Tips to Give Your Small Business a Boost

For your small business to succeed, you must take steps to promote the products/services extensively. Even though most traditional marketing methods are expensive and may not be affordable for all type of businesses, there is a way out. That way is digital marketing which is also very effective and less expensive. Digital technology revolves very rapidly but even at that, online marketing techniques are still very effective for most types and sizes of businesses. The reason is, digital marketing techniques are more customizable and easier to track and can easily add more value to a business or brand. In today’s digital landscape, below are some tips about proven ways to market a small business online for good results.

Optimize your Website for Search Engines
 
It is like a jungle out there on the internet and the competition is very stiff. The reason you must explore technical means to ensure Search Engines notice your website. The power of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) cannot be underestimated by digital marketers as it allows a business to appear in more search engine searches with specific keyword(s). Optimization of a website entails the creative use of target keywords in titles, content, responsive design, fast loading pages, and easy to navigate web structure etc. It is a highly technical online field which you can get done with the services of experts if you do not have the knowledge and expertise to do it yourself.


 
Social Media Ads

Social media is exactly where to be right now if you are a small business owner. Nearly everyone is on social media these days. So, why not explore ways on social media to put your products/services where they can easily be found by the multitude of persons. That place is social media particularly the very popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. That is where you get the most ideal marketing platforms for digital marketers as they allow for easy sharing of information and they are hugely popular to boot. It is helpful to participate/interact on these platforms and to even place cheap ads on them for astonishingly good results.

Guest Blogging

If you are very much at home with the subject matter of your type of business and you are a good content writer, guest blogging is good for your business. There are millions of bloggers and very good blog sites out there on the internet. Many of the sites are already very popular to warrant being associated with because collaboration with expert bloggers in your industry is one of the best ways to give your business a boost online. If you explore ways to reach out to them and convince them with the good content you write how your experience or knowledge can add value to their blogs, they easily take you on. Most of the very popular blogs are open for guest posts with peculiar guest posting rules and guidelines. These you can take good advantage of. If however you are unable to write good content yourself, you can contract guest blogging services from experts to help you reach your target audience by selecting the right blogs/websites to make your posts live on.

Direct Blogging

Blogging is all about content marketing. It is just finding a way to get out your knowledge and expertise which benefits others. Online marketing experts insist that creating a blog for your business website and publishing high quality, problem solving and informative content regularly on it is one of the most effective online marketing tactics to generate good results for any business. When your blog becomes very popular online, it translates to traffic and eventual sales.

Email marketing
 
These days, some marketers argue that email marketing is obsolete but they do not deny the fact that it still turns in good marketing results. Email marketing campaign is a very effective method to reach and attract target customers but first, you must build a list. When established, email list becomes a very valuable asset for your email campaigns.  It comes very handy for sending out large quantity emails with valuable content, knowledge or product offers. Feedback from these mails can give your business some valuable exposure and even sales.


 
Video Marketing

Video marketing is visual content marketing which habitually gets better traffic and results than written content marketing. You can easily create product reviews, tutorial videos and some sort of interesting video content that people want to view then get it on YouTube and even Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Getting it on YouTube is more advantageous though. YouTube is the most powerful and free video marketing platform that allows anyone to create and market promotional video content free of cost. That appeal no doubt is to every good marketer’s delight. What is most important in visual content marketing is to be mindful at all times that people always want to watch something interesting and appealing much more than just a promotional content. That is what gets the much needed traffic and sales better.

How to Use Freebies to Promote Your Website

 These days nearly everyone wants something of value and wherever possible, get it for free. As a marketer, even if the content of your Website is very interesting, highly informative, and entertaining, you still need more promotional strategies to make it successful. So, what do smart marketers do in the circumstance? They go for a bit of perks on the side to lure and keep visitors focused on their websites. They carefully choose a distinct promotion strategy to isolate and focus on one particular thing of value and place it on their websites. The main selling point of such thing of value is usually that it is offered for free. That offer acts as a very good bait to keep visitors coming and staying on the site. Most people really love freebies no doubt.

Every marketer always has a very wide range of freebies they can choose to offer. Everything depends on the marketer, his/her expertise on digital items of value and the nature of the businesses they are offering. If you need help, you can access many examples of promotional freebies many others are using on the Web. Everything depends on what you are offering. Some theme designers offer some themes free. Some photographers usually offer some of their images for your use royalty free. If you are a Graphic artist, you can offer free clip-arts. If you are a musician or a music distributor, you can offer free downloads of certain types of songs. Many Programmers do offer certain programs as freeware to attract buyers. E-books and “how to” wares are very popular freebies on the web and they are fairly easy to write and distribute.

Every experienced marketer knows that the attention span of most Internet surfers is always very fleet and notoriously limited. A freebie offer always manages to “arrest” the attention of some of these surfers. That helps to attract and keep good traffic on your website. That no doubt is very good for your online business. Millions of people are on the Internet offering one thing or the other. Many of these huge numbers compete rigorously daily for the limited attention of Internet surfers. They all want to attract people to their websites and for them to keep coming back. Many smart marketers know too well that it is virtually impracticable and I dare say impossible for any one person to look at every site to which they are invited. In such a bleak scenario, what to do to make a real difference is to offer something of value free. By actively offering something which people really need, something for which they may be actively seeking, for free, chances are, you could grab their attention better. Offering freebies is thus one great way to get visitors to actually come and even stay a bit longer on your Website. That directly translates to more and better traffic to your website and a potent booster for your business.
 
 

What Makes an Affiliate Program Good To Promote?

 In affiliate marketing program, promotion is really key. Just because you’ve found a high paying affiliate program, doesn’t mean you should promote it right away. If you find an affiliate product which meets these here 4 criteria, you are best advised to consider taking the time to promote it.

Therefore, before promoting an affiliate program, always be sure it meets following key criteria.

01. Have I used it myself? Use a product first and be sure it works as promised before you undertake to promote it. This is rather obvious though but surprisingly, many marketers don’t consider it as very important. By using a product yourself, you will discover both the pros and cons of the product you are using. That information helps you to write more credible reviews or case studies on the product. This is important because the more trustworthy you are, the more likely your readers will click on your affiliate links.

02. Does it work for me? You can only answer this question if you have used the product. Consumers are aware that there are so many products and services out there that don’t do what they promise. Even if they do, they just don’t do it as well from the promotional promises. If you don’t want to lose trust and credibility fast enough, promote only products/services which you have used yourself and they work well for you.

03. Is it a trusted Brand? In affiliate marketing trust is earned over time. Trust readily attracts customers to the brand. That is the real reason many marketers prefer promoting affiliate products of a company or persons they already know and trust. When you know their products are solid and they treat their customers well, you get involved. Such brands readily make the best affiliate programs to promote because people are more likely to search for and buy from only the trusted brands they know.

04. Are the products evergreen? Some marketers prefer to make quick money hence they readily latch on to products that may launch for only a week or two and then close. To others, that is not a good strategy because there is too much work involved in such promotional efforts. It is best to focus more on evergreen programs that you can always promote on the long term thereby earning residual commissions for many months or even years down the road.