Online marketing is to stay in touch with current customers and develop loyalty, while also bring in new customers, and get more traffic to your website.
A Website
You do NOT need a complex and expensive website.
Most businesses need nothing more than a 1-5 page website that tells people a little bit about their company and products, offers contact information, collects visitor details, and perhaps offers coupons or other incentives.
You’ll need to be certain your website is optimized for search engines. Just make sure you have phrases that relate to your business in page titles and content.
It should also be professional and attractive so you can let potential customers know that your company can be trusted. If your website is poorly put together, it will give the impression that your company is shady.
Don’t use Flash! Websites should be done in HTML/CSS, but Flash should be reserved only for minor visual elements. You want your site to be compatible in every browser!
Once you have a simple, attractive website online, it’s time to start getting traffic to it. Most of your traffic will probably come from search engines, so you’ll want to make sure you have important keywords in your page titles and content to help people find your site in search engine.
You’ll also want to make sure your site shows up when someone searches for the name of your business, so you’ll have to craft your page titles carefully.
1. Local SEO
Google (the number one search engine in the world) displays local results before standard listings, and you should submit your business to their local business search specifically or your company won’t appear there.
If you want your business to appear in these results, you should submit your business using this form:
http://www.google.com/local/add
2. Directories
When you search for local businesses is that a lot of directories usually show up.
Since these sites all appear on the first page, you would definitely want to make sure your business was listed in all of them.
Always do a search for the top keywords for your business and make sure you get your company listed in every directory that shows up in the first two or three pages of results.
3. Social Marketing
Social marketing is potentially a fantastic tool if your major demographic is happening to be under 40. Facebook and Twitter are both great for keeping in touch with your customers. Set up a fan page on Facebook and get your company a Twitter account. Then start adding friends by searching for people in your local area.
4. Offline Marketing
Great Place to promote your website offline:
✓ Local Newspaper
✓ Magazines
✓ Radio Ads
✓ Bulletin boards and others
5. Building List
By building an email list, you can keep in touch with both current and potential customers, reminding them of the presence of your business, and hopefully to shop with you again!
You need to get potential customers on your list, but also as many of your current customers as possible.
It’s important not only to get new customers, but also to keep existing ones loyal and happy. By building an email list, you can keep in touch with both current and potential customers, reminding them of the presence of your business, and hopefully to shop with you again!
