If you're wondering where to spend your hard-earned marketing dollars for the coming year, this article offers 4 online marketing strategies that will give you the best bang for your buck.
1) Website: If you haven't developed a business website, now's the time. There's no excuse for not having a business website in 2013. Whether you sell items online or not, websites have great marketing value. Most consumers locate and research businesses online before dealing with them personally. If you already have a website, have professional look at it to determine whether it's working up to its potential. Is it being indexed by the search engines? Does it have enough content for both search engines and customers? Are there keywords? Is there meta-data? Is there more you can add to it to make it a more effective business tool? If you can't answer these questions, hire someone who can and who can then fix it for you. A website may be the first impression your business presents to potential consumers. Be sure you have one that's maintained on a regular basis.
2) Blog: Blogs are a great addition to any online marketing strategy. First of all, they are indexed by the search engines more quickly than websites so you can use them to drive traffic to the website. Secondly, they are more dynamic. You can easily update a blog with news, updates and announcements about products, services, your business and industry. Lastly, you can use them to interact with consumers, asking and answering questions, getting feedback and more.
3) Press Releases: Press releases may sound "old school," but they work. Now, press releases can be posted online where they will stay, forever driving traffic to your website. Submitting press releases to local media outlets gets your business known among reporters who might need your expertise on a related story at some point. Consider this: If your business is lawncare, wouldn't you like to be the business owner local reporters interview when there's too much rainfall or too little rainfall?
4) Google+ Local: Businesses have found quite a bit of marketing success on Facebook and Twitter. Google+ Local offers more marketing power. First, because it's Google, with a Google+ Local business page, your business will be found more quickly by the search engines and by customers. Secondly, Google+ Local has special fields that help people find the business' physical location. This is more important than ever as people increasingly depend on mobile devises such as mobile phones and tablets to search for businesses. Lastly, the Google 1+ button allows your customers to do your marketing for you. They can share your page with their friends, multiplying the effectiveness of your Google+ Local page. This just scratches the surface of what Google+ Local offers businesses.