5 SUPER SIMPLE ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR
THE CLUELESS SOLO-PRENEUR
Online Marketing Strategies
Article by April Ray
Photo Credit: Dasha & Mari
Magazine: Issue #29
Online marketing is confusing…!!
…At least it was for me when I first started way back in 2009.
The strategies haven’t changed much since then but, putting it all together was like pulling one hair at a time from my rather large head- painful to say the least. Maybe you feel the same way. Maybe you’re not quite sure where to start or what you should or should not be doing to promote your business online.
There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to building an online marketing business, I’m going to attempt to give you a few basic nuggets to jump from that will hopefully take you from CLUELESS to A LITTLE LESS CLUELESS in 5 simple steps. ;)
1| Online Marketing Strategies #1- Defining a Keyword Strategy.
In the simplest explanation of how online marketing works, people use keywords to find your site which increases your sales. Of course, it's much more complicated than that, but that does give you a sense of just how important your keyword strategy is. Keywords are the words that people type into search engines to find what they are looking for. If you're a dog grooming company in Boise, some of your keywords will be "Boise" and "dog grooming". But because you're probably not the only groomer in Boise, you're going to have competition out there for those keywords. That's where your keyword strategy comes into play. The goal here is to find keywords that have a high search volume but low competition. This means that people are searching for these keywords, but your competition hasn't optimized their sites for those words. By using keyword tools such as Google Keyword Planner from Adwords or Wordstream's keyword tool (both free), you can research and plan your keyword strategy effectively.
2| Online Marketing Strategies #2-Optimizing your Website to Increase your Online Presence.
Once you have your keywords, it's time to use them in order to optimize your website. Optimizing simply means creating a website that is more easily found by search engines. To do this, you'll need to sprinkle your keywords throughout the content on your page, including site titles, tag lines, your URL, alternative text, in your subtitles, etc. Basically, you want the keywords to show up so that when a query is entered by your potential customer or when a search engine crawls your site and indexes your pages, it will understand that your site is relevant to those keywords. The search engine will then direct traffic to your site, thus increasing the chances that you make a sale, which is the goal of online marketing.
Tip - If you don’t have a website... get one!
3| Online Marketing Strategies #3-Creating a Blog and Content Marketing.
Part of the content on your site that can be keyword optimized will be your blog posts. Blogs are a form of content marketing, or content that has the specific goal of creating relationships with your readers and driving sales. In fact, all content on your site should be driving sales as per online marketing 101, but it should also present some value to your viewers. This will keep them interested as well as attach value to your product or service. Plus, blogs have a few additional benefits such as creating fresh content (which helps you rank higher and stay relevant in the eyes of search engines and customers) and having the ability to go viral. An item that goes viral (most likely through social media, but sometimes email and other mediums), will increase the reach of your brand and message.
4| Online Marketing Strategies #4-Promoting your Content through Social Media.
Social media is a huge and free online marketing platform that is a must-have for anybody looking to increase their online sales. If you aren't on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or Pinterest already, you need to be on at least 2 (some not listed here) by the end of the day. Social media allows you to connect and interact with fans and clients, tailoring and delivering your branded message for free while creating more in-roads to your website and keeping you fresh in the minds of your customers—and that's just the tip of the iceberg. The bottom line is that social media is the most popular online marketing tool nowadays.
5| Online Marketing Strategies #5- Turning those "Potentials" into Buyers.
Once you have a potential customer checking out your site, you want to have a sales funnel structure (don’t let me lose you here) that constantly pulls customers further towards making a purchase/signing up/downloading/etc. This is vital to the success of your online marketing efforts. To do this, your website should provide an easy-to-use customer experience that doesn't distract them from the final goal (the purchase). The customer should receive increasing value at each step of the way, further pulling them into the sales funnel. The site should also make it clear what the customer should do through the use of clear and concise calls to action.
Ok, what do ya think?
It’s a Sign is a compilation of self-improvement articles written by entrepreneurs seeking to bring holistic solutions to everyday problems. Read more articles from this feature.
April Ray is CEO and Founder of the Introvert Mogul Studios and creator of the "3 Must-Have Marketing Systems You Will Ever Need..." free audio mini series. Through her online courses, exclusive free trainings and engaging blog posts, she is here to help you craft your approach to a celebrity style business while feeling safe and secure in the privacy of your own home. Her adoring fans + customers have called her "Smart and Creative". If you would like to get the deets on the "3 Must-Have Marketing Systems You Will Ever Nee …”, listen to her free 3 part audio mini-series here.