Does this sound like the voice inside your head?
I have a great Web site, but it’s not driving many customers to my door…
Just having a Web site is never enough to drive customers to your door.
To realize a return on the investment you’ve made in your Web presence, you need to establish and follow a deliberate, disciplined, ongoing online marketing strategy.
I can help.
Let's Talk!Three Components of an Effective Online Marketing Strategy
My roadmap for online marketing is simple. It has three components:
Component #1: Your Web Site
You Web site — especially your blog — needs to be the primary place where you establish your authority (as an expert or preeminent provider) in your field. Your Web site needs to be the heart and the hub of your online marketing strategy.
Component #2: Email Marketing
You need to use some email marketing system to frequently and regularly remind people you still exist, preferably by including references and links to new Web-site content that helps establish your authority in your field.
Component #3: Social Networks
You need to use one or more social networks where you share the Web-site content that establishes your authority in your field and where you promote the belief that you’re someone people want to work with.
Let's Talk!How I Can Help
Helping each client establish and follow an appropriate online marketing strategy is a big part of what I offer in every Web project.
Sure, you can expect me — or any Web developer — to have a mastery of the technical aspects of building Web sites. That’s a given.
But I don’t stop there. I share — some might say foist upon you — my insights and instincts about using all the elements of your online presence to expose your authority in your field to as many qualified members of your target audiences as possible.
I also provide online marketing services to clients with existing Web sites designed and built by others.
Let's Talk!Frequently Asked Questions
Online Marketing
Experiment.
What’s right for your blog depends on (a) what your audience wants and (b) what you’re comfortable creating.
If you’re a freelance writer, your blog articles should serve as a showcase for your writing.
If you’re a public speaker, most if not all of your blog posts might be embedded videos (i.e., a vlog, or video blog). Post your videos on YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, etc. Then embed the videos in your posts. (Ideally you would include text transcripts.)
If you have a podcast, embed postcast episodes. (Again, ideally you would include text transcripts.)
If you ask me, publishing high-quality articles with regularity/frequency is more important than format.
I use MailChimp for my own email marketing and for many clients.
But I’m not married to it.
Features vary across the many services, and I can help you decide which is best for you.
One feature I highly recommend is sometimes referred to as RSS-To-Email. This is an autmoation feature that generates and sends emails with summaries of recent blog posts.
It depends.
While some people take the shotgun approach — posting links to their blog articles on every social network imaginable, usually with the help of an automated posting system — I don’t generally recommend that. Social networking is about interaction. Start small. Start with one or two social network platforms that you already spend time on — or want to. Social networking is a 2-way street. Avoid being that person who shares all your stuff but never interacts with others.
One of my clients has been meaning to get involved more with LinkedIn, but he has procrastinated. He told me he’s gotten hundreds of connection requests he hasn’t dealt with for months. My recommendation to him was:
- Drill down and check who’s inviting you to connect. See if they are connected to your existing connections. Beware of LinkedIn users who are obviously trying to amass the most connections.
- Accept connection invitations selectively.
- Commit to spending a certain amount of time every day or week reading posts from your connections. Interact with them by liking, commenting on, and sharing posts you find of interest.
- Once you’ve established some good will by showing you’re paying attention to your connections, start posting your own content.