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Friday 6 April 2018

Our Picks: Digital Marketing Techniques




Like many business owners, you too probably understand the importance of marketing within your business. Because without marketing, who would see your products/services right?

Well with the large increase towards online businesses, worldwide shipping and of course social media; the digital marketing world has exploded. Now this can be quite a challenge for those who don't understand digital marketing, or just cannot find the time to create these strategies.

Digital Marketing strategies include:

  • Ad networks
  • Ad swaps
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Banners
  • Blogging
  • Email marketing
  • Mobile marketing
  • Online classified marketing
  • Pay per click (PPC)
  • Rich media advertising
  • SEO (Search engine optimisation)
  • Social media advertising (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc)


Now of course, running all of these at once would be beneficial to your business, but in the early stages, it may all just seem a little too overwhelming. So here is a break down of "Our Picks for online marketing techniques" perfect for a start up business.


Website

The first step to any viable business that you will be advertising online is a good website, with even better content. There are many different programs you can use to create a website yourself such as Wix, Shopify, or Wordpress. You can also hire a web developer if your budget allows for it.

SEO

Now that you have an appealing website, you need to work on SEO; Otherwise known as search engine optimization, this is a key element to ensuring your websites visibility in search engines when potential customers are searching for your products or services. 

A few places that help your business achieve a higher ranking in search engines are 

  1. Google Trends is a go to tool when searching for seo options, which provides you with keyword popularity. By using this tool correctly you are able to determine the keywords in which have the potential to drive more traffic to your website
  2. Blogs and forums are on the rise, with more people turning to online blogs and forums for information, and opinion. 
  3. Link Building and Back linking is a heavily used term in the digital marketing world, and for good reason. By having other websites link to yours you are creating back links. One of the biggest issues that newbies find is "quality back links", there is little to no point in creating back links if they aren't going to be beneficial to you.
  4. Business directories are a fantastic place to start when looking to expose your business to a larger audience, and there are many to choose from.
  5. Social media is a free way to target large amounts of people in a fairly short amount of time. These posts can be sponsored by paying for ads through your selected social media source of choice. (For that extra boost in reach)
For those looking at this list with a question mark over there head. There are of course companies that do all of this for you and save you the hassle. The HOTH for example is a fully automated SEO service that develops strategies targeted to your particular business.


Email Marketing


This is an old tool, but a good tool. By collecting emails on your website you are able to provide both potential and current customers with any updates on your business, sales you may be having, etc. Generally having this information is quite a large factor for many businesses. As one of the major reasons that websites don't receive return visitors is because they "forget you exist"

A general rule for email marketing is to keep each newsletter, informative, interesting and always offer your subscribers something for their loyalty. This could be a simple discount code available only to subscribers. Thus keeping your current subscribers happy, and encouraging new subscribers at the same time.
In terms of frequency of newsletters, this all depends on the products you are sending. We have all signed up for a newsletter only to see an email arrive in our inbox on a daily basis. Which could be quite annoying in turn causing customers to unsubscribe or just not open the emails to begin with. However in some cases, if the information is valuable enough to the customer, daily emails are not a worry. So this is where you will need to do your research on the niche you are in, to decide the frequency of your newsletters.

There are many different programs that can be used for email marketing, some of the more popular options due to ease of application are:


Social Media


Of course using our social platforms for free advertising can be extremely beneficial, because its FREE! Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, Twitter etc be used in various ways to promote your products/services. I find that offering viewers a reason to share your post such as: 
  • Creating informative/funny videos 
  • Give away/ Competition
  • Engaging content
  • Quotes
Can be a fantastic way to reach a larger target audience online. Using appropriate hashtags can be quite effective also on specific platforms.

If you are looking for a quicker turn around, and happy to fork out a little cash, then opt into ads. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram all have ads programs to help you reach your target audience in a faster amount of time.


Now if you clicked on this blog to begin with, its probably because you wanted to hear about our picks. There are so many programs and companies offering valuable tools to help increase the reach of your business. These are just a few of our favorites.


TOP 5

1- Benchmark- A modern interface to create eye catching, and professional email marketing or newsletters. This program is suitable for all user levels from beginner to intermediate and offers a vast range of automation tools.





Start a Free Plan

2- The Hoth-  SEO solutions for all sized companies, allowing for ease of website ranking online. If search engine optimization is not your strong suit, then this may be the program for you. 



3- Ninja Outreach- Another well known email marketing company. Ninja outreach claims to help connect you with your niche audience by creating stunning advertising campaigns. One beneficial aspect of this company, is that they offer a 14 day trial.


NinjaOutreach free 14 day trial

4- Shopify- With numerous built in apps available, shopify has quickly become the number one website builder for E-commerce websites. This particular site has made it to our list because of the in app features. Both free and paid options available and the ability to integrate various applications into your website.




5- Wix- With the option of free web design, if you are happy to use a wix web address initially then this is probably a good option for you. The drop and drag options make it extremely easy to use even for a complete newbie! 





With the five picks we have just listed, you will be able to easily integrate applications into your website, get search engine optimization help, nail your email marketing and focus on the sales of your business. 

Now although this just touches the surface in terms of digital marketing, and there are other factors such as click funnels, affiliates, deep linking and many other in depth marketing techniques, we decided that today would focus on those getting their first touch of the digital world.


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