Web marketing is also known as Internet marketing or online marketing. It is simply all the marketing activities that you do online. It can range from web content, social media, search engine advertising, blogging, videos, email, etc
Web Marketing vs. Digital Marketing
Internet Marketing is focused solely on the internet while digital marketing goes beyond mobile to subway platforms, games apps, smartphone apps, Sms messaging, etc.
Why is web marketing important?
Buyer decisions are now influenced by the Internet. People spend a lot of time on the internet and it has affected their lives in so many ways, including how they make purchases.
And so, taking your business online is the best way to reach more people. People will not need to come to your office or your shop whenever they want to buy your product. The Internet has provided an avenue to interact with people without meeting them in person.
Benefits of web marketing
What does web marketing do for your brand?
Marketing on the internet is so important to your overall marketing. The following are the benefits of web marketing to your business:
- You will reach more people for your business: the internet promotes interaction without boundaries. There are no restrictions on the number of people you would reach.
- More sales: Reaching more people means making more sales. As more people are interacting with your brand, you will get more leads that can convert into revenue.
- Brand authority: Beyond reaching more people and making more sales is the need for your brand to get more exposure and build thought leadership. Brands with such authority include Facebook which has built the authority for social connection, Google for search engines, Coca-cola for soft drinks, FIFA for football, etc. Effective web marketing will help place your brand in a higher position in your niche.
- Connecting with your customers: Good online marketing will help you connect more with your audience. It would serve as an avenue for getting feedback and reviews. This helps to improve your product and make it better which would help you go ahead of your competitors.
Comparison of Web marketing vs. Offline Marketing
Website marketing is cheaper, more focused (targeting a set of people), and easy to measure and edit than offline marketing.
What is a web marketing strategy?
A web marketing strategy is a method you use for your web marketing activities.
They include:
- Content Marketing:This can involve social media, blog, email,
- Google ads(pay per click)
- Social media ads and promotions
- Display ads
- Affiliate marketing
- Retargeting
- Online PR
- Video marketing
- Email Marketing
The different forms of web marketing methods
Content Marketing:
Content Marketing involves creating and sharing materials online in form of videos, blogs, social media posts, ebooks, whitepapers, infographics, etc. The main aim of content marketing is to establish expertise, promote brand awareness, and place your business in the minds of the people. You do this by sharing valuable content to educate them about your products. You can even infuse some fun and humor in form of content to humanize your brand.
For content marketing, always have it in mind to stimulate the interest of the people in your products and services.
Google ads:
This is Google’s online advertising platform. The good thing about Google ads is that people would see your ads once they are interested in your products and services. Your ads come up once anybody searches for whatever is related to your brand. You get to choose where your ad appears, set your budget, and measure the impact of your ad.
Google ads use the pay-per-click model. This is when advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked.
Social media ads and promotions:
Your brand can now advertise on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, snap chat, Twitter, etc. These social media platforms have a database system where you can target your specific audience and measure your results.
Social media ads are the newest trend in web marketing. This is because more and more people are going into social media and there is a potential for higher returns for your investments
Display advertising:
Ever seen an advert design or video while reading a blog?. Those are called display ads.
Display ads can also be regarded as banner ads.
This type of advertising combines text, images, and a URL that links to a website where a customer can learn about the product. Your banner ad is shown to people while they are on another site and it seeks to capture their attention to your landing page. This method is more effective when your ads show on websites that are related to your products.
Affiliate marketing:
Affiliate marketing is an advertising model your brand can adopt. It involves paying a third party to generate traffic or leads to the company’s products and services. The third party could be a person, a website, an affiliate marketing brand, etc. These third parties are called affiliates, and the commission fee incentivizes them to find ways to promote your products.
Retargetting:
This is a strategy for bringing people who have visited your site before back to your site either to complete an action or view something new. Their data is captured by the cookies on your website once they visit your page the first time. These cookies give the information of the people that have visited your website and what they are interested in. You can use this information to bring those people back to your website. This is a good way of targeting people that already have an interest in your product.
Online PR:
This can be in form of your brand featuring on a newspaper or digital publication, engaging with the comments on your website and social media page, etc. Online PR covers all the actions you take to give a good image of your brand online.
Video marketing:
You can leverage on platforms like YouTube to promote your brand using video content. Video marketing is the use of video to raise awareness, create engagement, and drive sales.
Email Marketing:
This can be in the form of blog subscription newsletters, follow-up emails to website visitors, customer welcome emails, sending promotions and tips, etc. These emails should have a professional subject line that is catchy enough so it won’t get lost among the tonnes of emails your subscribers receive daily.
Classification on web marketing
It is classified into organic and inorganic methods.
Organic methods are the type that doesn’t involve cost. Effective organic marketing involves your effort and time. These methods include content marketing, SEO, email marketing, social media content marketing, etc.
Inorganic methods will cost you money. They include; pay per click, search engine marketing(SEM) affiliate marketing, social media ads(Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), social media promotions, display ads, etc.
Tips for a better web marketing results
- Set goals: If your goal is for visibility, you use the best web marketing methods for visibility, if it’s for conversion, you focus on the methods that will give you more conversion, and so on.
Setting goals will help you remain focused on what you should do to achieve what you want to achieve.
- Have a buyer persona: Another thing is to know exactly what the people you’re targeting look like. Create a buyer persona and let guide you in all your web marketing activities.
- Choose your best method: Knowing your goals will help you choose the best method. Choosing the best method to achieve what you want is very essential for a better web marketing result.
- Implement: Once you have chosen your best method, implement it. Nothing happens without action.
- Measure: Always check your result to know what works. This will help you focus on what is working and not waste your time on things that will not give you the desired result.
- Automate: Make use of software and tools that will give you a better result. There is a lot of content management and digital marketing software available. Using tools saves you time and effort and it is easier to measure your results with tools.
Challenges of Web Marketing
The two major challenges involved with web marketing include:
- Difficulty to capture a receiver’s attention due to competition
- Challenges in analyzing data and exploiting information in this vast information era
The solution to these problems is staying innovative and being ahead of your competitors. Always research and use the best tools to analyze and measure your marketing data to avoid the problems of error misinterpretation of data.
In conclusion, web marketing is a broad category that involves different forms. Knowing your goals and choosing the best method are the first steps to getting your desired results.
Now you know the different forms of web marketing, it’s time to go on and implement them.
Do you have questions about any of your web marketing strategies?
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