How to do effective Internet marketing

Online web marketing is a great way to build your brand and raise the profile of your company. Some organisations needlessly spend thousands of pounds on SEO consulting firms when basic Internet marketing strategy can be done at home. This article details out how to promote a business online.

Search engine optimisation

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of modifying your website so that it ranks higher on search engines. Companies like Google take great care not to release the exact details of their search algorithms, so getting your site to the top of Google is not as easy as it first seems to be. SEO consulting is a multimillion pound business and uses some advanced techniques to achieve higher ranking for companies. However, there is a lot of optimisation that you can undertake without spending any money. Marketing a website should start with some basic SEO. Start by making sure that each of your page titles and URLs have keywords rich in names rather than numbers or codes. Try to make sure that important keywords are used as titles (H1 or H2) and that you have interesting, original content. It is commonly agreed that websites like Google reward sites which regularly post content, so consider running a blog and offer specialist information within your area. The more specialised your blog is, the more likely it will capture a larger share of the market. Be sure to tag images with relevant keywords as image search results are just as important in getting visitors to your site. Make a habit of linking to other blogs and try to encourage your readers to comment by ending with questions and running competitions.

Social media

Social media is the use of online services like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to engage users and share content. Many small businesses make the mistake of using these channels of communication as a one-way "broadcast" of company information and product releases. This is a poor use of these tools as they are designed for two-way communication.
Commenting on profiles and posts Try to engage your users and comment on their profiles and posts. Spend as little as thirty minutes a day online as it can help you to establish yourself as a trusted name in the online world. Get involved in conversations and try to become the "person to turn to" when people have a query in your specific area. Social media and blogging is a long term investment of time. Do not expect immediate results which can be measured by your accountants. Spending a few hours a week will increase your reputation and bring business in via word of mouth in the future.