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Internet Marketing Failing? Let’s Take a Look at What You’re Doing Wrong

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Internet Marketing Failing? Let's Take a Look at What You're Doing Wrong

Even the strongest businesses in the world have had their weak moments. Maybe things aren’t going so well with your business at the moment. Perhaps it’s just one factor of your business that isn’t performing as well as it should be. If we look at the most common elements that come into play when things aren’t going amazingly for any given business, it quite often has to do with poor Internet marketing.

Many business owners are becoming cognizant of just how important Internet marketing is. But a lot of them are making a bunch of mistakes. One of those mistakes was assuming that Internet marketing would bring them immediate success and riches. This sort of attitude betrays a sort of ignorance about how Internet marketing really works and how it should be approached. This can cause a lot of errors when it comes to the marketing campaign as a whole.

So perhaps it’s time that you took a serious look at your Internet marketing campaign! If your marketing hasn’t brought you the return you were hoping for, then it’s crucial that you take a close look at things and perhaps rethink your approach. After all, most digital marketing methods out there aren’t exactly cheap. And that’s fine, as long as it can actually bring results, right?

Internet marketing isn’t the magic wand that a lot of businesses seem to think it is. It needs to be done properly. You can throw all the money you want at your campaign, but if it’s going in the wrong direction then you might as well be throwing your cash into a black hole. We’re going to take a look at some of the most common and severe fundamental problems that many modern businesses have with their digital marketing approach. If you start to get feelings of recognition as you read through this article, then it might be time for you to make some serious changes to your marketing techniques!

Overestimation

I made a brief mention of this above, but it’s worth going into a little more detail. Essentially, a lot of businesses out there massively overestimate the power of Internet marketing. Yes, if done right, it can be very powerful. But the fact of the matter is that Internet marketing is vulnerable to many of the same sort of flaws you see in any other medium.

StrategyDriven Internet Marketing Article
Photo courtesy of Infusionsoft Sales & Marketing via flickr

Internet marketing isn’t going to guarantee you a truckload of new customers. A lot of people understand this when it comes to working with advertising in other media, because they’re more used to have ineffective, say, a television advert or a newspaper advert can be. Most people will probably overlook those sorts of ads, right? Well, the same goes for most kinds of Internet marketing. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t invest in them! It just means that you have to be careful not to commit one of the most common mistakes in this field: that of overestimating the results you’re going to get.

Temper your expectations! You may even have started reading this article because you thought you would get hundreds of thousands of new customers from your campaign. This sort of thinking may have given you a false impression of the success of your campaign: it might be that it’s working as good as it can – it’s just that your expectations are unrealistic!

The DIY approach

A lot of business owners seem to be working under the assumption that Internet marketing is easy. They’re also looking for any way they can find to save some money. Well, it’s true that it’s possible to do your own Internet marketing. And, with that in mind, you can cut a lot of costs if you do take this approach. But the fact is that Internet marketing is much more complex than many of these business owners realize.

StrategyDriven Internet Marketing Article

If you want to take on this task by yourself, then you should really be an expert at this sort of thing. If you’re not, you could be wasting a lot of time with ineffective marketing techniques. Remember that the right Internet marketing company has a lot of connections in the marketing industry, whereas you’re likely to have none at all. If you do want to take this approach, then you should make sure you really know what you’re doing. Look into taking an online course in digital marketing to boost your skills and knowledge.

The substandard marketing company

Having said all of this, working with a bad marketing company could be even worse than taking the reigns yourself! While there’s a lot to be said about the many problems that overconfidence in your own abilities can bring, there is also much to be said about putting too much confidence in the hands of those who claim to be experts. Just as in any other industry, there are companies in this field that simply don’t know what they’re doing. Not every Internet marketing business is some angel that will be able to save your business.

StrategyDriven Internet Marketing Article

You need to make sure that you’re signing up to work with an incredibly good Internet marketing company. These guys don’t come cheap, after all! You need to keep an eye out when it comes to these companies, because there are a bunch of potential problems that could really put a spanner in the works. What if their customer service is terrible? What if the methods they use to get results work only in the short term? And what if they’re using ‘black’ techniques? (More on that in just a moment!) You should ensure that you’re checking the online reputation of these companies, as well as the feedback they’ve received from previous clients.

Villainous techniques

Perhaps you’ve heard the term “black hat” before when you’ve explored the realm of Internet marketing. You may even know that it’s bad, though you’re not entirely sure why exactly that is. As clichéd as it may be, “black” Internet marketing techniques are bad and “white” Internet marketing techniques are good – or, perhaps, to be more accurate, “black” is illegal and “white” is legal. (And we’re talking in terms of search engine rules, not the actual judiciary reality of the real world!)

StrategyDriven Internet Marketing Article
Photo courtesy of freezelight via flickr

Essentially, “black hat” or “black label” Internet marketing methods (and they’re usually SEO-based) actively use the sort of techniques that spam search engine algorithms with the sort of content that used to provide shortcuts to the very top of search engine rankings. Keyword stuffing, false leads, and unethical link sharing and selling are all parts of this game. Of course, black hat and black label SEO don’t often produce results, because companies like Google are very wise to their games these days. So you need to ensure that you’re looking into white hat and white label SEO if you want your campaign to go anywhere in the long-term.

“SEO” and “social media” are just buzzwords, right?

An alarmingly common problem is that business owners often find themselves trying a little too hard to go against the grain. Yes, you should be unique in your approach. But it’s possible to take that too far. If you’re of the opinion that SEO and social media are mere buzzwords as opposed to things that can actually help your marketing in big ways, then you’ve definitely gone a little too far from the beaten track!

StrategyDriven Internet Marketing Article

Without the use of SEO and social media, you’re throttling the efficacy of your digital marketing campaign. And I mean really throttling. Like, Homer-Simpson-choking-Bart-Simpson level throttling. SEO and social media are what help your digital marketing breathe and expand to new corners of the Internet. Don’t try to be so unconventional that you don’t use these at all.

Problems with your business

And so we come to the least fun possibility of the lot. The one that’s probably the hardest the solve of all of them. Let’s say your marketing isn’t actually flawed. Perhaps you’re working with the best Internet marketing company in the business. You’ve invested in all the correct tools and employees, and at a reasonable price, too. You have all the data you need to make the right decisions. But business still doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. An SEO audit didn’t reveal any problems with your marketing approach, so what could the problem be?

StrategyDriven Internet Marketing Article

Unfortunately, it could very well be the case that the problem is with your business. After all, all the great marketing in the world simply isn’t going to help you out that much if your website, product, or service really isn’t that up to scratch.

But how exactly can you tell if this is the problem? Well, this is why you need powerful analytics for your website and Internet marketing campaign. If people are being directed to your business in droves, then you should be able to tell. If they are, but not enough people are actually clicking through to complete a purchase, then this is a sign that something is wrong with what you’re offering, or how you’re offering it, as opposed to something being wrong with the marketing itself. In this case, you’re going to have to do some market and customer research in order to pinpoint the problems you’re having!

4 Ways to Improve Your Internet Marketing

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales ArticleFor any small business, having an effective strategy to market the business well is important. Any company that doesn’t use the internet in a productive way is going to find their peers overtaking them and getting well ahead within a few short years. It’s necessary for every company to ‘up their game’ with internet marketing.

Here are four ways to help improve how your business is being marketed online.

Video Intros to Capture Attention

Video introductions are all the rage with YouTube, Vimeo, vlogging and commercial videos. It gives a chance for the presenter or company to provide a standardized beginning to every clip. For YouTube creators, using a standard intro lets viewer know that they’re on the correct channel and primes them for what to expect next. It creates a sense of anticipation of an entertaining or informative video and extends the average viewing time which helps videos rank higher in the YouTube and Vimeo search engines, respectively.

For businesses, they can also benefit from creating an introduction using software to complete the task. Having the software to hand makes it much easier and faster to change the introduction to update it as needed. A branding change or a new sister brand are easily accommodated with video intro software designed to make that fast and uncomplicated to complete. You can read more here about the features and options available with the IntroBrand Logo maker software.

Outreach to Higher Quality Websites

When starting out with a website, it’s likely that the site didn’t have much trust or ranking and found it difficult to reach out to industry sites. Making contact directly was often more successful. Using LinkedIn, attending expos on related topics and pursing other business connections having already met tends to work well.

You’re no longer doing a cold approach via email which is how many internet marketers on behalf of small businesses attempt to make contact. Because everyone is doing this, it tends to fall flat. The SkyScraper technique is a well-worn approach, but that’s why it’s increasingly become less effective as time has gone on; everyone is copying the same idea and inboxes are flooded with email.
To interest business owners and bloggers with what you have to say, it helps if you already have something of value to offer their customers or readers. If you have a blog on your site, what’s the writing quality like? Does it capture the reader’s attention or does it fall flat? If you’re making contact to eventually get a guest post published and score that all-important backlink, then your existing content is your advertisement to what they’ll receive. Putting your best foot forward in this regard is vital if you’re to attraction high-traffic, respected websites in related niches/industries.

Answer Questions Online to Demonstrate Authority

Another effective way to improve on the marketing side is to demonstrate authority in your industry or niche by answering questions. This can be done in the frequently asked questions section on your website, but you should also be interested in reaching people who don’t know your brand yet.

Answering questions on a site like Quora.com is useful because once a question is added, multiple answers are posted by different people. Visitors of the site vote on which answer was the most helpful or factually accurate. When you’re in a position to answer relevant questions factually and in an easily digestible manner, it gives you a leg up over your competitors who may not have even thought to do so. And even if they’re not directly competing with you but are impressed with your answers, this may encourage them to ask you to write a guest post on their site.

What do you do if you don’t write well or feel that you don’t have the time to do so? Jot down some bullet-points about how you would like the answer written out and then hire a writer on a per assignment basis to provide a written answer. Then, once an account is created and verified on Quora, the reply can be posted. This gets around any quality and time constraint concerns.

Develop a Popular YouTube Channel

If you’re working with a company and they make use of video intros for their corporate training videos, that’s great. However, they can do so much more with video content. An active YouTube channel is an effective way to attract interest from viewers, demonstrate knowledge, and drive traffic from YouTube to your website. This can be for email opt-ins to your newsletter or to promote a related product line.

A larger following doesn’t grow overnight but when you post on relevant topics that have searchers’ interest on YouTube, the videos and channel will start to show up more often in search results and get more views as a result.

Looking at the YouTube Analytics provides insight into total views per month, average viewing time and other useful data points. However, other software add-ons like vidIQ Vision or TubeBuddy, and a website like SocialBlade provide greater insight into popular search terms used to reach related video channels that compete with your site. By creating similar content that answers searchers’ questions better and includes keywords that match their search query, your video marketing content can rank higher sooner as well.

Concluding Thoughts

As the competition heats up for the increasingly fleeting attention span of their target market, all companies must do what they can to maximize the effectiveness of their marketing budget. Getting a high ROI is critical here.

Smart tools that provide analytics offer clues as to what is working for competitors to avoid reinventing the wheel. Similarly, building brand reputation online (and diligently protecting it) are necessary pieces of the internet marketing puzzle for companies that wish to get ahead while protecting what they already have.

A single misstep can cause more damage than a wide-reaching plan to expand your online presence by posting to social media channels more often or publishing excellent content. Strike the right balance to ensure mistakes aren’t made while forging ahead.

How To Create More Revenue From Your Online Presence

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleWhile every business owner should be aware of the need for a strong online presence, often this comes down to making the occasional Facebook post about their new product and nothing else. In the digital age, where even the youngest consumers are internet-aware, that’s simply not going to be good enough. You want your online presence to not only act as a roadmap to purchase but also to work for you in order to attract more customers and create more profits. That’s why it is essential that you look at every way possible to optimize your website, streamline your social media management, and find new ways to make your online presence work for you. There are a number of ways that you can use what you already have to increase revenue, and this handy list will help you to generate more profit.

Reach more people

The internet allows you to reach across geography and attract potential new customers from anywhere in the world. This is a huge benefit to businesses that are now able to boost global sales and source cheaper suppliers. It used to be a matter of billboards and newspaper ads, but now your advertising can be controlled in-house, and by using your market research into your customer demographic, you can literally target potential customers based on age, interests and current trends. By targeting your brand to your potential audience, you are making it far more likely that you will be able to find new customers and increase your sales figures. Keep an eye on your conversion rates and make sure that you are up to date on the latest sales tools.

Internet marketing strategy

A significant part of your marketing strategy should be focused on online platforms. Although it can be all too easy to either dismiss social media as oversaturated or even worse, put all of your eggs in the social media basket, the truth is that social media platforms are an incredibly useful tool for every business. They allow you to interact regularly with both current and potential customers, and that interaction is key. Consumers now demand interaction, and that alone can boost your company profile. You want consistent two-way communication that reflects your branding and reinforces your business in the minds of those that interact with you. It’s simply not good enough these days to post a new product and walk away. Remember, it’s called social media for a reason. So be social, and always stay on brand.

The benefits of membership sites

There are a number of key reasons why you may be considering a membership site. If you’re unsure what this means, it’s simply an area of your website (or the website in its entirety) that is only accessible to certain paying customers. A membership website can pay dividends, and for several reasons. The main benefit of a membership site is that it can reinforce loyalty to your brand that makes it far less likely that your customers will look elsewhere for your services when they need them. They have committed to your business financially, which means that they already have a vested interest in your output. It is a lot easier to than you may think, however, look for guidance on how to create a membership site. They can help in not only attracting users but keeping them too. Whether you’re offering an online course, granting early access to new products, or showcasing industry-relevant how-to guides, having a membership site can end up being a very profitable extension of your company.

Lift your Google rankings

Having a strong presence on search engine rankings can drive more customers to your site than you might think. Underestimating the importance of Google is an issue that more and more businesses are facing, so to avoid that you need to make sure that you are doing everything possible to appear on the first page of any related Google search, and the higher, the better. There a number of ways that you can boost your search engine rankings, and whether you do it via fresh and regular content updates or even through Pay Per Click advertising, a good search engine ranking will play an important part of your online marketing strategy. Don’t be afraid to invest some of your marketing budgets in SEO, and you’ll find that your rankings will grow organically.

It may seem an obvious truism, but every customer facing element of your business needs to be optimized in order to attract as many potential customers as possible and convert those visitors into sales. Failing to make use of the online presence that you have cultivated means that your business is not making the most of every revenue source.

The 5 Pillars of Internet Marketing for New Businesses

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Launching a startup is a challenging and often humbling venture. Although financing your business idea is the first milestone to overcome, once you’re up and running, it’s time to channel your energy into targeting your niche audience and marketing your product.

Most entrepreneurs understand the value of good marketing, but many of them don’t have the budget to give their business the promotion it deserves. Luckily, digital marketing is the single most effective way to reach a global audience, and it won’t blow your budget. To help you get your marketing strategy off the ground, here are the five pillars of Internet marketing for new businesses.

Traffic Generation

Your business could have the smartest, most visually stunning site on the web, but if no one knows how to find it, then it’s not going to generate sales. To grow your enterprise, you need to maximize your website visitors – otherwise known as traffic. To increase your website traffic, you will need to create compelling ads, utilize social media accounts, and optimize your site for search engines using SEO tactics. If you’re not acquainted with SEO practices, you can hire a professional Internet marketing company like DAGMAR Marketing, Jacksonville SEO Company to optimize your website and help you attract more visitors.

Conversion

It’s no good sending Internet users to your website unless they’re going to buy your product or sign up for your services. To turn site visitors into paying customers, you need to increase your conversion rating: the percentage of visitors that become leads. CRO (conversion rate optimization) companies can help you work on your website development and improve your landing page design for maximum sales.

Automation

Marketing automation is the software that exists to automate repetitive tasks from multiple channels. For example, for your business to perform seamlessly, you can automate your payments, email marketing actions, advertising, and even social media updates. Automation can also help you generate leads into sales by automatically “targeting” site visitors or previous customers and encouraging them to return to your page.

Content

It’s not enough to have a slick-looking website or a killer social media campaign; if your site lacks well-written, relevant content, then you’ll have trouble driving your visitors to take action. Outsourcing to a professional writer is the most cost-effective way to create a voice for your brand and deliver engaging content. Keeping a company blog also creates a stronger connection between you and your prospective customers, maximizing sales opportunities.

Reporting

Reporting is a crucial step in your Internet marketing campaign – without it, you have no way of knowing whether or not your strategy is working. Free software like Google Analytics allows you to monitor your website traffic, assess the most popular areas of your website, and analyze conversion rates.

No two businesses are the same, so it stands to reason that no two marketing strategies will be the same either. By using reporting software, you can optimize your marketing campaign to best suit your business and improve your chances of success.

Taking Over The Internet: Building Your Company’s Online Rep

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We live in an age of unprecedented technological expansion. The digital era has revolutionised business, but you don’t need me to tell you that. No matter your industry or the specific nature of your business, technology will affect your operations in some form of another. In particular, the internet has become a tool which offers connectivity, speed and simplicity which has made things easier than ever for businesses who want to excel at an accelerated rate.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
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Of course, when every business is using the same technology, the playing field levels out, and the steps required to push past the competition become harder to see. Your business is trying to utilize the online world to its advantage in terms of increasing the goods and services it can sell successfully, but so is every other business in the industry. You might be feeling as if you’ve lost a step, but that’s okay. Here are some pieces of advice for businesses looking to regain their footing and their position in the industry by staying ahead of the game on the internet.

Conduct research.

It’s easy for ego to take the wheel and drive, especially when you’re running a small business and your team is full of innovative, intellectual individuals who want to constantly push the business further and further with great new ideas. Obviously, this is exactly what you want from your team, but sometimes a level business head is needed. You need to be appealing to the market, and not expecting the market to mould itself around the needs of your company. You should be researching the market you’re targeting within your specific industry. These are the people who will keep your business afloat.

Researching might entail looking into reviews you’ve already received from customers of your business, either through social media mentions, review sites or perhaps your business’ own website. You need to listen to what people are saying and work to change the things which aren’t working for your target audience. In addition, if you’re a brand new business with few clients, you need to be monitoring what customers have said about your competitors. If there are flaws with the services of competing businesses, there are gaps in the market for your company to exploit.

Improve your online marketing skills and, in turn, your sales.

You need to be better understanding the internet, so as to ensure you’re selling any online goods or services to the extent at which a business in your industry should be. Of course, if your company is still struggling, you might consider a Magento developer to help you reinvent your eCommerce platform. There are always online solutions to tricky problems your business might be facing, and, when it comes to marketing your business, you need to be properly utilizing the internet’s capabilities.

Your reputation depends on you offering a professional service, because, much like the way you present your business in the physical world, the way you present your business in the virtual world reflects on your company’s standards, experience, expertise and the level of effort they put into what they do.

Show your best goods first.

As a business trying to top your competitors, you really need to be making your mark quickly, efficiently and simply. Consumers have so much choice in the modern era that they can become rather passive about making their decision when it comes to a particular good or service. You should be making that easier by offering them your best products on the front page of your website.