It doesn’t matter of every other part of your online business system is perfect, if you have no customers visiting your site, then you’re not going to make a cent!
This is why the online marketing systems and processes that you set up are so critical, for it is these that refer the traffic to your website, traffic that is the lifeblood of your business. And, just as is the case with traditional offline marketing, you are wise to employ multiple channels of message distribution to get the best results.
However, when I am asked to review online business systems that are struggling, one of the most universal issues I discover is that the online marketing systems being used are mostly ineffective, and in some cases, are totally non-existent. In this scenario, it is virtually impossible for an online business system to succeed in achieving it’s revenue objectives.
In particular, I find the following elements either severely lacking or totally absent:
- An ineffective or totally non-existent Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign that results in a business having no presence in Google’s organic search results
- Little or no social media profile, and in the case that such a profile does exist, failing to be active on it to grow a substantial follower base
- Little or no blogging; when it has been categorically proven that regular blogging improves SEO ranking considerably, attracts more leads, achieves more inbound links and increases sales conversions
- Very poor website copy that fails to engage visitors by clearly articulating that their needs and wants are well understood and that the products or services on offer are precisely those required to achieve the results they want
- No communication of a clear, concise or compelling Unique Selling Proposition (USP), either in online or offline marketing materials, which is then strongly associated with an organisations brand, website, products or services.
So if you know that you’re struggling in the online marketing area, and have accepted the sobering fact that this is costing you thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars a year in unrealised revenue, the here’s a self-education plan that will set you on the path to Online Marketing Success:
Search Engine Optimisation
Download Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide and go through it thoroughly.
This document, which is absolutely free makes it absolutely clear what you need to do on your website on an ongoing basis to give it the best chance of ranking well in Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). It covers everything that you need to get off to a good start with your SEO campaign including essential SEO basics, optimal site structures, how to optimise website content, SEO for mobile phones and different ways to effectively promote your website online. Keep this guide on your desk at all times and refer to it frequently as you attend to your daily SEO activities.
Social Media
Subscribe to Natalia Van Veen’s awesome Online Marketing Show website. Her videos, courses, interviews, case studies, industry reports, tools, plugins and white pages delve into everything you’ll ever want to know about online marketing goal setting, strategy and tactics to grow your business, including the effective use of social media platforms. You’ll soon be able to use social media in a myriad of ways to generate more traffic to your business website.
Natalia will show you how to authentically ‘join the conversation’ and master the business application of leading social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and more.
Writing Website Copy
Writing compelling website copy that will be effective in converting website visitors into buyers is no easy feat, and will require considerable time and effort on your part to master. To get you started, I would highly recommend the book Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business written by Ann Handley.
This excellent book explains in very easy to understand terms how to go about writing engaging and persuasive website copy for such essential content mediums as blogs, podcasts, videos, eBooks, webinars and more. I highly recommend it.
Writing a Compelling Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
There’s no more brutal environment within which to try to entice clicks from a Google search engine users that AdWords. And no one knows more about how to achieve a high click through rate in this unforgiving environment than Perry Marshall. And even though his book Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 1 Billion People in 10 Minutes is not specifically about how to write a USP, the simple fact is that if you can write a Google AdWords advertisement that gets a high click through rate, then you can write a super compelling USP that attracts leads in any marketing channel.
I strongly recommend this title not only for successful USP writing, but for writing effective for online audiences generally.