Do you know how many people are on the internet?
There are a lot. As of 2019, there are an estimated 3.9 million people who are online.
The question is, how are you going to reach these people?
If you aren’t using your website as a marketing tool, then you are missing out on a lot of potential business. If you aren’t where your customers are, then your competition is going to reach them before you can.
But where do you start?
Keep reading to learn eight ways you can use your website to help market your business.
1. Establish a Brand Identity
What sets you apart from other companies?
When you are creating a brand, you want to create an image that quickly comes to mind. The last thing you want to be is forgettable.
Use your website to create an identity that is unique to your business. Answer these questions for your visitors:
- What’s your story?
- What makes you different?
- Are you an industry leader?
- Who exactly are you?
It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does need to set your company apart from the rest.
2. Rank in Search Engines
Google users perform searches 40,000 times per second on average. Some of these people could be looking for your services.
Your website needs to be optimized to rank in search engines so you can take advantage of this traffic.
You can do this two ways.
On-Site SEO
Your on-site SEO is what helps Google determine what your website and individual pages are about. The content of your site should target the terms that people are using to search.
Google tools can tell you how often specific search phrases are used every month. You can optimize for these phrases to take advantage of this traffic.
The better you optimize your site for these words, the higher Google will rank your website.
Off-Site SEO
Off-site SEO is the process of getting links to your site. Each one acts like a vote.
When a trusted site links to you, then your site becomes more trustworthy in Google’s eyes.
A popular method to get links is guest posting. Guest posting is the process of reaching out to other websites that are related to your business and providing content for them.
Most of the time, these sites will allow you to link back to your website in the post, providing referral traffic and a ranking signal to Google.
3. Create Content to Establish Credibility
Consumers have a lot of options available to them. What sets you apart from their other choices?
By providing content that positions you as an expert, you can increase your credibility.
You can make use of content marketing to inform potential customers of things they need to know before buying from you.
Use this content to create engagement, build trust, and convince your visitor that you can do what they need.
4. Integrate With Social Media
You have more options than a website to connect with potential customers. If you haven’t linked your site to social media accounts, then you are missing an avenue to communicate with people.
Consumers spend a lot of time on social media sites. Studies found that people spend on average spend over two hours per day on social media.
If you provide engaging content in their news feed, you have the chance to get a click through to your site.
Social media users also like to share. If they read something they believe their friends will like, they will share it on their news feed.
This sharing creates more exposure and can lead to new leads for your business.
5. Collect Emails
If you aren’t building your email list, you are missing out on one of the best ways to communicate with your customers.
Sure, people spend more time than ever on social media. But you can’t rely on these platforms to show your updates to your fans.
Let’s take a look at Facebook. They optimize news feeds to show posts that will increase the amount of time that their users will spend on their site. This optimization means the chance of your post reaching fans is very high.
When you have an email list, you know with more certainty that you can reach your customers.
Not everyone will open your mail, but you know that they received it.
6. Retargeting Ads
You don’t always make the sale the first time around. Sometimes a potential customer needs to be exposed to your service several times before they commit to buying.
Retargeting ads give you an easy way to do that.
When someone visits your site, a tracking script will keep track of them and store the information for you.
You can use this information to target advertisements to them again on the internet. Facebook and Google are two of the most popular retargeting platforms available today.
You only have to put a small piece of programming code on your site to activate the retargeting program.
Cost per click is typically cheaper, and you get better conversions compared to regular advertisements.
7. Find Out Where Your Traffic Comes From
If you are running a website, you need to have an analytics platform. These are services that help you gain insight into where your visitors are coming from and what pages they are visiting.
You can use this information to learn how people are learning about you and pages that you need to focus on improving.
8. Give Things Away
People love free. You can use this to your advantage.
If you sell products on your website, how can you help your visitors buy the right thing? Give them a free ebook that talks about all the features to look out for.
Do you have a services business?
Give potential customers a checklist of action items they can do before reaching out to buy from you.
You want your company to be the first thing on a customer’s mind when they decide to purchase something. Giving value helps put you there.
Don’t Forget That Your Website Is a Marketing Tool
Never forget that there is more to a website than making it look good. It’s a marketing tool that you can use to drive more sales.
Use the tips we covered in this post to start making use of it.
Do you know how to put these tips into action? We can help you with that! Contact us to learn how we can optimize and design your site to drive more business your way.