Internet Marketing Is Normal Marketing

Marketing is simply a way of getting your message across to a large number of people. The more people receive your message, the higher your chances of making a sale. Internet marketing works much the same way, using the resources of the internet to spread your message to the most people possible. Internet marketing sets out to accomplish three goals – creating traffic, creating leads, then converting the traffic and leads into sales.  These are known as the Three C’s of Marketing.

Creating Traffic

Internet marketing creates traffic through a large variety of online mediums.

• Banner Ads – Placed on websites that potential clients will frequent. For example, an ad for bell bottoms on a disco fan page.
• Social Media – Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, etc. Pages geared towards your potential clients.
• Online Videos – Just like commercials in the normal market, if online videos are popular more people will visit your site.
• Search Engine Rankings – Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is designed to increase your ranking on sites like Google. The top-ranked site gets most of the hits, the second gets about half as many as the first, the third gets half as many as the second, and so on.
• Google AdWords – Small ads that appear next to the organic search results on Google.

Creating Leads

Leads are potential sales. When a client clicks a link or an ad they become traffic. Creating leads is the process of getting this traffic interested in buying your product.

• Google Virtual Tours – Pictures of your business are posted online allowing customers to experience a virtual walkthrough.
• Website/Social Media Design – Boring design will cost you leads. People trust web content that looks professional if your website or social media appears amateurish customers will not believe in the professionalism of your business.
• SEO Articles – Not only do SEO articles create traffic, they are also a great source of leads. Organic SEO articles provide good information to potential clients with a short sales pitch at the bottom. People click on these links for the information and then continue to your site to learn more.
• Banner Design – Banners must be designed in a way that draws the user’s attention, and make the potential customer curious about the product.

Converting Traffic & Leads Into Sales

When it comes to traffic much of it will be direct sales, people who Google your product in order to purchase it. Increasing your SEO ranking can help increase these sales by making your site the first search result. Other traffic must be turned into leads through the methods above.

Now the last step is turning those leads into sales.

• Email Lists – By creating a newsletter that people can easily subscribe to, you increase the chances of turning leads into sales.
• Landing Pages – Landing pages are sets of up to three pages specifically designed to convert leads into sales. When clients click on a more detailed ad such as an SEO article there is a link for more information this link will take them to the landing page.
• Product Pages – When customers are already interested, a well-designed product page can make the sale. They should have more specific information than the advertisements and provide sale pitches.
• FAQ Pages – Having an online resource to quickly answer questions will make leads more likely to buy products.
• Live Chat – Just like you wouldn’t leave walk-in clients waiting you cannot leave online clients waiting. Having a live chat allows them instant access to a sales rep that can close the deal.

Trying To Do It Yourself?

Effective internet marketing requires skills that many people do not have – programming skills, design skills, writing skills, marketing skills, and a variety of others. When trying to do it themselves many businesses find that they have to hire a large, dedicated staff in order to complete the work.

Trying to do internet marketing internally can be quite costly, especially for smaller businesses. Bias towards your product will also make the marketing less effective. Several companies, including multinational corporations, outsource their internet marketing, saving them money in the long run.

Whitefish Media is a dedicated company with a proven success rate at turning leads into sales. Contact us today to see what we can do for your business.