Putting an Online Marketing Plan in Place
Putting an Online Marketing Plan in Place
Introduction
As you may or may not know, traditional marketing doesn't work any more for websites and businesses in general because there are too many blocks in place now. For example:
Television - many forward through commercials using built-in DVR or Tivo, otherwise they channel surf during commercials.
Radio - many cars come standard with Satellite radio these days and that's commercial free, otherwise, they station surf during commercials, or use an MP3 player or their CD player.
Newspaper - who reads a newspaper any more when we've got RSS feeds from any online news paper in the world. Not to mention that we've also got sites like Digg or StumbleUpon that tell us what is interesting out there so that we can read it too.
Cold Calling - doesn't work for the same reasons that you currently hate it; they always call right in the middle of a meal....right? We all have caller ID these days. Do they think that we don't know who's on the other side of the line?
E-marketing - if done wrong...can be recognized as spam, and will get filtered eventually into the spam folder of individuals you're sending email to.
Direct Mail - most end up in the garbage. You need to send out 1000 to get 1 customer.
People don't want to be interrupted anymore. They want to know the brands and companies that they deal with now. They want to get to know the people that work there, rather than the company itself. People feel that if they get to know the people, they in turn know the company. And they're more likely to use the company because of the people.
This is where social media marketing comes into play. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is only one part of the puzzle. Social Media Marketing (SMM) helps SEO to bring more inbound traffic to the website, and eventually the company. You've probably built a website that has a lot of content on it. You might have videos, photos, instruction or informative content...and maybe even a blog. We can use all of these components to make you the industry leader, while showing your audience that you are the experts in your field.
Search Engine Optimization/Marketing
In today's world, we need to first begin with some SEO/SEM, as follows:
Perform Keyword Analysis and Search Engine analysis - this will help us understand the niche and keywords to be used in the niche. Furthermore, it'll help us promote the website across various search engines, namely the big three: Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Everything else is just a stem off from these.
Optimize the site to include the keywords as titles, descriptions, meta-keywords, alts on images, and titles on links.
Next, we create a SiteMap.xml and we submit the website (along with the sitemap) to the search engines mentioned above.
Then, we also push the website and the local office(s) to the local search engine version (if you operate out of a store front or publically located office).
Finally, we submit the website to the most popular and respected directories (including some local directories in the various locations that you do business). These include DMOZ, Yahoo Directory! and ZoomInfo. As for local directories, those you'll have to research yourself in your local district.
Periodically, you'll want to release a Press Release to sites like PR [dot] com, PRNewsWire or PRWebDirect (which some are free and some charge a fee for doing so) and/or EzineArticles [dot] com. One good article on one of these sites (especially if it ends up on the home page) could skyrocket your business or specific product astronomically.
Adding Social Media Marketing To The Mix
That takes care of the SEO/SEM portion. Now its time to bring the social media aspect into it. Number one thing needed from a social perspective that kind of connects the industry specific aspects of your business with the social aspects is a Blog. You should be blogging at least 2 to 3 times per week. It's also more interesting when you have several individuals from your company blogging since it shows different perspectives, and makes the company seem larger than it is. A blog is also the basis for connecting with people on the other social networks. It provides you with the tool to bring them back to your website to view your blog, and while they're there, they stumble upon your website's content and become interested in reading it and linking to it.
As they link back to various blog posts or places on your website, they are creating links that allow others to follow those links and find your website. The more links there are, the better your rank with Google. It starts with one link, and grows to 3 people following that 1 link. Than 6 people follow the first three, and many levels deeper, you've got a good following.
So where do you find people to start reading your blogs? Try your friends and family first. Get some opinions from them before you start working on people that could potentially harm your business with their critiques. Next, move onto asking past clients if they would read it and provide you with an opinion. Finally, start discussing your ideas and blog posts on sites like LinkedIn, which offers group discussions and FaceBook by using your business pages or wall. Once you're comfortable that you're onto something, start submitting your blog posts to Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Delicious, Google Blog and other social bookmarking and/or blogging sites.
It's No Secret
Some of the latest social media marketing websites that most of us use today to promote our businesses include:
FeedBurn
AddThis
FaceBook
LinkedIn and the many groups it offers
Twitter
Digg
Skirt
Fark
Technorati
Delicious
YouTube
Flickr
SlideShare
StumbleUpon
And many more...you can see a whole list here: http://www.doshdosh.com/list-of-social-media-news-websites
So how does this work?
How do you get started in promoting your website via social media marketing?
There are many companies (just like mine) that can help you get started with SEO and social media marketing. Ask around in some of the groups on LinkedIn or in Twitter to see what others have done to reach success. Don't be afraid to ask questions. There are many people like me that are willing to offer a helping hand or advice where needed. I don't expect you to stop doing your day to day job in order to promote your website. This is what companies like mine do for a living. However, at the very least, I suggest that you and/or your team provide the blog posts or hire someone with your industry background and a journalism background to ghost write your content. No one knows your business and the technical aspects of your business better than you do.
Measuring Success
The success or failure of an e-marketing campaign can be measured by following the statistics:
Blog Subscribers in FeedBurner
Bookmarks in Del.icio.us
Inbound Links
FaceBook Fans and Activity (can also check gender and age breakdown)
Digg votes on Blog posts
Video views on YouTube
Questions answered on Yahoo Answers
Traffic, Leads, and Customers using your Hosting statistics from your hosting company
Google Analytics
Newsletter (reads, traffic growth as a result, leads, customers)
Summary
I hope that this article has helped to clear the fog for some of you wondering where to get started. Remember, before you go out and spend tons of money on Pay-Per-Click campaigns, radio, e-mail broadcasting, television commercials, and cold-calling...get the facts and put a plan together first.
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