Bonafide Marketing Genius

What is Online Marketing and How Can I Succeed?

The term “online marketing” covers all of the techniques and tactics used to attract customers to a business’ website. It includes everything from SEO (search engine optimization) to PPC (pay-per-click advertising) to email marketing. No matter what platform you choose, you will eventually need to learn how to market online.

Many businesses don’t realize the importance of online marketing and the impact it can have on their bottom line. In fact, according to HubSpot Blogs research, 41% of respondents said that their biggest challenge was attracting customers through online channels.

But putting in the effort and learning the correct strategies can help you succeed.

Find Your Niche

One of the first things you should do is figure out your niche. What is your target audience and what are they searching for?

Your niche is the area of expertise you and your business can uniquely and confidently contribute to. It’s helpful to think of your niche as a ‘slice of life’ with just a few recognizable themes. When searching for something online, customers will often type in the keywords corresponding to their niche and the websites with the most engagement (content that is most relevant and interesting to users) will rise to the top. When choosing a niche, make sure that there is enough demand for your product or service in your target market. You can use free tools like Google Trends to easily find the popularity of any niche or topic.

Get Inspired

To become an expert at online marketing, you need to be constantly thinking of new and innovative ways to attract customers to your site. The best way to achieve this is by getting inspired. When an idea strikes you, jot it down on a piece of paper and get to work.

But where do you find these ideas? The simplest and most effective way is to look at other successful businesses around you. If you run a quick Google search on “online marketing”, you should be able to identify numerous websites that can teach you the ropes. By studying these sites and their marketing strategies, you will be able to develop your own unique plan to succeed in the online world.

When choosing which websites to study, be sure to focus on those that have the most engaging content. From there, you can find out what works best for your business and implement it. Keep in mind though, that no two businesses are alike; therefore, what may work for one brand may not work for another.

SEO Is Key

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your website’s online visibility in search engine results. To achieve top search rankings and drive traffic to your website, you need to incorporate SEO strategies into your content strategy. The better you perform in SEO, the more visits your website will receive from customers searching for your products or services.

There are basically four main components to an effective SEO strategy: 1) On-site SEO; 2) Off-site SEO; 3) Content strategy; and 4) Link building. Let’s explore each of these in detail.

On-site SEO

On-site SEO refers to all of the strategies and tactics you use to improve the user experience on your website. Your on-site SEO strategy should revolve around three key questions:

1. How can I improve the user experience on my website?

The answer to this question will depend on your business. If you are selling luxury goods, you might want to consider implementing a few minimalist strategies, such as removing features that are not essential for conducting business and streamlining the checkout process. You can also use analytics to track the activities of your website’s visitors and determine what elements of the site are causing them to encounter the most difficulty while browsing through its pages.

The simpler and more streamlined the website’s experience is, the better. Minimalism and streamlined design can help drive more traffic to your website and enhance your online presence.

2. How can I make my website easily discoverable by customers?

The second question you need to ask yourself is “how can I make my website easily discoverable by customers?” You want to ensure that your website is placed in the top of a user’s search results if they are searching for a business like yours. You can use SEO tools like Google Analytics to track the keywords users are using to find your business and use that information to determine what content you should focus on creating.

You also want to use the right keywords throughout your copy in a natural and balanced manner. If a user searches for your business but finds poorly written and distracting content on another website, you will never reach that customer. A poorly performing SEO campaign can do more harm than good.

3. What is the ideal target audience for my business?

The third question you want to ask yourself is “what is the ideal target audience for my business?” The better you understand your target audience’s needs and challenges, the better you will be able to craft an effective SEO strategy that will help grow your business.

Your target audience is defined as “the person, group, or community that you intend to reach with your product or service.” To find your target audience, you should first and foremost identify who they are. This will help determine what elements of the site need to be changed to improve your user experience. Once you have determined the demographics, you can choose from several distinct groups to target. Here are some examples of target audiences and their associated search keywords:

  • Baby and Toddler Clothing: babygrowsforsale.com
  • Men’s Accessories: mensaccessories.com
  • Menswear: menswear.com
  • Fashion Accessories: fashionaccessories.com
  • Women’s Accessories: womensaccessories.com
  • Grooming Products for Women: womensbeautyproducts.com
  • Men’s Watches: menswatches.com

Include keywords throughout your copy on your website and in your social media posts to increase your organic search rankings. If you are already using relevant keywords in your content, take a little bit of extra time and add some variations of those words to your URLs (uniform resource locators, or http://www.website.com/watch-mens-watches-c-23.html). This will help drive traffic to your site from the web search engines.

4. How do I track the performance of my SEO strategy?

The fourth question you need to ask yourself is “how do I track the performance of my SEO strategy?” You want to be able to determine whether or not your efforts are paying off in terms of increased organic search traffic to your site. You can use several tools to track the performance of your SEO strategy, but one of the simplest and most effective strategies is to use SEM (search engine marketing) reporting tools. These tools track all of your search traffic including the keywords and the countries it comes from. You can also set up automated email campaigns to send you weekly or monthly reports on the performance of your SEO strategy.

Include this information on your website along with a statement indicating how many people opened up product information or made a purchase after being exposed to your site. This will give you an indication of whether or not your SEO strategy is working as planned.

Off-site SEO

Off-site SEO refers to all of the strategies and tactics you use outside of your website to improve the user experience for customers who are not actively browsing the internet. For example, if you are running a search marketing campaign on Google, you would use the keywords generated by that campaign in the content of your website, online stores, and social media platforms.

There are several tactics you can implement, but you should focus on building a strong foundation first. One of the simplest and most effective strategies is to link out to reputable and authoritative sources of information that are relevant to your niche. A good off-site SEO strategy increases your website’s overall discoverability and raises your ranking in the search engines.

Choose websites and blogs that are authoritative in your niche and contribute useful information to your target audience. If you are looking for an easy way to find links, you can use free tools like Google’s Webmaster Tools to easily find links to your website. There are also paid tools like Scout from Ahli SEO that can help you find relevant blogs and websites to contribute to.