6 Steps to Reaching Your 2012 Online Marketing Goals

I’m a fan of the New Year’s Eve tradition of making resolutions for change. Something about the clean slate - a chance to take stock of where you are, what you want to accomplish, and what you need to do to get there is very appealing to me. It is a great time for a little dreaming and some goal setting.

In his book Never Eat Alone (not an affiliate link), author Keith Ferrazzi sites a Success magazine study that asked graduate’s of Yale three questions to do with goal setting:

1. Have you set goals?
2. Have you written them down?
3. Do you have a plan to accomplish them?

The responses revealed that only 3 percent of the graduating class had written down their goals and a plan as to how they would accomplish them. Thirteen percent had specific goals, but had not written them down, and the remaining 84% did not have specific goals.

The follow up survey 20 years later revealed some interesting findings. The 13 percent of graduates who had goals but had not written them down were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% that did not have specific goals. Even more impressive, the 3% who had written down their goals and had written plans to achieve them were making an average of TEN times as much as the other 97% of survey participants.

If one of the goals for your business this year is to finally commit to improving your online marketing, these 6 steps will help you dominate your space:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO):is the process of preparing your website to perform better on search engines (i.e. Google and Bing). Although it can have a positive effect on your pay-per-click advertising campaign, its ultimate goal is higher search engine rankings and the increased organic (FREE) traffic that comes with it.

If can have a significant long term effect on your web traffic and conversions on both a national and local marketing level. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that your website is already optimized - most that we check are not.

2. Register for Google Places: Google places is a great “local” online marketing tool. It will help you appear higher in the search engines for local search and can help you be found (both online and in the real world). This FREE Google service is fairly easy to set up and is still under utilized by many small businesses.

3. Blogging: is perhaps the most powerful “social media” tool that you can put to work for your business. It can be time consuming, and is a bit daunting to begin with, but most businesses find it to be the most effective online tool for increasing traffic, developing trust, and generating leads.

You can set up a free blog at WordPress.com (not an affiliate link) and get started blogging within a few minutes. You will have to be patient and persistent with your blogging, but it can pay big dividends in the long run.

Video: has become huge and will only continue to have a greater impact on marketing in 2012. This is my primary marketing “resolution” for 2012 - to become more active and involved with video. It is a great tool for educating your buyer, building trust, and ranking on search engines. Marcus Sheridan of “The Sales Lion” does a great job of using video.

Call to Action Buttons offering “Advanced Content”: You’ve probably seen these on other websites - the buttons that encourage visitors to “click here”, “download”, or “sign up”. These buttons are the key to capturing leads from your website.

Pair them with free educational content like a white paper, eBook, video, email newsletter, or webinar in exchange for a visitor’s contact information. That free content and the resulting contact information are the initial steps to developing a trusting business relationship.

Email Marketing: I know that for many of you this conjures up the idea of unwanted “spam” in your inbox, but it can still be a very effective tool. Once you have a lead and the beginnings of a relationship, you need to continue to build that trust through more “touches” or “contacts” with that person. Email is a great tool for this. Whether you set up an automated “drip” marketing campaign, or a monthly newsletter, use your email to continue to offer educational materials and opportunities for increased levels of engagement.

There you have it. Incorporate these 6 steps into your online marketing efforts and you should see significant increases in online traffic, leads, and sales. Don't forget to write your goals & plan down : )

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Thanks for reading our blog. As always, comments and questions are welcomed and appreciated. Best of luck to all of you in 2012