Online Marketing Basics: A Beginner's Guide

Need to learn more about online marketing basics? Here’s a good start

If you’ve starting a business and have done any research at all, you already know that that online marketing is essential for any business looking to grow its customer base and increase revenue.

In this beginner’s guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know to get started with online marketing.

Why Online Marketing is Necessary

Let’s state the obvious: You’re gonna need to drive traffic to your site to sell things. Online marketing is how you drive traffic and people, to your website.

The world has gone digital, and so have consumers. Nowadays, people spend more time online than ever before, making it the perfect place for businesses to market their products and services. With online marketing, you can reach a larger audience and target specific demographics with precision.

_{Photo by Justin Morgan on Unsplash}

Paid vs. Organic Marketing Efforts

Everyone knows that there are two huge segments of online marketing: Paid and Organic.

Paid Marketing means you’re buying ads or paying for placement in search results etc. Organic Marketing is marketing that you don’t pay for the placement or traffic – it’s simply visibility like your social media accounts or blog posts that you’ve managed to get published on other sites, or your own website. Those are all free types of organic marketing.

Needless to say you want to focus on the organic marketing, since relying solely on paid marketing will break your bank before long.

What Skills You Need for Online Marketing

To be successful in online marketing, you’ll need a few key skills, including:

Understanding of the basics of marketing
Familiarity with different online marketing channels
Ability to analyze data and metrics
Creative and analytical thinking

The Importance of Social Media Marketing

Social media (Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, TikTok, Twitter, etc) has become a vital part of online marketing. With billions of people using social media platforms, it’s an excellent opportunity to reach your target audience.

If you’re not sure what all that means, look up “how to build an audience on social media“.

Right now, virtually all social media accounts are free. But that is beginning to change. It’s possible that they could cost you something in the future, so you should probably take advantage while they are mostly free.

Here are some advantages of social media marketing:

Low cost compared to other forms of advertising
Ability to engage directly with customers
Can help increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your website

To create effective social media campaigns, you’ll need to:

Choose the right platform for your business
Understand your target audience
Create engaging content that resonates with your audience
Use hashtags and other social media features to increase visibility

The Role of Paid Ads

While social media marketing can be low cost, it’s important to note that it can take time to see results. That’s where paid advertising comes in. Paid advertising can help you reach your target audience quickly and drive traffic to your website. However, it’s important to note that paid advertising can be expensive and may not always lead to profitable results.

Here are some tips for creating effective paid ad campaigns:

Define your target audience and choose the right platform
Create engaging ad content that stands out
Set a budget and bid strategically to get the best results
Remember, paid advertising should not be your default plan. Instead, it should be used strategically to complement your other marketing efforts.

Six Best Resources for Learning Online Marketing

There are many great resources available to help you learn more about online marketing. Here are six of the best:

HubSpot Academy
https://academy.hubspot.com/

Google Digital Garage https://learndigital.withgoogle.com/digitalgarage

Moz Academy https://academy.moz.com/

Hootsuite Academy https://education.hootsuite.com/

Neil Patel’s Blog https://neilpatel.com/blog/

Social Media Examiner https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/

Conclusion: You’ll Need To Learn Marketing My Friends

Online marketing is an essential part of any business looking to grow its customer base and increase revenue. By understanding the basics of online marketing and using social media and paid advertising strategically, you can reach your target audience and drive traffic to your website. Remember, learning is a continuous process, so keep experimenting and trying new strategies to find what works best for your business.