In the last post, I talked about How To Create A Website For Your Business? It is part of a series titled – How to Start and Grow Your Successful Online Business. After the website for your business is done, what’s next? Well, you need to create awareness of your business website. Just like you, when I first ventured into business, I wondered how to create that awareness, and How To Promote Your Business Online?
But first, let us understand why it is important to create awareness of your business? On the world wide web, according to Internet Live Stats, there are over 1.5 billion websites on the world wide web (as of April 2018). And this number is increasing daily.
To have a successful business online, to have revenue and sales, you need to make sure that people know your website exists. That is Awareness. You will need to promote your website and drive traffic to it. When visitors show interest, you need to engage them and nurture this relationship. Eventually, the goal is to convert these leads into sales.
As you can see, the first order of the day is to create Awareness. Then Promote Your Business Online so as to achieve sales. These days, there are two main ways of marketing. They are Offline Marketing and Online Marketing.
What is Offline Marketing?
Basically, any form of promotion or marketing done outside of the Internet is considered Offline Marketing. It would include TV Advertisements, Newspaper Advertisements, Print Banner Advertisements, Billboards, Posters, Print Advertisements on Buses and Taxis, plus many more. Even a T-shirt with a logo of a brand is a form of Offline Marketing.
Offline Marketing can reach the masses. But it can also result in wastage. The product or service may be something only a particular group of people or target audience needs. But an advertisement, for example on TV, is seen by lots of people. And out of the large number of people, only a small group belongs to the target group. As such, this results in wastage.
Another factor against Offline Marketing is the cost. The types of Offline Marketing that reaches out to very large groups of people, for example a TV ad or ad on a bus, is very expensive. The ones that are cheaper are not very effective.
Conversions are also not so good with Offline Marketing. How many people do you think will make a purchase of a product after seeing the advertisement on TV, a bus or a billboard? Very few. And that kind of Return on Investment (ROI), for a new business owner or small business owner is not attractive.
As you can see, Offline Marketing is not a good option. I am not saying it is no longer of any use anymore. We still do see TV ads, newspaper ads, ads on buses, trains and cabs, and other forms of Offline Marketing. It still has its usefulness and effectiveness. But cost is a major factor. And as a new business owner, you will be very conscious of costs. It is better to consider Online Marketing, and I will explain why below.
What is Online Marketing?
Online Marketing, also known as Digital Marketing, is when you promote your business on the Internet. It can be done by a variety of methods such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Social Media Marketing, Video Marketing, Content Marketing, Email Marketing, and many other ways.
It can be done in such a way to reach the masses. The more effective way would be to promote to a specific target audience, one that is the type of consumer who would be interested in your product or service.
This is where many digital advertising outshines Offline Marketing. For example, in Facebook, you can create a super targeted audience that would convert very well. What this means is that there is high chances of the audience buying your product or service.
Compared to many Offline Marketing choices, Online Marketing options are comparatively lower in cost. A TV advertisement can cost thousands of dollars. A Facebook advertisement can cost a fragment of that amount. To many small business owners like you and me, that is a very attractive point to note.
Now that you understand more about what Online Marketing is, what are the next steps? The first is to use the Digital Marketing techniques to Create Awareness of Your Business.
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Types of Digital Marketing to Promote Your Business Online
There are various types of Digital Marketing techniques that you can use to Create Awareness of your business website, and Promote your products and services. One of the popular tactics is SEO, which is Search Engine Optimization. It is to rank your website as high as possible on search results, preferably on the first page, so that people can find it.
Another type of Digital Marketing include Facebook Marketing and Advertising. This is where you create awareness of your business on Facebook using the Facebook Page. Then you advertise your products to the users on Facebook. Instagram, that is also owned by Facebook, is also another good way to Promote Your Business Online.
There are many more Digital Marketing options for you to consider. They can be promoting your business on Twitter or Pinterest. If your business is targeting other businesses, you may consider LinkedIn. If you have videos, you can upload them to YouTube as another channel of promotion.
The options are plenty. And too many to cover in a small section here. I will write another blog post entirely dedicated to Digital Marketing strategies soon.
Conclusion
Trust me. I totally understand how scary it can be. Especially for a new business owner.
You need a website. Then you need to create Awareness of your website and your business. After that, you need to be able to know how to Promote Your Business effectively.
It can be all very intimidating.
Thankfully, for you and me, there is Wealthy Affiliate University. It is an online platform where you will have access to online training on How to Build a Successful Online Business.
Need to know how to create a website? Wealth Affiliate has step by step tutorials to guide you.
Need to know how to do SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? No problem. There is a course on how to do it correctly so that you get your website and content ranked high.
What about Social Media Marketing? That, and all the the other ways to promote your business is available to you when you join Wealthy Affiliate.
Even as a Digital Marketing Consultant with over 26 years of experience. I have found Wealthy Affiliate to be a very useful and helpful resource to help and boost my knowledge. It has helped me provide improved and better service to my clients. For years, I had wanted to start my own online business. Now, with the help of Wealthy Affiliate, I have a few. If you need to find more more about Wealthy Affiliate, go to my Wealthy Affiliate Review now.
I highly recommend you take this opportunity now. Click on the image banner above or the link below to start learning how to build a successful online business.
If you have ANY questions about this article – How To Promote Your Business Online, ANY at all, please submit your questions as comments below. I will be happy to help you out.
Also, if you are a current or former member of Wealthy Affiliate, and would like to leave your own review or feedback below, I would love to hear from you, too.
Thank you for reading this.
Best wishes!
Timotheus
Great tips! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Thanks Hazel. Glad you like them. 🙂
I love reading post like this because it sounds so easy but its all about putting it into the works. My first attempt with SEO I wasn’t using the correct keywords. I always assumed using long tail keywords was super spammy but I realize now it pretty much narrows everything down. I still struggle with social media here and there but it will get better.
Thanks for loving this post, Taylor.
Yes, long tail keywords are great for ranking, and attracts a more targeted audience.
Another way is to use Low Hanging Fruit Keywords which can be learned at Wealthy Affiliate University. They also provide superb training on social media. I have years of digital marketing experience, and yet I find I am constantly so much from this platform. That is why I am passionate about introducing it to business owners like you.
Take a look at it with the Free Starter account here – https://passiveonlinerevenue.siterubix.com/learn-how-to-start-and-grow-your-own-online-business
Awesome post explaining the best ways to promote your new online business, I really don’t know many website owners who do offline marketing other than business cards and promotional products from time to time.
Promoting online sounds to be the most effective method of promoting your business, I am happy I stumbled upon your post I was considering on doing some offline marketing but you have changed my mind
Thank You
Jeff
Hi Jeff! Happy to help. 🙂
Traditional marketing, especially offline marketing can be costly. Lots of wastage, and lots of time taken up.
Online marketing is more cost effective and time efficient. Very glad to hear I have changed your mind, and you are going to try online marketing.
If you are not sure how to do it, Wealthy Affiliate has a very excellent training on how to promote your business online. You can check it out here – https://passiveonlinerevenue.siterubix.com/learn-how-to-start-and-grow-your-own-online-business
Timotheus,
Thank you for helping me understand online advertising! There are so many different terms used in digital marketing. If you are new to the business, it can be a little daunting. But you described in a way that is easy to understand. I am in complete agreement with your assessment of Wealthy Affiliate (WA). I joined recently and am amazed by how much I have learned in such a short amount of time. What’s even more impressive is the support system that WA offers. Members are extremely helpful. If it weren’t for the encouragement and mentoring I have received, I would have given up by now.
Thanks again for the great information!
Nora
You’re welcome Nora. Yes, it can be a little daunting. So glad my article helped. 🙂
Also very glad you agree about Wealthy Affiliate. The supportive community truly is one of the gems there.
Keep up your good work!
Tim
Great article on online marketing. I am new at marketing online so this was quite an eye opener with all the different ways to promote your business online. I am curious what the difference is between long tailed keywords and low hanging fruit as I seem to be having issues getting my articles to rank with google. I type in my keywords in the search bar and go page after page and never see my posts. I would love any information you can give me to help me rank.
Hi Dena. Thanks. Glad you like the article. 🙂
A Long Tailed Keyword is a phrase that is more descriptive for a search term. For example, evening gowns would be a generic keyword, a phrase that is a general search. Affordable violet evening gowns would be a long tailed keyword. As you can see, it is more descriptive. Also, it is more exact in search.
The person who enters this long tailed keywords will be most probably looking exactly for an evening gown that is violet in color and low priced. Studies have found that people who use long tailed keywords have a higher intent to make a purchase. This is because they already have done research, and have narrowed down their search to what they are looking for exactly.
A Low Hanging Fruit Keyword is a keyword or phrase that has higher chances of ranking high in search results. To know what are the keywords, you will have to use keyword tools for research and look at the search volume, traffic, QSR and potential ranking for SEO. One of the best keyword tools I use is Jaaxy. I use it for all my online work. It is truly useful and has proven results. Here is a link to more information about keywords and the keyword tool – https://timotheuslee.com/free-keywords-tool/
I hope this information helps you. Please feel free to ask me any further questions. I will be most happy to assist. 🙂
Hello Timotheus,
What a great and informative post. I’m quite a newcomer in the online business and I have just started to learn about how to promote my own business. In the past months, it has become obvious to me how important digital marketing is, and that offline marketing is getting less and less important especially for pure online businesses like mine. Your easy understandable explanation has deepened my knowledge. It shows your great competence and longtime experience in this business.
The niche I have chosen is healthy living and I promote products which help people to live a healthier life. Which social media platforms do you think are the best ones for me, and on how many platforms should I be active?
Pernilla
Hi Pernilla. Thank you. Glad you found the post good and informative. And you are right. Now, online marketing is more needed than offline. And thank you for your kind compliments too.
You have chosen a good niche. It is profitable and in demand. But also very competitive. I am glad you know that you need to promote your products online. Regarding social media, it is best to be active on one platform, and do the promotion well there. You can choose one platform to be active and still share your posts on all the other of the Big 6.
For your niche, there are a few platforms that can work well. They are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. For now, I would suggest doing your promotions on Facebook. It is excellent for targeting people who are interested in health products. For Instagram, it is also ideal. So do post updates there to and build a following.
Pinterest is great for traffic. So do not miss out on the opportunity there. Traffic can lead to sales too. Finally, YouTube is excellent because now more and more people prefer to watch information than read. Plus visuals do tell a thousand words. And people remember images better than words. But videos do take a lot of time to create.
Look at the above options and consider which one you would have time and effort to focus on. Like I mentioned, videos are great but it takes a lot of time to create them. So, if you are doing business alone, then maybe consider just doing Facebook.
Thank you so much for your very helpful answer, Timotheus!
I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my question thoroughly. I’m going to follow your advice to concentrate on Facebook first. That sounds very wise. You helped me to choose which platform to choose next. I will do as you say and join Instagram soon and a bit later Pinterest. Youtube is a bit of a hurdle for me, so I will let that be for the time being.
All the best,
Pernilla
My pleasure, Pernilla. Come back any time when you have anything to ask or clarify.
Best wishes,
Timotheus
Thank you Timotheus for a straight to the point description of what needs to get done on our websites. Your explanation are great and further makes me wonder which direction to take with my website. I suppose it s just a matter of reevaluating what I want to happen with the audience I am seeking. I appreciate all you mentioned and will try to apply some of these thoughts into practical usage. Thanks again
Hi Xavier. You’re welcome. 🙂 Glad you like the information and explanation here.
Yes, you are right to consider the direction to take for your website. That is very important and needs to be done from the start. With the direction, you can come up with a digital marketing strategy and a digital marketing plan. These will help you move forward in that direction, towards your goal.
You will need to think about the target audience for your niche. To help you decide on a target audience, think about the customer persona. There may be more than one sometimes. The customer persona will help you truly understand your audience, and their needs. That will help you know how your product or service can fulfill their needs.
Glad to hear you will be applying some of the tactics I have shared. Another article of mine may be of help too – Digital Marketing Strategies to Help Promote Your Business. Do check it out. 🙂