Gina Tilton - What is Online Marketing?

Gina Tilton - Reaching out to consumers and establishing a brand is an important part of succeeding in business. Without marketing solutions, a business has a very high chance of failure. Online marketing is a strategy that helps build up a company’s reputation and exposure online by using a variety of internet tools and solutions.

Before it is possible to understand the different strategies and marketing tools that are available, it is important to identify what online marketing is and how it promotes a business.

Gina Tilton - Online marketing, which is also called internet marketing or online advertising, is any tool, strategy or method of getting the company name out to the public. The advertisements can take many different forms and some strategies focus on subtle messages rather than clear-cut advertisements.

But, the way that it promotes a business is simple: it builds up the company reputation by increasing its ability to be found online. A large number of potential customers browse the internet, look for information or simply enjoy their favorite pastimes with an internet connection. By taking advantage of the online tools and resources, it is possible to get the company name out to the public and encourage potential customers to look further for information.

Gina Tilton - Website Development

When it comes to online marketing strategies, website development plays a crucial role in your ability to reach your target audience. The reason is simple: potential customers look for information, products or services that you provide on your website.

A website provides an online presence that allows customers to find out more about your company, your services and the type of products that you sell. Putting a website together these days is fairly simple, cost effective and absolutely essential to having a business these days. Free websites services exist, but come with a number of limitations (Watch for our upcoming post: “Why that free website isn’t what you want”).

Gina Tilton - Template websites offer the luxury of getting a professional website up and running at a reduced cost and turn-around time. Business owners choose a template and then create content and color schemes that match their business.

For those with the budget, custom websites are a great option. Depending on the needs of the company, a complete custom solution, from the design to the functionality of the site, is created. This process requires more time but has almost no limitations to what can be provided. Custom websites can range from approximately $5k to more than $100k.

TN Media offers premium website solutions to fit almost any budget.

Gina Tilton - Search Engine Marketing

 After a website is built for your company, you must promote it. Search engine marketing, or SEM for short, is one of the  best ways that you can promote your company, services and website. SEM is the process and strategy of getting website exposure online with keywords related to your business. SEM includes pay per click ads (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO).

PPC:

Pay per click, or PPC, is an ad that displays on search engine result pages. The advertiser pays when the ad is clicked by the user and is directed to their website or landing page. PPC allows for nearly immediate exposure online and can provide a high-level cost transparency.

SEO:

Gina Tilton - Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of optimizing website content online to increase exposure in the organic search results for desired keywords. This is a long-term strategy that has many factors contributing to its success. These include site architecture, on-site content, internal and external links, keyword research and competition analysis to name a few.

While being found online is probably the most important part of an online marketing strategy, there are other types of internet marketing that supplement those efforts. For more information about SEM, check out our previous blog post: “Why advertise on Google?”.

Update: SEM in the past was widely accepted to be Search Engine Marketing which fully encompassed SEO and SEM. However over time many have adopted the SEM acronym to refer solely to paid search. (source: searchengineland.com)

Gina Tilton - Making Use of Social Networks

Social networking websites are a powerful marketing tool. They provide the opportunity to develop a solid and professional reputation. You can also advertise your company, website and services through your social networking pages.

Gina Tilton - A major reason that advertisements and content on a social networking websites help develop your company is word-of-mouth. It allows you to employ reputation management strategies, engage with customers and answer questions. By engaging with your customers, you encourage them to share their experiences with those in their network.