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Are you ready for your business to be the King of the Internet?

The Internet is definitely the way of the future and even with the current economic climate, it still remains one of the most cost effective marketing channels available.

In fact, it doesn’t really matter if your budget is $500 a month or $10,000 a month, as when it comes to building an online presence there is something in it for everyone.

If you are looking to take your business to bigger and better heights by placing it online, here are the top 9 things that you need to pay attention to:

1. A High Performing Website

Website

Of course, having a website is the most important factor when it comes to growing your business online. This all starts with getting set up with a catchy URL and a highly-functioning design.

There are many easy platforms out there that can help you to easily create a website, however there are some critical factors that you need to pay attention to.

For example, having a website that allows consumers to easily checkout, find your products, see your services and makes them feel secure in putting in their credit card details is crucial to running your business.

Having a site that is regularly updated, clean and modern looking is also important to help draw in customers and engage them to stick around.

To create a highly functioning website you need to ensure that your click through rate is high, your bounce rate is low and that consumers are actually engaged in what you are offering.

2. SEO

Social-media-marketing

Having a highly efficient website is great, but being lost in a sea of competition is not so great. This is where search engine optimisation or SEO comes into play.

Marketing your website on search engines is crucial to getting people to your website and evolves using keywords and common search terms that will help audiences to find your site.

For example, say you run a bakery. Well, of course you would want your bakery website to come up when a user typed in “bakery” or “fresh bread”. Just the same, you wouldn’t want your website to appear under “bread is bad for you”.

In order to do this, you must practice good SEO techniques, which you can read more about here.

3. Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)

ppc

Having a strong search engine marketing strategy is great for getting organic traffic to your site but another alternative is to pay to get people to your page.

The good news with PPC campaigns is that you can choose to spend a lot or a little, as the real art of having a successful campaign is how you choose to optimise it.

Google Adwords offers a great and easy way for anyone to run a PPC campaign however, due to the sheer volume of competition it is important to monitor which ads and keywords are yielding conversions.

This goes hand in hand with SEO marketing as once you have been able to determine the highest converting keywords through your PPC campaigns you can then also adjust your SEO keywords as needed.

4. Split Testing

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Split testing is the process whereby you test different elements on your website to see which ones are performing better. Usually split testing involves different call to actions, colours, fonts, themes and copy.

Split testing is crucial to making money online as by testing you can really begin to optimise the elements that are working or not working as well as they should.

There is some great software out there that can help you to easily create 2-3 different versions of the same webpage and then from there you can monitor your click through rates, engagement and more.

Another crucial step to running an efficient split-testing campaign is to ensure you are diligently tracking the metrics. It usually take several months for the results of a split test to show, so also remember to have patience and stay open minded to making changes.

Many people also make the mistake of split-testing just once and then forgetting about it. Really it is an ongoing process and your website should always be tweaked and optimised in order to make the most ‘bang for your buck.’

5. Blogging

Blog-post

Blogging not only helps to get traffic to your site but it also allows your brand to be established as an authority, especially if the blogs contain valuable and insightful information.

Maintaining a regular blog that is updated at least 2-4 times per week is a great way to allow your audience to get to know you and creates more credibility for your brand and services.

The trick to creating an effective blog is to offer your audience valuable information without the need to sell them or promote your own products and services.

These blogs can then be shared across emails and social media platforms in order to also generate more traffic and get people to your webpage.

6. Email Marketing

Happy-Email

The main function of email marketing is to build a relationship with your audience over time. By collecting users email addresses through your blog or webpage, you can start to build a community that you can learn how to market to.

All email users are different, so determining the best marketing practices here will take some trial and error. Automated emails are a great way to keep users engaged and to keep your brand fresh in their mind, however email marketing is most effective when it feels personalised.

This involves choosing the words you use carefully and perhaps even catering your emails to different demographics. This allows you to make the most efficient use of your time, money and skills.

As a general rule of thumb, you should send out at least one email per week and offer something to your readers in the email such as a coupon, a free ebook or even additional information that they can’t find on your website.

Remember, email marketing is all about building a relationship and should not be a one sided way of you asking them to buy something.

7. Landing Pages

Landing-page

A landing page is basically the first page that a user will “land on” after clicking on an ad or search engine result. Landing pages are often different to the home page as they carry a specific function or call to action.

Usually landing pages are used to collect some type of information whether it be an email address or some other type of personal information. A landing page can also be used to direct users to a sales page where they will ultimately be guided into purchasing a product or service.

There is a lot of research surrounding what makes a good landing page however, here are some of the most important points-

1. Your landing page should have a strong headline that motivates readers.

2. Your landing page should have a persuasive, yet gentle opening paragraph that clearly and concisely explains why your readers should complete the call to action.

3. Your landing page should have a compelling offer such as a free giveaway, a coupon code or something else of value that your readers will actually want.

4. Your landing page should include social proof such as social media stats, testimonials and reviews as this helps to build up a sense of trust. 

5. Your landing page should ultimately have a strong call to action that motivates users to fill in their information and click through. 

Landing pages have been proven to increase conversion rates anywhere from 5-50 percent which is why they are so popular when it comes to promoting your business online. Again, landing pages should always be split-tested.

8. Banner Advertising

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Banner advertising is a great way to reach audiences who may not be searching for your site but may be interested in it anyway.

Banner ads are usually placed on websites that are similar to yours, for example, your bakery ad may feature on a food blog or even a local news website around lunch time.

There are many ways to utilise banner advertising but often the best results can be seen when used in conjunction with good SEO practices and even a PPC campaign.

The only down side to banner advertising is that it can get pricey, especially if you are advertising on a high traffic site. However, the pay off can be considerable if you target your ads onto the right websites.

The reason that banner ads are more expensive than PPC campaigns is that you are paying for the “real estate” in a banner ad whereas for a PPC ad, you only pay when someone actually clicks on your link.

9. Social Media

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Having a presence on social media is nearly just as important as having a website.

Social media is like the modern day “word of mouth” on the internet and chances are if consumers want to really know your brand they are going to hunt you down on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Having a presence on at least 2-4 top social platforms is a great way to not only help build your brand but it also allows you a very personalised way to connect with your users and understand better what their needs and wants are. And as any good marketer knows, understanding the needs and wants of your demographic is critical in making a sale.

Whatever social platforms you choose to network on, the intention should always be to build a community around your followers. Reply to their comments, retweet and follow back instead of using it to try to push your services.

Summary

The digital age is definitely here and selling your products or services on the internet is paramount if you want to grow your business. To recap the points explored in this article here is what you need to do:

1. Create a highly optimised website that converts well and engages your audience

2. Start sending paid traffic to your website by running a PPC campaign through a platform like Google Adwords

3. Learn your top keywords from your PPC campaign and then launch into search engine marketing or SEO

4. Start and regularly maintain a blog that offers your readers value and insight (you can also use social media to help gage what your audience wants to read and hear about)

5. Run an email marketing campaign that offers your prospective and current clients value and service

6. Use landing pages to help boost conversions, build a list and get users to your checkout page

7. Use banner advertising to help reach different audiences and to build your brand

8. Be present and active on social media in order to network and build your community

9. Split test everything in order to optimise your website, landing pages etc.

10. Track your analytics diligently to see what is working, what is not working and how your audience is responding

11. Don’t be afraid to take risks in order to get your brand out there

Are you ready to dominate the online market but unsure of where to really start? Following these suggestions can help or alternatively, feel free to call us and chat about your needs.