New Year’s Intentions are Set – 5 Simple Ways to Start Implementing Your Online Strategy Now 繁體中文

January.  At the beginning of the month great people set great intentions.  Now that we are a few weeks into 2016, it’s time to follow through on those intentions.  To get started, we wanted to give you 5 Simple Steps to help you take action on your business’s digital marketing strategy.

Develop a Budget

Most traditional businesses spend $500/month or less on advertising including, traditional advertising such as print, radio, billboards and television and online advertising such as website design, website maintenance, social media, online paid advertising, email campaigns and other digital platforms.  Lack of  budget can lead to overspending in the wrong areas or not spending in the right areas that can improve your business.  Make strategic investments:

• Where do your customers go?
• What do you sell?
• What kind of return on investment can you reasonably expect?

Build or Improve Your Responsive Website

The number one reason to have a responsive website is that your customers want it.  When they visit your site on mobile, if it isn’t optimized for mobile viewing, they tend to click away and go elsewhere. The second reason?  Google.  Google places mobile and responsive sites higher on the search engines.

Plan to have a simple and effective website this year:

• Responsive
• Appealing and easy-to-use design
• Visible contact information
• Up to date content
• Inviting and interactive
• Relevant keywords on the front-end and back-end of the website

List Your Website

The internet houses several online directories that your customers or potential customers access to find your contact information.   A recent survey showed that out of 350 businesses, 50% found inaccurate listings and 49% never even checked their listings.  When a customer calls a wrong number it sends the wrong message – are you out of business?  Did you lose your phone number? Do you take your business seriously?

Take the time to list your website online with different directories and search engines.  Make sure to check your online listings for accuracy!

Build and Online Community

Social media is the world’s largest referral network.  It’s modern day “word-of-mouth-advertising”.  How can you leverage the power of social media to build rapport with your customers and also network for new business?

Develop your Social Strategy:

• What platforms are you using right now to connect with your audience?
• Which platforms do you want to use?  How often will you post?
• How will you be consistent?
• What kinds of content will you push out?
• Can this be a source of Customer Care for your clients?
• Will you be able to respond quickly?

Measure Your Results

By measuring your web traffic you can measure the results of your website performance, search performance, traditional advertising and other marketing efforts.  By checking your traffic, you can measure, monitor, adjust and control the results of your marketing – which helps you to know if you are spending marketing dollars in the right places.   Take the time to identify any analytics you have access to so that you can be aware of your results on an ongoing basis.

As always, all maWebCenters clients have 24/7 access to customer support.  Feel free to give us a call 866-WEB-HELP

Posted by Sarah Rose Stack

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