New to digital marketing? Website not getting the clients or sales you want? Need additional sources of income with little to no capital? Wondering what an SEO company is but no one's giving you a direct answer?
The good news is there’s so much you can do on the Internet. Your field of expertise doesn’t matter either. There’s no need to go to such lengths like getting a loan or borrowing money from somewhere to fund your online business. Just stick with what you know.
Where to begin? If you’re in a hurry and don't want to deal with learning curves, then digital marketing, of course.
You don’t have to be an expert to make digital marketing work. The Internet already provides you with what you need from social media accounts to articles and electronic books on digital marketing strategies to affordable SEO services to e-commerce platforms – basically everything has been laid out and the rest is up to you.
Before you go out there and make your business happen, it is important to understand that digital marketing takes time. You won't profit from it overnight. Many factors can make or break your online business. Your efforts pay off in the long run depending on how consistent you are.
So have you decided to make money and get the name of your brand or company through digital marketing? Note the following takeaways:
Promote Products and Services on Social Media
Most social networks are absolutely free. If you’re thinking of putting up an online business, it’s one of the best places to start. When used the right way and creatively, social media can be a powerful revenue-generating tool that can earn you thousands – nay, even millions. Ask famous YouTubers, Instagrammers and Snapchat celebrities how much they’re earning and you’ll be shaking your head in disbelief.
Here are ways you can generate revenue through social media:
Becoming a social media influencer
In 2017, social media influencers in the fitness industry earned between $3,000 and $25,000 for every sponsored post. According to Forbes, paid partnership posts can command approximately $5000 per post for Instagrammers with more than 100,000 followers. Social media earnings derived from sponsorship or advertisements increase as your followers or video views (in the case of YouTube) increase.
Setting up a business page
But becoming a social media influencer isn’t really for everyone. Sometimes it's more convenient to just sell products or services online without having to create an online persona for audiences. One cost-efficient way to use social media is to create a business page on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Google and Twitter. These social media platforms can be customised to suit the needs of entrepreneurs, particularly start-ups with limited budget.
Business pages are handy because you can use them in lieu of an e-commerce site or informative website. Customers or clients can send you a direct message if they’re interested in the products or services you’re offering. You can also embed a video or share links about your website, blog or online store on your own business page.
Online advertising
You can also promote your products or website through pay-per-click ads. You can set up the ad through your own business page (available on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Google AdWords). PPC advertising is advantageous for businesses that know and understand their target markets. Ads let you set your preferred demographics. All you need to do is define your target age group and gender and specify how frequently and what time of the day you want your ad to run. The ad will be shown to your chosen targets based on your preferred exposure frequency and running time.
Building your online reputation
Don’t just start blindly, however. Having a business plan, no matter how big or small your business is, will take you a long way. It may sound silly to describe your company, formulate your mission-vision or list down your products and services. Reputation is often backed up by useful information. What customers usually want to know are along those lines.
Moreover, you need such information for your business page or profile. It's your duty to inform target markets that your business is legitimate and capable of providing the products and services they need. So plan your business image, get the details straight and build an honest yet convincing reputation on social media. Rest assured, you will earn the trust and business of your target market.
Increase Your Online Visibility with SEO
Got a blog, a website or an online store? If you have one but it's not making money or getting comments or inquiries, here's a simple solution: SEO.
These days you can’t talk about digital marketing without mentioning search engine optimisation (SEO). SEO has crept into the forefront of digital marketing that it’s now hard to separate one from the other. For starters, SEO helps your blog, website or online store rank high on search engine results. Higher ranking means higher chances of getting more clicks and traffic to your site.
When it comes to SEO, you can do two things. First, learn the trade and do it yourself. Second, if you can't spare the time, hire the services of an affordable SEO company. Choosing the latter would mean you have the budget for it and are willing to invest in SEO to increase ROI.
If you start your own SEO campaign, the steps aren’t hard. SEO is fuelled by quality content, quality links, well-researched keywords and other technicalities necessary to increase user engagement in a web page or site. There is more to SEO than just these elements but the basics are easy to understand even for starters.
Here are simple ways to kick off your own SEO campaign (and we're trying to give you the simplest of the bunch):
Do keyword research
Keyword research means studying and evaluating which words or phrases frequently searched online are relevant to your business. Using the right keywords will bring your site more traffic and clicks from interested users. You can search the right keywords for your business with the help of free SEO tools. Popular keyword research tools include Google Keyword Planner, Bing Web Tools, SEM Rush, WordStream and KWFinder.
Free tools have limited features but you can always upgrade to a premium account to access more advanced features. If you allocation enough budget, you can also access perks designed to fast track your optimisation efforts. Remember to avoid using too many broad keywords and prioritise specific keywords. When your business reaches a level of stability, you can move on to more challenging keywords. Choose at least 10 keywords that reflect the nature of your business and represent your products or services.
Populate your website with quality content
You know your niche better than anyone. If you want people to take an interest in your website, blog or online store, add engaging content where necessary. Quality, engaging content revolves around your customers and their needs. Highlighting the benefits of your products and services will give your content more value. It must also set their expectations straight and encourage them to provide feedback.
Create links to and from your website
Building links is basic for anyone who goes into SEO. The purpose of a link is to increase a website's chances of getting seen. Your website must link to other pages within and outside of your main site to get more ranking points on search engine results. Having links on secure and reputable websites such as .edu and .gov can greatly boost your site's search results appearance.
Install an interactive web design
You're now doing digital marketing. What's next? Build a website.
But don't just build a website for the sake of having one. Remember that a website is your gateway to the world. If you've done enough SEO, people from all walks of life and from any location will get to see your site. That is why it is important to build an interactive and responsive website, accessible through any browser or device. Moreover, understand what layout, functionalities and navigation style create a good experience for your users.
Get into Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing seems like a whole new universe to those who are not familiar with it. It sounds complicated and daunting, but once you become an affiliate marketer, you realize that this type of marketing is no different from reselling or commission-based marketing.
In a nutshell, you sell someone else’s product and get a commission or a percentage for every product sold. The method for selling isn’t set in stone. Some companies with affiliate programs provide their affiliates with referral links they can use in any manner they want.
Affiliate marketers often use these methods to sell the products or services of another company or brand:
1. Create their own website or landing page and resell other products and services as if their own. 2. Embed banner ads on their website or blog where visitors could easily see and click them; visitors will then be redirected to a page where these products are sold. 3. Write reviews about the products on their blog or a well-known content management platform (reviews contain their referral links)Create Informative Videos and Upload Them on Video Sharing Sites
In recent years, video blogging or “vlog” has taken the online community by storm. The advent of YouTube and video streaming sites paved the way for netizens to explore vlogging. Through video sharing platforms, they are able to express themselves and share real experiences. Vlogs are effective because they're live action content you can confirm with your senses and therefore more tangible.
Why is it called vlogging, you ask? A vlog functions like a blog in that it tells a story and caters to a specific audience. The only difference is that while the former is purely visual content, the latter is fuelled by encoded words, imagination and personal perception. Regardless, both vlogs and blogs are content-oriented and consumers can obtain useful information from either platform.
You might want to create information-driven videos to spread the word about your new business. Use your videos to communicate with your potential customers and not just because it's trendy. In any given society, majority tend to spend more time on visual activities such as watching movies and reading comics. They'd rather see a story unfold before their eyes than spend hours reading and imagining a story.
Videos: A Kind of Visual Marketing
Studies show that people are naturally responsive to visual marketing because you can instantly process and understand it. Our brains have always been wired that way. Colours, movements and facial expressions stimulate the brain in ways plain words could not. In fact it takes only 13 milliseconds to understand an image – that's ten times faster than processing written content!
This goes without saying that video content is crucial to digital marketing. Research conducted by Eyewide Digital shows that a landing page with video can raise your conversion rate to 80%. Which means if you want better sales, don't forget to create videos for your digital marketing campaign.
Word to wise, though. When creating videos for your audience, don't be hung up on the idea of going viral. Just focus on consistently sharing information about your business. That's how potential clients and other people get to know you. The information you put out helps customers assess whether it's worth their time doing business with you.
Write an Electronic Book for Your Customers
Imagine this scenario. You've just built your company. Your website is good to go. All your product and service packages are up for grabs. There's so much you want to say about your business but neither a blog or a web page seem adequate.
The solution? Write an e-book.
Publishing an engaging e-book that answers customers' frequently asked questions gives the impression that your company is an industry stakeholder. It's an effective way of showing to your existing and potential customers that they can trust your business.
To start an e-book, gather all relevant data concerning your customers. Go through your feedback form. List down the questions and concerns frequently raised. If you can't think of a subject, try exploring content discovery sites like Buzzsumo, Flipboard and Tagboard. Come up with topics your competitors have ignored. Your customers will see more value if you let them download your e-book for free.
E-book conversions, thanks to the rise of smartphones, have continued to soar since 2012.
SEO Company Australia
Truth be told, digital marketing is not a walk in the park. When you decide to pursue it, you need to see it through to the end. A digital entrepreneur with half-baked motivation loses the battle before it's even begun.
However, if you're serious about digital marketing but just can't get your head around it, call an SEO company. You're a new player in the industry without any tools to back you up. How can you make your way to the top? Don't think for a minute all those established companies got to where they are now without help.
With an affordable SEO company behind you, it won't be long before your business takes off. Digital Muscle, an SEO company trusted by small-medium businesses, will guide you and show you the right way to do online marketing. Visit https://www.digital-muscle.com.au/ for more information about affordable SEO services Sydney.
