Internet Marketing Tips, Tools and Strategies

Online Marketing isn’t just for large companies. Actually, because it’s so accessible, Online Marketing is a perfect tool for small (to medium) businesses. Developing an Online Marketing Strategy gives small companies the potential to not only develop their brand and become a name in their industry, but also improve their bottom line from increased leads that turn into sales.

Here are a few tips for small businesses looking at promoting their businesses online:

1. Be sure that you have Google Analytics installed on your website. Obviously you want to be sure you are monitoring this data as well and using it to make improvements to your strategies.
   
   
2. Don't shun social media. You may think Social Media is just for fun, but in actuality these platforms are powerful Online Marketing tools that you should be taking advantage of. Social media plays an important role in organic search rankings, so ignoring this may be affecting your organic traffic and rankings. 
3. Develop a list of keywords. What are some words or phrases you would use to describe your company? If you wanted to find a competitor online, what would you type into Google’s search engine? Really think about these and develop a list of keywords that you can use for future content writing, PPC ads, etc.
4. Write a blog. Blogging has numerous benefits when it comes to Online Marketing – drive traffic from search engines, a platform for interacting with your customers, etc. Not to mention it shows users that you are an expert in your field. More content in more places = More customers. Several studies have been conducted to prove the previous point, and there is actually a strong correlation between how much quality content you produce and amount of leads/sales you get online. Think of your website and all your social profiles as an asset. You need to build those assets each and every month and the rewards will pay off.
5. Consider calling in an expert. You aren’t an Online Marketing Professional, right? There are consultants out there that understand what it takes to get a company online, generating traffic, and creating conversions – let them do what they do best and help you!

Online Marketing gives small businesses the ability to compete in today’s market. So why not give it a try? Get started by signing up for our FREE website scan which will give you the information you need to be successful online.

You probably are already running a PPC or pay-per-click campaign. You probably are getting a decent amount of traffic from your advertisements as well. So, why would I suggest you consider moving away from PPC and towards building your organic search traffic?

Well, let me start by saying that I think PPC traffic has benefits and you shouldn’t stop advertising this way completely. That being said, organic traffic has a different sort of value associated with the clicks. Let’s look at three highly valuable benefits of trying to increase your organic search traffic:

Increasing Organic Traffic or building a SEO Method makes you focus on content. When you start developing your organic search strategy you really get to focus on your website and what information you are putting out to the public.

Building a SEO strategy to increase organic traffic involves competitor analysis. By analyzing your competitors you get a better idea of what separates you apart from them, meaning you know what makes you better! Knowing the difference between you and your competition allows you to approach potential customers with ALL the information they need to make a decision.

Higher Quality Leads. According to eMarketer, only 25% of people will ever click on a Pay Per Click ad. That means that if you are heavily invested in PPC vs SEO, you may be missing 75% of your market online! Most companies will try to combat this by just investing more in PPC thinking that this will help them compete more effectively, and this does work somewhat, but the minute you turn off your PPC campaign your traffic stops. You are left with nothing but your previous leads/sales.

Also, according to Dan Zarella at Hubspot and the research they compiled recently, most people do not trust PPC ads. Organic search results are more trustworthy by a large margin. So not only are less people likely to click on your PPC ads, the leads you are going to get are not necessarily going to be the most qualified.

Now these are just a few of the many benefits associated with developing an organic search strategy. To be fair any traffic increase to your website can only be a boon, right?

Why not start increasing your organic search traffic by signing up for our free website scan? The scan will let you know where your website currently stands in search engines and how it stacks up to your competition.   

 

A recent study by Internet Marketing software provider Hubspot, determined that business blogs with more posts generate more leads. Business blogs with 0-11 posts, on average, generate 3 leads. A considerable jump occurs when a business blog has 12-23 posts, up to 10 leads on average. The biggest leap in lead action takes place when a blog reaches the 52 post mark and generates 23 leads.

Each blog post generates a new content page on your site.
FYI - You need to be blogging from your domain name and not from Wordpress or Blogger (or any of the other blogging sites available). This is really important to understand. You can integrate some of these blogging tools directly onto your server, or use an integrated solution like WSI eFusion with a built in blog module. If you are blogging from your domain name, you are building the overall size and depth of your site. The goal is to become a “resource” site for your domain name (Google designates sites as “Resource Sites” when they reach the 100 page mark).

Each new post is an opportunity to drive traffic and build site depth.
Blog posts can drive new organic traffic direct from the search engines, and fast. Blog posts can get indexed by search engines very quickly, often times quicker then your other content. Even if your post doesn’t generate a lot of search traffic you are still providing your users with relevant information which will position your company in a different light vs. your competitors who offer very little information about their industry. Blogging effectively really can be a great differentiator.

Search engines love content.
and each post will build upon each other. Before you know it, you could potentially have 30, 50, 100 blog posts filled with lots of good information for you and tons of spider able content with keywords for the search engines. Not to mention when using an RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication), people can subscribe to your blog and get notified automatically when you update your blog, and easy share your content throughout the internet. Content syndication can help build back-links to your site and improve overall PR (PageRank).