So you’ve decided to go the independent route and start an online business. Great! But how do you go about marketing your business online? Don’t worry —we’re going to tell you everything you need to know to get started.

Know Your Audience

As a business owner, you’ll be able to choose from a variety of marketing options. But before you make your decision, it’s important to understand what your target audience wants and needs. Simply put, when you know your audience better, you can tailor your offer to meet their needs. For example, if you’re trying to sell health and fitness equipment to entrepreneurs who want to reduce their work-related stress, you may want to look into hosting workshops or offering other seminars or webinars on the subject.

In addition to helping you find your target audience, the internet provides you with an opportunity to research various demographics. You can gain a better understanding of your audience’s interests through simple clicks rather than costly face-to-face surveys. Plus, with the ability to reach so many potential customers, you have the opportunity to test various marketing methods and see which works best for you.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Even if you don’t advertise on the internet, you’re sure to see a search engine result when somebody searches for your product or service. When a potential customer types in a search term that leads them to your site, they expect to see a certain number of results —typically between 3 and 5. However, on average, it takes a site about 10 months to 1 year to reach this stage. So, if you’re looking to quickly generate web traffic, then SEO is probably not for you. But if you want to see your site on the first page of a popular search engine, then the time it takes to rank is worth it.

Social Media Engagement

Many businesses consider social media to be a free promotion tool, whereas others see it as a potential source of revenue. Fortunately, you can do both. As a business owner, it’s important to develop a presence on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Doing so can greatly expand your reach and potentially lead to new business connections and customers.

On the flip side, you can take advantage of social media to engage with your present customers. Through engaging content such as blogs, podcasts, and videos, you can show your potential customers that you’re a personable, approachable business owner who is willing to communicate and connect with them.

Reputation Management

The internet is a vast place, and the opportunity to connect with thousands of potential customers is great —but so is the opportunity to lose a customer who sees you as untrustworthy or incompetent. Reputation management is a process of examining and rebalancing your online reputation. Sometimes, customers can leave you with a bad taste in their mouth after a poor customer experience. But oftentimes, it’s caused by a bad product or service that you offer. Regardless, managing your reputation is a vital part of being able to sell your products online.

Email Marketing

Just because you have a website does not mean that you have to rely on face-to-face contact to communicate with your customers. When somebody clicks on a sponsored link or buys a product that’s promoted in an email, you can bet that they’re interested in receiving more emails from you. That’s because businesses that rely solely on face-to-face contact to make sales lose about 85% of their revenue to online theft and communication gaps. So, if you want to be successful in the online world, you must learn how to use email marketing wisely.

Mobile Marketing

Thanks to the rise of the digital nomad, virtual working, and the gig economy, a whole new market segment has emerged: the mobile marketer. These are individuals who promote businesses and products through mobile marketing —whether that’s via text message, email, or social media.

As a business owner who is looking to utilize the internet to its fullest potential, you must consider mobile marketing. In some scenarios, a product or service can be offered purely through mobile channels, such as text messaging and email —and the consumer is free to opt-out at any time. So, it’s essential that you try out different marketing methods and see which ones work best for you.