Internet marketing is something that everyone can do, but not everyone realizes they can do it. All it takes is a couple hours of your time per week, these tips, and the willingness to be patient so that your marketing efforts can work their magic. If you’re ready to get your site noticed, then here’s what you’ve got to do.
#1. Keep it simple. Nothing is worse than being your own enemy, but that’s often what happens when internet marketing is tried for the first time. Remember these four components: attract, convert, close, and delight. These are the four goals you must accomplish for your internet marketing efforts to work.
#2. Outbound marketing is so 2012. Inbound marketing is what provides better results. This is why many new businesses hit up family and friends first. Established relationships make it easier to create an attraction that you can convert upon. By filling your site with valuable information and research materials, you’ll be creating an inbound marketing campaign that can convert and close effectively because you’ll be letting your visitors do all of the initial work on their own.
#3. Optimize your site. 9 out of 10 people who shop online will use a search engine as part of their purchasing decision. You’re not going to compete with sites like Amazon for traffic, of course, but you can outwit your competition. Pick up long tail keywords of four or more to use as your points of emphasis. Why? Because most people don’t search for single terms these days, like “Internet marketing.” They’ll search for “Ways I can start internet marketing.” Hit up those terms, you’ll rank high, and high ranks mean clicks.
#4. Know your customer. When visitors come to your site, you should have a good idea of who they are. That’s because you should be targeting specific customer segments based on the demographics that are popular within your industry. Nerd’s Magazine, for example, isn’t going to target customer segments that hate technology. It’d be pointless. PlayStation isn’t going to target kids for video games because their 31 year old male parents are spending more money on games than they are. Know your customer and you’ll know what to say to them.
#5. Copy the good stuff. You should be differentiating yourself from similar websites, but that doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel. If there are some good things going on with the competition, then don’t be afraid to incorporate some components of a competitive marketing strategy into your own. Your competition is likely targeted the same customer segments, the same demographics, and looking for similar outcomes. They’ve already done the research – use some of it, but also improve it.
#6. Did we say to keep it simple? Your user experience [UX] should also be part of your internet marketing campaign. Here’s why: a confused customer is one that won’t visit your site any more. When you visit a store, a sales rep asks if you have any questions… to make sure you’re not confused about what is happening at the store. Having a consistent layout on every page, easy navigation points, and content that is easy to digest will close the deal on your marketing efforts pretty effectively.
#7. Don’t give up on lost opportunities. So… you screwed up. You had someone click on your site because you did everything right and they bounced on you. Except you might not have screwed up at all. There’s this misconception that people who bounce aren’t interested in what a site has to offer. That’s usually not the case. People leave not because they are uninterested, but because they’re not ready to convert at that very moment. Don’t lose that opportunity because if a competitor steps in when they are ready, they win and you lose. Follow along and make sure you have content available for every place in the sales funnel.
#8. Give them value. Content doesn’t just have to be about the written word. Marketing doesn’t just have to be about email. You can put together videos, slideshows, podcasts, or even theme songs about your site that can get people interested in what you’ve got to offer. The Dollar Shave Club was started in 2011 and they’re making millions. They help people shave time and shave money with their marketing and so should you.
#9. Blog for the random visitor. Blogging is about expressing your unique expertise, but it should also incorporate some form of lead generation. Why promote your expertise if you don’t give those anonymous first time visitors a chance to learn more? Create valuable content, but also create links and graphics within that content to encourage people to start a mutually profitable journey through your sales funnel.
Internet marketing doesn’t happen overnight. It isn’t going to instantly create millions of dollars of passive income. You’re going to have to work for it. Use these 9 tips to get started and you may just see an increase in your traffic and your conversion rates.
