The internet is a brave new frontier for businesses. Thanks to the advent of the global web, businesses have never been able to grow at such exponential rates; unfortunately the inverse is also true as more businesses seem to cease growth and simply crumble in a matter of weeks. While the noble sentiment may be for a business owner to go down as a captain does with their ship, a much more logical step forward would be to invest in the digital infrastructure needed by today’s businesses to generate buzz, increase sales, and guarantee a future for themselves in this exciting time for businesses. Here are three steps for any business to start growing their digital real estate.
Building Your Digital Brand
A corporate website is essentially the flagship of your digital fleet — many business leaders spend countless dollars and amounts of time on their website without branching off into other corners of the net. A solid website is only part of the answer, but it is a critical element for any company searching for digital success. Since the new majority of online users are doing so from their mobile devices, websites that are not intuitive, easy to navigate, or optimized for mobile platforms may be missing out on a significant portion of the online user base. Moreover, our familiarity with the net has lead to increasing demands from customers; 75% of online consumers will completely abandon a webpage if it does not load within three seconds. Partnering with experienced graphic designers will also give business leaders some indication as to what kind of colors, shapes, and patterns online users find to be the most aesthetically pleasing; darker colors seem to win out over lighter, more vibrant colors for instance.
Connecting With Your Consumers
If building a website for your business is akin to constructing a brick and mortar store, then it makes sense to advertise and get the word out in order to generate leads. Social media gives businesses a unique opportunity to connect with consumers and business partners to help construct a digital network that will lead consumers back to your corporate website. Over half of millennials state that social networking allows them to stay up to date on brands, helps influence their spending habits, and gives them a resource to consult with when buying products online. Social media websites and blogs are estimated to reach out to eight out of every 10 internet users in the United States, composing nearly a quarter of all time spent online across the nation. Regarding social media sites and blogs, three out of every four brand marketers stated that they saw a notable increase in website traffic after investing as little as six hours per week in social media.
Marketing on the Net
Search engines are the most useful elements on the web for businesses that know how to use them. Paid ads that adorn webpages and search engines alike are sure to guarantee viewership at a significantly low marketing expense. Paid per click (PPC) advertising is one of the staples of digital marketing as marketers are essentially only paying for each time the paid ads are clicked on. Up to 46% of marketing respondents believe that an increased conversion rate was the most important objective of their paid ads while 54% argued that effective lead generation instead was the most important goal for their PPC campaign. PPC advertising is so effective that the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reports that search ads accounted for $9.1 billion (39%) of the total internet advertising revenue for the first half of 2014; including mobile search revenue into this report increases the revenue up to $11.8 billion. For those businesses looking to increase their digital influence through paid ads, consider partnering with professional PPC consultants to start building the digital empire worthy of your company.
