How to do Internet marketing for online business and grow your business without breaking the bank. Make a few simple changes to win the War
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Table of contents
What is Internet marketing?
The internet is a wonderful source of marketing opportunities and many of them are free of cost.
I was bought up in the hard days of high-priced Yellow ( or Pink) pages and glossy brochures as the only way to the market. The problem with this was that you paid for your entry well before publication and it lasted for twelve months. There was no chance of correcting errors or making changes until the following year.
Now you can track the activity on a daily basis and make changes on the fly to ensure successful campaigns.
Internet marketing starts with your Web page.
Your shop front is a declaration to the world of who you are and what you represent so it should be pretty darn good.
When visitors go to your website they must be able to find what they need quickly
It may be a phone number or address. Are these easy to find?
Perhaps It might be to find out about you and your company, therefore do you have a profile page.
Then it could be access to your blog role to find a solution to a problem.
Does a general search take them on a story, what you do so well, and importantly how can you help them?
Are your links clear and working?
Finally, have you made any changes recently? This is necessary so that Google knows your site is current and up to date.
Does your business have a blog page?
A blog page can increase your traffic by a whopping 90% every month according to Hubspot
About 90% of the leads we generate every month come from blog posts published in previous months. Sometimes years ago.
HubSpot
That is just the start of the blogging benefits.
1. Branding is increased by more visual contact. Building more trust.
2. Time on site is increased as readers link between pages thus increasing SEO.
3. Using Longtail Keywords increases interaction and draws traffic.
4. Better use of internal linking. More reader time.
5. Massive increase in traffic. Extra sales.
6. Products reviewed thoroughly. A path to money.
7. Social Media achieves greater exposure and more readers.
8. They help to share company news.
Any investment in blogging is going to return you value over time.
Do newsletters still work?
Many businesses have gone away from using a newsletter, simply because of laziness in finding things to talk about.
However, value for money this is probably the easiest marketing you can do and one that will return you handsome dividends over time.
We all understand the fundamentals of Know, Like, and Trust, and a newsletter consistently support this rule.
Furthermore, they continue to sell over an extended period that captures customers when they are ready to buy.
Consistency is the key to success so make sure your newsletter is programmed to go out on time.
Finally, a reminder that a newsletter is not for direct selling, it is for information and entertainment however always include a call to action for those that want to make a call.
How to do Internet marketing for online business with a virtual shop.
Online shopping is the new fast-action sales machine
If Covid-19 achieved nothing else it did bring online shopping to be a daily event.
Everything is now sold online. From your daily grocery list to new cars that can be ordered without entering a showroom. Therefore if you are not up with this phenomenon maybe it is time to have a look at your showroom.
While it is relatively easy to set up an online shop using a program like Shopify or if you are a WordPress site Woocommerce then getting started is easy.
However, you do need to add a payment facility and delivery costs, and instructions to the site.
It is also ideal if you can link it to your current point of sale program so that stock levels and pricing are consistent.
The important part is that online shopping may account for up to 50% of your sales so the time and cost to set it up are well justified.
Furthermore, if you don't do this your competitor will, and all that opportunity will flow out the door and you will wonder why sales are down
Using email to generate SMS messages
This may sound weird but having a fixed mobile number can really increase your traffic.
Customers can message you at any time and anyone with email access can reply. This is ideal for booking centers and those where the action is required.
When you send an email your fixed number is shown so your customers are aware of you as the call originator and will action the message.
This can be a single message or group dispatch if you are marketing something.
The beauty is that SMS gives you an instant response so you realize quickly if your campaign is working. Emails may sit around for days before they are actioned but SMS is instant.
Having a mobile phone sitting around to send out SMS is an ancient method prone to all sorts of problems and one that can be done in a better way.
Social media is still king
There are all sorts of media and there is certainly one that will suit you. You can choose that one by demographic or social impact gathered with trial and error.
The thing with social media is that you must be consistent with your posting or you become just one of the many.
That is why choosing just one media and doing it properly will have a far greater impact than spreading yourself far and wide.
The needs of every business are very different so look at the demographic that would suit your business and use it properly.
It is interesting that Twitter is taking a bigger role with a lot more users coming on board. The recent news that Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter will bring a whole new population of readers and if your customers fit into this give it a go. It can do no harm.
Many will combine Facebook and Instagram as their media and this works really well for a female audience between 20-and 50 years old. Pushing the same message on both.
Conclusion
These are my best low or no-cost marketing methods for any business.
However, they are essential tools that you must use to stay ahead of the market.
- These methods are all easy to do however need consistency.
2. They cost very little and return a lot.
3. Your future sales will result and your business will expand.
Stay up to date with all marketing on the internet because that is where the action is.
How to do Internet marketing for online business by Peter Hanley
