Guest Post: Digital Marketing Essentials for Small Businesses
In this digital world there are many digital marketing channels available for small businesses to utilise. It can be a daunting task deciding on where to invest your time and money in order to have a level of return (ROI). Here cover some of the areas which any business should be seriously considering and making a concerted effort to improve as part of their digital marketing strategy.
- 1) Produce Engaging, Informative and Useful content:
They say content is king for a reason – Any business no matter how big or small should be generating content on their website and distributing it online. People are constantly connected to the internet and humans enjoy reading useful and engaging information.
Make sure you know your audience so you can write articles which show you are an expert in your field. You can provide interesting and useful information which leads your audience to consider purchasing your services or products.
An onsite blog is great platform that allows businesses the scope to write about company news, useful articles, industry news and anything else.
- 2) Ensure your Website is Mobile Responsive
In this age of electronic internet ready devices, websites are visited from desktops, tablets and mobiles. Serving up a website view that responds to a user’s device means increased conversion and more time spent on your website. As a result you should ensure that your website responds to the device being used by the user dynamically so that it caters for all users.
Responsive websites are developed to adjust their width and layout based on the width of the browsing device (i.e. narrower and longer design for mobiles, wider and shorter design layout for desktops/tablets).
If you already have a non-responsive website, the prospect of getting a new responsive site developed can seem pricey; however there are some very cost-effective ways to get your website developed these days.
- 3) Use Search Marketing to Boost Your Traffic (SEO & PPC)
Search marketing has been around as long as Google and is here to stay. Organic search requires Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). With SEO you have to optimise your website so that you can rank higher on search engines for key target terms which your customers are searching for.
Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC Ads) allow you to set a budget and bid on keywords so you can guarantee positions. Although costlier, providing you are measuring your return on spend, you can make PPC search ads really work for you and grow your business awareness, leads and sales.
- 4) Get Social with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more!
Social Media has really transformed the way consumers engage with brands and communicate with others. Business should setup free business pages on all relevant social platforms and share their content, products, promotions and news.
Most social platforms also allow advertising so you can boost your posts and offer targeted adverts to your defined target demographic audience.
5) Join a digital community where your customers are located
Online communities can be a great way of generating engagement with your target customers as well as referring them to your website. There are a host of digital communities on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google Plus as well as specific ones for specific industry-related websites.
Find relevant groups and get engaged. Many business owners are shy at first but after a few discussions they become bolder and often find them a really valuable.
About the Author and Odyssey New Media:
Rob Stoubos is the Managing Director & Owner of Odyssey New Media – a leading full service Digital agency in Birmingham, UK who specialist in PPC and SEO services in Birmingham. Rob has been working in digital marketing since 2005 and has helped many UK and international clients improve their sales, return and overall ROI through digital marketing channels.
Connect with Odyssey New Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/odysseynewmedia
Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseynewmedia
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+Odysseynewmedia
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/odyssey-new-media
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/odysseynewmedia/