The Best Ways To Start Marketing Online

In this article, we will cover some of the most effective channels and techniques in digital marketing and share tips to help familiarize you with the basics of digital marketing.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing is the practice of marketing online. Many different channels can be used to market online, such as a company website, pay-per-click advertising, email marketing, social media, etc. As opposed to traditional marketing tactics, digital marketing utilizes the power of the internet to advertise to larger audiences at a fraction of the cost! Despite the savings, it can be difficult for business owners to develop a successful digital marketing strategy due to the investment into researching and learning new technologies and methods. 

Why is Digital Marketing Important?

We live in the information era, and your customers want information immediately! Word of mouth and referrals are still powerful tools for business growth, but potential new customers will often opt for a quick Google search to find a business to work with. Creating an effective digital marketing strategy lets you capture this potentially missed traffic! Some forms of digital marketing, such as Social Media Marketing and Email Marketing, can also be used to engage existing or interested customers and encourage additional repeat and referral business.

Building a solid online reputation also shows potential customers that you are a trustworthy and reliable business. Many searchers look for companies with the highest rating in their area to decide where to shop. 

Don’t miss out on potential business, and start marketing online today!

6 Ways to Improve Your Online Presence

Website Development:

A practical and responsive website is the cornerstone of your online presence. It directs potential and existing customers to a reputable location for your business where you have complete control over what the user sees and experiences. A well-designed website shows prospects that you are a trustworthy and professional business in your industry segment, helps build your brand, and can significantly increase your online credibility to search engines like Google. Many solutions exist for website development, including platforms to create your own websites, semi-custom website developers, and fully customized web design solutions. 

Website Development Tips:

• Research websites for features and designs you like
• Use brand-consistent colours and designs
• Include lots of high-quality writing; this will help you rank better with search engines and help you win customers
• Make sure your website works on mobile, tablet, and desktop
• Research your development options carefully, and choose a development partner you can trust

Pay-per-click Advertising (PPC):

Pay-per-click advertising, commonly referred to as PPC advertising, allows you to meet your digital marketing goals and collect leads quickly. PPC advertising works by providing busy websites, such as Facebook or Google, with an advertisement that they display to users who are currently, or have recently been, searching for keywords related to your business. PPC advertising through Google is the fastest way to get your listing to the front page. The beauty of this method is that you only pay when the user clicks through to your website, ensuring your ad budget doesn’t go towards advertising to individuals who aren’t interested in what you offer!

PPC Tips:

• Decide what you want to achieve with PPC ads (traffic, leads, sales, etc.)
• Research keywords that your customers are searching for
• A/B test different advertisements to get more clicks
• Direct PPC ads to an effective landing page

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

Search Engine Optimization, often called SEO, is optimizing your online presence so that you show up higher in search engines such as Google. There are many ways to increase your SEO, including optimizing your Google Business Listing, collecting favourable reviews from customers online, and optimizing your website’s content and technical performance. SEO is a complicated task, and most businesses prefer to seek professional guidance to achieve a successful SEO strategy. 

SEO Tips:

• Develop a list of keywords relevant to your business
• Optimize your website’s content for target keywords
• Ensure your pages are indexed on Google through the Google Search Console
• Check that your website works on mobile, tablet, and desktop
• Get customer reviews on Google
• Check your businesses performance on Google

Data Analytics:

Tracking the results of your digital marketing strategy can only be easy with the right tools. Even if you have the data, there are many unfamiliar terms (such as impressions, click-through rate, bounce rate, conversions, etc.) to familiarize yourself with to understand what the data means. Even more complicated is understanding the changes necessary to optimize your results. Fortunately, many online resources are available to help you track and understand these metrics. We recommend that you use google analytics to measure your site’s performance and gain insights into your visitor demographics.

Tips For Understanding Data Analytics:

• Set up analytics reporting tools as soon as possible
• Review your analytical channels regularly
• Analyze which elements perform better than others
• Research terms you don’t understand

Social Media:

Social media is a great tool to round out your online presence and requires no financial investment. Running an effective social media page offers significant potential for allowing new customers to find your business, engaging existing customers, and building an engaged online community. Social media can also drive actions from potential customers, such as getting them to visit your website, complete an online form, purchase products, and leave reviews!

Social Media Marketing Tips:

• Make sure your information is up-to-date and consistent on all platforms
• Ask your customers for reviews
• Include a healthy mix of useful, fun, or interesting content and calls-to-action
• Engage with your audience
• Create a plan to post regularly

Optimize your content: 

Whenever you put out content, whether on your website, an advertisement, or on social media, it’s important to include elements that represent your brand’s positive image and the care you put into your work. Putting out high-quality content to your audience means a lot of different things, including having an effective and consistent Branding strategy, branded and consistent graphic designs, and visually engaging photo and video content.

Content Marketing Tips:

• Use high-quality photos for online content
• Provide content that your target audience finds useful
• Include subtle branding on infographics and graphic designs
• Develop a set of complementary and consistent colours to align with your brand

Simplify Digital Marketing with Source Select

At Source Select, we make connecting with your customers online simple! We offer a wide variety of in-house digital marketing solutions, including Web Development, PPC Management, SMM, SEO Services, and more, which help you build your online presence with expert advice and save you the time and money of investing in and learning the tools required to run effective digital marketing campaigns. No Matter your budget, we have solutions to help you reach your business growth goals! 

The best part is that we offer free marketing consultations that help you understand which solutions will help you most effectively reach your goals and deliver an effective ROI! 

Contact us today to book your free consultati