Thursday, March 28, 2013

10 Ways to Market Yourself Better In Online Channels

You’re working hard at trying to make a name for yourself, but no matter how many blogs you write, no one seems to be paying attention!

Getting noticed in a crowded online marketplace isn’t easy. Your brand’s voice can sound tiny when there are millions of others around you shouting just as loud or louder.

That’s the thing, though. With the online world, it’s not always about who’s the loudest, but rather who’s the smartest at tracking down their audience.

Here are 10 things you can do to market yourself better online.


  • Register for directories.97 percent of people look online first for local businesses, according to a recent Kelsey Group study. If you’re not listed on Yelp, CitySearch, Google Places, or other services that people frequently use to look up businesses, you might as well not exist.

  • Use keywords. SEO keywords have gotten a bit of a bad rap because of people using black hat tactics, but if you’re smart and judicious about sprinkling the right ones into your content, more people will find you. Do research to find out what words people are searching for the most in relation to your business.

  • Think local. Speaking of keywords, one great way to limit your competition and appear on that coveted first page of results when people search is to include local terms as part of your keywords. For example, “Los Angeles writers” instead of just “writers.”

  • Create a digital resume. Whether you’re just trying to find a full time job as an individual person or you’re a business looking for new clients, putting your resume online (in whatever way, shape, or form you choose) is great for business.

  • Go small or go home. Facebook and Twitter are vital for any business, but when you’re just starting out, it may be easier for you to get attention if you focus on more niche social networks first. Sell dog products? Join Dogster. You get the idea.

  • Engage. It doesn’t matter if you’re blogging and tweeting like crazy. If you don’t take the time to actually engage with people when they comment, retweet, and so on, they’ll quickly move on to someone who will pay attention to them. Internet marketing is about interaction, so take advantage of that bond you can form.

  • Develop your brand. When people come to your site or read your updates, they want to feel like they already have a good sense of what they’re going to get. That means figuring out the personality or tone that you want to convey and sticking to it.

  • Sell last.You want people to pay you money, but that doesn’t mean it has to be the first thing out of your mouth. Before you start telling people about your amazing products or services, do what you can to make them trust you and respect your opinion. This goes for everything from how you interact on social networks and in forums to the kinds of blog posts you should write.

  • Try pay-per-click.PPC advertising is exactly what it sounds like. You hire a company to post ads for you, and when someone clicks on that ad and comes to your site, you pay the company. It may sound archaic, but a well-targeted campaign can get you a lot of new leads.


Don’t fear calls-to-action. As much as you don’t want to start by selling to people who find you, it’s important that you’re also not afraid to give them a little nudge in the right direction. Calls-to-action are those links and buttons (and sometimes just text) that encourage you to “Click Here,” “Buy Now,” or “Join Our Newsletter.” It may seem pushy, but if you don’t tell people where to go or what to do, all too often they just get lost. 

 

 

About The Author: Julianne Parrish is a freelance writer that specializes in marketing and advertising. She writes for sites like Optiva that feature signs with interchangeable sign letters, that help companies drum up new business. In her free time she enjoys reading and spending time with her daughter.

 

 

 

 

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