Four Internet Marketing Strategies for Beginners

Internet marketing for beginners is somewhat of an oxymoron. This is because while in theory the concepts behind Internet marketing might be quite simple, executing effective strategies can be extremely difficult. I’ve been asked by potential clients what to do to create a useful, simple, marketing strategy. Something like this can even be tough for those who are quite experienced in the world of Internet marketing. With this in mind, this article will attempt to explain the concept of Internet marketing for beginners and will outline some basic strategies which can help a business owner to launch his own Internet marketing campaign. We will cover concepts such as creating a website, sending out e-newsletters, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and optimizing your website for search engines.

1 Your Website

One of the most basic steps for starting an Internet marketing campaign is to create a website. If you don’t have a website or have a poorly designed website, you should consider creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your products. The best websites are simple, clear, and easy to move around. If your visitors can’t find what they came for with a few clicks, they will look elsewhere. If you do not have experience in web design, several software packages make it simple for those with no design experience to create a functional website. However, hiring a web designer is worthwhile because he can work to create a website that is attractive, functional, and suitable to your products and series. He can also help you include more advanced features on your website.

Related: Marketing Tools Every Small Free Business Marketer Should Try

2 The e-Newsletters

Sending out e-newsletters can also be a part of an effective Internet marketing strategy. E-newsletters are essentially emails, which may contain a variety of information including informative articles, useful quizzes, relevant advertising, or any other information that is deemed worthwhile for the recipients of the e-newsletter. The importance of these newsletters is that they can be used as marketing tools that are not viewed by the recipients as advertisement. One way to do this is to incorporate links or other soft sale approaches into the copy of the e-newsletters. However, care should be taken to keep these references minimal, so the e-newsletter is not viewed as spam.

3 The Email Marketing Campaign

Email marketing campaigns can be another successful aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Email marketing essentially involves sending out emails to a group of individuals who may be interested in your products and services. Again, care should be taken in sending out these emails to avoid sending emails that are unsolicited and will be viewed as spam. One way to do this is to only send out emails to users who have requested inclusion on an email mailing list. Another way is to provide value in the emails as opposed to just including advertisements. This can be done by offering a one-time offer like a downloadable product, relevant advice in your emails and other useful information which may be of interest to the recipients of the email.

Related: 5 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand as a Marketer

4 The SEO

Finally, optimizing your website for search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. SEO is one of the most popular buzzwords in Internet marketing but unfortunately, most Internet marketers simply do not know enough about SEO to make this strategy work for them.  Search engines rank websites according to quality and relevance for particular search terms. Many Internet users appreciate the effort of search engines and use these search engines to find the best websites on a particular subject. This means that Internet users are likely to only visit websites that rank well with search engines. Therefore, if your website is not high-ranking, you are not likely to generate a great deal of traffic from Internet users who use search engines to find relevant websites. Top-ranking websites are likely to obtain the most traffic from search engines and all websites falling on the first page of the search engine results will likely enjoy some degree of success in improving their traffic. A breakdown of the website sections search engines concentrates on, titles, descriptions, meta tags, and keywords.

The main pieces mentioned above are expressed to my clients and potential clients. When it comes to the Internet, there are no established “best practices.” These internet marketing strategies may be what is best today may not be best tomorrow! The only “best practice” you should religiously subscribe to is the realization that the Internet is changing constantly, and you should be ready to adapt. Keep an eye on current trends and technological developments and keep an open mind when it comes to marketing practices.