The second in a series of three explaining the basics of Internet Marketing offers 5 essentials for effective Internet Marketing.
The science of getting found and selling successfully on the Internet has resulted in a wealth of information about how to do it well. When you have all the parts working together, your Internet Marketing efforts really pay off.
Attacking everything all at once can seem overwhelming, but getting started and working on one task at a time is the key to making progress.
Here are some broad tasks in suggested order of priority:
- Define your goals, target audience and the unique value you provide to your customers that sets you apart from your competitors.
- Create a great website:
- Create content your target audience will find helpful.
- Build a site that is easy to find through search engines.
- Provide compelling Calls to Action that further your goals – so your website visitors know what to do next.
- Keep the website updated with fresh, relevant content to keep visitors coming back. A blog is a great tool for this – but also consider videos, educational white papers, webinars, and podcasts.
- Promote your website by requesting incoming links (from other sites to your website) from good-quality websites with relevant content. Think trade associations, client websites, and online directories.
- Keep in touch with your potential customers:
- Use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to answer questions, provide education, link back to helpful information on your website, and encourage friendly communication with customers.
- Consider how your target audience approaches buying from you. Is your sales cycle short, as in, “Where should we eat dinner tonight?” or long, “Where should we retire in 10 years?”
- Understand how you can be helpful to your customers at each stage of the buying cycle. Maybe it’s a phone number for reservations on the homepage, or maybe it’s an invitation to download a whitepaper to learn about retirement options.
- Consider the next step in the buying process and what information your potential customers might need at that point. Is it a customer loyalty program – “your 10th beer is free” or a free tour of the property? Be there when they’re ready.
- Track your progress and make changes based on results. It’s easier and less expensive to tweak your internet marketing than it is to redo offline advertising, and you can evaluate whether your investment is paying off in more leads, more customers, and more sales.
Read the first article in the series, Internet Marketing Basics: the Importance of Being There… Next – Internet Marketing Basics: Waiting is Expensive
Learn more about what’s important in website redesigns – download our free whitepaper, Website Redesign 101….