By Brandon Rhodes

As more and more of the population begins to move online, harnessing traffic over the internet has become an essential component of a successful business model. Many large companies are now seeking out the services of digital marketing agencies, but the technical and financial barriers-to-entry are still too steep for many smaller businesses, who are already devoting a great deal of their time and energy maintaining their website. So, what should a small business owner, or any other do-it-yourself internet marketeer do? Read on to discover the steps you should take, and the mindset you should have to enter into the self-serve online marketing game.

With the number of webpages reaching into the trillions and beyond, it is hard to make your website and internet marketing strategy stand out from the rest. Here is a list of guidelines to follow to ensure that your business gets more attention online.

• Solid design across the board. Pay money for a great website layout. It’s worth it and will pay you back ten-fold. If the e-commerce side of a website is hard to use, then users simply aren’t going to use it, especially because there are 1,000s of websites out there that are better than you. Same goes for company sites that aren’t e-commerce. Have a clear, easy-to-navigate layout.
• Easily Recognizable Logo. Again, this is something worth paying money for. This logo can also be used on your offline campaigns, such as promotional material, correspondence headers, and business cards. Logos that stand out make people remember who you are.
• A Flowing Social Media Campaign. If you are willing to shell out the money and time for a great website and logo, then your efforts in social media should be the same. Users don’t want to go visit a great website, click to go to that company’s twitter profile, and be faced with a stale twitter feed with a boring background. Stay consistent and use the same branding and color schemes that are on your website.
• Make your company interesting through marketing. It doesn’t matter if you sell nails or anything else that seems to be the most boring topic on earth. Create an engaging and unique campaign about an animated nail that is looking for its perfect hammer. Don’t be afraid to be silly and make it fun. That is what gets people’s attention.
• Make your online content breathe. It’s not enough to have a well-designed website. It has to be alive. This is done by regular blog posts;  recent site/company updates on the main page, blog, and social media profiles; and regular customer interaction. Respond to customer correspondence quickly. Answer people reaching out to you on Facebook and Twitter that same day. Comment on a photo one of your Facebook users posted. The key here is to keep reminding your current and potential clients that you are there, plugged in, and read to fill their needs.
• Think outside the box. Sure, a great website, blog, and Twitter profile are great, but what you do with is what counts. Draw customers in with Twitter coupons that customers will only see if they are following you. Donate a portion of your profits from every sale generated on your e-commerce site to charity. You can even offer Free Shipping to customers that answer a riddle or trivia question about your company.

These are the types of enthralling marketing techniques that will increase company visibility online. To stand out from the crowd, do what everyone else isn’t doing or do what they are afraid to do.

And most of all, don’t be afraid of failing– that is usually how the best marketing campaigns are born.

Sigh. According to Gigaom, MySpace has introduced an e-mail feature to their users, who will receive an “@myspace.com” email address. While I applaud MySpace for attempting to introduce new features for their users, I highly doubt that this will make an impact on the level of catching up they have to do in order to even begin competing again against Twitter and Facebook (and even LinkedIn) in terms of members.

When Facebook was introduced, it became painfully clear that it was going to be a tall competitor against MySpace. While MySpace allows users to customize their layout and background, it is the monotony of this that draws people to Facebook. Most students and adults are not attracted to animated, sparkling .gifs and offensive backgrounds all over their screen. To put it bluntly, Facebook is popular because it is simple. It does not try to offer everything to everyone all at once. It knows its niche and has stayed there.

As Facebook grew in popularity amongst college students (and eventually high schoolers), MySpace became desperate. They began to market themselves as a music site and even created their very own record label. While this may be a good strategy for someone who wants to change their demographic, MySpace was simply marketing to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, this turned off the general public, who realized that the predetermined fields and networks that comprised Facebook were just what they were looking for.

Instead of re-centering their marketing strategy in the first place, MySpace has now become an afterthought for most of the general public (especially since Facebook is now open to anyone 13 and up who has an e-mail address).

And this is why MySpace (and MySpace email) also needs to become an afterthought for you and your company’s internet marketing strategy. In order for your business to become successful, you need to concentrate on what your target market is concentrating on.

However, it’s important to remember that simply targeting a communication medium, such as social media, isn’t going to make you successful. It is the integration of social media into everything else that you do. For example, have noticeable icons on your organization’s homepage that offer a direct link to your Facebook and Twitter profiles. Use Twitter and Facebook to promote sales, offer coupons and giveaways, and receive feedback from your customer base. Make the experience that users have by friending or following you be a fun one.

In order to stay ahead of social media trends, it’s important to understand what your target market is and what they are doing online before simply trying to catch up before it is too late (*cough* MySpace *cough*).

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Kelsey Childress is a Search Marketing Specialist and owns her own freelance business, Awen Creative. She is the creator of The Social Robot.

Image Courtesy of MySpace Tour Site