Given the great potential of Online Marketing to promote products and services in the web world, more and more organizations are adopting it to achieve the desired level of sales and drive their businesses to new heights of success using the online medium. It is beyond any doubt that online or Internet marketing presents the most cost effective means of reaching out to present and prospective customers but it is equally fruitful in driving them to take the intended action.
To make best use of Online marketing, it is imperative to adopt the right marketing strategy that would yield the desired outcome. An online marketing strategy for an organization should be carefully devised and implemented so that it serves the purposes and objectives sought by the business.
There are a number of online marketing strategies which can be effectively used by organizations doing their business online to obtain maximum results:
A comprehensive Website- Just as a fish requires water for its existence, similar is the relationship shared by website with internet marketing. Without a well-designed and content rich website it is impossible to survive online. The website should clearly inform the users about the products & services; should contain appropriate keywords at suitable places, have Quick buttons to initiate action and most importantly have the relevant domain name.
Search Engine Optimization-This involves optimizing the website to achieve high search engine ranking which will ultimately drive traffic to the site resulting in sales. A number of SEO techniques can be adopted to top search engine results.
Affiliate Marketing- In this, the website forms partnership with other websites say advertisers to promote its products on some profit sharing basis. Pay per Click, Pay per Lead and Pay per Sales are forms of affiliate marketing which are extensively used by organizations to market their products and services.
Use of Social Networking Sites- There is growing trend among companies to utilize social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, YouTube, Linkedin, etc to propagate their information. These sites present huge potential to come across the target customers globally. It is most effective in building brand image.
Blogging- As an information sharing medium, blogging is used by marketers to provide the relevant & latest information about their products, services as well as to voice their opinions on topics of customers’ interest. This form of marketing has realized its high scope and has become a popular way of attracting people.
Along with these, marketers can adopt other online marketing strategies like viral marketing, E-mail marketing, Article & Press Release submission, Forums, Banner ads, etc to generate the sales leads and achieve their respective business goals.
Blogging has become quite a buzz among the online circle in recent times as it offers an easiest means of developing connection with large number of people. Though started as a personal tool to share thoughts, opinions and ideas by individuals, now it is increasingly adopted by business organizations for effectively conducting their business online. It has given online business a whole new dimension by acting as an information sharing platform.
By way of a Blog, an organization can easily spread its messages among its various target groups simultaneously. Being the online medium it can span all geographical boundaries thereby providing the privilege of reaching the global customers. Maintaining a blog is a simple process and includes:
Creation of a blog
Posting articles related to products and services
Submitting posts meant for customers’ use
Regularly updating the content
Keeping a track on feedback provided by people
Acknowledging their feedback to develop personal relations
Blogging has now become an important tool of Search Engine Optimization with every organization wishing to get benefits from it.
Benefits of a Blog:
Develops back links thereby driving substantial traffic
Helps in Brand building
Creates a favorable reputation of the company among target groups
Is Cost effective medium
Requiring less effort and reaping sound benefits, Blogging is new found SEOtool that is gaining popularity with each passing day.
To successfully conduct the business online, it is essential to target the right audience. Every business organization has its predetermined target group and the concept of targeting one and all is just not worth an effort. More specifically, if the business caters only to a specific audience or a particular location, it needs to localize itsinternet marketing strategies to trap the local audience, who are of real value to the business. This will not only save time but will yield desired results for the online business.
Here are few of these which could be effectively used to drive the local audience:
Keep local searches in mind: With Search engines like Google, Yahoo going local and showing local search results, the website must make optimum use of keywords that highlight the place, city and nearby locations. Title Tags, H1 & H2 tags, Meta descriptions should specify the location as well as the products/services. This increases the chances of your website being picked by the Search engines. As search engines pay due attention to the address, include address in the Footer of your site.
Listing in Directories-Try to list your website in all the prominent online directories as it presents an easy way to attract traffic.
Use the tool of Social Media-With a number of networking sites having large customer base like Orkut, Facebook and Twitter, businesses can track and maintain contact with their potential customers by associating themselves with these online communities. Visit Social Media Optimization
Blogging- Creating Blogs and feeding them with fresh and relevant content that interests your target audience is another novel technique to drive customers to your products and services.
Article Writing- Write and submit articles to inform your local audience about your offerings. It is another effective way to initiate responses from the customers as they always look out for the information. ( Art
Online Reviews- Getting your website, its products and services reviewed by your existing and satisfied customers will lend credibility and will act as a reference for new and potential customers.
With such easy tools, organizations can easily trap their local audience and lead their business towards growth.
It is a common habit among webmasters to get confused between Search Engine Rank and PageRank(PR) as both are related to search engine results. They are often considered as synonyms but which is not the case. In order to clearly understand the two, let us go through each separately and then state the differences between then.
Search Engine Rank or Ranking
Search Engine Rank or ranking of a website denotes the position or placement of the website on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). If a website appears on the first pages of the search engines, it is said to have a High Search engine ranking. The overall purpose of search engine optimization is to have a high rank on search engines to get the desired visibility and attract traffic. It requires well-thought plan and several factors which distinguishes it from PageRank(PR).
Factors involved in Search Engine Rank or Ranking are:
Code Implementation- Codes are formulated and inserted to facilitate spiders in finding the important keywords thereby helping in listing.
Content- A website’s success is predominantly depended upon its Content. Content should be so developed to contain appropriate keywords and describe the products or services in the way user would like to receive. Title, tags, meta descriptions, anchor text, etc should also be rich in keywords.
Links- As Links play a major role in ranking, quality links must be developed (both internal and external) in a quantity that would catch the attention of serach engines.
Regular updation- A user would stick to the site which is frequently loaded with fresh content. Search engines favor those sites which update their content for users on a regular basis
PageRank(PR)
PageRank is a numerical value on a scale of (0-10) assigned by Google to a web page of a site. Google uses a predetermined formula to calculate a PageRank. It is generally calculated on the basis of the number of inbound links to a website and represents the relative importance of a page on the web. PageRank measures the linking density and helps in indexing.
Factors involved in PageRank(PR)
Links- As Google considers the quantity of back links to a website, developments of links is essential to gain a high PageRank. But only links from relevant sites and those who already have high PageRank are taken into account, so it must be taken care of that only quality links are there otherwise those links are not taken into account.
Content-As mentioned above also, good and relevant content is imperative for a website to have favorable PageRank for its various pages.
The notable differences between Search Engine rank and PageRank(PR)
While Search Engine Rank is related to all search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc, PageRank(PR) concerns Google only
Search Engine Ranking is a planned and time consuming process which involves several factors, whereas PageRank is basically about the amount of Links
Search Engine Ranking is associated with Listings on search engines. On the other hand, PageRank helps in Google’s index.
PageRank is supplementary to a Search Engine Rank
PageRank may serve some short term objectives but Search Engine Ranking yields achieving long term results
*In the above article, the words, Search Engine Rank and Search Engine ranking have been used synonymously
In the world of Search Engine Optimization where the ultimate aim remains to achieve high ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs) or to drive huge traffic to a website, webmasters use a number of techniques which are broadly categorized as White Hat and Black Hat SEO techniques.
Search engines rank a website on the basis of appropriate and relevant keywords and employ computer programs called spiders or crawlers which index a webpage if they find the right keywords. Keeping this in mind, search engine optimizers apply various ways to get their website a high rank.
White Hat SEO Techniques
Under this, webmasters use those methods which adhere to the rules and guidelines stated by the search engines to produce the intended results and consider the following factors:
Keywords- As they are the backbone of any site, the use of precise keywords and keyword phrases multiplies the chances of a website being picked by the search engines. Identification of right keywords is given importance and they are used in Title, Meta Description, Headers, Text, Alt Tag, Title Tag, Anchor Text and Links on web pages.
Links: Only Quality Inbound Links can get a prominent position in search results and attract traffic so optimizers direct their efforts towards the development of quality links either through Link Exchanges or through other mediums such as Social media networks.
Black Hat Techniques
Often termed as unethical, Black hat Techniques employ all possible means to improve ranking without considering their implications and include:
Keywords Stuffing: This involves excess use of keywords to attract attention of search engines by creating hidden or invisible text
Doorway Pages: These pages are deliberately made by webmasters only for the search engines and end-users are not able to see them at all to top the search results
Link Farming: As the number of links is important criterion of ranking a website, optimizers create links in large numbers without considering their relevancy just to attract search engines
Those using Black Hat techniques seem to forget the fact that search engines are quick enough to detect any diversion from the rules and may demote or ban a site.
Both White and Black Hat Techniques have their benefits bit if seen from a larger perspective, the former produces long term results while the latter is concerned with short term gains. Scheduling Software
Links play a crucial role in Search Engine Optimization as they present the golden opportunity of attracting the traffic to the website which in turn determines its success. Links contribute heavily in the attainment of high ranking on search engines. Given that they offer multiple benefits, the process of link building demands adequate thought and planning. The aim of Link Building should always be to get quality inbound links as this is mainly responsible for drawing huge traffic. A website can gain extensive popularity through links.
Below are some of the points that facilitate Link Building and help an organization achieve its objectives:
Anchor text- It consists of all the hyper-linked words on the website and provides the relevant information to the user about the content of the page that it is linking to. It is highly beneficial to use anchor text in Internal & External Links, Navigation maps and Links on Index Pages. Use of appropriate anchor text can produce great results as it attracts search engines’ favorability and chances of appearance on result pages
Emphasize on Quality than Quantity while creating links. A single link from a reputed website is much more profitable than multiple links from worthless sites as the latter serves no purpose
Remove broken links
Avoid any association with spammers as search engines may take adverse actions like removing the site from the index
Analyze competitors’ link building strategy to find out the most effective strategy and to come across loopholes
Make use of link tracking tools to know what links were important
The above discussed points are just a glimpse of what we can do to improve Link Building which otherwise is a continuous process and requires regular updates.
