I’ve been asked by several clients recently to help develop a web marketing strategy. I thought that the following information might be useful in beginning to figure out how to advertise/promote online. Keep in mind that these are simply some basic tactics that you should take a look at, there are many strategy guides out there, and each individual project does require it’s own strategy, but this would be a pretty good start if you don’t know where to start.
Some things that you will want to include in marketing strategy for your web app include:
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Bing
- Industry Specific Search Engines
Web Advertising
There are a host of different websites that you can advertise with. You can either contact each site individually or work with a company to help set-up a network of sites which you can advertise with. I would suggest this approach as it is easier to do and you can reach a larger audience quicker. One such company would be Advertising.com, however there are other companies and ad networks out there, so do some research to find the one that works best for you.
Social Media Integration
Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, and other social media outlets are a great way to not only share your story but listen to your customers as well. This does take some getting used to and requires some due diligence trolling through the social media sites to get started. However it is a great way to target your audience and engage in two-way conversation, not one-way marketing.
Blogging
Not only having a blog on your site, but reaching out to bloggers to write about your application, website, service, or product. This is almost like PR for the 21st century, you’ll need to find a list of blogs/sites where your readers/potential clients would be, and then target individual bloggers pitching them not only about your product, but why they should write about it; what makes it newsworthy?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Sorry this is so far down on the list, but this is obviously, not one thing to overlook. In the design of your site, this should be taken in to account, however it is something that will need to be monitored. By obtaining backlinks to your site through blogging and social media, this will help your ranking in search engines. SEO is a topic all unto itself, writing much here would not do it justice.
PR
A part of SEO, and promoting your site, you’ll want to look at ways to send out press releases online. These typically have more of an impact in creating backlinks to your site than they do in obtaining media coverage. But you’ll want to look at some options (PRWeb.com, PRLog.com, BusinessWire.com) are several options. PRLog.com is a free option, though the others all have major advantages in reaching target websites, but they do cost money to launch each release.
Analytics & Analyzing Data
This is huge in seeing what is working, where your traffic is coming from, and why they are/are not converting. Google Analytics is a free package that you should absolutely be using, however there are also other options out there that you may want to look at for monitoring traffic which offer other benefits/advantages above and beyond what Google Analytics can provide.
In addition, this is pretty decent guide for setting a marketing strategy, whether for online or “traditional” advertising – Web Marketing Strategy
Again, this isn’t meant to be an end-all be-all for web marketing, it is simply a guide to help you get started with online marketing
