The Wise Entrepreneur’s Essential Guide to Marketing in a Digital World

Do you own a business enterprise or, are you working in the marketing industry?

If you answer yes then it’s important that you understand all the ins and outs of marketing online. Unfortunately, promoting a business online has become rather more complex in recent years, and there’s a lot to get your head around.

For example, if you own a business, you need to know what services you should invest in. on the other hand, if you are an internet marketer, you should understand what services your customers will be interested in buying. Two different groups but the information is just as important for both.

We need to start by examining the question, has internet marketing taken the place of offline promotion. Will offline promotion soon be obsolete?

I’ll give a resounding yes to both questions. My reason for that lies in the first form of internet marketing that we are going to discuss and dissect. Never forget the fact that we are today living in a digital world where the internet now plays a major role in dealings whether it be our social interactions, entertainment, education, or business. So understanding how to market your business online is something you mustn’t handle with levity.

That being said, here are…

5 Forms of Internet Marketing You Should Know & Use Today

1. SEO

What is SEO? SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s a way of ensuring that a website is seen online. By using SEO, you ensure a business site is at the top of a search engine results window. If you think about the internet as a series of roads, the different sites are buildings. To get people to stop at your building you have to put signs up. That’s what SEO is. It’s a method of putting up invisible signs that lead users to your site.

Technically, you can set up SEO yourself without any help from any internet marketer. But, as we said, online promotion has become really tricky. It’s harder to make sure that you are in fact having any impact when you DIY SEO. One of the reasons for this is because if Google determines your SEO is not natural, they’ll slap you with a penalty. That will reduce your search ranking leaving you with the opposite of your desired effect. SEO has become more than just link building and using keywords, but it’s a good example of how it works.

You need to make sure you’re using the keywords people search, when looking for the product or service you’re selling. For instance, if you are selling used cars you would make sure you have “used” and “cars.” You might also include pre owned, ford, cheap, local, etc.

Rather than mess around with this themselves, many business owners instead use the help of a professional. That’s where the internet marketer comes into play. They’ll help make sure your business is noticed online and ensure that you don’t get any penalties.

There are two different forms of SEO. These are local and global. Quite obviously, local SEO will attract local users and global will attract global users. That’s why we think offline promotion will soon be dead. Why do you need fliers when you can make sure the people a mile away find your business online? If you’re an internet marketer, you should be offering both these services to get the most clients

2. White Labeling

Now is probably as good a time as any to introduce the concept of White Labeling. White labeling is when an internet marketer works as the middle man. The business speaks to the marketing company to get a service like SEO or perhaps web design. The marketer then uses the services of a white label company to get the job done. 51 Blocks is a white label company that constantly receives high reviews from its partnered marketers.

The white label company will never be seen by the business owner. As a business owner, you’ll be working with the internet marketing company. But a white label company can be vital for a marketing agency that is dealing with excess demand. They’ll handle the jobs you don’t have time for.

3. Social Marketing

Although we do realize some business owners pay the marketing company to use social promotion for them, there’s no need. It’s so easy for a small business to use online networks to boost their profile. For instance, your business might attend a trade show or a conference. If you do, you should be updating your business Instagram account with pictures from this event. Once the pictures start to get shared this increases your search ranking with no cost involved. Or, you can pin a couple of pictures from your site on Pinterest. By doing this, you’ll make users interested in looking at the rest of your web page and get more traffic. Again, this is going to increase your search ranking.

But, it’s not just about sharing pictures. Keeping your profiles up to date with the latest information is important as well. We suppose that’s why business owners hire marketers to manage their profiles. They don’t have time for the daily updates and to add links. But you should make sure this is occurring for your business because it will increase your presence in the online market.

4. PPC

Pay Per Click marketing is an alternate service that you can offer business owners as a marketer. By forming a partnership with a search engine company like Google, you can get your clients website as one of the sponsored links on a search page. Around thirty percent of users click these, so it is an attractive possibility.

However, the business owner should know exactly what they are buying. If you use a PPC service, the amount you pay will depend on how many clicks you get. Does this mean if it doesn’t work, you won’t pay anything? Not quite because there is no guarantee once they click, they’ll purchase. You’re paying for interest, not customers.

5. Web Design

That’s why it’s important you also look at a web design service. By getting your site designed by a professional company, you can guarantee your customers will be impressed when they see it. If they are, they should commit to a purchase, making your investment worthwhile. You should also look into designing a company logo. This will give users an image to associate your business with, in their minds.

There you have it a truly quick guide to marketing online. As a business person if you understand these different forms of marketing, you will know exactly what you need to succeed.  The online marketer on the other hand should know these things also for them to be aware of what services their clients will be interested in. I do hope you make good use of this information when setting up your internet marketing strategy.