In today’s business world, online marketing isn’t just effective; it’s essential

At one time, business essentials were limited to business cards, yellow page ads and brochures. Newspapers, radio and television were used by cutting-edge businesses of yore and still reap huge rewards for big-businesses today. Mass media are generally just not cost-effective for most local businesses. In the 21st Century, it’s clear that the impact of these tools is diminished by the world wide web. We search for products and services online from our desktops, laptops and cell phones. Yet most local business owners don’t take advantage of the affordability and profits available through online marketing.

Like a business plan and a budget, an Internet marketing strategy is essential for modern-day small business success. While a website provides a good starting point, online marketing requires more than a couple of static web pages. Instead, a successful internet approach requires a dynamic and well-rounded web presence that builds relationships in addition to sales, fans in addition to customers.

A comprehensive Internet marketing strategy replaces newspaper ads with banner ads, yellow pages with search engines, snail mail with e-mail, town squares with social networks and sales letters with custom content. The technology is as evolutionary as it is revolutionary, and smart businesses are taking advantage of current environment to trounce their competition.

Tools and technology aside, there are dozens of reasons to engage actively and often in Internet marketing. Here are a few of the most persuasive:

1. When they need information, modern-day consumers go online; your successful internet marketing program will make sure they find you when they are shopping for your product or service.
2. Online marketing has tremendous research potential; if nothing else, companies should engage in online marketing research in order to collect data about their customers, prospects and competitors.
3. By marketing on the internet, companies can reach a highly targeted audience; what’s more, they can reach it quickly, intimately and more cost-effectively online than traditional marketing approaches.
4. Online marketing lends itself to instant conversions. Customers can quickly and easily find what they want and immediately click through to purchase it.
5. Compared with many traditional marketing vehicles, Internet marketing services are both more affordable and more effective.
6. Internet marketing provides marketing power to local business owners; by marketing online, your company can enjoy big-business marketing exposure on a local marketing budget.

Action Steps. Some contacts and resources to help you get started with your online marketing:

Search engine marketing strengthens your online marketing strategy.
Once you have a website, Internet marketing via search engines will help your customers find it. Consider search engine optimization, which will improve your search engine rankings, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which markets your company via relevant, targeted search engine queries.
ACTION: Before you build a web site, use Wordtracker’s free keyword suggestion tool to choose keywords; use those keywords in your descriptions and meta-tags, PPC advertising via Google AdWords and Yahoo! Sponsored Search in order to build search engine traffic.

Select appropriate display advertising and leverage online marketing tools
Display advertising, including banner ads, is a basic form of online marketing. Because you’ll pay for impressions – banner ads are usually priced using CPM, or cost per thousand impressions – make sure you place ads only on websites that your target markets visit.
ACTION: Yahoo! Advertising provides Internet marketing services to design, purchase and place your Internet advertisements

Public relations promotes your online marketing image
Marketing on the internet includes more than advertising; it’s also about public relations. Generate publicity online and continually monitor, build and maintain your online reputation.
ACTION: Include Google Alerts in your online marketing strategy. Use them to keep tabs on mentions of your name, your company and your products online; search Technorati for mentions in blogs and social media. And, when you write press releases, distribute them via a newswire service like PRWeb, which allows you to tag your release for exposure on social bookmarking sites like Digg and Del.iciou.us.

Engage e-mail marketing to reach your online market
Promotional e-mails, including targeted messages and periodic e-mail newsletters, are effective, opt-in tools for one-to-one marketing. Send news or send coupons, but whatever you do, don’t spam.
ACTION: VerticalResponse is a popular e-mail marketing vendor that can help you develop and execute a one-on-one marketing strategy; browse its resources page for e-mail marketing research, tips and advice.

Pursue affiliate marketing to leverage online marketing relationships
A collaborative approach to Internet marketing, affiliate marketing consists of advertisements on other people’s websites. When a customer clicks on the ads and visits your website, your affiliate gets a small commission. You can also reverse the process and get profits from promoting other vendors’ products
ACTION: LinkShare and ClickBank are examples of companies that provide affiliate-focused internet marketing services, AffiliateScout.com and AffiliatePrograms.com are directories where you can search for affiliate networks based on location, industry, etc.

Make blogging an integral piece of your internet marketing strategy
Blogs offer business owners an affordable and personable way to connect online with customers. Blogging about your business, your industry and your life positions you as an expert, an advocate and most importantly, a real person.
ACTION: For a low monthly fee, you can publish your own blog via sites like TypePad and Movable Type; Blogger and WordPress, meanwhile, are free. Don’t forget to market your blog via RSS feeds; while most blogging software will create RSS feeds for you, online marketing companies like SimpleFeed can help, too.

Get involved in social networks to broaden your online reach
Social networks are the networking component to your modern-day online marketing strategy; giving your company a presence on popular social networks especially engages younger consumers and turns them into brand evangelists.
ACTION: While MySpace, Friendster and Facebook tend to be the most attractive social networks for companies who are marketing on the Internet, other sites, such as Second Life and Twitter, are becoming major players. Still other sites, like LinkedIn, are proving themselves important stomping grounds for B2B marketers.

Photos and video provide impact to your online marketing
Use pictures of your business, staff and customers everywhere you can. Images touch us emotionally and convey messages quickly. Remember that surfers have short attention-spans.
ACTION: Start taking pictures of your business’ world right now, poast them to your website and social sites, like your Facebook page.

Release viral marketing to spread your online marketing message
Whether you send a viral e-mail, produce a viral video or build a viral website, Internet marketing of the viral variety spreads far and fast, allowing you to start small and finish big.
ACTION: Consider uploading branded media to sites like YouTube, Revver or Flickr. A video or photo that goes viral can attract heaps of new business.

Generate online word of mouth with consumer-driven Internet marketing efforts
Internet marketing is about interactivity. Give your customers a platform for expressing-and sharing-their opinions online in order to build buzz and goodwill.
ACTION: Customer reviews provide credibility for companies that give consumers the power to do their Internet marketing for them; while many shopping cart solutions, such as Zoovy, now include built-in customer review functions, companies like PowerReviews specialize in them.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Online Marketing Guide
o More than advertising for your website, Internet marketing should provide you with an entire online brand. Your Internet marketing strategy should go beyond just making sales and toward building an engaging online web presence.
o Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. When you’re marketing online, reserve a portion of your budget for offline advertising, such as direct mail, which you can use to push traffic to your website.
o Keep in mind that not all online advertising can be bought; a big part of Internet marketing is building relationships and earning reputations.
o Whether off-line or online, marketing requires a clear and comprehensive understanding of your target customers. Find out who your best customers are and where you can find them online, then go after them.
o Internet marketing is about usefulness. It’s not enough to build a pretty website; you must also build one that’s engaging and easy to use. If you focus your Internet marketing strategy on creating a positive user experience, it will eventually be profitable to you.

Congratulations on passing the state licensing exam and getting placed with an agency! Now it’s time to find your clients – and to have them find you. Some agencies will provide assistance for marketing, but they might not give you all the tips you need. Read on to learn more about tips to market yourself as a real estate agent.

Your new agency may give you some leads to get started with. But those are not going to expand your business very well. You can also start with marketing to your so-called warm market – your friends and family. It’s the least expensive type of marketing, and you know that your audience will be receptive, or at least polite and hear your message. They can also give people they know a referral to you, and that kind of marketing is both free and invaluable. Your warm market paired with your agency’s leads will be a solid place to start.

Adding on to that, there are traditional types of marketing like newspaper ads and local city magazines. But in today’s digital age, these marketing formats don’t yield very strong results. Here is where you can let your creative talents shine. Think of ways to make digital videos that not only make your clients’ home look dazzling, but get you noticed.

Viral videos can take off and get people watching them for reasons other than their original purpose. Even if 90% of people viewing your clip are doing so for reasons other than buying a home, your name is getting out in front of all of them. One clever agent in Northern California did a parody of “YMCA” and garnered so much business, he was named by the Wall Street Journal as the top real estate agent in the country.

You should also have a robust website that invites people to click and contact you. Use those clicks to collect e-mails for your newsletter that you can also use when you get a new property to sell. Having good topics like ways to get stubborn grease off of your range hood or quick fixes for a leaky toilet will keep people coming back for what you have to say and build loyalty to you.

Keep up with your Facebook and Twitter accounts, too. These are the two most popular social media sites. If you have the time, you should maintain Google+ and Instagram accounts as well to broaden your horizons.

Lastly, know your market and use that knowledge to your greatest ability. There are all kinds of things people from out of the area need to know about schools, traffic patterns, and shopping, just to name a few things. Your local market guide will be a great asset to them – and lead to you getting more business. People want an agent who knows his or her stuff about the area. Your market guide shows potential clients that you are that expert.

Remember, a comprehensive marketing plan is not inexpensive. You will have already paid for your license and your testing fees, so be sure to factor marketing into your starting budget. While your agency might give you some tools like a set of personalized postcards or business cards, you will still need to have your own personal marketing set of tools as well.

Social media marketing is considered by many as today’s most effective internet marketing tool. And its potential just continues to grow. More and more start socializing in the World Wide Web to help their business grow. New techniques and methods are being discovered each day. With the so many means available it is oftentimes difficult to ascertain whether that one you are implementing is right for your business. Measuring social media marketing is the best way to test the performance of your social marketing campaign.

Measuring social media marketing success is not that plain simple. Understanding your goals is the first step in determining the effectiveness of your endeavors. After clearly defining what you want to achieve, you can now think of ways to measure your performance.

If you find yourself having a hard time defining your objectives, then there are 8 simple questions you may want to ask yourself.

1. How can I fill my sales funnel?
2. How can I improve customer engagement?
3. How can I improve exposure and coverage?
4. How am I empowering my community to interact?
5. How do I grow sales from my community?
6. How can I build a voice and a new stage for my ideas?
7. How do I bridge my offline experiences with my online presence?
8. How am I extending to the mobile environment?

These questions might not always help you get the answers you need to be able to specify your aims for your social media marketing campaign, but they are sure to help you. They will definitely guide you to some extent in specifying goals will get you going. If you’ve already found the answers you are seeking there is really no vital need to answer all of them. There are different goals that can be targeted. Some are rooted in PR-type practice. Others are more marketing-minded. Still others are sales-focused.

Measurements

Measuring figures with a dollar sign is probably the most common means of measuring business performance. But when it comes to social media marketing, there are several ways of measurement that may even display a better view of your campaigns effectiveness. Divide your marketing campaign into different projects. We can measure effectiveness as a whole but it is always better to measure the campaigns success by part. Using different means of measure for each part is applicable if such will arrive at clearer results.

Some of the means of measuring social media marketing are as follows:
% of online conversation (versus competitor).
% of coverage improvement.
# of new subscribers/attendees/buyers via tracking links.
# of new threads, comments, conversations for engagements.
# of actions taken (for instance, on email newsletters).
increase in $ per visitor, monthly average.
# of leads
# of sales call conversions
unique visitors (all those basic web metrics)