Recent research indicates that an astonishing thirty to thirty five percent of user-based search queries on the major search engines like Yahoo! and Google are targeted exclusively towards small businesses. This clearly indicates that small businesses can grab a piece of the online marketing pie if they design a good online marketing strategy. Online marketing has tremendous potential and it can help small and local business maximize their potential ROI in a big way. Search engines too need to work on newer and better ways of helping these people give their business a much-needed impetus and a great head start.
Some of the best methods that go into creating a a successful online marketing plan for small business include but are not limited to:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO helps you promote your site and services in a big way. SEO is one of the most effective ways to increase the visibility of your website by leaps and bounds. Though there are various both internal and external factors that go into achieving the desired result and success of the marketing campaign, optimizing your website for SEO would be a good place to start. Internal factors include those connected to the site like its overall design, layout, and content. These changes involve minor and major modifications to the source code of the website.
Setting up online advertising campaigns: Google AdWords and Yahoo! AdCenter are advertising campaigns offered by these major search engines. Signing up for an online advertising account would be a great way to build your online marketing campaigns. When a user types in a search query using Google ads show up on the same page above the search results and sometimes on the right side of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). If the search query is targeted towards a small business, your advertisement may be displayed if the keywords in the search query pertain to your business. This helps site promotion.
Search engine features: Some of the most helpful and useful features offered by the search engine giant Google include the ‘Nearby’ search feature. This smart and intelligent feature gives users local search results in response to their local search queries. While the traditional WDD (within driving distance) option of small business searches was successful for a short span of time, it gradually made way for the more advanced and sophisticated ‘Nearby’ search feature. This recently launched Google application has now been integrated into mobiles as the ‘Near Me Now’ feature. It works in mobiles that use the Android platform and iphones.
Target audience: As an online marketer or an entrepreneur or as the owner of an online business, it is extremely important that you have answers to the three main questions. These questions are important as you need a lot of clarity before you decide on an advertising spend for your online marketing campaigns. In order to create the blueprint for your website, you need to know: 1. The target audience: Is your audience a global audience or a local? 2. The content on the website: Do you have relevant content? 3. The navigation pattern: Can your users easily find what they are looking for on your website?
Other modes of online marketing: There are many other smart and effective ways of promoting a small business. Some of them include but are not limited to email marketing, blogs, online forums, videos, social networking sites, affiliate and referrals networks, etc. When used intelligently, these modes of online marketing that are primarily geared towards enhancing the visibility of your website can also drive sales figures and help you maximize your potential Return On Investment (ROI). Email marketing campaigns are a form of ‘direct marketing’ and ‘viral marketing.’ The reach is phenomenal as you can reach a large audience using email marketing campaigns.
Keyword research and analysis: Keyword research and analysis not only play are an integral role in the text content of your website but also help you create successful online marketing campaigns. If you want the web crawlers to index your site and also give it a high PageRank, your campaigns must include a mix of good and relevant keywords apart from the most sought after high-traffic keywords. Meta tags have description meta tags prove to be extremely effective if they are populated with plural and other variations of good keywords. This also helps optimize your advertising campaigns in an effective manner.