You’ve taken the web design steps to build a website, but that’s just the start of establishing a strong online presence through digital marketing. Building a website is just the first step, now you need to implement strategies to drive qualified traffic to your site, that’s how you will drive sales and increase your revenue. But how do you do it?
Here are ten marketing techniques to attract new customers and make the most of your new business website.
1. SEO
If you want to appear in search results, you need to optimize your website to be found and ranked by search engines. If you worked with a web designer building your site, you’ve probably already factored in SEO. If you chose the DIY web design route with a website builder, the chances are that your SEO will need improvement. SEO best practices include the following:
- H1 tags
- Meta descriptions
- Targeted keywords
- Image alt text
- Internal and external links
If you don’t have web design experience, get a professional in to ensure your website is optimized for search engines.
2. Mobile-Friendly
You want to offer a great browsing experience no matter what device is used to access your website - over 60% of users are unlikely to return to a website if they had issues accessing it on a mobile device.
If your web design isn’t responsive, your potential customers will turn away and find another company that offers a better experience. More and more people are using their mobile devices to interact with businesses and purchase products and services, so making sure your website is mobile-friendly is essential.
3. Social Media
Social media is a crucial marketing channel for growing your business and engaging potential customers. You should have business profiles on the major social platforms, but you should also make your social icons visible on your website.
This is an easy way to promote your business on social media and gain new followers. Once you’ve got a new potential customer following you on social media, you can use social analytics to segment your audience and target your posts to the user preferences.
4. Google Analytics
In simple terms, Google Analytics is a way to gain insights into your potential customers and how they interact with your web design. If there’s an obstruction or problem with one of your web pages, Google Analytics will help you identify it.
You can track every move your visitors make to identify which pages are drawing in the most traffic, when shoppers are abandoning their shopping carts, and how long users stick around on each page. All of this data is vital for informing your web design decisions and marketing strategy.
5. Email Marketing
Although it’s been around for a long time, email marketing is still an excellent tool for engaging your potential and existing customers. Create a lead magnet or a compelling offer to encourage people to sign up to your mailing list.
Once a user signs up, send consistent quality content and offers to encourage users to keep subscribed and engaged with your brand. You can base your email campaigns on:
- New products
- Personalised offers
- Blog posts
- Videos
Encourage users to return to your site by keeping them updated on what’s new, and what they’ve missed since they last visited.
6. Paid Ads (PPC)
Pay per click advertising can drive traffic to your website from search engine results pages. Select keywords that are relevant to your products and services and bid automatically or manually to appear in paid search results. You pay every time that a user clicks on your ad in the search results.
Generate a positive ROI by converting users that click your ad into new leads or customers. Select keywords and phrases that are highly relevant, and implement negative keywords to ensure your ads are shown only to users that will be interested in engaging with your business.
7. Remarketing
Remarketing should be integral to your marketing strategy. What makes this technique so effective is that you are targeting users that have already shown an
interest in your business, rather than reaching out to a cold audience. Remarketing places ads on social media and other websites that your potential customers visit.
If a customer places a product in their cart but is yet to complete the purchase, you can target the users with ads for that product to consistently remind and encourage them to complete the purchase.
8. Video Marketing
If you’re not utilising video in your web design to showcase your products and services, now’s the time to get onboard - video content is predicted to account for over 80% of all internet traffic by 2022.
Posting video content on social media is a great way to showcase your new products and demonstrate how they work. Video content helps users understand the real-world value of your products, and as a rule receives much more engagement than static image posts. Informing your potential customers about how your products work is an excellent way to highlight your unique selling proposition.
9. Attractive Web Design
Attractive and professional web design helps to build trust and encourage users to explore your website and what your business has to offer. According to Magicdust, an experienced custom web design company, the design of your website is the most important representation of your brand and is crucial to how your potential customers perceive your business and your products - 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content/layout is unattractive.
Ensure that your layout and navigation is intuitive and straightforward to use. If a visitor lands on your site and struggles to find what they are looking for, you’ll lose out on a new lead and potential sale.
10. Blogging
A company blog can be a great tool for improving your SEO. Not only does a blog with quality content and relevant keywords boost your search ranking, but it also demonstrates your knowledge and value to your potential customers.
Keyword research can reveal the questions that people have about your products and services. If you post blog content answers those questions, you can position your company as a trusted source of information. Once you’ve established a connection, you can nurture leads by targeting your blog content at each stage of the buyer’s journey, converting leads into paying customers.
Conclusion
Your website is the hub of your online marketing strategy, but it’s also a constant work in progress. As search engine algorithms evolve and consumer preferences change, your website needs to be regularly updated and optimised. Taking a proactive approach to manage and update your website is crucial to establishing an online presence and growing your business.
Apply the above techniques, but keep in mind that good marketing is always focussed on the audience. Your marketing efforts should always be focused on
highlighting the value your bring - attracting new customers and delighting existing ones.
If you follow the above tactics, you’ll be on your way to developing a marketing strategy that takes your online presence to the next level.