What is Online Marketing?

A professional online marketer aims to assist a company meet their sales and marketing objectives. They are very much a business consultant with a wide range of technical skills.  Finding a good consultant can be tricky. Many people don't quite know what type of internet marketing services are best suited to their situation and resort to Googling for help. However, I believe there is so much conflicting opinion in blogs and forums from so called 'experts', as to the best way to generate sales leads from your business website. Much of this is hearsay and speculation. It can easily miss-lead you about the most appropriate type of online marketing operator to employ.

Many small business owners choose to retain the business services of an online marketing company, to take away the hassle. However, in such a pioneering market sector, there is virtually no regulation to prevent unscrupulous suppliers. There is also no guarantee of success, (even if you find a decent Internet marketing firm). So if you can spare some time (while coping with running the routine aspects of your business), I suggest you invest some quality time, to educate yourself about how online marketing works before employing anybody. You will need to grasp the following...

Many businesses rely entirely on the Internet as its primary sales channel for new business. There are many practical aspects of web design and search engine optimisation you can do, (at a relatively low-cost), to create an additional sales channel. However for many localised serviced based businesses, the nature of their business means that delivering a service cannot be reasonably done online. If you fall into this category, do not ignore the Internet marketing opportunity though - build a web presence! Even if you are serviced based business in a local market, creating a uncluttered 'brochure based' website can help prospects find your phone number. Many forms of conventional advertising have now been replaced by more convenient online alternatives. This is because more and more prospects rely on search engines or social networks to find the phone number of local firms. Particularly for the younger generation, many have never even glanced through a paper copy of the Yellow Pages.

The basis of organic online marketing research is to understand what 'key phrases' your target market is typing into search engines. Key phrase research is a lengthy and necessary first step. By scrutinising keyword databases online, it allows you to understand how the world is currently using search engines. This analysis will dictate the nature the articles you write your own website, and how you should organise or 'optimise' those webpage's. There are a whole series of acceptable standards for the laying out a web page or website, in order to make it 'search engine friendly'. The simplest way to understand these acceptable guidelines, is to understand Search engines own 'Webmaster Guidelines', which outlines what you should and shouldn't do. There is an incredibly delicate balance between targeting key phrases in order to create a compelling and informative business website, against the ongoing risk of being penalised or banned from a search engine, for over manipulation or 'spamming' use of key phrases.

One of the commonest forms of online marketing activities is business blogging. It means using an informal writing style on a web page. As it is casual you can communicate with them in the first person. Is a terrific way to discuss topical issues, provide expert opinion on regulatory issues affecting your niche. It is probably the easiest way to generate an up-to-date series of webpage's, to boost your website rankings. So it's vital you write blog posts on a regular basis, if you want your organic search engine positions to improve.

As the basis of most search engines ranking system, includes marks for the quantity and quality of links from other websites to your business website, you will need a link building strategy. One of the most effective strategies is 'link baiting'. It simply means creating highly compelling content on your own website - to entice other Webmasters who will naturally link to your site. There are also more traditional and automated techniques (such as reciprocal linking, article marketing, content syndication). You will need to be extremely careful which of these tactics and techniques you select. Many are now deemed as manipulative by the algorithms used by search engines. You don't want to risk your website being penalised for employing tactics which go against the guidelines of any search engine.

If you don't want to wait or spend large amounts of time developing organic search positions, an online advertising pay per click campaign will reduce time time to market. Most leading search engines primary source of income is the pay per click network which they own and operate. This allows anybody with a product or service, to advertise in the 'Sponsored Listings' section of the search engine. The most widely used one Globally is Adwords. You will notice that the pay per click adverts that appear, usually do so directly above or to the side of 'natural result's'. So by creating a series of targeted pay per click adverts within your Adwords account, you can quickly reach millions of potential customers. You will not be charged any monies up front, until a prospect clicks on your advert. You can also be reasonably confident that this prospect is mainly interested in your offering, having already typed in a highly relevant search term that you bid on.

Lastly if you are fully conversant with the current laws related to Data Protection and opt in email, using email marketing can be a highly effective use of digital online marketing. It can help you stay in touch with your existing customers, and with prospects who have opted to receive your regular newsletter. You must be especially wary of not sending any unsolicited email which could be classified as spam. Instead, remember that many people love to receive email and have explicitly asked (or 'opted in') to receive this email in the past. They prefer this communications medium, as it can be immediate, convenient and picked up from their PC or mobile device. By building up a large user base of opt-in subscribers, you have the opportunity to promote your products and services at virtually no cost and to a huge audience. Good luck with your online market ventures!