Having a great business website is not enough in the realm of Online Business. “Build it and they will come” is not an effective point of view or strategy when it comes to building your online empire. There is much to be done to get the best results from your business online.

Search Engine Marketing or SEM is divided into 3 major elements namely, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay per Click) or paid advertising and Social Media marketing.

Using these elements, either individually or in conjunction with one another, is crucial – especially for new businesses or existing businesses looking to expand into the online world.

As a new website, or a website that has not implemented any online marketing strategies, your products, services or solutions will not rank for any of the valuable industry keywords that your potential customers are searching for in the major Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc). This of course means that traffic to your site will be low and that ultimately you will achieve less conversions, sales and revenues without a proper online marketing strategy for your business.

PPC Advertising

Many consider PPC to be the easier strategy of the two. This may be true from an implementation point of view, but there is a lot to know in order to run an effective PPC campaign. Considerable research would need to be done, but with a little insight and savvy you will be able to find all the tools and knowledge you need from Google’s Adwords support system.

PPC is very effective in quickly attracting targeted traffic, depending on your budget.

Advantages of PPC

* Your PPC campaign can be up and running in minutes.

* No modifications to your website are necessary.

* You pay only when users click your ads.

* You can choose exactly how much you spend on the campaign.

* You control who sees your ads by use of keyword targeting.

* You can choose the language and geographic target that your ads are displayed in.

* Your campaign can be effectively tracked and monitored for optimum results.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO as a whole consists of a myriad of elements that will be used to analyse your business and business needs, create a strategy, and to implement and Optimize that strategy to maximize results.

The following Questions are the Answers to your perfect strategy:

1. What does your target market want? And where are they from? (Keyword research and Geo Targeting)

2. Who are your competitors, and what will it take to beat them? (Competitor Analysis)

3. Does your website facilitate competing with these competitors? (Web layout and structure)

4. What are the most suitable online strategies for your business?

5. How long will it take to implement the strategies, and what results are achievable?

6. How can we improve your strategy to improve your performance?

Improved SEO rankings take time. Although you may see improvements in both rankings and traffic within 3 months it generally takes between 3 and 6 months to see a noticeable increase in performance.

The reason for this delay is that Google and other search engines have to crawl millions of sites daily and this takes a little bit of time. Google has large scale updates where the number and quality of inbound links toward your site, as well as the quality of resources and information that appears on your site, is ‘weighed and measured’ and then will add or subtract from your online authority and credibility – this determines whether or not your rankings improve.

Social Media Marketing

Another online marketing strategy is Web2.0 and Social media. Social bookmarking, blogging and networking can facilitate an influx of traffic and links from other sites that will add to your online reputation and credibility. But we delve deeper into social media and viral marketing at a later stage.

So as you can see, there are quite a few things to consider when starting your Online Marketing campaign. To get the results you are after you will either have to learn the ins and outs of online marketing and the online world, or you’ll have to find the right people who know the right stuff about what your business requires.

Thus far I’ve been going on about why going online is the route to take these days. Making the decision is but the start and you need some insight on how this process happens and where to kick off, so let’s get going.

Unfortunately most business owners have no idea what makes a successful and effective business website that brings feet through the doors of your business, virtually speaking of course, and making the sales. The only difference is that online, each visitor is highly susceptible and much more likely to buy.

What are your Goals?

What is your goal for your website?  Getting leads and generating an income through effective conversion most probably. If this is what you require, then your website should be designed to accomplish the following:

* Get as many searchers as possible to click through to your site for whatever they’re looking for in the Search Engines. (Search Engine friendly design)

* Provide the shoppers with the info that they need to make an educated decision on which product they will buy in the end.

* Calls to Action! There are way too many online businesses out there that do not entice and encourage the browser to load that product in the cart and take it to the checkout. Also for businesses that provide a service, browsers have to search were to inquire or get a quote. You need those calls to action!

* Now you need to keep new customers coming and existing ones returning. Market your business through great resources, like reviews, articles and tips. Social Media Marketing can be extremely effective if you have some of the best info and resources to link to.

Know your Market

Who will you target online, students, young adults, business men? All of these targets will have to be approached differently for effective marketing, lead generation and sales.

Your physical design of the site must be catered for the market that you target, for example, students and younger people will need hip and happening funky design that is more complex and open for exploration. Business men will probably want to be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily to facilitate information sharing.

Your site content will also need to be targeted according to what the market wants. Give them information and great resources to be able to assist in the decision making process of buying or signing up for the product or service that you offer.

DIY or Using the Professionals

Some may feel that they can save money by designing and creating their own business website. This may be true if you are up to date with the latest techniques, search engine friendly design, professional web structuring and oodles of other elements that determine the efficacy of your website. The bottom line is that most of us do not have the necessary knowledge and experience to take on such an important project and unfortunately unprofessional websites contribute to 50% of all low converting websites.

Taking this into account, may I suggest consulting with the people in the know? You may have to spend a bit more initially, but the rewards and returns will be much higher in the long run.

If it’s stale and outdated, no one wants to use it – Google included.

A good website will provide it’s users with all the most up to date and fresh information out there. Keeping your website and the resources within the site up to date takes work. Show me one successful business out there that doesn’t put time and effort in keeping with the times and updating their clients along the way.

Keep those clients coming back by adding something unique to your site like adding real time inquiry or consultation features. Don’t just say that you provide the best service in the industry, do it!

Monitor your Business

Use website tracking software to see what visitors and customers are doing on your site. This will help you to identify possible areas for improvement. Why are potential customers leaving your site without buying or inquiring? Do you have sufficient calls to action? Are you targeting the best pages for entry into your site from the search engines for a specific search phrase or keyword? What route are browsers taking to find what they are looking for on your site?

All of these and countless other elements determine how effective your site is in converting mere browsers to buyers.

Hopefully this has helped you to understand how you CAN be the best out there and what is needed to get the sales and income that you desire. We will keep on providing you with the  answers to many of the online business questions you may have.

Online Business in South Africa is exploding! Even with the high costs of Internet access, more and more South Africans are using the World Wide Web to communicate, network and do business.

Considerable investment in infrastructure in Information Communication Technologies (ICT) is being implemented. As a result of the South African government investing in these technologies, the entire continent is in the process of experiencing a Digital Communications explosion. Nowhere in the world has growth in the industry been so rapid or had such an enormous impact.
This growth is reflected in the spread of Internet connections that have increased by 1,031.2% between 2000 and 2008. 5.4% of the African population now has access to the Internet and the continent accounts for 3.4% of the global Internet population. Internet access continues to grow faster than any other part of the world. New telecom infrastructure is set to boost capacity and cut tariffs, further unlocking the continent’s high-speed Internet potential and creating new growth opportunities. SEACOM, the Mauritius-registered private equity venture, has invested $650 million in fiber-optic undersea cable that now links east and southern Africa to Europe and Asia.

All of this promises to revolutionise the Online Business industry and the opportunities that are ripe for the picking by young and old, the entrepreneurs and business starters and also the existing business owners out there.

So, how does a Business owner like you, reap these very real awards?

Business websites used to be just another medium to get some extra exposure, but nowadays small, medium and large business owners are opting to use their website as their main source of income. Unlike conventional marketing, online marketing is much more cost effective and super efficient. Targeting and influencing potential consumers have never been this direct. With conventional marketing a ‘shot gun approach’ was the norm, where a large number of potential customers received a marketing message. This approach means that if the consumer is not in the market for whatever product or service is being advertised, your efforts will fall on deaf ears, so to speak.

With Online Business and marketing a ‘sniper rifle’ approach is used where marketing is directed at the user that is looking for the specific product or service that the Online Marketer is placing out there. Internet browsers search specifically for what they need at that point in time and by doing effective marketing online you will be able to ‘catch’ the user at that very moment.

Not convinced yet? I’ll tell you all about it in the coming weeks. Right now, I need to check my virtual sales for the month, at home, on my PC, because I’m connected!