Inexpensive Online Marketing Strategies for your Business Website

Online marketing strategies vary from business to business. Depending on your products, your customers, your budget and other resources, your ideal online marketing strategy may consist of a simple website and email marketing campaign, or at the other range of the scale, may include a comprehensive website with added functionalities such as an online store, social media, blog and content marketing, community pages, etc.

The VITAL RULE here is to keep it simple… that is, as simple and straightforward as your objectives will allow! Needless to say, business owners shouldn’t invest time and money on marketing strategies they won’t use or maintain, or won’t benefit from!

Here is a list of inexpensive strategies you MAY use for your online marketing:

• Static website: a static website is used to provide information about your company and services, and to refer customers directly to your website. These websites are difficult to optimise for search engines (because they lack ‘fresh’ content), and therefore are best used to drive traffic with offline marketing strategies or paid marketing campaigns online.

• Capture pages: these are used to drive traffic to targeted marketing campaigns, and usually involves converting your visitors into leads by capturing their contact details through an opt-in form. Capture pages are also difficult to optimise for search engines, as they usually display minimum, static content.

• Opt-in forms: these can be used on capture pages, but can also be placed in other areas of your website to capture the contact details of your visitors, usually in exchange for a free gift, special offer or subscription to a newsletter. Opt-in forms are essential for building your list online. Building a list, according to us, is not an option. It’s one of the easiest strategies to implement, and an effective way to filter through your visitors and capture the details of those more likely to become future customers.

• Blog: A blog is simply a website on which you provide unique content or information on a regular basis. In comparison to static websites, blogs with up-to-date and highly relevant content are easier to optimise and create an effective portal to drive free traffic to your website. With a website publishing platform like WordPress, your content is also in great hands! There’s no limit to sharing your content around and getting found with the ever-growing number of free WordPress resources and plugins allowing you to easily integrate SEO and social media and networking. Need a WordPress website or blog?

• Facebook: Facebook profiles for individuals and Facebook business pages create an ideal combination to engage your target audience online. It’s great for reaching wider markets, promoting your brand, and building trust and relationships. But it goes far beyond networking! Search engines recognise the activity on social networks and rewards ‘social buzz creators’ – that is, people who create waves online, who’s fresh content gets valued and shared, and who are ‘popular’ – by giving them better rankings in search results! Even better, with increasing technology and functionality on this amazing platform, you can now turn your Facebook business page into a mini website where you can share pages of content, build your list, share videos, make sales, etc.! If you have a blog, sharing your content on Facebook is a must!

• Twitter: While Twitter can be seem like an ocean of incoherent snippets, it can be instrumental to build your business online and to promote your brand, products and services. As for all social networking platforms, you will be rewarded for the popularity and relevance of the content you share. Yes, search engines also like Twitter! Twitter is a powerful tool for reaching the masses with your content and promotions, and is also a great brand and relationship builder.

• YouTube: Everybody loves a good video. Great for communicating your brand? Tick! Great for engaging your audience? Tick! Great for sharing content on other social networking platforms? Tick! Great for getting found on Google? Tick! Great for showing off your products and services, and closing sales? Tick! Great for customer service and support? Tick!

• Email Marketing: This one goes hand in hand with list building and using opt-in forms on your website. After the visitors that are most likely to ever buy from you subscribe to your list, you can then continue to build trust via email. Email marketing is a  strategy that allows you to gradually ‘sell’ your subscribers to your brand and business by sharing valuable content, while periodically promoting your products and services to your potential customers! Email marketing can also easily be automated by using an inexpensive autoresponder service (we recommend aweber), so it would be a shame not to use such a powerful, sustainable marketing strategy!

• Paid Advertising: Paid advertising can be a great strategy to gain immediate traffic to your website, but it can also be an expensive one. While you may consider using paid ads to advertise your products or services on search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) or social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, etc.), you must also acquire or outsource the right expertise. To make the most of your marketing budget using paid advertising campaigns, make sure to optimise your website and capture pages first, and research your niche market and keywords thoroughly. Outsourcing an experienced marketer or marketing agency can also save you time and money (especially if you don’t know really what you’re doing!).

Do you need all of the above online marketing strategies?

No, not necessarily….

While some traditional businesses may only need a simple static website with an opt-in form for list building and simple email marketing campaigns, other business owners may opt for a social media and content marketing strategy to build their brand online and generate free traffic. Each business is different, with varied objectives and markets. This is why it’s so important to assess your own business needs and devise a unique strategies designed to reach your unique objectives.

Online marketing consultants can help you identify the best strategies for your business, while giving you direction on how to make the most of your online branding and marketing!