So you’ve decided to start an online business or create an online presence you can monetise. Now what?
Marketing your website can be a daunting task, even for seasoned professionals. There is so much to do, so many things to consider, so many tasks to accomplish that you might feel like throwing up your hands and saying “Forget about it!”
Take heart. Everyone had to start somewhere. The more experience you have with Internet Marketing, the easier and quicker it will get. Here are some guidelines for getting started.
Starting Your Website
This is where it all starts. But before you begin delving into the creative process of designing yours, consider where it is you want to go.
What are your objectives for the site, besides making money? What is your niche? What kind of image do you want represented (professional, humourous, altruistic, etc.)? What type of consumer are you trying to reach (market segment)? When you have answered these questions, then you can design it accordingly.
You can start with a website you’ve had designed, with a website template, or even with a seemingly simple blog (that can be very effective). Whether you start off with a small budget or no budget, your website or blog is your online store and is a vital aspect of doing business online.
Gaining Traffic
The most important thing you can accomplish with your website is gaining traffic. Without visitors to your site, it will result in zero gains. Getting people to take notice of your site is going to be time consuming. There is no way around this.
Start by focusing on the easy ways, such as sending an email to your entire contact list. Use social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo groups to spread the word.
As soon as you start getting visitors to your site, nourish the relationship. It will result in far greater gains to take the time to contact your current subscribers than it will to go out and try to attract new ones.
Search Engine Optimisation
The next thing to think about is how to get the attention of search engines. There are many things you can do, some more complicated than others. Start with the basics.
Make your content keyword rich. Don’t know where to find the best keywords? There are many online sites that suggest keywords for free. Google AdWords Keyword Tool lets you select keywords based on a concept, or a URL without having to start a pay-per-click campaign.
Keywordfinder is another free site that provides a list of keywords based on website content. If your own site is not yet live, input the URL of a few competitors to get some ideas. (Knowing what your competitor is doing well is important. Knowing what they’re NOT doing well is an advantage!)
Content
Write great content that sparks interest. Interest is what will get your visitors to click deeper into your site and hopefully compel them to spend money! Add different types of content in addition to text. Images are a good way to attract visitors.
Video content is highly popular as an SEO strategy as well as for human bait that works virally (being spread from person to person). Content brings you people and search engines so writing content for your site or blog regularly is vital.
Interaction
Interaction is vital with Internet Marketing today, regardless of your niche or your approach. Interacting with your prospects through comments, social media, and email marketing is a great way to make sales.
Interaction with mentors and peers is another way to succeed because you can learn more about being successful online.
Internet Marketing – One Step At A Time
These basic Internet Marketing strategies will get your online business up and running quickly and easily and should help you attract the attention of visitors and search engines alike. After you get started you can think about more advanced internet marketing techniques.
Once a basic site is up and running, getting traffic, and you’re getting some sales, there are many more things you can to do to optimise your site. But…take it one step at a time and learn continuously and you’ll find that you’ll soon have small victories that could begin to transform into big successes.
