Guest Blog Post by Kathy Estadt, CEO, Fresh Focus Group

There has been increased pressure on many businesses to improve on sales and overall investment. This has pushed most of these businesses to go back to the drawing board with regards to marketing their products and/or services online. Listed below are a number of marketing tools based online that have come to the aid of businesses in a bid to increase sales.

User Centric Analytics

Any web design expert will tell you that this tool is credited with the ability to monitor any activity within a business website. A good example of such is Google Analytics,  with the new enhancements to their platform this is expected to be a significant marketing tool in the year 2013. It is paramount for any successful business to use this tool in order to measure their online marketing efforts and improve their sales.

Social Media

There is no doubt that social media will still play a major role in online marketing in 2013, especially considering the ever growing number of users. It would be a big mistake not to capitalize on this emerging trend.  One of the best ways to maximize on this advertising tool is to integrate websites onto social media. An organization can gain a lot from a good social media company.

Re-marketing

This can best be described as a method of showcasing advertisements to users in such a way that will make them want to have another look. This is a great online marketing strategy for businesses that are heavily dependent on online advertising if they aim to increase the number of visitors to their websites, and ultimately an increase in sales.

Mobile Advertising

Thanks to an upsurge in the increased interest in latest technology, the number of people in possession of gadgets such as smartphones and tablets is on the rise. In the US for example, 50% of adults own such devices. This is undeniably the most significant strategy a business can adapt and those in operation in 2013 would probably benefit from this trend.

Content marketing

Considered the foundation of most online marketing approaches in 2013, any business that adopts this strategy is bound to get quick returns on investments an increase in sales. Bearing in mind that the desire for quality content will forever exist, the provision of pertinent, comprehensive and informative content is the building block of any online marketing strategy.

Guest Blog Post by Ron Durant, CEO, e-Nertia Marketing

SEO has a noticeable impact on the efforts of a web design firm to generate online marketing sales leads. A digital marketing site called SEO Horizon has published data reporting that 53% of Internet marketing professionals name SEO as the most important factor. 28% of the same surveyed group claimed that pay per click (PPC) marketing is the most important element of converting online leads into sales. The SEO industry has defined five main factors that will influence an individual site’s ability to bring in revenue.

Email Lists

Owners and employees alike at a web design firm need to understand the importance of collecting leads’ emails from an opt-in squeeze page. Interested potential customers are typically quite responsive to a free informational product such as an eBook. This kind of incentive will help to build a good email contact list of leads who are interested in a business’s products or services.

Affiliate Promotions

This type of online marketing has the option of promoting products from various sources. Several well-known affiliate directories such as Commission Junction allow individuals to sell many different listed digital products. Creating an affiliate PPC campaign will generate noticeable site traffic increases in a short amount of time.

For web design firms with products to promote, the best form of online marketing still consists of launching an SEO-friendly blog or website. Adding a purchase page for digital products will build credibility and allow for increased earnings. Maintaining a self-hosted domain takes some planning, but overall it is not a difficult process.

Guest blog post by Charlene Burke, CEO, Search by Burke

The Internet wields a lot of power is a fact that businessmen cannot afford to ignore the beneficial effects of good website design. In today’s world, it is very easy for any person to get all information about a person and his or her company, without having to contact the company, personally. They can form their opinion about you or the company by reading reviews, negative or positive, from the many websites that do post such matter. This makes online reputation management, through effective website design done by a website development firm, an area that must concern a business.

Every brand has its own online reputation, which has a direct impact on sales. Bad reviews can lead to customers being apprehensive of doing any business with the company that has received such reviews. What can hurt a business still further, is that one prospective customer reading a poor review can pass on the message by word of mouth to friends and family members, and this can further hurt business prospects. This circle of information goes on spreading, as each person parts with the information to other people and this negativity, even though it may not be fully merited, leads to people avoiding the maligned business, completely. A website development firm with a poor website design can have a disastrous effect on the growth of a company that is dependent on sales.

Management practices that include brand reputation and the improvement of online reputation are therefore very important. Online reputation management can effectively be done by getting the website development firm managing a company’s Internet presence to create an online forum, in its website design, that allows the company management to directly communicate with its customers. Any negative comments on these forums must be immediately looked at, and corrected. Positive feedback needs to be appreciated. It is necessary to be circumspect when looking at website development firms that do promise brand reputation management, as annual charges for their web site design, can be as high as $15,000 and results may not justify this expenditure.

There is proliferation of social media and internet marketing information in the business world. Businesses analysts suggest social media is viewed as a great way of informing consumers about your promotions, events, and new product offerings. By using internet marketing, businesses are able to take advantage of the opportunities provided by social media, which provides nearly seamless access to information.

If small businesses are to compete in that information marketplace, integrating social media into their business websites will be paramount. Why should an entrepreneur put forth the extra effort this requires?

Increased Traffic To  The Website

With proper utilization of social media, there is a likelihood of attracting attention to your website of potential consumers. Surveys have shown that small businesses who use social media have boosted their consumer base by over 45% in the past 2-4 years.

Reduced Cost of Advertising

As businesses strive to reduce advertising costs, they have tended to shift their expenditure from traditional techniques toward social media. About 65% of all business surveyed indicated they increased revenues by over 39% when they hired a savvy online marketing firm and increasing their efforts on social media marketing.

Increased visibility

Social media is one of the best tactics to use to increase the visibility of your business website. Since social media is a network of millions of people, good use of these platforms can spread the name of your business very fast.

The Power of Some

Adding share features on your blog and making social media buttons visible such as Twitter and Facebook will help people follow your events and share your posts across the social media community. The more your followers share your content, the more value it creates for your site in the form of backlinks.

Today, clients and customers are seeking information about events and products through non-traditional means. In order to engage them where they are, you will need to move away from the traditional sales pitch approach and strive towards internet marketing and social media in order to increase the return on your marketing investment.

Kathy Estadt

Guest Blog Post by Kathy Estadt, CEO, Fresh Focus Group

To achieve optimum returns, businesses must look beyond using social media to enhance sales and revenue by developing strategies for lead generation. Website development or having a beautiful fan page will not boost sales nor increase Return on Investment (ROI) on their own. Having a strong presence on these types of media however will usually increase business sales and market share.

Enhancing ROI via Network Engagement:  having the largest network on Facebook or Twitter is not enough. You need to engage more with your followers in order to enhance your abilities to generate leads and raise traffic to your business website, which in turn will increase sales and increase ROI.

Update Your Profile And Ensure They Are Functioning: Multiple inactive and out of date profiles are irrelevant. Active profiles where visitors can communicate their opinions are preferable. You will need to have few but active online profiles that visitors will use on social sites to enhance your ROI.

Content Development: Informative content that is attractive to visitors is usually the best way to generate leads and enhance sales. You should disseminate information to the target demographic on social platforms. Sales pitches, contrary to popular thought, do not drive sales. Visitors favor information, statistics, and info graphics that are well researched more.

Link Creation Enhances ROI: Lead generation is usually achieved by link development, which in turn direct visitors to your website. Increase your ROI by sharing content exhibiting your services that will engage your followers.

Blogging: Increased sales and ROI will not be achieved by profile updates on social media alone. Blogging and link additions will help people share your content via Google Buzz, Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites hence boost your ROI.