Archive for the ‘Internet Marketing’ Category

Role of Internet Marketing in Modern Marketing World

In the rapidly expanding and ever-shifting digital age in which we live, therole ofInternet marketingin modern marketingis no longer a minor one. Internet marketing is a vital part of the success of any organization. From IT support to lead generation to sales, Internet marketing is beneficial to nearly every aspect of the business.

Internet marketing, which also goes by the names of online marketing, digital marketing, web marketing, e-marketing, etc., is defined as the process of promoting brands, products, or services, over the Internet. It includes any promotional actions that are done via the Web or wireless media, including email marketing, blogging, SEO, and social media.

The worldwide reach of the Internet has made it possible for businesses to easily reach hundreds of new customers and has redefined relationships between businesses to businesses (B2B) and businesses to consumers (B2C). Through the Internet, marketers from organizations of all sizes are now able to share brands, products, and services on a global scale and can do so all the time. Through websites, blogs, and social media platforms, consumers are able to find and access information about and from an organization twenty-four seven, from wherever they are.

Due to the majorrole ofInternet marketingin modern marketing, organizations cannot afford to ignore marketing online. Because the vast majority of people spend a significant amount of time online, whether they are at work or home on a desktop computer, at school on a laptop, or waiting at the airport on a smartphone or digital device, marketing through the Internet provides organizations a more effective way to promote themselves. It also provides a more efficient way because it does not involve the costs that often come with traditional marketing. Costs that often include printing brochures, shipping out promotional mailers, and paying for billboard advertising. By cutting down on expenditures, Internet marketing allows organizations to experience higher revenue.

Internet marketing also helps organizations in achieving better global branding and in building greater awareness of the products or services that they offer. Through marketing online, organizations can more strategically reach their target audience; and if Internet marketing is done right, campaigns can easily be tracked, measured, and tested to ensure proper results are being received.

Having the right Internet marketing strategies is an important part in helping organizations successfully market and advertise their products and services to consumers, connect with customers, and make sales.

It increases the visibility of an organization.

In days past, most businesses were limited to one brick and mortar location that was only visible to those who lived in the vicinity of that location. Every now and then, out of towners might come to the location after hearing about it through word of mouth. Today, however, an organization can be visible to millions of people at once through multiple digital locations. Establishing a solid presence on the Internet through a website, a blog, paid advertising, social media platforms, etc., allows organizations to expand their visibility in ways that were previously thought impossible.

It allows for two-way communication with customers.

The Internet has enabled the rise of the smart consumer. Organizations are no longer the only ones dictating how their brands, products, and services are seen; consumers are too. Through social media channels, rating and review boards, and forums, consumers are able to connect with other consumers, give their approval or disapproval of a product or service, and influence the buying decisions of potential customers. Consumers are also able to connect directly with organizations and vice versa. By keeping in touch with customers through follow-up emails, personalized offers, and thank you letters, organizations can build relationships and establish a sense of community around their brand.

It enables more detailed market research.

Doing research about the preferences, habits, and demographics of consumers is an importantpart of marketing. Its hard to target the right audience if the right information is not first gathered and documented. Additionally, its hard to create and offer the right products or services, if an organization doesnt know who their customers are, what they want, how much they are willing to pay for it, and who their competitors are in the industry. The Internet has a wealth of resource portals and tools that allow marketers to more accurately gather data on consumers and track their activity and preferences.

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Role of Internet Marketing in Modern Marketing World

38 Free Online Marketing Classes to Take This Year

I don't know about you, but I miss taking classes. I miss taking notes, studying, and most of all, learning a ton of new skills.

That's not to say I don't learn a lot on the job here at HubSpot -- because I absolutely do. But sometimes, there's nothing quite like listening to a lecture, taking notes, and doing homework.

Given the frequency at which new technologies and software are developed, it can be overwhelming to try to keep up your knowledge by only reading blog posts and ebooks. That's where self-paced online learning comes in.

I've taken a few awesome courses and certifications through HubSpot Academy, including an inbound marketing certification and a content marketing certification. These classes helped me be better at my job, so I started making a list of other classes I could take to learn more skills. When I finished the list, I realized that you, dear readers, might have similar skill gaps, so I wanted to share it in a blog post.

Below is a long list of free online courses you can take to beef up your skill set. These offerings vary in time commitment, but many are self-paced so you can work on your own schedule. The topics these courses cover include:

Want to learn more about brands and organizations that offer the courses on the list below? Scroll to the end of this post, or click here, to jump to a section on where to find affordable online marketing courses.

HubSpot Academy offers certification and training courses to teach people how inbound marketing and HubSpot software work. Classes are often taught by marketers at HubSpot and are made up of video lessons, quizzes, and tests. Most HubSpot Academy classes are available free of charge, and if you pass the certifications, such as the two below, you get a nifty certificate and badge to share on your social media profiles. Check out mine on LinkedIn:

Copyblogger is a content marketing company that creates content about content (so meta). Its blog provides a ton of great resources about digital marketing, and this class, "Internet Marketing for Smart People," is made up of ebooks and emailed lessons and other course materials. Copyblogger espouses four pillars of content marketing success, which it delves into over the course of this class.

Coursera offers MOOCs (massive online open courses) created and taught online by universities such as Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California system. These courses start at various times throughout the year, so browse the catalog to see when one lines up with your schedule. Below are a couple courses that are perfect for content marketers -- here's what a module for #4 looks like:

QuickSprout is Neil Patel's content and business marketing blog, and QuickSprout University features a ton of helpful videos breaking down and explaining a myriad of concepts and best practices. Each video also includes a transcript in case reading is more your learning style than watching a video. Here's what one course video looks like:

Udemy is another online learning platform that focuses specifically on courses related to skill building for working professionals. One thing to note about Udemy: The classes we've highlighted are free, but it offers a myriad of other paid options for as little as $10, in some cases. If you have a good experience with a free course, it could be worth a small investment to deepen your skills, too.

Wordstream is a search engine and social media marketing software company that helps marketers drive the greatest ROI from their paid search and social media campaigns. These free guides and ebooks distill learnings and best practices for users with varying levels of expertise running pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Here are some of its topics and offerings:

edX is another MOOC provider that features courses offered by top-tier universities, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston University. Like Coursera, classes are taught online and start at specific times throughout the year. Here's a class we think you'll find valuable:

Alison offers free online classes in various professional skills users can take at their own pace. In the Diploma in Social Media Marketing course below, students can get into the nitty-gritty and big picture views of different skills of different topics -- just check out one of the many modules:

At this point, you probably already know what Facebook is and what it does. What you might not know? It has a training and certification program. Facebook Blueprint offers self-paced and live e-learning courses for marketers seeking to grow their organizations using Facebook. Blueprint offers classes in different languages on how to use Facebook and Instagram -- here's a peek at the course catalog.

quintly is a social media analytics tool that offers courses through quintly Academy. The self-paced course provides an overview of social media analytics, benchmarking, and goaling using downloadable written materials and video lessons.

Buffer's Social Media Week of Webinars isn't exactly a course -- it's a series of live webinar recordings on YouTube -- but the videos are chock-full of current and valuable information for social media marketers from the experts. Topics include Instagram and Facebook marketing and how to do public relations on social media.

Google is another company you've probably heard of before, and its digital marketing course offers a ton of valuable information if you plan to advertise and rank on the search engine. You can even take a Google AdWords certification at the end of the process that helps you beef up your resume (and your Google+ profile).

CodeAcademy offers free, interactive coding classes that take you from lesson one to building a fully-functioning website. The courses we've highlighted below are just a few of the courses; CodeAcademy offers many more, depending on your organization's needs. CodeAcademy classes feature lectures and a workspace in the same browser window so you can see the effect of your work live, as it's created.

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General Assembly offers live and online paid and free courses for a variety of technical skills and disciplines. General Assembly's Dash offers a free online coding class that teaches the fundamentals of HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript -- watch the course overview below:

Canva helps people easily make beautiful images for web design, and Canva Learn offers design courses that are valuable for any kind of storyteller. The Creativity course explores the challenges of constant creation and innovation and how to do it well -- with visuals, of course.

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in May 2018, but was updated in July 2020 for comprehensiveness and freshness.

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38 Free Online Marketing Classes to Take This Year

Internet Marketing: A Complete Guide | Legendary Marketer

Why does internet marketing matter? There are more than 4 billion internet users worldwide. Those internet users make billions of searches. Google alone has more than 3 billion searches per day.

With the increase in mobile use, people depend on the internet to find the products and services they want and need. This means you must have an internet presence for your business to succeed these days.

Before you jump into an internet presence, it's important to know how to use the available platforms wisely. This includes understanding what internet marketing is and how to take advantage of this marketing tactic.

Internet marketing takes in any online marketing efforts. This includes:

These marketing platforms use content and interaction to create brand awareness. This allows you to reach leads and customers at each stage of the sales process. The internet provides an economical way to educate and create an emotional response to make people want to work with you.

Online marketing combines free and paid strategies to reach your preferred audience. To make the most of these opportunities, you need to understand who you want to reach. You also need to understand what your audience will respond to.

You should create a buyer persona before implementing any of these strategies. The buyer persona will answer who you want to reach, their wants and needs, and how and where to reach them. Once you understand your potential customers, you can determine which online platforms will work for your brand.

The best way to reach new leads involves ranking high in searches. This includes search engine optimization (SEO) onsite and paid advertising on search engines.

SEO seeks to increase your website's ability to get noticed on search engines. You can optimize your website with keyword research and link building.

You want to find high-ranking, low-competition keywords to use in your website content. These keywords, combined with internal and external links help you create authority and rank higher in searches.

You can also create brand awareness through ads and posts on social media sites. Once you determine the social media platforms where you can reach potential customers, you create business profiles on each one.

It's important to stay consistent with brand information and design on each platform you use. It's also important to engage with your audience on a regular basis.

This engagement involves sharing your own content and content from other industry professionals. You also want to share personal info about the company. Make sure you respond and interact with relevant info to keep your brand in front of potential customers.

Every marketer needs to build an email list. You can create a lead magnet to capture these contacts and reach out to each lead based on where they are in the sales process.

You want to create autoresponders to welcome new leads. You can also provide incentives to new and current customers, send reminders, and introduce new products and services. Each email should provide a call to action, clearly stating what you want them to do with the information you provide.

Pay-per-click marketing involves paying for clicks, conversions, or impressions on search engines or social media sites. These paid ads or promoted content helps you rank higher and engage more people.

You set up the demographic information for the people you want to reach, and determine keywords to activate your ad in searches. Once everything's set, you pay, based on the ad metrics.

It's important to know what you want from the ads you set. If you create ads without a clear plan, you'll end up wasting money.

Networking involves relationship building rather than outright sales. This proves important to create new opportunities for partnerships and interaction.

Internet networking involves using online groups to build these relationships with others in your industry. This opens doors for collaboration opportunities.

You can also join groups to interact with customers, answering questions and sharing information. These online groups include social media groups, industry forums, and Q&A forums.

Each of the internet marketing platforms revolves around content. It's important to publish content online to create trust and authority. With valuable content, you can draw in new customers and establish your brand's online presence.

While a good content strategy proves important, only 39% of marketers have a strategy in place. This strategy includes

The content provided should answer real questions. Content also needs to remain engaging so people stick around for more and share the content with others. You should create content on a regular basis, but with a specific goal in mind.

Now that you understand what's included in internet marketing, how do you put those platforms together to create a strategy? You need to understand how the different internet platforms work together to get the most out of them.

It's not just a matter of throwing content out there. You want to strategically combine platforms to get the most out of each one.

Your first step in internet marketing is creating a website. You want to create a site that's easy to navigate and runs smoothly. When creating a website, you also want to keep mobile users in mind.

Make sure you create pages for ease of use. The pages should include contact info. You should also include a blog to provide content for sharing.

Use your blog to build up internal and external links. The internal links send people to other parts of your website and external links provide authority. Both types of links, when combined with keywords, build up your SEO.

Once you have your website in place and you start to build up content, you want to start capturing emails. You can create a lead magnet to capture contact info as people visit your site. Lead magnets can include videos, ebooks, and case studies.

Create email campaigns to welcome and follow up. Set up autoresponders for welcoming emails and follow up for the different stages of the sales process.

To get the most out of social media, you want to start small. Determine the platforms where your potential customers hang out and get active on those sites.

You want to do regular posts with a mix of interaction and content. The rule of thumb on social media involves 80% content and 20% personal interaction. Break up content with 50% from other authorities, and 30% brand content.

Once you start to generate content, you should look into different industry and customer forums. Groups and forums will help you learn what others in your industry are doing. Some forums allow you to learn more about potential customers to help you build up your buyer persona.

With some forums, you can even share content specific to the questions or concerns addressed. This gives you another opportunity to get your content in front of more eyes.

You want organic traffic, but that doesn't mean you should ignore the paid traffic. You want to include PPC marketing on search engines and social media sites to reach new leads.

Determine your best content to share for PPC marketing. Determine whether you want more traffic or better conversions for paid ads. This will help you determine how you set up each ad.

None of these internet marketing strategies will do any good unless you measure your results. You need to find the tools that will help you analyze and measure the results from the different platforms you use.

This includes website and social media analytics tools. Most social media sites have analytics tools provided with your page to determine your results. Some website providers have their own analytics tools included.

You can also use tools such as Google analytics to measure your content success. These tools will help you determine which platforms offer the best results for your efforts.

You can also measure what content works best with your audience. This will help you determine what type of content to offer and where to share it.

The means to succeed with internet marketing changes often due to changes in algorithms for the marketing platforms. This means it's important to have the tools to keep up with these changes. It's also important to have the tools to adapt your marketing strategies to meet these changes.

The tools you need for success depends on whether you need help getting started, or you need help nudging your internet marketing strategies to the next level. Wherever you are in the process, check out the marketing bundles available to push you towards success.

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Internet Marketing: A Complete Guide | Legendary Marketer

Examples Of GOOD Internet Marketing | Biquitous

Everyone always THINKS they know what will improve a companys bottom line: higher search engine rankings, higher levels of website traffic, more social media outreach, more products, more blog posts and on and on.

But what if I told you that just by focusing on how users interact with and use your website to achieve their goals what is often referred to as usability by making it easier, friendlier and more intuitive, you could increase sales and conversions much faster and with less time and money spent than almost ANY other traffic generating initiative?

So what is website usability and how can it be used (no pun intended) to spruce up your companys current website to immediately convert a higher number of visitors into sales?

Im glad you asked ...ReadMore>>

I want to welcome you to the Biquitous Breakdown.

This is a special real-life series that analyzes and audits one website's Internet presence and SEO strategy in order to provide powerful takeaways for your website.

In other words, you're going to get an exclusive over-the-shoulder look at critical mistakes other companies are making and my recommendations for fixing them in a live video format.

My goal is to be honest in my assessments and provide that particular company with a concrete action plan to fix what's wrong, for their benefit and -- by extension -- your company's website as well.

The breakdown will focus 4 major areas:

I'll then provide a 3-step action plan for the biggest/fastest improvement to address any issues that I find.

This edition is going to focus on Proliability.com, a professional liability insurance company.

Proliability has some problems with sparse content, lack of a social media presence and -- most disturbing to me -- the possibility that they are paying for links, as well as other issues that need to be addressed immediately.

Let's get right to it:

(Click the "play" button to watch the video)

Here is the full transcript of the video:

Hello, this is Chris Fernandez, the Founder and CEO of Biquitous. And I want to welcome you to the Biquitous website and SEO breakdown, a special series that analyzes and audits one website's internet presence and SEO strategy in order to provide powerful takeaways for your website. ...ReadMore>>

Read Time: (5-10 Minutes)

Sometimes we forget what really matters.

We forget that the primary job of marketing is to elicit a strong reaction for our brand, products and services.

Customers don't care how cool YOU think your products are, only how cool THEY think your products are!

The landscape is littered with dinosaurs who thought their products were great (and in fact they might have been) but nobody cared because their marketing and connection with their target audience was not executed properly.

Much to my surprise, a simple thermostat (really, a thermostat!) has reminded me of exactly why we cannot forget the core tenets of marketing, branding and connecting with our customers on a deep and emotional level -- call it Marketing 101.

By now you've probably seen or heard about the new Nest Learning Thermostat.

It's sleek, clean, beautiful to look at, and invokes a sense of wonder at the possibilities -- if a simple thermostat can be this cool, what else in your house can be turned into a functional work of art?

But the design, function and launch strategy of the Nest "smart" thermostat -- founded by Tony Fadell, designer of the iPod -- works on many different levels that we can and should be using within our own Internet marketing and business strategies constantly. ...ReadMore>>

Read Time: (5-10 Minutes)

You would think creating great title tags is simple right? After all its just a 70-character (or less) line of text, how hard can it be?

The fact is, every single client Biquitous has ever worked with no matter how large has always needed help, sometimes urgently, to fix their title tags.

So in this post, Ill share some of our secret sauce for creating great title tags, explain why the title tag is arguably the most important factor for increasing traffic and SEO on your website, and show you 3 critical title tag SEO best practices for creating title tags that will yield the biggest bang for your buck.

(Quick note: For the best experience I recommend watching the short video, but all of the critical elements that you need to know are also in text format below the video along with copious amounts of screenshots.)

...ReadMore>>

Read Time: (5 Minutes)

I woke up the other day to the sound of a commercial...

It caught my attention because it had a little old lady talking about how she "puts that sh*t on everything".

The "sh*t" she was talking about is Frank's Red Hot sauce, and it not only caught my attention, but it made me laugh hysterically.

Here's a video clip of one of the ads (the radio spot is a bit different):

Here's another short spot that will lift your spirits and make you laugh:

UPDATE:

Frank's has since released additional commercials -- they are nowhere near as good as the old ones, but play off of the new love affair with dating apps and a new take on spiking the punch:

So let's talk about what the company did RIGHT with their offline and online marketing initiatives (as well as their website) and also look at what they did WRONG because inevitably, there are always things that could be done better or are being neglected, that a company can improve upon and that we can learn from.

And while Frank's did a lot right, they also made some key mistakes that you can and should learn from.

...ReadMore>>

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Examples Of GOOD Internet Marketing | Biquitous

Difference Between Internet Marketing & Digital Marketing

Digital marketing. Internet marketing. Content marketing. SEO marketing. Figuring out what all these marketing terms mean and how they fit together is baffling. And once you untangle the definitions, you have to decide which marketing methods align with your business goals.

So, what is digital marketing all about? First, lets look at marketing as a whole. Marketing is a set of tactics that distinguish your business from competitors and get people to buy products. This includes the research you use to develop campaigns. The goal is to convey distinct selling points, so customers choose your business.

Traditional marketing can happen just about anywhere. Trade shows, TV ads, and press releases are common ways to promote a business and attract customers. But marketing also happens when you deliver great service and customers spread the word about their experiences.

The marketing methods or platforms you use are known as channels. Digital marketing involves using online channels to promote the benefits of your products. Sending emails, blogging, and connecting on social media all fall into this broad category. Online channels allow remote, but authentic, interactions that build loyalty. Common channels for digital marketing include:

Digital marketing has become one of the most effective ways to reach customers. In a 2015 survey, Pew Research Center reported that 21 percent of Americans go online almost constantly, and 42 percent are online multiple times a day. With so many people using mobile devices, its quite common to be online all the time.

Connecting with people you cant see may seem like a challenge. In reality, the internet creates a lot of new opportunities to learn about customers. As a result, youre able to draw more people to your business through targeted marketing.

Now that you understand digital marketing, it raises a bigger question. Whats the difference between internet marketing and digital marketing? If all these activities happen online, why use so many different words to describe them?

Internet marketing involves building a web presence and turning the resulting traffic into sales. When the internet was younger, the four major marketing activities involved:

Yet, online marketing has grown to include many activities that dont involve internet search engines, paid ads, or websites. People are using a wide range of digital devices to get online and interact with content. By reaching customers through online channels they frequently use, you can influence their buying choices offline.

Think about how often you connect with brands. Customers form positive opinions about products or services from reading blogs. Interactive video ads prompt viewers to make decisions. Customers receive coupons for local stores straight from smartphone apps. Internet marketing is a major subcategory of digital marketing. And digital marketing encompasses diverse online and offline tactics that drive digital engagement.

Internet, SEO, and content marketing are key pillars of digital marketing. Combining these strategies is the best way to launch and grow a proficient business.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of formatting your website and content to improve search rankings. The internet is filled with websites and blogs fighting for attention. However, targeting niche keywords your customers search for can reduce online competition.

Content marketing involves creating assets that offer value to your customers. Online assets, such as blogs, photos, videos, and guides, build awareness of your brand. Creating content encourages customers to trust you and engage with your business. Since content is easy for customers to share, it also drives a lot of traffic to your sites.

Getting great leads is an ongoing challenge for business owners. Customers are less responsive to overt sales pitches, so pushy ads arent the best way to attract them. While passive activities, content and SEO marketing show customers you can answer their questions. These methods support your digital marketing plan by consistently drawing inbound traffic to your site.

You may have noticed online communities and platforms getting more interconnected every day. Digital marketing gives businesses of all sizes access to a bigger customer base. At the same time, digital marketing includes a lot of organic tactics that help brands create an authentic image. Consider these five benefits of digital marketing when growing your business.

The most important thing about digital marketing is its flexibility. You dont have to copy everything your competitors are doing to be successful. Focus on finding out where your customers are online, and connect with them at key touchpoints. Theres no point wasting time on Facebook if all your customers are on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Track your online marketing activities to keep refining your methods. Digital trends evolve quickly. Its essential for businesses to change and serve customers in ways that matter to them. Marketing is also about setting your brand apart. If you can identify unfilled niches, dont hesitate to try online methods your competitors arent using.

The first step in building a digital marketing strategy is to create a professional business website. Learn more about our website solutions here.

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Difference Between Internet Marketing & Digital Marketing