What to Look for in an Effective Internet Marketing Program

The Internet is flooded with a sea of websites. Everyone has one these days – businesses, nonprofit organizations, and websites for specific real estate properties for sale. If you do not have a website, get one up and then return to this post for the next step. If you have a website, do you ever feel like you have a billboard in a basement? Unless you have a very loyal Web surfers, your company most likely won’t get noticed unless you implement one of these strategies:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• SMM/SMO (Social Media Marketing - Social Media Optimization)
• PPC (Pay-per-click) Advertising
• Search Engine Directories

There seems to be as many SEO, SMM and PPC specialists out there that promise you great results as fish in the ocean but they can’t all be “the best,” so here’s how to figure out which online marketing company is right for you:

 

1. Pay Per-Click (PPC) – This is a program in which you can pay to get clicks to your website. These are effective in getting you started, waiting for the major search engines to catch up. This is buying ads in Yahoo!, Google, MSN or Facebook and pay for every click that drives traffic to you website. Experts like Anthony Bajoras at Move Software can help.
2. SEO – Your website’s pages are checked by certain scientific methods for a percentage of keywords that you choose so that you get targeted by the search engines. The top goal is to get on the first page of the results list of the major search engines, like Yahoo!, Google, or MSN.
3. Search Engine Directories – This can be a costly venture, but it may be well worth the expense. Although it all depends what your budget can stand.
4. SMM/SMO (Social Media Marketing - Social Meida Optimization) - bring your content to where 75% of people are on the Internet to build trust, community and inbound traffic. Learn more on the social media marketing blog of Mint Social.

Your online marketing consultants can help you decide whether to go the organic route, social marketing route or a fee-based plan. There are some consultants that may determine that a mixture of programs is what your company needs to stand out in the crowd. Find a program that is tailored to your niche market and helps your company meet all the goals you set, not only in visitor traffic but also to your bottom line. We all know that the more people that know about your company, the better your chances are of getting them to buy your goods or services.

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