Well, you have set up your online business and are now looking for ways to attract more customers to your virtual portal. Let's discuss some strategies to achieve this using search engines, other websites, social networks, and email.
How will you get customers to find you on the Internet?
Let's start with the search engines. Search engines help users find exactly what they are looking for.
So if you provide services or products that are relevant to your search topic, search engines will display your business in their results.
Now, you have two basic ways to use search engines.
1. The first is search engine optimization (SEO)
That helps you promote your business in search results for free. In detail, the first method, which is search engine optimization, aims to make your website visible to the right people who are looking for products and services related to your business.
We will explain later the many ways to achieve this, but the key here is to know the words that users type when searching, i.e. keywords most relevant to your business.
See: How Do Search Engines See the Web?
2. The second is search engine marketing (SEM)
That allows you to purchase ad space in search results. It is search engine marketing, it is the method used by businesses to get the attention of searchers for specific words on the Internet.
Most of the major search engines use the auction system, where many different businesses compete to display their ads by bidding on the keywords they would like to target.
Research is an excellent way to reach the target audience, but the uses of the Internet are endless, from reading news, following sports results, watching videos, browsing recipes, and many other diverse content.
You will no doubt have seen the ads that are displayed while browsing any of this article.
This is called display ads. Display ads appear everywhere on the Internet, and come in different formats such as written text, images and videos, or ads that you can interact with by simply clicking on them.
Display ads are also an excellent way to get your message across and target the audience you'd like to see your ads on, as well as identify the websites and pages you'd like your ads to appear on.
Social networks, such as Google+, Twitter, and Facebook, are another option to increase awareness of your business, and are especially useful for building relationships with customers.
Social networks allow you to create pages or profiles for your business and connect directly with customers by having valuable conversations and sharing content that you have created, which will enhance the social life of your online business.
3. Email Marketing
We can't miss talking about one of the most important ways businesses can use them digitally, which is email marketing.
Of course, we don't mean by that junk mail, or "spam", that accumulates in your inbox, but rather we're talking about sending information related to your business and making offers to people who have already shown an interest in learning more about your business.
Simply invite users to create an account on your website and activate the option to receive emails from you.
Here comes your role to take advantage of the e-mail marketing service, where you can, for example, send subscription vouchers to those who have booked an appointment through your site, or reveal upcoming events and offers, or promote the goods and products you provide.
There is no doubt that knowing all the ways to find users on the Internet and find you in return, would greatly help you in launching your business.
The more you invest in digital marketing, the more opportunities you will have to reach customers wherever they are in the digital world.