Most e-businesses get too tied up with backlinks and on-page SEO when the reality is that they can bring in business from so many other areas. We’re going to look at some of the best ways of marketing your brand and growing your business, some of which you might not have thought of before.
Search engines are important, but they shouldn’t be over-relied upon. Sometimes you need to think outside the box. The reality is, the first page on Google is hard to get to, especially for a competitive keyword. Throwing thousands — or millions — at SEO can be fruitful, but that money might be better spent elsewhere.
Small Business Marketing listed four top marketing tips that can help boost your online business.
Paid Ads
Most people think of paid ads as simply Google adwords, but there are tons of other options. You can find some real goldmines for your niche in specific areas of the Internet.
Find blogs or sites that are relevant to you and promote to them directly. Many relevant competitors might be happy to do some sort of link exchange.
Don’t forget about Facebook, which is proven to give much better ROI than non-social-media ad platforms. Facebook will allow adverts to be targeted specifically at the type of people you want, but your advertising efforts don’t need to be focused on expensive paid traffic.
Volume isn’t always important
You probably think that you need to get as many visitors as possible to boost your business, but that isn’t always the case. What’s just as important is that you get quality visitors as well as quantity.
If you’re selling something, it’s surely better to get 10 of the “right” sort of visitor, all of whom make a purchase, than 1000 passive clicks that don’t spend any money. That’s why focussing on the right sort of traffic is important, but it needn’t be expensive.
Market offline
You’d be surprised how many people forget that there’s loads of potential customers out there who might be interested in your products or services. Especially if you’re in an online industry, it can be easy to get too focused in keeping everything online.
Buying traffic, paying for advertising, and improving your SEO can all work, but there are just as many ways to promote your business in the area around you, and sometimes at a fraction of the cost.
Send out leaflets, advertise in magazines or even go door-to-door. The reality is that the print industry is floundering and losing money, so you can find some great advertising bargains.
Get a head start on your competitors by capturing people’s attention when they aren’t on the Internet. It can arguably be easier AND cheaper.
Article marketing
If you’re determined to keep your marketing efforts online, there are still plenty of alternatives to relying solely on search engines.
Write some good content that’s relevant to your industry and get it syndicated to authoritative blogs with a real readership. Not only will this actually help your search engine ranking in the long run (as most of them like quality contextual links) but you should see a growth in residual traffic from those other blogs and article sites. If you’re aiming your articles at the right sort of people — those who are relevant to your niche — then you should see the right sort of traffic hitting your site more often.
Now over to you
What’s your favorite online business marketing tips? Please share your insights with us.