20 Top Tips For Marketing Your Business Online
As technology has developed and the internet has risen in prominence, online marketing for your business has never been more important. It’s said 4.6 billion people use the internet, providing endless opportunities to reach people who are looking for your offering and show them why they should choose you. And the more people you reach, the greater your chances of hitting (if not exceeding) sales targets and encouraging repeat business. The great thing about digital marketing is that there are multiple ways in which you can reach your target audience and show them how perfect you are for them. In our latest blog post, we take a look at 20 online marketing tips to help your business.
Online Marketing Tips To Help You Meet Your Target Audience – Social Media Platforms, SEO Strategy, Online Reviews & More
What follows are 20 online marketing tips to help your business find greater online success, and hopefully lead to increased online traffic, content engagement and those all important conversions – whether that’s a quote, enquiry or purchase.
1. Boost keyword rankings – If you want to be found by certain terms and phrases – say, for example – ‘’Beauty salon, Manchester’’ – then you need to ensure that you target keywords within well-written and optimised content that will provide greater chances of appearing on that all important page 1. Especially if you’re up against some tough competition with higher domain authority, or more established businesses that have a reputation within the local area. You need to make sure that you create content for your website that will help you rank. Other ways to help boost your ranking positions include:
Giving pages appropriate title tags.
Including keywords within the meta title and meta description.
Adding a H1 tag with the target keyword.
Ensuring a good keyword density.
Optimising images with relevant terms and phrases.
2. Create guest posts for relevant websites to gain backlinks and build a reputation. For example, if you run an estate agents, you may want to have your say on the current state of the housing market, and have this blog featured on property-related blogs, websites and online magazines. By including a link to your website within the blog posts, you’ll not only encourage readers to visit yours, but your domain authority will increase too.
3. Integrate internal links to help Google and other search engines learn more about the structure of your website. Aside from search engines, it will also signpost other areas of your website to users to keep them engaged, allow them to learn more about your business, and therefore get closer to the point of purchase.
4. Ensure website navigation is clear, clean and enhances the customer experience. If potential customers can’t find the information they’re after, or it’s not clear what you do and how to get in touch, then they likely won’t stay too long on your website.
5. If you have a slow site speed, see what you can do to fix it! According to Statista, only 15% of websites load at an acceptable page speed, and 37% of visitors will bounce (leave the website) should it take longer than 5 seconds to load. With 70% of customers stating that site speed influences their purchasing decisions too, it’s certainly something to sort out. 2 seconds is considered appropriate.
6. Encourage customers to write reviews of your business. With approximately 9 out of 10 customers worldwide reading reviews before deciding to try out a product or service, it’s key that yours are positive, and that potential customers can easily find them. Create pages on relevant review websites both well-known, such as Trustpilot, and those more specific to your industry. Having reviews featured in your website content is always a good shout too. Monitoring your reviews – in particular your Google reviews – is key so that any potentially negative reviews can be addressed swiftly. Don’t forget about your social media pages too.
7. If you haven’t already, start a blog. According to research by Fit Small Business, 70% of customers prefer reading blogs and articles rather than viewing ads that promote a product or service. Blogs allow you to present your expertise and knowledge on a subject, and showcase the benefits of your offering. What’s more, by regularly adding fresh content to your website, Google and other search engines will crawl and index your website more frequently, assisting with ranking positions too.
8. Create a Facebook group for those with similar interests to share their thoughts on industry relevant topics and allow your expertise to shine.
9. Create social media accounts that provide a way for customers to interact with your business, and allow you to post company updates, make announcements about special offers and post engaging content – such as images and videos.
10. Take part in that your industry offers and provide advice for any questions put toward the forum. As marketing guru Neil Patel states, ‘’Building your reputation on community forums…help people see you as an innovative thought leader in your industry.’’
11. Comment on relevant blogs and articles online, providing great insight and your take on the content. If you can write content that complements or negates it, and then add a link to that piece within the comments, this can be good for backlinks too.
12. According to HubSpot, approximately 78% of marketers find that email marketing is important to company success. Keeping your brand at the forefront of your audience’s mind will boost the chances of them remembering you’re a key option when it comes to needing a product or service you offer. Using email automation platforms such as MailChimp or Constant Contact can be useful as they include templates that can be easily edited and added to. And by integrating an email marketing strategy, you can learn more about what makes your audience tick, the types of content they’re interested in and how to serve them better.
13. If you’re a new ecommerce business, beyond your website, make use of online marketplaces, such as eBay, Amazon and Etsy. This can help you trade at a faster pace while your website climbs ranking positions, and provides other avenues in which to sell your products.
14. Make video marketing part of your strategy, and set up a YouTube page that showcases your products, services, customer case studies and events you attend – as well as goings on at the company. With Cisco stating that video content makes up over 82% of consumer online traffic, this could become a key part of your digital marketing strategy. You can monetise your YouTube videos to open up a whole new revenue stream too.
15. Automate processes for consistency and efficiency, and to ensure you’re still ahead of the game. For example, using tools such as HootSuite, you can schedule and automate social media posts across various platforms. This gets your messages out in a fraction of the time.
16. Send free samples to influencers or ask them to try out your products and services and create content – whether that be YouTube videos, Instagram posts or blogs – on behalf of your business. Search Engine Watch claims that 71% of consumers are far more likely to make a purchase based on positive recommendations from their favourite social media influencers, so it’s certainly worth a try.
17. Create a referral scheme that rewards current customers and encourages new ones to try your service.
18. Keep your business current and up to date on Google Maps, so that customers can easily find you, and the contact information they require.
19. Connect with others on LinkedIn, and use LinkedIn groups to find others in your industry and big up your business and what it could do to help.
20. Consider other services that you could incorporate within your online marketing strategy, and how these could keep your business abreast of customer trends, and always within reach. For example, PPC advertising could be a great option for ecommerce businesses, and digital PR can be useful for creating campaigns that showcase your products or services in fun and beneficial ways.
Besides Your Marketing, Have You Thought About Your Insurance?
Integrating our online marketing tips can be a fantastic way to promote your brand, as they can open up so many opportunities for wider audience engagement, new business and keep you at the forefront of clients’ minds. And though this is an exciting prospect and considering your marketing can be fun, there are other – and perhaps more serious – things to consider as well, such as insurance policies for your business. That’s where we’re on hand to help.
We have access to a selection of insurers who can provide quotes for business and cyber insurance. Currently providing insurance policies to over 900 types of trade, we are certain we can help create a suitable policy. With access to a range of reputable insurers across the UK and some great insurance deals, you can be sure that your business will be protected in a range of scenarios. For more information, please contact us on 0161 968 2030 or for your insurance quote, please click here, and we’ll be happy to help.