Whether your have business with a large or small marketing budget the following techniques will go a long way in helping you to promote your business online. I have found the best way to do this is by allocating a few hours a week specifically for this process. I think it’s important to dedicate some time to promoting your business every week to ensure the pipeline always has some work coming. If you only start marketing when the work has dried up you have already left it too late.
Listed below are a few jobs you can easily do every Monday morning.
Post on related forums
- Look for 5 good forums that discuss topics related to your website subject matter. Once you have found those forums create your profile and ensure you have a signature with a link back to your website if allowed.
- Start answering peoples questions on your chosen forums and perhaps point people back to relevant pages on your website. Monitor your Google Analytics to see which forums are performing best for your and then focus on your top three.
- Answering peoples questions will soon make you an authority in the subject matter and people will want to know you opinion on things. Plus, answering questions on forums will give you an insight as to what people want to know relating to your industry.
- It’s also worth noting that you can start a post on a forum to generate talk / content about a particular niche and lick it back to your website. You should aim to create 2 threads per week.
Social Media
- Find a social media platform that work best for your niche. You should only use one or two because you could soon find yourself with too much admin addressing all your social media pages.
- Look for your target audience on social media and connect with the. As an example, a photographer might be better off using Instagram rather than Twitter.
Post comments on blogs
- Posting comments on other peoples blogs is a bit like posting on forums.
- Look for blogs that are related to your niche and start getting your name out there.
- You can sign up for Google alerts to find blogs related to your niche. https://www.google.com/alerts
Answer questions on Quora
- Search Ouora for subject matter related to your website niche and answer recent questions. This works in the same way as posting on blogs and forums.
Web page optimisation
- Research the keyword phrases people are using to find your services or products.
- Short tail keyword phrases are in great competition and difficult to optimise for whereas long tail keyword phrases have less traffic but that traffic is more focused and easier to optimise for.
- Example: To try and optimise a web page for the keyword phrase ‘website design’ is difficult because of the level of competition and it’s also to broad. Optimising for the keyword phrase ‘small website designers Geelong’ is a longer, focused keyword phrase that has less competition but is more focused on getting the traffic you want.
Build a mailing list
- It’s worth having a mailing list sign up form on your site that allows visitors to sign up to receive email notifications from you. You can use this list to send regular email messages with info and promotions etc.
Have a ‘How’s it going’ campaign
- You may already have a list of existing clients that have bought from you in the past. The hardest part of getting people to buy from you is getting them to trust you in the first place. An existing customer has already got over that hurdle and will be more inclined to purchase from you again. So get on the phone, give them a call and ask them ‘How’s it going – do you know about my latest services that could really benefit your business?’ Job done!