Launching a New Website: Strategies for Success

This guide was created for small business owners, entrepreneurs, bloggers, authors, or anyone seeking an improved lifestyle through Internet marketing. It outlines the essentials to online marketing success and a plan to help strategize growth for new websites and concepts.

Firstly, most people have the impression that Internet marketing will bring overnight success. Some common misconceptions include: "If you put up a website, you'll get business." - "If you set up a Facebook business page, you'll get more sales." - and many others. It is valid to say that these marketing channels can work, but these are general statements that mislead businesses and individuals into believing they will be an instant success by basically doing nothing other than being present online.

The truth of the matter is that any business requires a consistent, long-term marketing strategy that encompasses multiple marketing channels in order to reach the largest number of potential customers.

Another requirement is a budget. Online marketing isn't free any more than traditional marketing is. Marketing a new business or concept should have a minimum 12-month launch plan, so don't expect immediate conversions after one month of marketing. If you get some sales in the first month of launch, great! But it's uncommon.

Internet marketing is, however, more affordable and can achieve greater returns than traditional marketing methods. More importantly, the success of online marketing is measurable, whereas, you may not know how many customers you received from the billboard on the highway, but you will know where your customers are coming from online by using the various tracking tools available to Internet marketers.

Steps to Developing Your Online Marketing Strategy

#1: Know The Facts

The first thing you must do is research. There are billions of web pages vying for important keywords, they've been there longer than yours, they've been marketing for longer than you - how will you consistently build your presence to optimize your search engine rankings and for what keywords will you seek to gain rankings among your competitors on the first page of Google?

Always do the research and set up the plan prior to launching any concept and prior to contacting an SEO firm or consultant. The more you know, the more helpful your providers will be.

Learning how competitive that keyword is and who is ranking 1st page is crucial to understanding what you need to do to achieve your goals - which is to become visible to users on the web in your target demographic.

You will need to research competitors and take a close look at their marketing advantages and variables that help bring their website success.

Typically, you will need an SEO company or consultant with the proper software technologies to fully analyze this for you. Otherwise, you will need to purchase the software on your own. I recommend RavenTools or SheerSEO, which are online services to help you with your research and ongoing reporting metrics and strategies.

Here are some things you will need to know about your competitors:

1. How many back links do they have?
2. What is their site authority (Moz/MajesticSEO)?
3. What is their Google page rank?
4. Where are their links coming from?

There are many other variables you can look at before devising your strategy, but the above are critical to determining where you need to be to compete and how long it may take.

#2: Discover Where Your Customers Are and the Best Way to Reach Them

Knowing where your customers are is essential to becoming visible to them. Marketing online has an advantage in that you can actually look at what people are talking about on networks and websites and discover where your potential customers will be.

For instance, if you are selling software tools for developers, it really will not benefit you to be published on a shopping website. You may need to seek out developer networks or industry online magazines for publishing ads, press releases, or links to your website. If you are a local bread merchant in San Francisco, it would be beneficial for you to rank high in search engines for 'bread bakery San Francisco' or 'bakeries San Francisco' so customers will find you and visit your bakery and ensure you are listing in all local online directories.

So now you have the first two steps knocked out, it's time to move on to the hard stuff.

#3: Website Optimization

Although this is number three on my list, this is actually the first step to online marketing success. All too often, business owners hire a web designer and complete the website before hiring an optimization specialist or an SEO who is familiar with website optimization, then more time and money is spent creating a website that is search engine friendly, and in some cases the website has to be completely redesigned.

If you have not already built your website, don't do it until you are familiar with the technical optimization that needs to go into it. If you have a website and it is not built with the principles of Google Quality Guidelines, you'll need to hire a team to do it for you. Taking this on yourself is fine if you know what you are doing. If not, it is critical you hire someone who does.

#4: Channel Marketing & Content Strategies

Depending on where your business is at in terms of revenue, you'll need to decide what marketing channels will benefit your business and what you can afford. This could include AdWords Campaigns, Facebook Ads, and organic SEO and social media marketing.

It makes sense to dedicate at least 30 hours per week to online marketing for any new business or new website. The best way to go about determining what your budget will be is to first contact an online marketing specialist, a reputable one, and get details about what the programs will cost and average times to meet certain milestones. This is worth every penny because if you begin an online marketing program, you need to know how much it is going to cost over the long term and who the best providers are to bring you success, so you get your return on investment.

Next, you'll need to develop a solid, consistent content strategy. Content is one of the most important, if not THE most important, aspect of online marketing success. Develop a content schedule and make sure you can deliver it. Your SEO or marketing team will need this content to promote online to entice natural links to your website.

If you don't have time to create videos, blogs, info graphics, etc. it's important to outsource this so it does get done frequently. Establishing your brand, reputation, and authority in the industry is where content marketing comes in and it reaps many benefits that are unmatched in online marketing, including higher rankings in search engines.

#5: Set Your Budget and Commit

Once you have determined what you can do from the aforementioned steps, you should have a good list of marketing channels, keywords, and content strategies that need to culminate into an actionable plan. Ask your self a few questions:

1. What can I contribute to my online marketing budget each month?
2. What can be included from the above channels in this budget?
3. What are the milestones I would like to achieve each month, 3 months, 6 months, etc.?

Next, contact any providers you many need to outsource to and start getting quotes on each item. Some companies do everything in online marketing, others specialize in certain areas. You may be able to hire an SEO company to focus on link building or local directory listings and social media marketing. You may need to hire a separate provider to produce videos and content. Gather all the offerings with prices and go from there.

When you decide what your budget is and what it will include, set that into motion with a 12-month plan that is consistently building your business online. Make sure you only hire providers who can deliver detailed reports and have a reputation for quality work and results.

You'll need to commit to a long term budget and plan in order to achieve success. Otherwise, you may need to seek out financing or try to do some of the work on your own to reduce the marketing costs.

Finally, enjoy your online marketing venture. If done right, you'll be amazed at the results and you may even become one of the notable successes frequently seen in this space.