Do you want to know the top 5 ways to market your online business? Or maybe you’ve got an idea for a blog post and need some inspiration? We’ve got you covered bro. Before we begin, it’s important to note that although this blog post covers the basics of marketing an online business, it is not a substitute for properly trained knowledge in business or marketing.

1. Product Research

The first and most vital step to marketing any product or service is to do extensive research on the subject. You can’t expect to know everything about your product or service before you start marketing it, so you’ll need to do some research to find out what you don’t know. One of the most essential tools in this phase is the Google keyword planner. This tool plugs into Google AdWords and gives you an instant keyword report for any keyword you enter. Simply enter a keyword or phrase and get a map displaying the search volume for that specific keyword.

2. Content

If you’ve ever run a blog or website, you’ll know that content is the lifeblood of any online business. The more content you have, the more chances there are of attracting potential clients. To that end, creating high-quality content that is both unique and informative is the key to marketing successfully on the web. Fortunately, creating content that is both unique and informative isn’t as difficult as it might seem. Simply follow the 5 steps below to create perfectly content for your marketing campaign.

3. Blogging

Blogging is a fantastic way to create and disseminate content. As the name implies, a blog post is made up of content that is frequently updated and consists of an author’s viewpoint on various topics. Because of its frequent updating, a blog can be an excellent source of content for a marketing campaign. For instance, if you’ve got a blog about fashion, you can use that content to promote a clothing brand or store. If you’ve got a food blog, you can use that content to promote an eatery or restaurant.

4. Social Media

The internet is a massive place, with a great deal of content and opportunities for businesses to connect with potential customers. Two of the most popular and effective forms of social media for marketing are Twitter and Facebook. Twitter is a microblogging platform that allows you to create and distribute short (under 140 characters) status updates about yourself, your brand, and relevant topics. These updates are referred to as “tweets.” For example, if you run a fashion blog, your tweets might consist of links to relevant articles, short bios of fashion designers, or general updates about fashion trends. With more than 500 million monthly active users, Twitter is the most popular social media platform globally. The chances of someone reading your content are very high as the majority of Twitter users are engaged with the platform through tweets (statistic from Statista).

5. Online Advertising

Although blogging and social media are powerful tools for marketing, they are not the only ones. One of the most effective ways to market a business online is through online advertising. The most common forms of online advertising are paid ads on search engines such as Google and digital platforms like social media websites and blogs. With online advertising, your budget will determine how effective your campaign is. The more you spend, the more you’ll see results. However, if your budget is limited, you might not see the best results you could from your advertising investment. Nevertheless, the returns on paid advertising can be very high. For example, you might see an increase of up to 50% in traffic for a campaign that costs $500 (Statista).

So there you have it. The top 5 ways to market an online business in 2018. Remember that this is just a guide, not a substitute for proper training in business or marketing. With a little bit of research and planning, you’ll be able to successfully market your online business.