Online Marketing Dos and Don’ts

When first starting out on an online marketing strategy for your company, it can be a highly daunting prospect – where do you start? Unfortunately, it is very easy to get your online marketing campaign wrong, but by following these dos and don’ts you can rest assured that you are off to the best start:

Do:

• Keep your domain name short and memorable. If people cannot remember your domain name because it’s too long or too unrelated to your field, you’re going to find it very difficult to get return visitors. A short domain name also makes it easier to include on all of your promotional material.
• Keep your website simple and straight forward, as this encourages visitors to come back. Forcing visitors to wait too long for pages to load is also more likely to discourage them to return.
• Utilise SEO in all aspects of your website, as this will help to generate hits and will increase your profit margin, as you will not have to pay for traffic.
• Create a short email signature to use in all areas of your online marketing campaign. Make it punchy and attractive, and include links to your website and social media profiles.
• Keep an eye on your competition – this is one of the first rules of online marketing. What kind of campaign are they running? What sorts of promotions and special offers?

Don’t:

• Make visitors register before they can receive information or view your website, as this actually repels more people than it attracts. If, for some reason, your online marketing campaign requires registration only ask for the essential details (such as a first name and email address).
• Spam your existing or potential customers through emails, discussion boards, and so on. Whilst some online marketers claim to receive good results this way, it is more likely to get you penalized or banned.
• Utilise ‘black hat’ SEO techniques, as this is considered just as bad (if not worse) than spamming.
• Hold special offers too often, as companies that do this train their customers to wait for sales. Having less promotions and offers will make people more likely to buy during that time.
• Copy your competition. Just because one of your competitors appears to be doing something different doesn’t mean that you have to do it too. You never know, their online marketing campaign may not be working for them at all, so don’t fall into the same trap.

By following the online marketing dos listed above, you can be sure that your campaign will be much more successful then if you followed the don’ts. By attracting visitors to your website, you are increasing the visibility (and, hopefully, sales) of your brand.