The Entrepreneur’s Guide to the Search Engine Marketing Plan

by Kristin Marquet

Who wants to double or triple their website traffic almost immediately?

Are you getting the most out of your online marketing?

So many people pose to be marketing experts, when in fact, some may actually be, but in my experience, I’ve come to find that most are full of hot air. They claim you will get thousands of visitors and increase your conversion rates by 100% if you purchase their program and follow their directions. Nevertheless, the problem is many small businesses, both startups and established lack the funds to spend on marketing and they don’t know whom to trust.

To make your marketing road a little easier, here is a blueprint for you to follow. Here are the elements you need to include in your marketing plan.

Please sure to include the following list in your marketing plan:

Analytics - use analytics programs such as Google Analytics for tracking. You should know the exact amount of visitors that come, where they come from, and how long they stay on your website. Many programs also tell you where visitors click off.

Blogging – Blogs are often used in conjunction with or as substitutes for company websites because they are more user-friendly, cost-efficient, and personal than traditional websites. In fact, most blogs are free, while customized websites can cost thousands of dollars

Building a Brand – Microblogging and social media are two of the greatest ways to build online brands. Mircoblogging, using an application such as Twitter, helps position you as an expert in your field (additionally, there are a few ways to monetize the Twitter application). Moreover, using social media applications such as Facebook and Squidoo enable you to interact with prospective as well as existing customers.

Keywords – Keywords are used when people are searching for certain product, service, or information on search engines. Using the right keywords/keyword phrases for your site and integrating them into the title, tags, and headlines improve search engine rankings and your search engine positioning

Link Building – Link building is a great way to get better search engine rankings. Search engines use links as tools for determining how valuable and relevant the site’s content is to a search.

Online Public Relations – It doesn’t matter the size of your company, PR should always be used. If a few angry customers have tainted your online brand, it could damage your business, thus online monitoring is imperative. Nonetheless, online PR could also be very effective – distributing online press releases, doing interviews (explore blogtalkradio.com) and writing bylined articles help increase a brand’s visibility.

Pay Per Click Advertising – Pay per Click advertising is when certain keywords are purchased on major search engines such Google or Yahoo. It is paid placement, usually on the top or right side of the search engine results. Keywords are targeted toward certain markets. It could be very expensive but also very effective if planning effectively.

Contact Kristin at km@marquet-communications.com.

Kristin Marquet is a regular contributor to the Secrets of Success blog.