Online startups flood onto the Internet daily. In order to succeed in this fiercely competitive environment, it’s necessary to do something that stands out from the crowd. You can’t just launch a great product. There are plenty of great products out there that appear and evaporate where they started because of poor marketing and wasted dollars. Unlike years ago in the past, a great product is only the beginning of everything. Much of the Internet environment has spiraled into a fight for attention. To last online, you have to have a lot to say and you have to say it frequently. Here are 7 digital marketing tips that can land you a victory.
Post Content Diligently
Most online startups have a very low marketing budgeting. When it comes to content, you don’t need a lot of budget to make an impact. According to Mikael Belicove at Entrepreneur, a single well-written piece and bring in thousands of visitors to your content, giving you instant attention for your efforts. No matter what kind of product you’re selling, whether it’s digital content or collectibles, content is still king.
Operating a blog isn’t an expensive venture in the beginning. The cheapest and most effective marketing tactic you will always have to get attention for your product is a great blog post. Post as often as you can in the beginning.
Partner With Similar Sites
Get to know your friendly competition. If you’re a content marketer, one of the best ways to grab some extra visitors is to partner with sites in your genre. If you sell collectibles, look for collectible blogs that are already established. Find a brand you can believe in and approach them about a partnership. In some cases, it will mean a simple link from your site to theirs and theirs to yours. In other cases, you’ll be able to form a more solid partnership. They might post your products or you might post theirs. It works out well for both parties.
Remember Internet etiquette. If you’ve got a product you believe in, pitch it to an established brand. But respect their answer. If it’s no, find a more willing partner.
Encourage People to Share
Social media is God these days. It’s a second-by-second flood of content. It’s so rampant that few people don’t check social media sites at least a few times a day. There’s always someone there who would be interested in your content or product. Make sure you encourage your visitors to share your content. Keep share links for your visitors so that they can quickly and easily share to all of the big name social media sites. This is absolutely free advertising. Just look for the embed codes to put share links on your site and soon your visitors will be advertising for you.
Leverage Social Media
This is one of the biggest tips you need to take to heart. If you don’t have a strong social media presence, chances are you’re not going to thrive online. There are billions of social media users on a daily basis and if you leave them alone, you’re not going to go far. Make sure that you are signed up for all major social media websites (at least, all of the sites that your target market is using). Post to them daily in the beginning. Posting more than once is good too. The more you reach out to those folks who form your first base, the farther you’re going to go online.
Develop Writing Skills Through Blogging
Your blog is your own social media corner of the Internet. If you’re a startup, it’s especially important to contribute your expertise and knowledge in the area you have a website about. Make it as personal or professional as you want, but make sure you have a blog that lets your visitors leave feedback. The more interactive the blog is, the better. Users can engage you whenever they want to and you can be a voice for them, handing out helpful information.
There’s always room to learn more about subject matter. If you’re selling collectibles, for example, you can always learn more about that and write about it. Writing is such a wonderful tool and your best way to form a bond with your new users.
Research Popular Modern Trends
Look around the Internet. Find sites with similar content. Determine what it is that makes those sites so valuable to their users. What is it? Take the popular trends out there today and make them your own. Not everything will be a good fit for your site but there’s a lot of popular content out there that will fit in well with what your vision for your own site is.
This goes for design as well. Find the modern designs, the things that truly catch modern user attention, and then make them your own. Nothing looks quite as unsightly as a startup that looks like it was born in the Tripod era.
Become a Guest Poster On Other Sites
This goes along with the partnership idea, but you don’t have to partner with a website to become a guest poster. Many popular sites invite guest posts from users with the incentive that at the end of your post, you’ll be able to link back to your own startup. Find websites that are similar to your content and make guest posts on them if you’re invited. This is part of SEO as well. According to Chris Walker, search engines pay close attention to how popular your website is around the Internet. The more your site’s URL appears, the more search engines index you as an authority on certain topics.
For example, if you have a website that sells collectibles or that shares content about collectibles, writing anything in this subject area is going to be a great idea for a guest post. You’re going to become associated with this keyword whenever your site’s address appears across the net.
Get out there and promote your startup
These 7 tips won’t propel you to instant success online. It can take months or years of consistent posting to really become a major force in any one field online. If you’re dedicated to your subject matter, though, you’re going to find yourself in the middle of success at some point. You just have to pay close attention to the response of your audience. If someone complains about something on your site, listen to them. They’re trying to be helpful. They’re telling you what they would prefer. You don’t have to act on every impulsive post, but if you pay close attention to reader feedback, you’ll know how to make fast adjustments and continue growing at a steady pace.
Startups frequently hit bumps in the road, decline before they rise, so don’t throw in the towel until you’ve tried all of these tips and plenty more. As you start bringing in sales or ad revenue from content, you’ll quickly find that you can expand your business and add even more to it. It all begins with consistency. Post, stay active on social media, partner with similar sites, believe in what you’re sharing with the world, and watch your startup grow over the years, and with growth comes revenue and the knowledge that you’ve contributed to the great big world wide web.
