Without completing each of these steps successfully… the chances of marketing your small business online are dramatically diminished. There will always be exceptions, but these seven steps should be considered the building blocks for your online marketing success.
1. Your own website.
And by this I don’t mean a corporate/brochure style site that bores visitors and has them clicking in seconds. No. You must entertain and educate your visitors.
To do this better, I think it’s essential to have a WordPress website attached to your main business website… or even on a separate domain. Don’t just name it blog! Give it a keyword-rich, benefit-laden headline…tell them how it will improve their lives. Use common terms that others use to search for your business on Google [and the other search engines].
There are plenty of tips online on how to set up a WordPress site. If you’re not sure, you can hire someone from a site like Elance or RentaGuru.
The beauty of WordPress is that it is so easy to use. Non-tech-savvy small business owners can add new content, offers, audio, and videos to their site without having to pay a webmaster every time. Small business profits have as much to do with saving money as they do with increasing revenue.
Oh, and of course, Google and the social networks love WordPress too. More free visitors is always good.
2. Add a means to capture the names and addresses of your visitors.
Unfortunately, buying cycles are getting longer. This means that people will rarely buy from you the first time they meet you.
So, to avoid this you will need:
an optin/squeeze page an autoresponder [e.g. Aweber] a series of emails in your autoresponder a valuable enough giveaway that visitors are prepared to give you their information
This can sound daunting if you’ve never done it. However, it’s easy to hire someone to do it for you…or better yet, learn how to do it yourself. These are very low cost marketing tactics with great results when done right.
3. Generate some visitors to your site.
You can pay for traffic or generate it using your own time. Either way, there is no such thing as free traffic… you pay for it with time, money, or both.
Personally, I think a mix of paid and autogenerated is best. It will depend on your current skills and whether you have a lot of time or money.
pay per click [PPC] It is the fastest way to generate traffic. You can have visitors on your site in an hour. Unfortunately PPC can be very expensive and there is a learning curve. But don’t get me wrong…well done, it can be a gold mine…just tread carefully and test and track your results.
Add new fresh content to your site every week. make it fun Make people smile as they learn new things and they’ll reward you by staying longer on your site and coming back for more.
Use photos and videos. Get them to participate in contests and surveys. My favorite piece of advice is this… look at what your competition is doing and do the opposite. Nobody got rich by following the herd!
Other tactics to consider:
Social marketing ezine ad exchange links get all your past and present customers to sign up, put your website address on receipts, signs and all your other marketing mailers post articles on article directories .
The more you do of each, the more successful you will be.
4. Build relationships with your prospects who have signed up.
The way to do this is to talk about your problems and offer solutions. That will get your attention!
Be sure to personalize your emails. Tell them about yourself, your family and your business. Make them see you as a trusted friend/advisor: give them tips and tricks industry news free information
5. Make offers
When you have their trust and they know, like and trust you… they will no longer regard your offers with suspicion.
Check in regularly…you need to decide what you think is right…but at least once a week.
Make them repeat offers: vary them different bonuses discounts bundle products and services make sure each offer has a deadline new products and services ask them what they want and need.
6. Keep doing more of the same.
The fact is that you will probably lose 20% of your list a month. Be sure to keep doing each of the first five steps… this will give you a list of hungry and loyal buyers. Subscribers waiting to hear from you. Who wants to hear your latest tips, news and offers.
7. Never lose sight of where your focus should be:
“How can I offer more value to my customers?”
The moment you forget them and start concentrating only on you…they will know. It will appear in all your communications and marketing. Put them first, and they’ll stay loyal, and you’ll reap the rewards.
