Business.com
2015 is here, and you know what that means – New Year’s resolutions! But, let’s resolve to do more than just lose our guts, get back into the gym, and avoid the candy aisle. Let’s make some resolutions and commitments for our business’ marketing initiatives as well.
After all, we all know that we need to set serious goals for more than just our bodies. We need them for business and online marketing efforts too. Because without them, you and I both know that nothing will get done.
And what’s on the line? A lot.
How well you market your business online could literally change the course of your company’s destiny. Instead of struggling for new business and leads, if you do your online marketing correctly, you could be basking in all the leads your business needs to thrive.
So let’s do this! More traffic, more leads, more sales. In other words: business growth as a direct result of your online marketing efforts. That’s what this all is.
The following are the most important online marketing new years resolutions your business needs to make happen in 2015:
Resolution #1: Commit To Content
A very wealthy man once declared:
“Content is king.”
You couldn’t be more right, Bill Gates.
When it comes to marketing your business online, content is king. After all, it’s content that people notice and share. It’s content that search engines discover and rank. It’s content that is what you share with your social followers. It’s content that you use to email your prospect lists. And these days, it’s content that develops your brand and ultimately builds your business.
It’s time to commit to creating killer content in 2015. It really is the most important thing you can do for you online marketing efforts.
Resolution #2: Get Serious About SEO
SEO is a big deal.
Imagine if your company website was showing up in front of the hundreds, thousands and even millions of potential prospects searching directly for what you offer?
Would this be valuable to your business? Of course it would! It could literally change the course of your business’ destiny.
In 2015 it’s time to get serious about SEO and making things happen. No, this doesn’t mean you go out and hire the first SEO agency you talk to that says the right things. It means you get serious about educating yourself on SEO and what it takes to gain the favor of Google, and then take action. For your business this could mean that you do SEO yourself, you hire someone, or you outsource your efforts to a reputable and trustworthy agency.
SEO needs to be taken seriously if you are to ever get real results. The time is now!
Resolution #3: Build A Better Website
If your company’s website sucks, your 2015 online marketing efforts will fall flat on their face; your website is the foundation and center piece to all of your efforts.
So how do you know if you need to build a better website? Here’s a list of questions that will help you start to objectively evaluate whether it’s time for a face life, or complete overhaul:
- Is your site conversion focused? Are visitors inspired to take action? (Be honest!)
- Does your site articulate your company’s story?
- Has your website been coded for search engines?
- Is your website mobile responsive? Does it resize for mobile visitors?
- Does your website have clear messaging that influences prospects? (Again, be honest!)
- Is your website built for blogging? Is your blog seamlessly integrated?
- Does your site use the latest in coding technology? (CSS3, HTML5, JavaScript components)
If you answered ‘no’ to any of these questions, it’s probably time to build a better website.
Resolution #4: Automate Your Marketing
Marketing automation is the newest trend in online marketing, and for good reason. Marketing automation has been around for along time in a more primitive state, but it’s gotten much more sophisticated in recent years.
Companies like Hubspot, Infusionsoft, and Marketo have developed quite amazing tools that make it easy. With lead scoring, automating emails and work flow, if set up correctly it can transform a business’ ability to capture and convert leads.
The idea is simple: you need to get in front of prospects a number of times before they are ready or willing to buy your product/service. With the right marketing automation software, you’ll be able to pull this off completely hands off.
Resolution #5: Demand Better Data
If you want to win in 2015 you need the best and most accurate data you can get. I know what you’re thinking “but we already have Google analytics installed.” That’s just the surface of what I’m talking about here.
Yes you need analytics, and you need to be able to interpret your analytics into actionable insights. But even more importantly, you need to get serious about data on your competitors.
Take a break from obsessing over your business and obsess over your competitors. Doing so will often answer hard questions and provide answers to questions that you are not asking in the first place, but should be.
In 2015 make it a goal to use a type of competitive analysis tool set or platform. Some notable options are:
• Bright Edge – Bright Edge has the most comprehensive web-based tools on the market. It’s a full fledged enterprise SEO marketing platform every business could use.
• Moz – Moz is an industry favorite and will allow you to analyze exactly what your competition is doing, why they’re beating you and what you need to do to close the gap.
• Little Bird – this social tool will allow you to track what your competitors are doing social media wise and see what content is the most successful for them. Valuable information!
• SEM Rush – To put it plainly, you can track everything your competitors are doing in paid search and get very accurate insights into their successes in organic search too.
Resolution #6: Commit To Constant And Never-Ending Improvement
Finally, this may be the most important resolution of them all: when it comes to your online marketing efforts you must commit to constant and never-ending improvement.
Nothing is going to get fixed over night. And in 6 months the internet might be forever changed in some way that no one ever foresaw. However, if you adopt this attitude and way of being into your business, you’ll be fine.
Everyday ask yourself “What needs to be done? What can we improve upon? What are our competitors doing better than we are? What can I do right now to make our efforts more effective?”
These are the types of questions that will lead you toward constant and never ending improvement.
In Conclusion
2015 is about to happen and it’s time to make all your wildest online marketing dreams come true. Let’s get serious about these 6 resolutions: commit to content, get serious about SEO, build a better website, automate your marketing, demand better data, and commit to constant and never ending improvement.
Do these things and win in 2015.
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