that are available and you will get more business than you know what to do with!!
Don’t let the power of Online Marketing overcome you!
If you have a website, and you are getting traffic, but no sales, you need to work out why. You need to understand why the traffic coming to your website isn’t converting. By understanding this, you will be able to meet the needs of your visitors better. Install Google Analytics to determine how much traffic you are getting, where that traffic is coming from, and what it is doing once it is on your site.
If you are not ranking in Google for keywords related to your business, then you need to understand that every time someone types in a keyword phrase into Google such as ‘Adelaide Lawyers’, it will be your competitors that are taking that business.
If you are not building a relationship with your clients and your visitors who come to your website by keeping them up to date with a newsletter or latest promotions, then you are not giving them a reason to continue buying from you. You are not offering anything extra to remind them next time they go to buy, it should be from you!