Doing online marketing yourself?

Setting up a business online is a completely different business from setting up a business offline. Of course, it can make a difference when you already have an offline business and have made quite a name for yourself. Then the link is made faster than when you have just started a business.

Online marketing is the name for all marketing that takes place on the Internet. It involves building a website, writing the right copy and getting inbound links. You need to spread the word about your website and get visitors to come to you.

Only when that happens can you start thinking about revenue and sales through the online channel. Would you like to strengthen your position on the Internet? Then you can think about online marketing. But the question is, of course: will you get started with online marketing yourself or would you rather have it done.

In this article, we will give you an idea of what is involved in thorough online marketing for your website. You will learn more about the different types of online marketing, strengthening your website and creating authority. At the end of the article you can decide for yourself whether you want to start working with online marketing yourself (and gain a lot of knowledge that you can then use properly and more often) or whether you prefer to outsource it.

Online marketing

Online marketing is much more than just putting together a website and posting it online. In a nutshell, online marketing involves a number of factors, namely:

• Optimization of your own website
• Social media marketing
  • Facebook marketing
  • Pinterest marketing
  • Youtube marketing
• External factors (and creating authority)
• SEO
• Content Marketing

Optimization of your own website

It all starts with building and optimizing your own website. Your website is a kind of business card, but also a knowledge base and a first entrance to your services and products. People need to know who you are/what your company is and what they can do on your website. People need to be able to make purchases or fill out a contact form. People need to know what to expect from you and where they stand.

This is just the business card. Most companies have a blog in addition to their stately website. That blog is constantly evolving. That way there is always something for visitors (and potential customers) to get to you. We'll tell you more about blogging under the "content marketing" section.

Social media marketing

Then once that website is in place, it's time to go out into the wide world and tell people about your products and services. You do that through social media marketing. You start looking people up on social media and telling them how good you are and why they should come to you. Of course, you do that in a slightly more nuanced way. Within social media, you can actually see each form of social media as a separate sport. Facebook is very different again from Twitter, Twitter and Facebook are not comparable to Youtube, and Pinterest and Instagram are also very different forms of social media. Mini blogs like Tumblr also allow themselves to be used as social media just fine. Below we discuss three forms of social media marketing that really contribute to the success of your website.

Facebook marketing

Facebook is a social medium that allows you to connect with millions of people worldwide. First and foremost, of course, with your own friends and family, but also with acquaintances and colleagues and acquaintances of acquaintances. You can expand your network in a very short time and reach people you would otherwise not easily reach.

Facebook marketing is, among other things, about getting in front of potential customers. But on Facebook, you can also get positive reviews and reactions to your services and services. That makes you vulnerable at the same time.

Facebook marketing is intense because you must be able to respond at all times and manage a snowball effect.

Pinterest marketing

Another social media marketing technique involves Pinterest. On Pinterest, you can use pins to highlight websites, photos and articles. For business users, there is a Pinterest account that focuses on the goal of getting more people to your website and products/services. So be sure to put Pinterest marketing to use. Once you get around well on Pinterest, it will bring in many visitors from this source.

YouTube marketing

Also Youtube is really not comparable to Facebook or to Pinterest. On Youtube, however, you can reach a very large audience. When you create your own channel, you can almost speak of your own TV channel. There are Youtube channels that generate more viewers than the average Dutch television channel. This is because Youtube is accessible and can be watched whenever you want. Vloggers can serve entire target groups that way.

Within a company, you can create numerous videos that fill your own channel (TV channel) and make yourself in the picture plays to potential customers. You can think of the following types of videos:

• A proposal video about your company's employees with their expertise;
• Manuals (how to's);
• Product reviews with, of course, links to the relevant products;
• Interviews with people in your field;
• Teaching and training through videos.

In short: there is an awful lot possible on Youtube in terms of marketing. With it, you can grow your company's awareness tremendously. A YouTube channel can also become a means in itself, a steady source of income.

Marketing Mix

You probably already read between the lines that you can't really escape a marketing mix. An online marketing mix that consists of both a good website and vibrant social media. That marketing mix will provide a solid foundation for your website, but then you're not there yet. SEO (search engine optimization) and content marketing are also part of a marketing mix and your company's online marketing.

SEO 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), also known as "search engine optimization," is a completely different sport and is only indirectly related to social media. With SEO, you make sure your website is found well by search engines, especially Google.

SEO is an intensive process, which we cannot fully discuss here. But it boils down to making sure Google is happy with your website. You do this by, among other things:

• Delivering relevant content that really benefits the visitor (see also content marketing);
• Obtaining backlinks (preferably from valuable websites);
• Optimizing the speed of your website;
• Put the visitor first in everything on your website.

There are agencies that deal specifically with SEO. They go after backlinks for you and arrange content that both visitors and search engines feast on. If you are new to the world of online marketing, it may be wisest to at least outsource SEO.

Content marketing

Then there is content marketing. Again, another form of marketing you can't avoid in a good website. Most website operate a blog. On the blog is space for good content marketing. Content actually means "filler for your website," but filler that visitors will find useful. Content can include the following:

• A text telling you how to solve a particular problem;
• A video in which you receive instruction or information;
• A column or viewpoint from an expert in the field;
• An image (infographic) with information about your services and products;
• A poll or interview.

Content marketing should really be addressed daily, if not weekly. The blog is the "magazine" of your website. The reason visitors come back. They want to know if there is more to get and if there is anything else you can help them with.

To keep attracting visitors to your website, you can also use yet another form of marketing, email marketing.

Email marketing

A mailing list of people interested in your services and products is worth its weight in gold. Email marketing allows you to reach your target audience of interested people at the click of a button. You can tell them about new products, as well as direct them to your blog with new articles. Also, you can link social media to e-mail marketing.

So ... getting started with online marketing yourself?

You have been able to read a lot about online marketing in this article. Both Facebook marketing, YouTube marketing and Pinterest marketing were covered under social media marketing. But then there is also content marketing, you could do email marketing and you have to deal with SEO. Your website needs to be optimized and stay optimized ... So there is a lot of work to do.

If you have the sense and energy to pick this up, you will save a lot of money. It will take you time, but once you get the hang of it, you can repeat it more often. However, are you planning to build only one website and shape one online business? Then you have to ask yourself if it's worth all that time and effort. Perhaps you can outsource the online marketing piece and focus yourself on the day-to-day operations.

You can also do it in chunks. Do some of it yourself and outsource some of it. You may still enjoy blogging yourself, but SEO and social media marketing are different sports.

Whatever you decide, make sure you have thought it through. All of this, including your online marketing strategy, should be part of your business plan.