It’s no secret that the world we live in now is completely different from the one we knew 20 or 30 years ago. New technologies have created whole new industries and way of living. One of the industries that has really benefited from these technological advancements is online marketing. Thanks to the internet and social media platforms, people all around the world are able to connect with millions of other consumers, all looking for a good deal on a product or service.
Although the internet and social media have changed the way we do business and find information, they have also brought with them a number of new challenges. For example, just like in the physical world, counterfeits and scams have become an issue. In fact, in 2020 alone, over a billion worth of products were purchased online only to be discovered to be fraudulent. Not only that, but the spread of COVID-19 limited the ways in which businesses and marketers can interact with customers. To make matters worse, business customers are more likely to be targeted by scammers, and that means greater financial loss. In the face of adversity, a lot of businesses simply give up and stop operating, resulting in significant unemployment and economic hardship. It’s great that the internet and social media allow small businesses to flourish, but it’s also critical that we protect our businesses and our customers from financial loss and fraud. This is especially important now since the world is trying to get back on its feet after the pandemic, and business owners are looking for ways to boost their bottom lines.
Find A Niche
It’s always great to have multiple revenue streams, but in times of struggle, it’s even more important to have a reliable one. If you run a business, you’re likely familiar with the concept of having multiple income sources. However, it’s different when you’re an individual who’s looking to make money online. You see, when you establish a business, you have to commit to investing a lot of time and energy in it. When you establish a successful business, you usually end up having to extend your hours, take time off work, and deal with a lot of uncertainty. In other words, it’s totally different when you’re an individual who wants to establish a business. When you’re starting out, you have to be realistic about your capabilities and find a profitable niche. Once you do that, you can work on expanding your reach to people in other industries and using different platforms to reach your customers.
Develop A Marketing Strategy
Another major difference between running a physical business and operating an online one is the amount of marketing that goes into attracting customers. Let’s be honest, when it comes to marketing online, you’re mostly competing for attention with millions of other websites and advertisements. To have any chance of being found, your website or blog must have a solid marketing strategy in place. Fortunately, with the right tools and a little bit of creativity, it’s easier than you think to develop a solid digital marketing strategy. Take a look at our digital marketing workflow in Figure 1.
From developing the idea and writing the pitch to getting it approved and launched, this process usually takes weeks or even months. During that time, you’re continuously measuring the results of your strategy in terms of website traffic and social media engagement. If you’re not measuring it, then you’re probably not doing it right. For example, did you increase the number of website visitors but lose a lot of engagement on social media? Or did you see a significant increase in website visits but no growth on social media? It’s essential to have a clear picture of what’s working and what needs to be changed in order to achieve the desired results. Once you have that, you can determine the next steps in your strategy with greater confidence.
Another important thing to consider is the demographics of your target audience. It’s great to want to reach as many people as possible, but unless your product or service is culturally relevant to the audience you’re aiming for, you’ll never have any success. Take a look at our blog’s audience in Figure 2.
As you can see, our audience is mostly made up of Gen Z and millennials. If you’re a business that’s looking to make money online, then it’s important to target your marketing towards young people or else you’ll never have any success. Of course, not all millennials and Gen Z are digital natives, so you have to tailor your content to fit their preferences. To give you an idea of what millennials and Gen Z are looking for online, let’s take a look at three key digital marketing metrics you need to be tracking.
How’s My Website Traffic?
As we’ve mentioned, when it comes to digital marketing online, you’re competing for attention with millions of other websites and advertisements. It’s essential to have a way of measuring how well your website is doing competitively in terms of gaining attention and converting that traffic into paying customers. Without a clear picture of how well your site is doing, it’s hard to know what improvements you need to make in order to increase your revenue. Thankfully, there are a variety of free tools available to track these metrics, including Google Analytics.
How’s My Engagement?
Engagement is different from traffic in that it measures the interaction between you and your audience. When someone visits your site or enters your blog’s URL into a social media platform, does that spark an interest in the audience you’re trying to reach or is it a one-off, fleeting interaction? The more you engage with your audience on social media, the more they’ll trust you and become interested in your brand. The best way to gain trust and increase engagement is through content that is consistent, valuable, and informative. Take a look at our blog’s engagement on social media in Figure 3.
As you can see, our blog posts get shared across various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
How’s My ROI?
ROI stands for Return On Investment, and it’s an essential metric to use when evaluating the effectiveness of your digital marketing strategy. Simply put, the ROI measures the profit you’re making from the effort you’ve put in compared to your total investment. To have any chance of being able to calculate a profitable ROI, you’ll need to know how much you’ve spent on marketing, how much traffic you’ve gotten, and how much money you’ve actually made. Fortunately, there are a variety of free tools available to help you track this information, including Google Analytics and Lead Scoring software. Once you have this information, it’s easier to determine which strategy is most profitable.
Make Sure Your Site Is Secure
It’s no secret that cybercrime is at an all-time high, and business owners and website operators need to do their part to ensure that their sites are as secure as possible. Luckily, there are a variety of free tools that can be used to test and scan your site for malware and hacks. For example, using the Sucuri plugin for WordPress, we can perform a complete security scan on our site in a matter of minutes. Take a look at our scanned results in Figure 4.
As you can see, our site doesn’t have any malware or hacks detected. This is mainly because we have a relatively new server and always use the most up-to-date versions of WordPress and the other software packages we use.
You don’t necessarily need to have perfect security to make money online. In fact, for smaller operations, the risks associated with poorly secured sites probably aren’t worth it. However, when you’re looking to attract a more significant audience or you want to make sure your site is really secure, then it’s worth the time and effort to go through the process of establishing a more robust security system.
In conclusion, running a business is completely different from operating an online business. Just like in the physical world, you need to be ready to adapt your strategy as situations change. To successfully operate an online business, you need to develop a clear understanding of how to gain attention and engagement with your target audience. Once you do, you can develop a profitable marketing strategy that will help you reach your goals.