It is estimated that by the year 2020, over half of all internet users will be searching for information online. This means that more people than ever are relying on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! to meet their daily needs for information and resources.

If you’re reading this, I assume that you’re familiar with the concept of online marketing and the many ways that it can benefit your business. If not, you might want to consider reviewing the basics of online marketing and how to use it to grow your business.

While there’s no denying that there are many perks to running an online business, it’s important to keep in mind the responsibilities that come with this new model. Are you prepared to take the time to learn and establish strong online marketing foundations to grow your business?

The Basics Of Online Marketing

To understand what exactly online marketing is, you need to know a little bit about the traditional marketing model. Most businesses rely on marketing to generate leads, grow their audiences, and encourage them to make purchases. The difference with online marketing is that much of it can be done without leaving the comfort of your home. Thanks to tools like Google AdWords, you can test and optimize your marketing campaigns from the comfort of your laptop.

Traditional marketing is still very relevant, especially when it comes to brand awareness and driving sales. However, the most effective and efficient methods of marketing are now available to businesses of all sizes.

The Importance Of Building A Baseline

The first step to effective online marketing is establishing a baseline for you and your business. This means getting a handle on the performance of your previous marketing campaigns and activities. It’s essential to understand what worked well and what needs to be changed to improve your results.

You can use your baseline to analyze the performance of different campaigns, products, and promotions. It might also be a good idea to look into the performance of different locations or time periods to see how campaigns have changed over time. For example, did your conversion rate greatly improve after you increased your ad campaign’s budget? Or did it increase significantly after you added a blog to your strategy?

You can also use your baseline to identify patterns in your marketing results. Do you see a direct correlation between engaging content and improved SEO results? Are video and mobile assets performing better than still images?

Evaluating, Measuring, And Optimizing Your Marketing Activity

Once you have a clear idea of how your previous marketing activities and campaigns performed, you can begin to evaluate, measure, and optimize your next campaign. This process begins with establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) for different aspects of your marketing activity. It’s important to remember that different industries require different KPIs, so you might want to consider what metrics work best for your niche. 

Once you have your KPIs, you can use tools like Google Analytics to track the behavior of your audience and the effectiveness of your marketing activity. It’s also important to regularly check your social media accounts to see how your content is performing, as well as review your website’s analytics to get a snapshot of how visitors are interacting with your content.

How To Use This To Your Benefit

If you’re still reading, I assume that you’re looking for ways to apply this knowledge to grow your business. Luckily, there are many and it’s fairly simple to do.

The first step is to determine the goal of your online marketing activity. Do you want to attract more customers to your website? Do you want to generate more leads? Do you want to grow your social media accounts? 

Once you know your goals, you can develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your progress. Use your KPIs to evaluate your success and determine whether or not your efforts were worthwhile. If you want to improve your conversion rate, for example, you can try increasing the amount of content on your website or optimizing your social media accounts for different platforms and devices.

To learn more, you can download the complete guide to marketing with Google at http://goo.gl/gL5YEU or request a free trial at http://goo.gl/ArDtZH.