You want to market yourself online without dripping of cringe-inducing used-car-salesman sleaze. You’re not alone. Unfortunately, learning how to market yourself online is not a skill many people bother to master and alas, the web is awash with downright icky marketing pitches.
But not you.
You’re reading this article, and in that, you’re taking the first and most important step to learning how to market yourself online with panache, potency and power. Keep reading.
How to Market Yourself Online: 10 Amazing Strategies
- Make a Website
This is marketing 101, but a process many people forgo for far too long. Don’t put it off! If you want to market yourself online, you have to have a website. Social media platforms are important, but they cannot stand in for a proper website.
So, get started. Purchase a domain and your web hosting. Get a content management system like Drupal or WordPress. Start creating search engine optimized content and share that content on your social pages to entice visitors.
- Create Outreach Blog Posts
Set yourself up as a leader in your industry by creating exceptional blog posts relevant to your market. Simply search Google like this: “Industry + Guest Posts” and then voila — you’ll have a list of sites that welcome guest posts. Read and follow submission guidelines, write the blog and submit. This will help you not only in gaining recognition, but it will build links, which is immensely valuable from the perspective of search engine optimization (SEO).
- Do Interviews
Instead of exhausting yourself with guest blogs, consider making yourself open to interviews. This will create new business relationships and solidify established ones, help you gain traction as an authority in your industry and promote awareness of who you are and what you do.
- Flesh Out Your Bio
Whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or any other social media platform, it’s imperative that you take the time to fill in your bio. You don’t have to write a professional life story, but you do have to create and share the relevant and interesting things about your personals or your business that will captivate clients. Be sure to use keywords, buzzwords and a solid CTA. Also, include all relevant contact methods.
- Go Pro for Pictures
You may love that picture of you feeding a parrot while sipping beer in Brazil, but it’s likely not your most professional picture. Have a professional photo shoot and use that series for your pictures across all marketing channels. You can still have fun and let your personality shine through, but overall, your image needs to showcase your most competent and professional self.
- Solicit Customer Content
Your clients should be your biggest fans, so get them to do the talking for you! Solicit reviews, reviews, case studies and stories from your most valuable followers that you can share across social platforms, email and on your website. When people see other people like them benefiting from your brand, it will drive them to action.
- Embrace SEO
If you want to compete in today’s saturated market, you need a solid SEO strategy. This isn’t optional. If you don’t have a thorough knowledge of SEO yourself, it’s time to outsource. Hire professionals to optimize your website and social platforms, and to give you a powerful strategy you can use for content development and links. For most small businesses, there’s no need to have an in-house SEO expert, but you will need to bring a professional on board on a contract basis to keep you on the top of your game.
- Entice Sign Ups
Pepper your website and social content with strong CTAs to sign up for an email list. Email is still one of the most powerful marketing tools and one that yields an incredible return on investment for very little cost. 90% of people want to receive an email from companies they frequently shop, so don’t be worried that your emails will be seen as SPAM: the people who are receiving your emails have asked to get them! Just make sure you are offering valuable information to your clients as well as promotions. Not many people appreciate being bludgeoned with sale offer after sale offer.
- Answer Questions!
Q & A sites like Yahoo! Answers, Quora and Stack Overflow are highly underutilized sites from a marketing perspective. Use them to build an indomitable presence, marketing yourself as an authoritative and responsible brand by simply answering questions using your expertise.
- Use an Email Signature
Your final lesson in how to market yourself online is simple: use an email signature. Any email can be made into a powerful marketing tool with the use of this simple feature. An email signature will appear at the end of your email and include your name, position, and a short, catchy pitch and CTA that encourages them to take a specific action, like learning more about your business.
Now you know how to market yourself online, so start putting all this valuable intel to good use. Build yourself an impeccable presence, one strategy at a time!
