7 Online Marketing Strategies To Help You Grow
Introduction
Ten years ago, businesses were run much different than today. In 2018, we have learned that Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube, are where customers are found. In order for a business to be successful, it should have a social presence, but it must also know who its target audience is. Advertisements that work on Facebook, may not work on Twitter. It’s all about your business, its mission, the product, and who your customer is. In this article, we will provide 7 different online marketing strategies to help you grow your business.
1.Have A Professional And Mobile-Friendly Website
This is perhaps THE most important of the ten strategies, and it is now understood by almost everyone. Your business not only needs a website, it HAS to HAVE one. In today’s online world, if you don’t have a website, you’re seen as unprofessional, and some people may believe your business does not exist. It is also a strategic plan for cyber security. For this reason, you should have a professional website created. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. “Websites cost a lot of money.” “I don’t have the time to create one for myself.” “What if I pay someone and they don’t provide what I want?”.
These are all great points and I have dealt with them myself. When I first started, I didn’t have the money to pay someone to build me a website, so I went and did a quick google search, and found Weebly. Though it may not be the best website-making platform, it’s one of the easiest, and it’s simple to understand, to the point that YOU can make your first website, simply to have an online presence. Later, you can pay someone to have a better website, but if you’re just starting, and want to save capital, Weebly is a great choice.
2.Blog
Blogging is one of those things that people do not have time for. However, if you want to differentiate your business from your competition, providing value through constant blogging will do just that. Most business websites only promote their product or service, but do not take the extra time to inform their customer, and provide new relevant posts for them to come back. If you have a sign up form on your site asking people for their emails, you can send them your new blog posts every week, every three days, or whatever you feel is best. This will keep your business in your customer’s mind, and will get them back to your site, where they may purchase again. It’s a great strategy to get repeat business from old customers.
3.Learn SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It sounds like a fancy term, but it’s just a definition for, “how fast can I reach the first page on google?”. Google is the most used search engine, and if you can have a website that google likes, and you constantly provide value through blogs, and your website becomes an organism, you will slowly climb up to the first page. Once you’re there, it is easier for people to search and find your business, than if you had a stagnant website with no traffic, no content, and thus, no SEO.
4.Guest Blog
Guest blogging will also take some of your time, but it can bring a lot of business back to your website. The idea of guest blogging, is to find websites that are already getting a lot of traffic, and are well-known. You can contact the owner or editor of the website, and ask if you can send them a guest blog post written by you. This will create content for them and in return, you can ask for a link back to your website. If done properly, the people visiting the website you are writing for, will click the link and be directed to your site. By taking some time to give content to others, you have brought back potential customers to your site.
5.Build A List And Market Through Email
This will take some time, but be patient! The email list is second to a great website in importance. When people subscribe via your website, they are confirming that they believe in your cause, service, or product, so much that they are willing to give you their personal contact information. With this they have agreed for you to send them promotions, products, information, etc. Use the list, and grow it.
6.Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has gained a lot of popularity through online business gurus telling everyone who buys their courses to reach out to influencers on YouTube and Instagram to promote their products. This is a strategy that works. An influencer is someone who has a large social media following, one million or more followers. The way to deploy this strategy is by contacting the influencer, asking them to promote your product for a certain amount of time, and in return you either give them your product for free, or pay them for the ad.
7.Social Media Marketing
Finally, social media marketing needs to be coordinated and automated. You, as a business owner, do not have the time to be posting on every social media venue out there, but you can use your time to create your desired posts, and automate them.You can do this through a platform called hootsuite. It allows you to prepare posts in advance, and select what day, and time they will be posted.
Conclusion
In conclusion there are plenty of ways in which you can grow your business online in this year. We have provided 7 strategies that you can employ today to have an online business presence. At first, you may not see results, but it’s the businesses that persist, and don’t quit, that succeed and become known by the world.
