What is digital marketing? It encompasses all marketing efforts that use the Internet and online digital technologies and devices. It includes a wide range of channels, such as websites, email, social media, SEO, mobile and pay-per-click ads.
With digital marketing, small business owners can promote their companies and compete with larger ones. Choosing the channels that will be most effective for your business can increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website and generate more sales and leads.
Here are 5 digital marketing tips to help promote your business online:
Invest in Website Marketing
Websites are the most essential digital marketing tool—you own it and control it. Make sure your website is up-to-date, mobile-friendly, and easy for users to navigate, as well as modern and clean-looking. Investing money in your website is a good way to maximize its effectiveness.
Use your site to create landing pages (standalone web pages) for each of your marketing campaigns. Landing pages (as opposed to your home page) are where visitors “land” after clicking on your ad, email or social post. Landing pages are a good way to increase the conversion rates of your campaign. They’re designed with a specific goal or call to action (CTA) and work well if you’re trying to get a visitor to act (sign up, download information or make a purchase).
Start a Blog as Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy
Starting a blog on your website is one of the best free marketing tools available. On your blog, you can write about topics related to your business, showing your expertise and providing helpful information. Blog content that’s relevant to your target markets will drive people to your website and help your search rankings—content that’s relevant to your target audience will naturally rank in the search engines.
Use Search Engine Optimization to Be Found Locally
If most of your business comes from local customers then local SEO, which helps businesses be found in a specific geographic market, should be part of your digital strategy. Include your business city and state in your website’s title tag, alt tag and in your content. Ideally, your home page should include the name, address and phone of your company and it should match your Google My Business listing.
Google uses inbound links, or backlinks, to gauge the quality of your website. Inbound links occur when another website links back to your site, so be sure to post hyperlinks to your web pages from social media sites, online articles and guest blog posts. Also ask your business partners to post links to your site on their Resources page.
Another way to optimize local SEO is to completely fill out your local profiles on sites like Google My Business, Yelp, Bing, and so on. For a fee, Moz Local will ensure your business listings are correct and consistent on sites and directories that factor most in local search engine results.
Maximize Your Use of Positive Online Review and Testimonials
It’s also important to leverage the power of social media and social proof for your business. Social proof is how prospects and customers are influenced online by what others around them think and do. Having positive reviews and shares of your content on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram can create a buzz and generate more interest in you and your products or services.
Build an Email List and Leverage Email Marketing
Behind websites, email marketing is considered the second most effective digital channel. Email lets you stay connected with customers and engage with them on a regular basis, easily providing them with news updates, special announcements and offers. It also helps improve your brand recognition and credibility. All it takes is one well-constructed email to drive traffic to your website or social media pages.
A solid responsive email list can be more valuable than a big social media following. When building an email list, start with who you know—customers, prospects, chamber members, business partners, family, and friends. Include an option to sign up for your email list on your website and social media, using helpful information, coupons and special offers to entice them!
It’s important to remember that you don’t necessarily need to use
all of these digital marketing tools listed—instead, figure out which ones are most effective for your business.
