In this blog post, I run you through the online marketing strategies that are working at the moment. But the best results are achieved by using a few of the options together to formulate a complete strategy.
You can watch this training in the video, or if you prefer to read all the details are below.
Throughout my 15 years of business experience, I have learnt what works and more importantly what doesn’t work. There are many factors to consider and they will determine the success of your online marketing strategy.
The first thing you need to get very clear on is who is your ideal client or customer. Create a detailed profile of the person that you are marketing to. This can be the first hurdle for many business owners as many think that by getting this very detailed that they will reduce who they are selling to.
This is not the case at all.
The more clear you are, the more refined your marketing will be and you will be appeal directly to your ideal client. If your marketing is too general you are not going to appeal to anyone. If you haven’t done this before, or even if you need to refresh it, write a full profile on who your ideal client is. It normally helps to just have one person in mind when doing this.
Things such as:
- Are they male or female
- How old are they
- Are they married
- Do they have children? If so, how many
- What is their household income
- What are their interests
- What are they passionate about
- What are their fears
- What keeps them awake at night
By doing this complete profile, it will give you the opportunity to completely understand who you are marketing so you can use language that your ideal client understands and you can speak to them on a more personal level in all of your marketing.
Your entire brand and business message then needs to be consistent across all your marketing efforts. So the message, design and overall feel needs to be the same on your website, on your social media channels, basically everywhere you are putting out content.
Once you have all this completely clear you then need to clarify what your business goals are and how you are going to make those goals become a reality. And then how are your marketing efforts going to assist in this outcome.
You then need to determine how much time and resources you have available to facilitate the management of the strategies you are going to put in place. Online marketing needs to be consistent to be effective.
And the next question? Where do you actually start?
I know it can be totally confusing with so much information readily available, trying to wade through it all and deciding where to start and what to implement first. And is it even going to benefit your business?
I know you are probably extremely busy with family life while also running your own business so you need a plan that is not only going to work for your business but also be time effective.
By the end of this video training, you will have a better understanding of the strategies that you can put in place that are going to benefit you and your business. I am going to cover quite a few strategies, but please don’t feel overwhelmed, just pick the top 3 and work through them one at a time and implement them over the next couple of weeks. Put systems in place so that they become a normal part of your daily work habits or if you are in a position to have employees or sub-contractors than outsource them.
So lets get started.
The first strategy we are going to look at is Search Engine Optimisation, also known as SEO.
There is more than 6 billion searches made per day on Google and 80% of the people clicking on a search result in Google are clicking on the organic results. So it makes perfect sense that you would want to get a piece of this “search action” and do everything you can to get your website showing in these organic results.
The organic results are everything listed on the Google search result page other than the ads. So if you go onto Google and search for something the first few results are ads and then underneath these ads are the organic rankings, which you don’t pay for.
The ultimate aim of SEO is to have your business website shown at the top of these results when someone is searching for what you provide.
There are some relatively simple things that you can do on your website pages to give you a better chance of ranking in the Google search results so that people will find you when they are searching for what you offer.
- Keyword Research
Keywords are the terms that people use in Google search to find what they are looking for. So the benefit of SEO is getting your website to show up on Page 1 of these search results when someone is looking for what you have to offer. This gives you a lot more exposure than being on pages further along than page one and increases the chances of people clicking through to your website from the search results to learn more.
Keyword research is the first step in your SEO campaign and it is also the most crucial. Keywords are normally more than one word and in fact, keyword phrases are far more effective then one single word.
So you need to find those keywords that your ideal client is using and then implement them onto your website.
To find those keyword ideas, you can use the “Google Keyword Planner” as a start. This is a free tool that you can access by logging into your Google Adwords Account.
The perfect keyword is going to be one that has a decent amount of monthly search volume – which is the amount of people using that keyword in Google search per month. There is no point ranking for a keyword that no one is using. However you also need to keep in mind that if a keyword receives a huge amount of traffic then it is going to be harder to rank for that keyword as it is more competitive.
- Implement Keyword/s
The next step is to implement that keyword that you have found from your keyword research. It is very important to note that you only want to target one main keyword per page on your website.
So you have your chosen keyword, now to implement it onto one of your website pages. You want to include the keyword in the following places on your webpage:
- In the webpage URL if it is possible;
- In the H1 heading and the title on your page
- In the file name and the alt tag of your image; and
- In the actual content on your page, preferably at the beginning of the very first sentence and then again in the last paragraph on the page. You also want to use synonyms of your main keyword throughout your content.
- Meta Tags
You may know these as meta titles and meta descriptions.
You want to make sure the meta titles and meta descriptions are completed for every page of your website and every one must be unique. Your meta title must be no more than 60 characters and your meta description no more than 160 characters.
The meta title and meta description must both contain your targeted keyword for that page but also keep in mind that both of these meta tags show in the search results in Google. When someone does a search in google the results returned show an underlined heading and then text underneath. The heading is your meta title and the description underneath is your meta description. So they need to be written well and enticing to the searcher so that they want to click through to your website. Think of it as a mini-advertisement that will be shown in Google search results for your website page.
- Publish regular content
Google loves to see regular, fresh, new content published onto websites and the best way to do this is via blog posts for most businesses to assist with your SEO efforts. If you post new blog content on a regular basis Google will see that you have an active website and reward you for this by visiting your site on a regular basis to index your pages, which means more chances of ranking in Google search results.
The content of your posts need to be relevant to your business and to your prospective clients. It also needs to be of good quality and unique, preferably not published anywhere else on the web.
These 4 steps will get you started with the SEO on your website. In my opinion, SEO should be at the top of the list when it comes to online marketing for most businesses. Are your prospective clients or customers looking for what you offer in search engines on the web? If so, than SEO needs to be one of your top priorities.
The second strategy we are going to look at is Email Marketing.
Email marketing is the process of collecting email addresses so that you have a database of prospective clients to communicate with on a regular basis.
Once again, most businesses benefit from this strategy, whether you are service based, product based or a local business. You just need to formulate a strategy that will work for your business.
The best way to build your email database is to offer something of value in exchange for email addresses and there are so many options here. You need to offer something that your ideal clients or customers are going to want plus it also needs to be something that relates in with what you offer so that you know you are getting people subscribe that are genuinely interested in what you offer.
Another good way to look at it is, what is the journey clients or customers are on just before they buy what you are offering? What is a problem they have or what information are they looking for. Tie your optin offer around that so that you capture their details just before they are ready to buy. This will give you more chance of turning them into paying customers.
Some examples of what you can offer depending on your business are:
- Discount vouchers
- Free shipping vouchers
- eBook or PDF
- Video Series
- Cheatsheet
- Checklist
- Quiz
- Webinar
- Challenge
In many instances you need a couple of options so that you can test which one works the best for your target audience.
Once you have this created, you then need a system to collect the email addresses and automate the optin sign-up process for you.
These are known as email marketing services. Some of the popular ones are Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Infusionsoft and Ontraport.
Once you have it all set up and ready with your optin offer you then need to integrate it with your other online marketing efforts in order to promote it so that you can draw people in to optin and provide their email address to you.
You then need to communicate with the people on your email list on a regular basis. Provide them with valuable information and lead them on a journey so that they hopefully end up becoming paying customers. You may have heard this process called a sales funnel or marketing funnel.
The third strategy we are going to look at is Content Marketing.
I touched on this briefly when I discussed SEO and while content marketing assists greatly with your SEO efforts it is also a very effective marketing strategy. Content marketing is publishing content on the web in order to build authority and provide valuable information. Content marketing can be in the form of blog posts on your own website, guest blogging on other sites, podcasts, videos, infographics or ebooks. Think of it as providing valuable content and information to your ideal clients.
A problem people find is what to blog about or what to create content about. Start making a list so you have topics at hand ready to go. Think about common problems your clients have, can you give the information that they are looking for, what questions do you get asked regularly. Also go onto forums and look around social media, and see what your ideal clients are asking there as well. Are there questions that come up that you could address as part of a blog post.
Your blog posts then need to be marketed in order to attract people to your website to read them. So it needs to be co-ordinated in with your other online marketing strategies. For example once you create a blog post you may choose to advise people of the new content via your email newsletter and also promote it on social media (which we will get to shortly). You also want to make sure each post is search engine optimised so that it will be visible in Google search results.
Guest posting on other blogs is also a great way to expand your reach. You want to look for blogs that accept guest posts, and those that have a similar target market and audience to you without being direct competitors. When you create a guest blog post it is normal for you to provide a link at the end of the post so that people can click through to your website and find out more. You could also mention your free optin that you offer on the guest blog post.
Are you starting to see how your online marketing efforts can integrate easily with each other? You are using one to promote another and they all work in sync with each other.
Lastly we are going to look at Social Media.
I have purposely left social media to last because this can be the most overwhelming of all. There are so many options and there are new ones popping up all the time.
This is where it becomes really important to know your ideal client or customer really well. You need to know where on social media they are spending a large majority of their time and this is where you need to be as well. There is no point being really active on Twitter, for example, if this isn’t where your ideal clients are hanging out.
Once you are clear on where they are hanging out, you then need to formulate a plan.
How often are you going to post, what are you going to post, how much time are you going to spend interacting, and how are you going to interact?
You need to be clear on this before you get started otherwise you are going to waste a lot of time just bumbling around social media and getting distracted. Believe me, I am talking from experience.. Set time limits and stick to them.
You also need to monitor the interaction on your posts and what days and times work best so that you can post at the times when more of your audience are online and interacting with you content.
It does take time to tweak this and get it right and it can change on a regular basis so it is important to continually monitor the results.
So lets look at a few options with your social media.
We have Facebook – and with Facebook you have pages and groups for business opportunities. A huge percentage of the population now uses Facebook in some form so there is a high chance that your potential clients are hanging out on Facebook. Profiles on Facebook are for you personally. For you business you need to have a Facebook page. There is lots of talk that it is hard to get people to see the posts you make on your Facebook page and this is definitely true.
But I still believe that Facebook pages are essential and need to be maintained. There are studies that show if people are researching you online they will either look at your website or look at your social media profiles and Facebook is at the top of the list with your website.
So it needs to be updated with fresh content.
But you do need to get strategic and discover what is going to work best for your business.
Don’t just do what someone else has told you works well and assume it will work for you as this isn’t always the case. Social media, as with all online marketing, is a continual testing process. Even what works for you this month may not work in a couple of months time.
Facebook groups are also a fabulous opportunity for a lot of businesses. Join Facebook groups that consist of members that could be potential clients. Don’t go into the group with the intention of selling, but go in there to add value and help people and this will build your profile and make people aware of the knowledge you have around a certain topic or area.
You also have other social media platforms such as Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Google+.
One thing that is working exceptionally well across the board at the moment, and it is anticipated to be the future of online marketing, and that is video. We now see video live streaming on Facebook, Instagram stories, Snapchat and Periscope that are getting huge exposure and reach. Plus YouTube is still the 2nd largest search engine behind Google so it makes sense to have visibility there as well.
With social media, you also have paid advertising. I highly recommend that you only start running paid ads once you have the complete strategy in place so that you have a specific end goal and you can see exactly what your return on investment is. Start of small with your advertising budget, test and measure the results and then slowly increase your spend as you know what is working.
Know all your numbers and stats so that you can make informed decisions.
Your Website
The last thing I want to touch on is your website. Even if you are just starting out and you are on tight budget you do need a professional looking website. No matter what your business is, prospective clients will check you out first on the web before deciding whether to do business with you. You don’t need to spend a fortune to have something up but please ensure it is well-written and is using a professional looking platform.
You need to also have clear messaging on our website and have a strategy.
For example, your email optin should be visible on just about every page of your website so that no matter how people find your site and which page they land on you have the opportunity to collect their email details so that you can continue to communicate with them.
So I hope that this has helped you get clear on the strategies you need to be implementing in your business so that you can attract your ideal clients or customers online.
Online marketing is a continual process and should be implemented weekly, if not daily, into your business.
And it definitely isn’t something that you just think about when you have something new to offer or sell.
The true purpose of online marketing is to build up a loyal following of people that know, like and trust you. If you do this then the sales will naturally follow. Sometime in the future, your followers will purchase from you plus they will become a great source of word-of-mouth referrals.
Introducing the Women’s Business Growth Academy
And if this all sounds fabulous and you want someone to work along side you to get this all up and running for your business then I would love to have you join me in the Online Marketing Business Success Academy. The Academy is a 6 month program and is a mix of online training, coaching, mentoring and mastermind.
Over the 6 months we will have 3 in person events so that we can get to know each other and I will actually sit with you at your laptop and get everything I teach you implemented and working.
At the end of the 6 months you can be certain that your entire online marketing will be created and running and working for you. So think your website completely search engine optimised, sales funnels created, email marketing automated and content marketing being promoted effectively. Plus you will form life-long friendships with other like-minded women in business.
For more information you can go to www.womensbusinessgrowthacademy.com and please send me a message if you would like more information or we can have a chat to determine if the program will benefit you or not. No hard sell, just truthful and honest advice.
We kick off the academy in July, however the first set of workshops are being held in June in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. These workshops will give you the opportunity to do some deep business planning as well as making life-time connections with other business owners.
This 6-month program is truly the program I wish I had had access to when I first started out in business. It would have saved me so much time and money on implementing things that didn’t work. Come and learn from my lessons and fast-track your business success.
So jump over to www.womensbusinessgrowthacademy.com to learn more and I would love to have you join me. And as a fast action bonus, if you enrol before Monday 22nd May you will also receive an additional 1:1 45 minute coaching call with me.
Plus you will also receive 12 months complimentary membership to my online marketing membership program, the Webonize Inner Circle.
These bonuses disappear on Monday 22nd May so don’t miss out and jump in now.
I would love to hear your thoughts...