Internet Marketing Tips, Tools and Strategies

In my mind, the first step to developing any business marketing strategy, or a business in general, is developing your target audience(s). Knowing who is going to be buying your service and/or product will allow you to develop the appropriate messaging, advertise in the areas they frequent, create a competitive pricing point (not only compared to your competitors, but also your clients wallet), and so forth.

Let’s look at some of the factors that could determine your target audience(s):

• Age group
• Gender
• Location
• Income
• Needs or pain points
• Decision making process

Now, not every single factor will come into play for everyone’s target audience, so remember it isn’t always necessary to limit yourself. For example, you wouldn’t want to exclude females if your product is not male specific.

An easy way to develop a better understanding of your ideal target audience is to run a survey. Ask the people around (previous customers, family, friends, community members, etc.) what they think – not only specifically about your product, but their needs and opinions in general. Focus on open-ended questions that will provide you information you need to promote in your industry.

Developing an outline for your target audience is not always the most glamorous part of any marketing campaign, but it is the cornerstone to any strategy foundation. If you need help understanding your audience you might want to consider working with a marketing expert; they can analyze your market and pinpoint the different factors that make up your target audience.

 

Creating valuable content online, while one of the most important things you should be doing, isn’t always the easiest objective. Clear and concise content that addresses your audience’s pain points is the foundation for any effective marketing strategy.

Let’s look at the various types of content you could or should be creating online:

Website. Your website is your online persona. It not only pushes your brand image, but it also gives potential and current clients the information they need to make a decision on your product and/or service. While you want to keep your website clean and streamlined it is important that you are creating content that addresses the following areas:

• Education on pain points – let them know what issues they could be experiencing, even if they aren’t aware of them yet.
• Education on the solution – just how are you going to fix the issue for them?
• Education on your product and/or services – this doesn’t just mean pricing, really educate the user on your process and what they can expect once they buy from you.
• Information about your company – Where have you been? What have you done? You want your clients to feel a connection with your business as it helps them not only make a decision about you now, but it also makes them want to return for future needs and refer you to others.
• Contact information – well this is a no brainer right? Make sure the potential or current client has easy access to you: phone number, address, contact form, online order form, etc. Don’t forget to specifically state the areas you sell to or service.

Blog. This type of content isn’t just another way to not only win brownie points in search engine results, but it also provides a valuable resource for current or potential clients. A successful blog should not only educate the audience, but also entertain them.

What does that mean exactly?

No one wants to sit down and read an encyclopedia from front to back (well, most people anyways), because frankly that is just boring. Make sure your blog posts are getting the information across, but in an easy to read and short way.  

Social Media. This is often the shortest, but most effective form of content you will be creating. The magic of social media content is resonance. You want content that is not only drawing users in to read it, but resonating with them to the point where they want to turn around and share your content with their networks. Tailoring your content to the short-and-sweet space of 140 characters is tricky at first, but once mastered can be your ultimate content weapon.

Content creation, while the foundation to any marketing strategy, is not always the easiest activity to be successful at – fortunately there are plenty of online content creation experts out there that can help. You might want to consider collaborating with one of these content writers for your own online needs.   

So, your company is already online and seeing some success – great! But, are you really doing everything you could to make your online marketing efforts a success? Here are a few things you might not yet being doing or forgot to do:

Make sure your content is able to be shared. Users who frequent your website, blog and social media networks will often want to re-share the content you are posting. Make sure they can not only do this, but that it is a quick and easy process for them. There are plenty of free widgets out there that are designed to help you do this successfully. Allowing users to share you content will make your online making efforts seen by a wider audience.

Create an email marketing strategy. Even if it is just a quarterly email newsletter or regularly scheduled follow-up blasts to current customers, keeping in contact will help them remember you are there. Build a strong email list and stay in touch with potential and current customers. Also, by including an email form of staying in touch to your marketing efforts you will have the added benefit of possible up-sales or referrals!

Don’t forget about customer reviews (& customer review sites). Not many people use the Yellowpages these days. A quick search online can not only make your company visible to a potential client, but it can also tell them experiences others have had with your product or services. Make sure you are not only on major review sites (Yelp, Angie’s List, etc.), but that you are actively encouraging clients to leave you reviews as part of your online marketing strategy.

Make sure your website is mobile friendly (or you have a mobile version of your site). With such a huge population of users accessing the web via mobile (and tablet) devices nowadays it is imperative that they can navigate your website easily. You want to be seen on mobile searches and have users be able to see your website properly on their mobile device. Also, it is good to note that mobile users are usually searching for specific information, so make sure this information is not only on your mobile site, but is easily found.

Adding these few to-do’s to your online marketing efforts can take you from seeing some online success, to being a major player on the Internet. Want to know if your current website is performing well for your current marketing strategy? Our Free Web Scan can tell you what you need to know.

During my Online Marketing Consultant career, I have often been asked what the key activities a company should be doing online to not only be visible, but also successful. Well, my first answer would be to hire an Online Marketing expert, but if your budget just doesn’t allow for it or you want to try a do-it-yourself approach there are five key areas a business should focus on when trying to have success online:

One, keywords. Any successful online business marketing strategy should begin here. You need to know what keywords are appropriate for your products or services, audience and industry. By doing your initial keyword research you will be able to –

• Write content focusing on these keywords, thus driving search traffic up.
• Understand your competition and what they are focusing on.
• Have a deeper understanding of what your customers are looking for online, and have the ability to tailor your services to them.

DO NOT skip or skimp out on your keyword research. This should be the foundation of everything else you do online.

Two, website development. You don’t have to go and spend thousands of dollars on a web design team to create your businesses website. The key to any successful website is to have:

• Clean look – no clutter!
• Simple to use navigation
• Valuable content (more on this later)
• Clear call-to-actions
• Strong branding

Three, quality content. Having quality and valuable content not only helps increase traffic to your site (Google gives big search bonuses to sites with quality content), but it also ensures users stay on your site and eventually convert into a lead. Your online business marketing strategy should contain creating keyword rich content that not only has value, but is also easily readable for users.

Also, you need to continue to create content (blog posts, news articles, etc.) as time goes on to keep your site fresh.

Four, target your local audience. Unless your business is a global online store, you should be focusing on your local city / county / state audience. This means letting the user know your products or services are for their specific location. Some simple ways of doing this are:

• Adding the areas you service at the top of your web pages – “Coffee Cabana services the Chicago, Illinois area”
• Creating listings for your company on location based websites and apps – Google Places, Yelp, Foursquare, Facebook Check-in, etc.
• Use geographical targeted keywords when writing content
• Get listed in local search directories online and offline
• If you service a larger area (usually state-wide), you might want to create geo-targeted landing pages for each major location/city around you

Five, take advantage of social media networks. You might skeptical of their value, but social media networks can be a powerful tool for anyone’s online business marketing strategy. Actually not being visible on the popular social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.) can almost send the message to users that you don’t exist. Not only do you want to be visible, but you want to also be sure you are engaging users and addressing any potential negative brand images you may have. Some companies even use social media networks as another form of customer service!

Anyone can find success online; the key is to have a strong online business marketing strategy that creates results! If you are thinking about developing your own online marketing strategy or you want to see if your current strategy is working, start by taking our Free Website Scan.

There are many aspects of Online Marketing that some people just don’t feel comfortable handling themselves. Worrying about Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Monitoring Analytics, Writing Content, Managing a PPC Campaign, Mobile Marketing, Landing Page Development, etc. – it is enough to make anyone’s head spin! Because of this many businesses decide to hire an Online Marketing Expert instead of a DIY approach.

At the end of the day, you want leads and sales and have decided to bring in some experts. Here are some tips on what you should avoid when hiring your own Online Marketing Expert.

Guaranteed lead amounts. Any Online Marketing Expert will tell you that every account is different. Different industries, competition, etc. - which makes predicting the initial success of any marketing campaign near impossible. Be wary of any expert guaranteeing an amount of leads without understanding your company completely.

Instant results or top placement. This promise can be just as telling about an Online Marketing Expert as guaranteed lead numbers. Running a successful Online Marketing Campaign requires lots of analyzing, competition monitoring, and hard work. While 99% of our organic campaigns get results within 30 days, there is no legitimate way to guarantee instant results.

Why? Because its important to remember that we don’t control the search engine results, only the search engines do! We can only do what we know works well, but guaranteeing any placement or traffic within organic search results is ridiculous.

Bulk Backlinks or Permanent Backlinks.  A tactic some Online Marketing Experts will use is a flat fee for X number of backlinks (usually in the thousands); the problem with this is that the techniques often used to get these backlinks can hurt your company and take your site down. You can be penalized by search engines for your “experts” automatic or spamming backlink methods. If it sounds to good to be true it probably is. There are no instant/quick fixes in regards to building links, it just takes time and knowledge to get it right.   

You should also be wary of promises of permanent backlinks, as there is honestly no way to guarantee this. The Internet is always evolving and changing, sites will close down or remove pages; someone needs to monitor and replace these lost links on a consistent basis, especially if they are providing value to your site.

Now that you know what to avoid when hiring an Online Marketing Expert you might want to consider running our Free Website Scan to see where your website currently stands.

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.

Recently my TV decided it didn’t want to work anymore and in an effort to save some money I decided I would try to fix it myself. A few frustrating hours later, with the back of my TV off with wires, cables, and a serious amount of dust everywhere, I was questioning why I didn’t call a TV repair expert? This got me thinking, in the land of Online Marketing, is it better to just call an Online Marketing Consultant or try to do-it-yourself?

Well, you need to ask yourself - what exactly do you get from working with an Online Marketing Consultant?

How about the obvious – they are online marketing experts. You are a business owner, and I think it is safe to assume, you know more about your products/services then you customers. The same can be said about an Online Marketing Consultants. They work with online marketing campaigns all the time and know what it takes to develop an online campaign that works.

Also, you need to think about time. Developing an online marketing strategy and executing that strategy can take a lot of working hours. Especially in competitive markets, it takes a small army to implement an effective online marketing campaign. Not to mention, once a campaign is launched the work is rarely over. Most online marketers continue to monitor results, test landing pages, and make tweaks for optimization after launch day.

The last thing you should consider when trying to make the decision between do-it-yourself marketing and working with a professional Online Marketing Consultant is the importance of your online presence. For most businesses being visible online is extremely important and not coming up on search engines can sometimes mean you are non-existent. Can you really say the cost of working with an Online Marketing Consultant outweighs having the online presence your company needs? I firmly believe that in the near future if a company doesn’t have a great online presence, they will NOT compete in their market (unless your brand is huge like Nike or Apple, but even they are a force online).

Now, you might think that being online isn’t as hard as fixing a TV, but I want to urge you to consider all the details of running an online campaign - keyword research, developing a successful website, working with Google (and other search engines), optimizing webpages, developing a social media strategy, backlink building, off-page marketing, on-page marketing, and much more…. Now those wires and cables aren’t as intimidating are they? Get started with a WebScan and initial consultation with WSI for free to see how your current strategy stacks up.

I am sure most of you have already started gearing up for the holiday season, right? Well if not then now is your chance. Holiday promotions are a great way to boost traffic and sales before the end of the year. Holiday promotions are a pretty popular tactic in the B2C market, so why not take advantage?

What are some simple things you can do to promote your company online during the holidays?

Holiday E-cards. Send an e-card (email based card) to your current customer base wishing them a happy holiday. This not only reminds customers of who you are and that you care about them, but it also lets them know that you are a great resource when it comes time for their gift shopping.

Discounts. Have a product that would make a great holiday gift? Do you sell gift certificates for your services? These are things you can always offer an exclusive holiday discount on (think of the Black Friday rush). If you already offer promotions on your site, just change some of your messaging to make it more holiday specific.  

Giveaways. Invite users to signup for your newsletter, email promotions and any other call to action you are currently promoting with the draw of being entered to win an item. This simple promotion can boost your traffic and signups, plus offers users the chance at a gift before the holiday gift giving commences.

Gift Idea Landing Pages. Can’t decide which of your products would do best during the holidays? Promote them all! Create a landing page that shows users all the products they could purchase for their holiday gift list. Don’t forget to use your key SEO messaging and keywords on the landing page. Also, promote, promote, promote - landing pages are great to use in email blasts and social media (don‘t use social media? You should! Get started with our free Social Media Strategy Kit).

There you go, just a few ideas to get you started with Holiday Promotions. Don’t forget, it is never too early to start thinking about the holidays. 

Recently, I was introduced to the power of Google Voice and decided to sign up and give it a try. I heard about the launch of this new service by Google awhile ago, but really haven't had the time to check it out to determine what exactly it was and how I could use it in our business and how people could use it with their internet marketing strategies.

At this time its a 100% FREE service provided by Google. I can see where they might charge for this down the road, but right now their is no charge to use the service. My only concern with the free service is privacy issues, but I haven't heard any complaints yet. So the question becomes, how do you use Google Voice and how you can incorporate this into your online & offline marketing strategies?

Google Voice essentially gives you a free local phone number in all states in the US. You can use this number and Google Voice account as your primary number on your web site or landing pages for call tracking purposes. Have an office in Maine but located in California? No problem, setup a Google Voice number to target any state you do business in.

Using a specific Google Voice phone number, you can find out how many leads are being generated from your web sites by using that phone number only on your web site. Any call that is generated using this unique number will be stored and tracked in your Google Voice account. If you are a small business and out of the office on a regular basis, this would help improve your lead response time as well (set it up so that calls placed on your site are automatically forwarded to all your phones).

Not only can you use it for call tracking and lead measurement but you can also use it to do the following:

- Setup call forwarding or "Find Me" for all your phones (cell phone, office phone, home phone, etc). When someone calls your Google Voice phone number, you can set it up so that it simultaneously calls all of your numbers. Never miss an important call again. Google Voice can become your virtual receptionist if setup correctly.

- Voicemail Simplification - all voicemails from my Google Voice account are stored online, transcribed, and sent to either my Iphone as a Text or email. You can set it up either way. I prefer to have it transcribe the message and send me a text. That way I get the voicemail in real time and don't have to spend time opening my email and playing the message or logging into a voicemail account.

- Replace your office phone - we are now using Skype VOIP to make outbound calls. We tested a few VOIP services and found that Skype works just as well as any and much more flexible as far as using it wherever we go (coffee shops, moving between multiple offices, travel, etc). We setup our Skype account to use our new Google Voice number as the caller ID. You can also get a Skype phone number as well, but I recommend setting up the caller ID settings to show your Google Voice number to make things more simple. This is a great setup for a small 1 or 2 person office. If you have multiple extensions there are solutions through Skype for this, but I am not going to get into that in this post.

- Make calls online - Google Voice also allows you to send calls online, but in my opinion, Skype is a better solution for this for $30/year.

Google Voice also allows you to personalize voicemail messages for certain people, block callers, call screening, easily share voicemails via email or text, place international calls, send out free texts (SMS to Email feature is really neat), and make conference calls.

The key here is to use technology to help reduce costs, improve communication, and expand your online marketing tracking abilities. I suppose you could even use Google Voice as a tracking number in your offline marketing campaigns as well, but I am not sure that its really intended for that use. Make sure to read Google's Terms and Services before using it if you are not sure about your intended use.

Learn more about Google Voice: http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html