Everyone should have a website these days. Whether they have a virtual-only company or one that also exists on Main Street. What a lot of business owners have no clue about is how to drum up business online.
Wait, the website does not do that for me? Nope. That is a huge misconception about websites. It alone will not make customers flock to the online doors of your business. It takes something called marketing leads or lead generation online to make that happen. Read on to find out what opportunities you may have been missing out on until now.
Think about how customers find your site online. Do they do a quick Google search? Perhaps. If they do, is your site near the top of the results? If not, it could be harming your chances of building a more successful and robust business.
One way to get better results is by finding out what types of words your customers use to search for your services. While you do not want to overdo it or seem unnatural in your insertion of such keywords in your site, you do want to make those words have a presence.
Use them in the header, in the body of blogs and even consider putting them where they belong in standing web page text as well.
The reason that social media is such a big deal to websites and online business is that it gives your site credibility. Mentions make the search engines trust your business. It gives validity, veracity, and a degree of trust to your business whenever it is mentioned online.
Use social media with regard for online etiquette. Do engage socially with other users on social media. Avoid a hard sell, though do provide quizzes, fun facts, and even some promotions for customers. When they click-through to your site from social media sites it makes a good impression for your site.
Something called link building is also very important to Google for purposes of increasing your website’s ranking. It means that a page is recognized by the search engine if you have links going to your pages. It is just the way of the world of Google. Knowing this will help you to build a good reputation with the search engine giant.
Do invest in online advertisements. This is one way to increase web traffic and build exposure to your brand among people you may otherwise not have ever reached. Make it affordable by following investing a budgeted amount monthly toward online advertising.
Another great way to build awareness of your business is by blogging. This is one way to show off what you know while demonstrating how your know-how, skills, services, and products might be of use to people who are reading your blog.
In addition, consider having an email signup to capture user information. It helps keeping people in the loop on what your business is up to and what new services it can provide.
Though, again, the email newsletter is one that is meant to provide information mostly, rather than a hard sell. If anything, close out your newsletters with a call to action and even rewards for having such loyal readers.
Provide email subscribers with special sales and information. This will keep them coming back for more.
In addition, consider having special sales for Facebook or Twitter users who post themselves with your products. A contest is a great way to get subscribers while building brand recognition and the business name mentions that Google so values.
Contests also serve to build subscribers. Building subscribers is a way to build business. It is a great way to build readership and leads. In addition, the contest allows customers to compete to win or just rely on lady luck to provide a prize.
Make the prize something that your followers can buy or win. Consider making it a drawing or an actual contest with a photo and story of how their product has improved their lives.
This increases mentions, while also providing the valuable photos that are so popular online these days. Another great way to build up marketing leads is through videos. Post videos such as tutorials, informational videos, and interviews with industry experts on YouTube. Link those videos to your social media, and include them on your website.
A great idea is to include a how-to on YouTube, but include the ingredients for the recipe on your website. Those way customers have a greater likelihood of going to your website.
Always include contact information on your website. This will allow customers to get a hold of you whether they want to offer a compliment, or buy your products.
The main part of generating marketing leads still remains blogging. New blogs need to be posted a couple times per week. Evergreen content is just one way to get readers to click around your site, to stay on the site longer, and to get the most of the valuable information you offer.
Use such articles as a resource for creating ebooks later on down the road. Make those ebooks available for a couple dollars or for free as a gift for readers subscribing to your newsletter. This makes a great buzz online too in case people mention your site.
Lead generation online is not difficult. It does involve some hard work, and some patience. It can take a year or more to realize beneficial results of all the hard work that goes into building a website.
Make sure you have a fully functional website that keeps up with the times. These days, most people enter websites from mobile devices. That means that your site needs to be made for mobile access as well as for regular web access. Consider how to integrate both designs into your website when updating content and design.
Beyond patience, have a sense of fun and excitement surrounding your product. Meet new people and make new friends online who will champion your products for their quality and usefulness to their lives.