How to Leverage the Top Channels of Internet Marketing?

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The term internet marketing has grown by leaps and bounds in
the recent years. The biggest factor contributing to its success is the low budget
and higher returns. Among all the channels of marketing, internet marketing has
an amazing number of audiences due to its nature of providing excellent return on investment (ROI) even for small business owners.

Internet marketing has several channels and each one of them
has their own tactics of revenue generation. Let us discuss the top channels of
internet marketing along with the tactics to get the highest returns on
investment.

Image credit: http://blog.seo4site.com/


Search Engine
Optimization

The biggest and the most important part of internet
marketing is search engine optimization. SEO is a technique which increases the
website’s ability to perform in the search results. It helps the site to grab a
lot of organic traffic which converts well thereby providing revenue to the
business owner. One of the biggest advantages of SEO is that it covers a long
term investment and makes the website relevant and popular so that it starts to
rank higher in the search results pages.

There are certain strategies that need to be followed while
utilizing SEO as a channel of internet marketing. These are shared below:-

  • ·        
    Work with an experienced SEO consultant who
    understands how search engine works and also understands the algorithms which
    works behind the scenes for ranking sites.
  • ·        
    Consider SEO as a long term investment and don’t
    expect immediate results.
  • ·        
    Make changes on your site as and when required
    and always work towards increasing the brand value of your site.
  • ·        
    Follow search engine guidelines.
  • ·        
    Think of the user and not of the search engines.
    The biggest factor of success is “search engines follow the user, so if you
    follow the user, search engines will automatically start following you”.
  • ·        
    Keep a check on the Google Webmasters Tools and
    Google Analytics to see how your site is performing in search results.
  • ·        
    Make a habit of adding unique content on your
    site on a regular basis.
  • ·        
    “SEO+SMO is what makes true SEO”, follow this
    motto for enhanced visibility.
  • ·        
    Enable multi channel funneling with the help of
    Google Analytics and start tracking conversions.
  • ·        
    Trust your SEO consultant as he/she is the only
    person who can guide your site to success. Do not deviate from your main goal
    of increasing site revenue and proceed as per the instructions of your SEO
    consultant.


Social Media
Optimization

Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
LinkedIn, My Space, Stumbleupon etc have grown tremendously in the recent years
in terms of audience reach. Leveraging the power of social media will
compliment your long term SEO efforts and help you to succeed in the internet marketing
space.

·        
Here are some essentials of social media
optimization:-

  • ·        
    Think of your brand while promoting your site on
    social media channels.
  • ·        
    3 Musts are Facebook Page, Twitter Account and
    Google plus Page.
  • ·        
    Engage with your audience and share comprehensive
    feedbacks with them.
  • ·        
    Always add value to the posts you share with
    your intended audience.
  • ·        
    Do not always promote your company but instead
    feed the needs and passions of your audience.
  • ·        
    Respond well and respond clearly.
  • ·        
    Remain active as all the factors are associated
    with this single most important factor.


Search Engine
Marketing

Brands that have investment power often tend to start with
search engine marketing for getting instant results. Search engines like
Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask etc offer sponsored listing for specific keywords and
locations which helps the business owners to reach their intended audience in
the shortest time. SEM is a great channel of marketing and most of the bigger
brands are already active here. It is recommended to hire the services of PPC
companies in order to get the best results and a greater ROI.

Also, considering the growth of mobile searches, Adwords is
the best PPC network that any business should adopt for targeting mobile and
tablet audiences. Locally targeted, relevant business ads can be displayed
extremely easily using Google Adwords.

There are some important points that need to be followed by
using SEM as a channel of marketing:-

·        
Study the company goals before starting the SEM
campaign as an incorrect start may result in huge loss.
·        
Identify goals and conversions and get your
analytics ready before the start of SEM campaign.

  • ·        
    Keep an eye on conversion rate.
  • ·        
    Follow search engine guidelines as a violation
    may result in a ban.
  • ·        
    Analyze your returns on investment.
  • ·        
    Work towards landing page optimization. AB
    testing can work best here.
  • ·        
    Study the audience engagement by utilizing
    various social tools.
  • ·        
    Take the help of SEM expert to assist you in
    proper bidding strategies.
  • ·        
    Make sure to localize your ad area if you are a
    local business owner.
     
  • ·        
    Identify timings and days when the maximum
    conversion occurs and try to follow the pattern.


Social Media
Marketing

Just as search engine marketing uses search engines to
display ads, social media marketing uses social media to display ads. Marketing
your brand on social media can get you some of the best results in a little
time. Make sure to follow the guidelines shared below:-

·        
Identify the ideal age group of your targeted
audience and find out sites that have the maximum visitors based on that age
group.

  • ·        
    Select your ideal audience age group before
    running your ad.
  • ·        
    Make the ads visually impressive.
  • ·        
    Follow the site guidelines and never violate
    them.
  • ·        
    Measure the return on investment by implementing
    proper analytics.
  • ·        
    Analyze the time when your targeted audience
    remains the most active and run your ads during that time.


Contextual
Advertising

Contextual advertising offers ads based on the content of
the site. Hence, this form of advertising offers an unlimited scope of reaching
a wide variety of audience in a shortest time period. Google Adwords is the
most preferred channel of contextual advertising but there are several other
channels that are worth considering. Some of these include Chitika, Adbrite, Clicksor,
Infolinks, Eclikz, Kontera etc. This channel should not be used as a standalone
strategy but instead should be used along with the other channels in order to
get the maximum advantage.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing
and works on the concept of “you sell my product or refer someone and I will
offer you a share out of my income”. Hence, for affiliate marketing you should
form a separate strategy to network with affiliates in order to market your
products and services. This channel works best along with other channels in
order to reach the maximum audiences who are willing to accept a share in your
revenue.

The Secrets Shared

Now, here comes the most interesting part of the entire
article. I will share some secrets which the top brands follow in order to have
their plan executed properly.  

Secret 1

Test, Test it!

Top brands always make it a point to test the success of
every marketing campaign. Tests can be made successful by inserting tracking
codes and making use of tracking tools like Google Analytics and Clicktale.

Secret 2

Focus on Tracking and
Generating Leads

Conversion of traffic to leads is a vital aspect of
successful internet marketing strategy. Remember, inserting just the tracking
codes won’t do much. It’s important to test the tracking codes, track the
important variables like bounce rate, conversions, unique visitors etc. Google
Analytics is a great tool that lets you measure conversions. Top brands utilizemulti channel funnels to track each and every channel which are contributing towards
conversions.

Secret 3

Make a Simple Plan
but execute it properly

Making a proper plan and executing it efficiently are two
different things. The top brands not only prepare an excellent plan but also
take vital steps to execute it properly. When all the departments of a company
wok in sync with each other, all the strategies that are planned tend to
deliver excellent results to the company. Hence, effective execution is the
key!

Also See:

Twitter Marketing Strategy
YouTube Marketing Strategy
Pinterest Marketing Strategy
4th Basic Principle of Google’s Quality Guidelines
Social Branding