Does internet marketing make your business feel like an itsy-bitsy fish in a colossal pond?
With every brand trying to get the last word on social media and fighting to reach the top of search results, sometimes the top can seem beyond range.
“But they’ve been defining their internet sales funnel for years!”
“There’s hundreds of websites ranking before mine..”
“They have thousands of social media fans already.”
Don’t allow doubt to stand in the way of your success a moment longer. Nobody gets to the top without a strategy and some effort. Let’s push forward together with internet marketing optimization that blows your competitors out of the water!
Step 1: A plan to maximize conversion.
What does your business consider a conversion? If you own an eCommerce store, a conversion could be when a website user becomes a customer by purchasing an item. If you offer a service or product not sold online, a conversion could be when a user contacts your company.
Conversions translate to more sales and revenue for your business. Your website and online presence should be centered around maximizing conversion.
- Determine sales funnel.
While the previous conversions may be your main focus or end goal, conversions come in all types. Before a user becomes a customer, they typically go through a metamorphose that is referred to as the sales funnel.
Yes, we know you’ve heard of this before. When you move the sales funnel online, it starts looking a little different.
- Define buyer personas.
In order to move your audience through the sales funnel we need to get to know them. Let’s look at what their goals are and how we can help them reach those. Your product or service should help solve a problem they have, we should clearly present that to them.
The image below is an example of how their “buyer’s journey” looks. By exploring what your buyer persona is searching for and considering at each stage, your business can optimize internet marketing to fit them.
Step 2: Get back in charge of your social media account.
In order to build your brand and connect with your target audience, you need to be where they are: social media. Think posting twice a month, or even a week, cuts it? Not anymore.
Tests have shown that best practices vary by social network:
- Facebook: two posts per day.
- Twitter: three posts or more per day.
- LinkedIn: one post per day.
- Instagram: 1.5 posts or more per day.
Step 3: Optimize for search engines.
Perhaps the single most important part of internet marketing optimization: Search Engine Optimization. SEO for short, refers to a combination of approaches that increase your website’s rank in search engines.
These approaches usually include the following:
- SEO audit: A professional examines your existing website, finds the right keywords, and lists what should be improved upon.
- Onsite SEO: Targeting keywords through page content, tags, metas, titles, and overall website structure.
- Offsite SEO: Link building through relevant inbound links from peers, social media, advertising, and consistent local listings.
Step 4: Monitor data and results from your website.
Many businesses avoid Google Analytics like the plague- and who could blame them? Without training, Google Analytics is like a labyrinth of charts and numbers.
Google Analytics is vital to the success of your website and internet marketing optimization efforts. Think of it this way, if you make a website change or run a campaign, how can you measure it’s success?
An increase in sales only scratches the surface. If it isn’t successful, Google Analytics can help you determine what points were holding up conversion and where you can improve upon.
Before you know it, your itsy-bitsy fish will start looking a lot more like a piranha. The internet gives brands a unique opportunity to compete on an even playing field. Proper internet marketing optimization will allow your business to continue growing and finally swim alongside the big boys.
