Sunday, 9 September 2007

Internet Marketing Strategies For A Successful Online Presence

By Moe Tamani

The world of Internet is infinite and the options of Internet marketing are many but only a few can create the right impact. Internet marketing is a strategy and tool for enhancing your online business to drive more visitors or customers to your website. It is a definitive way to reach out to your target audience and position your product, service or business to create maximum visibility. If you are able to create effective Internet marketing strategies then rest assured that your website will rank among the top on search engines and bring in customers, which will lead to revenue generation or sales.

A strong marketing strategy will include services like search engine optimization, pay per click/PPC campaigns, and other types of advertising campaigns like banner advertising etc. But is it really enough? How will your Internet marketing strategy be different from that of your competitor? How is your Internet marketing strategy going to target your prospective clients? These are some of the fundamental questions that you need to ask before you actually design or implement your strategy.

The best way to create Internet marketing strategies that will address the above issues and boost sales is by going through a five level strategy process. This five level process will help in building trust and boost confidence by satisfying the psychological needs of a consumer or a potential customer when he or she is browsing through the selection and purchasing process.

A successful Internet marketing strategy is the one that not only creates a niche for your company in the market but also achieves in enhancing the online sales process. So let us start with the fist level, which is:

Marketing to your target audience: When you create a strategy that is targeted at your target audience then you are basically prospecting. It basically means that your internet marketing services are bringing qualified traffic right to your online storefront. You can achieve this by making your strategy revolve around tools and methods like pay per click campaigns, search engine optimization, and other forms of advertisements. Once you have your traffic, the next step is to offer a unique selling proposition.

The second level is to build credibility and maintain high levels of trust: Trust as we all know is extremely fragile and losing a loyal customer means that in the long-term, you may lose more. Hence it is extremely important to build credibility and create trust. An Internet marketing strategy that does not include this aspect or psychological factor will be a complete failure in the long run. It is actually more difficult to build trust over the virtual space than when you are meeting a customer face to face. To create trust and credibility, your marketing strategy should include the creation of attractive and informative website content. The content needs to be keyword driven to help in SEO.

The third level of strategy is courting the buyer: If you have successfully implemented the first two levels then you will definitely get your target audience to visit your website. But the question is on how you can qualify the prospective customer or visitor. The most important thing to remember is that the visitor is there on your website because he or she has a specific requirement. An Internet marketing research shows that every 7 out of 10 visitors visit an e-commerce site with the intention of buying a service or a product. Hence, your internet marketing strategy should include some innovative ways by which you can escort your customer through your business offerings and actually show them what they need so that they end up buying more than just what they set out to buy.

The fourth level is about presentation of the service or product: This plays a key role because if the presentation of your services is not appealing, informative or does not provide a solution then you will lose your targeted traffic. At the end of the day, you can devise some of the best Internet marketing strategies and run SEO campaigns but if your presentation is bad then your sales process will suffer. Don’t put too much information, keep it relevant.

The last level of a strong Internet marketing strategy is closing the sale: Closing the sale can take place only if you have worked out your payment gateway and it should not confuse the visitor. Include all the relevant information necessary and indicate different payment options. The more the number of payment options, the easier it will be for a visitor to pay.

About the Author: Moe Tamani is a Search Engine Optimization Specialist for a Dallas based SEO services company.

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