Believe it or not, there are still plenty of business owners who aren't taking advantage of internet marketing, even in the year 2014. Understandably, it can be very intimidating. There is a lot of noise and static to try to find your way through, countless people selling snake-oil and get-rich-quick scams, and since the industry moves so quickly a lot of good information soon becomes outdated. Not only that, but following instructions for something that used to work a few years ago can actually cause a great deal of harm to your business' online marketing efforts in 2014.
Let's focus on some timeless tips and advice that aren't going to cause any harm. When it's all said and done, it's really not that difficult once you overcome the initial fear and resistance and use a bit of common sense and learn which sources are reliable and who's trying to take advantage.
Negotiation Skills Are Essential in Internet Marketing
Internet marketing is an industry where networking is key. Talking to people and making connections can be the difference between success and failure in your campaigns. As such, there's always a lot of room for negotiations and bartering. The digital generation isn't as caught up in the typical corporate scene; we do things our own way. It's never been easier to approach the higher-up management or even the CEO of an internet business to negotiate something that will suit your unique needs. Not everyone is both with inherent negotiation skills, but everybody can certainly learn how to negotiate if they put in the effort.
Learning How To Effectively Buy Paid Traffic
When you buy advertising on a bus bench or a billboard, it's only really targeted based on the neighborhood. When you buy advertising online, however, you can target it to just about any demographic you want. You can target your ads to people based on their gender, age, income, interests, browsing history and a lot more. Not only that, but there are models that will allow you to only pay based on results. You don't pay unless an interested visitor clicks your advertisement and visits your website. With proper tweaking and testing, paid advertising can be incredibly lucrative with a stunning ROI.
Search Engine Optimization
This is a bit of a bad word in certain circles, but it's important to make the key distinction between search engine optimization and search engine manipulation. The manipulation side of things can get you into trouble, but taking basic steps to optimize your website and your content so that people that are looking for you can easily find you is incredibly important.
Mobile Traffic Is Still Growing All The Time
More and more people are using their phones to access the internet. Does your website look good on a phone? If not, it might be time to step up your skills when it comes to mobile marketing. There's also a lot of traffic available to purchase on mobile devices, but if you aren't properly optimized you could be throwing money away.
Be A Social Butterfly
Social media marketing, when done properly, can turn a small business into a huge business - there are countless examples of this. When done wrong, however, it can be an absolute waste of time. Learning how to be effective at social media marketing is a very valuable tool to have in your back pocket.
And The Most Important Digital Marketing Skills Is... (Drumroll)
Hands down the most useful skill when it comes to marketing your business online is being able to use common sense, to be genuine, and to avoid wasting your time on things that don't matter. Effective use of time is so important because it's the one thing we can't buy more of. Wasting time on internet marketing is a sad fact for certain business owners, whereas others seem to find success naturally. Time management, and the aforementioned skills, all play a big role in whether you'll make it or break it when it comes time to start marketing your business online. Try things, take notes, test other things, don't give up and you'll figure it out - promise!