In the fourth part of this series, we helped you work through the vendor selection process. In this fifth and final part, we will discuss THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you should focus on…your strategy to generate revenue through your new website. This fifth component will contain a LOT of information, so I have broken it into a series of 7 posts that will cover:
- Search Engine Marketing – Pay Per Click Advertising
- Search Engine Marketing – Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Marketing – Local business ads/map
- Social Marketing – Facebook
- Social Marketing – Twitter
- Link Building
- Conversion Pages
When finished, you should have a great framework for building an online marketing plan. So, let’s get started! Here’s the first lesson on how to…
Generate traffic and sales using online marketing
When a business owner opens a physical storefront, he or she typically works hard to let the community know that they are open for business. Often, they create print ads for newspapers or magazines, offer coupons/listings in the yellow pages, run radio and/or television advertising and join the local chamber of commerce. Without this kind of advertising, generating a repeat customer base quickly is almost impossible.
In similar fashion, no one knows that your website is “open for business” until you market that site. Let’s review some ways that you can begin to tell the world about your website and generate the much needed traffic required to create sales for your business.
Search Engine Marketing
Being found on the major search engines like Google, Bing, Ask and Yahoo is an absolute MUST. More and more shoppers are going to the Internet first and searching for the products and services they need. If your website and business does not show up in a search for the products or services you provide, they will buy from a competitor they find during their search…it’s that simple. People no longer use yellow pages when they are ready to buy, they use a search engine!
There are three primary ways to market your website on the major search engines:
- Pay Per Click (PPC) ads – Did you know that you can be the #1 search result for any keyword or keyword phrase you want on the major search engines? That’s right, any/every keyword phrase you desire can be yours if you are willing to be the highest bidder! All of the major search engines offer a paid advertising program that appear in their search results. For instance, Google AdWords displays paid ads at the top of the page and right hand column of its search results. These ads are ranked and positioned based on the advertiser’s bid for that particular keyword or phrase. (Highest bidder wins first ad placement, second highest bidder appears in the second spot and so on.) When a searcher clicks on one of those ads, that advertiser pays Google the bid amount.These types of ads can generate traffic to your website immediately! However, keywords and phrases become more and more expensive as the number of competitors grows. I’ve seen clicks as inexpensive as $.10 and as pricey as $35.00. Even more challenging is that this market changes constantly. As a result, running a PPC campaign that creates a positive return on your investment requires constant monitoring and modifications. It would be my recommendation to work with a firm who has a proven track history of managing profitable PPC campaigns for their clients. This step alone can not only save you thousands of dollars each year, but ultimately generate even more top line revenue for your business!
In the next part of the series, we will discuss the mysterious world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how critical it can be to the livelihood of your website.
God Bless,
Erik Barnlund, CEO
