Will Internet Marketing Work for Your Business?

With the challenging times that we are facing, many of us are at home unable to work and are anxious and frightened about what is going to happen with our businesses going forward after the Coronavirus Pandemic.

You may have a business that is normally not on the internet, but for many businesses there are ways of diversifying or changing their business model, so that they can still have some income and survive over the coming months until hopefully some kind of normality returns.

So will internet marketing work for your business?

This is a difficult question to answer because there are so many complex factors involved. Specifically the techniques you employ in your Internet marketing campaign as well as the execution of these techniques can determine whether or not Internet marketing will work for your business. Additionally, the likelihood of your target audience using the Internet and responding to your marketing efforts should also be considered into the equation.  This article will outline the potential for success in an Internet marketing campaign.

Before making the decision to embark on an Internet marketing campaign you should carefully consider your target audience.  The Internet is used widely around the world but whether or not members of your target audience are likely to utilize the Internet to research or purchase the products or services you sell is not guaranteed.  This is significant because investing a great deal of time, effort and money into Internet marketing when your target audience is not likely to respond to these efforts may not be worthwhile.

However, these are highly unusual and different times and there are millions of people who would normally be out and about, who are on ‘Lock Down’ and stuck in their homes unable to go out and unable to get things that they would normally buy.

Conducting market research can do a great deal to help you determine whether or not you should invest in an Internet marketing campaign for your business.  This step is very important because it will give you a good indication of whether or not you should even begin marketing your business on the Internet.  Hiring a firm specialising in market research is recommended because they can conduct this research quickly and efficiently and will likely gain a great deal of valuable information as a result of their research efforts.  If they determine your business can benefit from an Internet marketing campaign, it is time to start thinking about how you want to advertise your business online.

Again, seeking the help of professionals can be an extremely worthwhile investment.  If you are not well versed in the industry of Internet marketing, hiring a firm with a great deal of expertise in this industry can be very helpful.  They can assist you by consulting with you to determine which marketing strategies will be most effective, designing advertisements for your campaign, helping you to orchestrate your Internet marketing campaign and evaluating the results of marketing efforts to determine which strategies are working and which are not.

The potential for success with an Internet marketing campaign is virtually limitless.  The success you enjoy is only limited by your ability to promote your products and services and execute effective marketing strategies.  Some of the marketing strategies you may wish to employ may include optimizing your website for relevant search terms, placing links to your website judiciously on the Internet, writing and publishing e-newsletters and utilizing affiliates to promote your website.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most important aspects of any Internet marketing campaign.  SEO is so important because it dictates the ranking of your website on popular search engines.  Internet users value these results and are not likely to seek out websites which do not rank well with search engines.  Conversely, high ranking websites can enjoy a great deal of increased website traffic as a result of these rankings.

Inbound links to your website are also important in Internet marketing.  Inbound links are links on other websites which direct users to your website.  These links are important in an Internet marketing campaign.  First of all many search engines factor inbound links into their ranking algorithms which means inbound links can result in higher search engines rankings.  Also, these links can be used directly by website users to access your website.  This means you can gain traffic directly from these links.

Another way to enjoy a successful Internet marketing campaign is to orchestrate an affiliate marketing campaign.  Affiliates are essentially website owners who place a banner ad on their website to direct traffic to your website, or who have an email list that they will send out emails to telling them about your service or product.  Typically, affiliates are only compensated when the advertisement on their website produces a desired effect such as enticing the users to click through the advertisement, resulting in a sale or resulting in another action such as filling out a survey or registering with your website.  Affiliate marketing can not only be highly effective but it is also cost effective because you only pay the affiliates when they produce results.

Most importantly the Branding and image of your company is everything. There will be a lot of competitors on the internet who offer the same services or products that you do. You only have seconds from them seeing your profile to either capturing their interest and to buy your services or products. You need to be able to stand out from the crowd and convince them that you are offering value for money or a service better than your competitors.

If you are a small business who is struggling to think of ways to keep your business from floundering in this economic climate and would like some help with your Internet presence, company or personal Branding, please do not hesitate to contact me on ali@alimcoaching.com or call me on +44 7968 134048.

 www.alimcoaching.com