The hardest step in an online business is promoting the products or services, but most importantly, the challenge is to make more sales. Today, I’ll tell you the best ways to promote a product online and take your business to the next level with tested methods and websites.
But, remember that every business needs a great and clear plan to achieve its goals and to avoid common mistakes. The business plan itself is not a goal, but a way to understand things and put the project in the right way. So, make sure to understand your needs and goals, first, and start promoting your business online.
Nowadays, there is no business without content. In the last post, we talked about how to avoid common mistakes when building an online store and how to succeed. So, you can learn more with detailed information, but the main idea is that the online business needs content to be able to tell search engines about your products. No one can visit your website with products only, people want to know your business through helpful information.
Create good content that interests people, and make sure that your content is something that people search for on Google. This way, you will rank your business in search engines, and this is the first step to building a business online. The classic marketing ways will never bring you good results simply because things change every day, and you should understand your environment and how the web is changing.
When you have your own products or services, you can start promoting them using effective ways that big marketers are using nowadays. At the same time, there are many ways to succeed, even without a website.
Top places to promote your products online
1. Yahoo Gemini
Yahoo Gemini is a trusted platform to promote your products with PPC campaigns. You just need to sign up and start creating your first ad. You can customize everything and optimize your ads for better conversions. The good news is that Yahoo itself will make your ad look better, and that’s for a low cost, compared to Google.
2. Google Places for Business
I started with Google Palaces for the fast result and the easy setup. All you have to do is a Google account, then, create a free Google Business account, and your site will appear in searches. Google’s statistics show that 97% of customers search for local businesses. There are not a few people but millions around the world.
You need to list your business and let people find you when they need you. Google Maps and the search will bring you good traffic and sales just for listing your business. Some basic information, an address, the business type, and it’s done.
Google Business lets your customers add reviews and tell others about your products. You can connect with them and reply to their reviews to understand what you should improve to make your products even better. You can also use Google offers to list your product in the location, and interests that you want.
3. Create ads with Google
As I said earlier, the best way to promote a product is through Google organic search. It needs more work and content, but it will bring long-term results. The Google AdWords program is the fastest way to promote your business. Your business will appear next to search results and the network.
That needs resources to keep running an advertisement, but make sure to make a balance between your investment, and your profit. Google ads bring real people, and you can set the keywords to appear in your business.
Creating an AdWords account will take a few minutes, then add your product and submit it for review. The biggest companies in the world have built their business based on Google ads, it’s not a regular advertising platform, but the best one.
4. List your deals on Coupon sites
This method works well for all types of products, from real to digital items. You can make more sales and attract new customers through coupon sites. If you search Google, you will find many of these sites, create accounts with them, add your deals, and you will get traffic as soon as your product is approved.
The only advice here is to make sure to use high-traffic sites only, you can install the Alexa toolbar in your browser, and the traffic statistics will appear for each site.
5. List your site on review sites
Review sites receive millions of visitors every day, they are all looking for reviews and scam declarations. So, you should add your product there and let people add reviews and discuss your business. The best part with review sites is the trust, if the website is really good, then, customers will close their eyes after a positive impression. They will come to your website and make purchases.
Remember to ask happy customers for reviews, they will help you much better and faster than waiting for them to review your products. You don’t have any idea about the time needed to see your business there. So, take the first step and ask them for reviews.
There are many ways to encourage customers to add reviews, and the best of them is by giving special offers, including discounts and others. But, please be honest with yourself and never give them ready reviews. Just make things natural, select happy customers, and let them do the next. If you need some of the best review sites, I suggest toptenreviews.com and reviews.cnet.com.
6. Create social network profiles for your business
No one can ignore the role of social media today, social networks become a great place to promote businesses. However, The biggest mistake that people still make is to use their social accounts to get new customers. The best results come with your existing customers. Make them engaged, and send them updates from time to time.
People visit their best social networks to make connections and be social. After all, they will never listen to you when your only goal is selling them your products. Send special offers and discounts to your followers and let them return to your website again.
The smartest online marketing method starts with your actual happy customers. They will recommend your page to their friends and give you better results than advertising ways. Look at your followers’ comments and select people with a high number of friends or followers, then ask them to share your page and recommend it to their friends.
As in the review site’s case, you can reward people who recommend and share your products with friends, the reward can be a discount, a free product, such as an eBook, or whatever you want. Just give something with value, and you will never lose.
When we talk about social networks, we never limit them to Facebook and Twitter.
To succeed with your business social network profiles, you should keep them active, with high-quality content. If you don’t have the time to manage all that, hire someone else who can. Remember, you need the most popular social network sites and not all of them, or, you will be lost between thousands of websites.
Social network sites can also bring you good results with their advertising programs; Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest work well, and you should try their services if you have the resources to invest.
7. Advertise your product on relevant blogs
Blogs attract more visitors from search engines for the fresh and good content they offer. You can make more sales and sign-ups if you advertise with the right blogs. They should be directly relevant to your product to receive only targeted visitors, and people who are interested in your business, and not just surfers who reduce your hosting bandwidth.
There are good advertising networks with lots of blogs. Just browse them by categories. Do a simple traffic investigation to avoid scammers, and you will find your goal. If you can find your category with them, do a Google search, and thousands of good blogs will be there. Contact the blog owners and ask for a partnership or advertising, and the majority of them will accept if the product is related and something with good value.
If you don’t have the resources to advertise with websites, give them a percentage for every sale or sign-up, for example. Thus, you stay advertised, even, without money, but with product sales.
Up to you
These are the best ways to promote any product online. Even a new product will succeed. Just understand your business needs, and find the right customers, be specific about where you want to promote your business with the right place and the necessary resources.
