A powerful marketing tool if you understand how to use it, the Internet continues to change and evolve on a daily basis. While most of us know the Internet is a far cry from where it was even a decade ago, there are people who still take an old fashioned approach to their online efforts. The problem is that Google continues to change what works and if you want to continue to move forward with your business, then you need to be prepared to change with the times.
Here are some tips on boosting your efforts online for your business:
Automate Menial Tasks
You should be spending the bulk of your time on ?big ideas? and producing great content. So, if you find yourself performing menial repetitive tasks on a daily basis, you should really be thinking about how to automate those tasks to free up your time for more important matters. There are many ways you can go about automating your workflow. You can use MS Office macros for spreadsheet automation if you?re crunching a lot of numbers on a regular basis. If you?re comfortable programming a little bit, there are automation software options available on the market like Ubot Studio that can help automate tedious or repetitive browser tasks. This site has some tutorials on getting started with that stuff. There are also services that connect different APIs to streamline an event or task. How you automate your workflow will largely depend on what it is you?re trying to do.
Make a Marketing Plan
One of the best things you can do is to plan a course of action with social media marketing. For most companies, it doesn?t make sense to be on every network out there. Instead, pick the ones that make sense for your business like Facebook or Twitter and build a respectable presence there. Keeping in mind that some social media sites make more sense to utilize for some companies than they may with others. For example, a new cutting edge startup will likely use Twitter as a marketing tool over Myspace. This becomes a part of your company?s eco-sphere and it?s important that you learn the language of the land.
As part of your Internet marketing approach, you will also need to ensure that you are seriously considering all the ways that you can boost traffic to your website. This is an evolving process and you need to be working on it daily. You will also want to look at your site and its usability to ensure that your users are having a positive experience and will engage with you further. Ensure that your website is easy to use so that sales become an automated process. Customers also tend to avoid sites that haven?t been updated for long periods of time, as this is typically a sign that you have given up on things, so keep it fresh!
Devote some time to building your content and schedule it automatically using a scheduler (WordPress has one built into it). Be sure that you routinely tweet or post updates on your social media and ensure that people can see you are still as passionate as ever when it comes to your online business.
Email Marketing is Crucial
Another area to focus on that can help you to boost your online marketing efforts is e-mail marketing. You want customers to sign up for your newsletter and to ensure that they are getting all the offers that you have available to them. Just make sure you aren?t spamming your customers and give them a continued incentive to ensure that they remain committed to keeping their subscription active. After all, one false move can cost you a considerable list that took you a long time to build.
Getting this list together can be as simple as giving them an incentive to join in the first place. This means coming up with incentives that are going to save them money or connect them with free offers that no one else will have access to. Typically, coupon codes and discounts that are limited to those who subscribe are a great start, as well as free guides, reports, and other pertinent information.
Keeping Your Subscribers Interested
When you have them hooked, make sure that your content remains easy to understand and that you have a purpose for each of the posts you make. With that, don?t make false promises or string people along. Eventually, they will grow tired of your hype and they may move on to other companies that are going to deliver what they are looking for. Ideally, you will want to send a single e-mail at least once a week to keep you in the forefront of your subscriber?s minds.
Of course, driving traffic through email marketing or other means won?t do much if your content is stale or subpar. Don?t worry as much about keywords and search engine optimization. Instead, let the quality of your posts help your business shine. What you will find in 2014 and beyond is that the quality of content you are producing and placing on your website will have more bearing than ever. Create great content, utilize your core readership as foot soldiers to promote your content and soon enough your efforts will begin to compound.
Above all, remember to have fun. As you begin to work on your online marketing, remember that you first began this journey because you were passionate about the process and found it to be a lot of fun. Keep that passion for the process alive in all that you do and you should find that your efforts online are going to be worthwhile. It takes just a little time to make an impact and when you keep all the above-mentioned tips in mind, your website is going to be on the way to exceeding your expectations, thanks to the time and effort that you are putting into your marketing efforts.
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