You’re a business person and a bloody good one. You understand your products and services better than anyone who could be considered a competitor and deliver on everything you say you will. Your business is doing well though you feel you could do better when it comes to your online presence but there is a tonne of mis-information and mixed messages out there that can leave even the smartest of people at a complete loss for what to do, who to listen to and what the best practices actually are.
You can be the very best at what you do but you cannot be a master of everything. Online Marketing is not a dark art and there is no shortcuts to instant success but it is possible to get things horribly wrong and the chances are you’re going to need reliable help or advice to move things forward.
The Basics: Not So Basic.
The basics could be seen as:
Search Engine Optimisatio- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Online Advertising
To do any of the above correctly will require some research at the very least as well as an understanding of several pieces of software. Notably Google Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics and the various social mediaplatforms. There’s the Google Guidelines that need to be adhered to and then of course you need to understand your Website CMS.
Assuming that you’re not going to be running ads of course, in which case you’ll need to get familiar with Google Adwords, Big Ads and any of the social media advertising platforms.
As things progress you may want to look at a number of third party software that help you along. Certainly, as an Online Marketing Agency we have somewhere in the region of 20+ platforms or pieces of software that we use. Some may be used as a daily occurrence and others will be once in a blue moon: Trying to fight back from a manual action penalty for new clients would be a prime example: We don’t (Thankfully) need to do it often but it takes a lot of know how and a great deal of hard work to achieve a turn around for them along with software that is specialised to do that job and that job alone
This of course excludes the fact that we have to have intimate understanding of a huge number of CMS systems: From common and easy-to-use platforms like WordPress, Blue Park or Magento for example right through to completely custom websites with custom CMS systems. It’s no cake walk. Most of the extra software costs money too… Requiring subscriptions
So Where Does that Leave You?
Well, Unless you plan on getting real intimate with a number of online tools and systems and doing a lot of reading (A LOT!) from reputable sources then I advise you find yourself someone who knows what they are doing. Or better yet, a team of online marketers who know their stuff.
If budget constraints are such then do what you can: Ensure your website is functional and effective, that descriptions and page elements are in good shape and of course text that things like your payment process is functioning correctly and your enquiry form.
Try to create some nice and interesting new content like blogs that show you understand your industry or better yet, make predictions about where certain things are going in your industry: Not a sale pitch, no one will read it… It must be interesting enough for people to actively WANT to read it.
Share. Yep, share your content on social media and then engage with other users and businesses. You can’t expect to simply post and build a following, you must make an effort to get something back and likewise read other blogs and comment or share those to build relationships.
Then expect it to take some time. You can do the basics without too much know-how but it will probably only get you so far. At some point you need to develop an intimate understanding of the processes involved in ranking for key terms, building an audience and establishing yourself online. You may be the number one company in your given industry but if your online presence does not reflect that then you cannot expect to be number one online. It takes time, a lot of know how and consistency; you may need help.
You may need a company like DP Online Marketing.
