Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 No forward-thinking businessman believes that his company will survive this digital era without employing Internet marketing strategies to generate more leads. Nowadays, people go online not just to look for information regarding their interests or to just connect with families and friends. They go online to find out the locations of restaurants, compare prices of consumer electronics, hunt for discounts and promos, and a host of other transactional practices. They do this at home and even when they’re on the go, using any Internet-capable devices from desktop PCs to laptops to smartphones. Many businesses have already realized the opportunities presented by this fast-maturing space, quickly establishing their online presence with some fully migrating into the virtual world where they can conduct their business cheaper and more efficiently. This has created a very competitive arena that makes it much harder for ones just entering now to penetrate. To capitalize on the always-connected and ever-growing Internet audience despite the marked increase in competition, businesses need to know how to effectively use the most powerful tools the Internet can offer for lead generation. 1. Finding the Right Audience in Social Media The rising number of Internet users can be argued to be because of the massive spikes in popularity of social media. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have made it so that everyone can share just about everything in their lives to the entire world and make genuine connections. This has led to billions of people joining, creating content, and engaging with one another. Businesses jumping into Internet marketing can then be immediately tempted to take a reckless approach by targeting everybody in these circles. The reality is that not all fans, followers, likes and retweets mean quality leads, and no quality leads means no conversions. Addressing just anybody in social media does not translate to increased sales. There needs to be a specific audience in mind, and they need to be identified, including their desires, their language, their platforms of choice, etc. 2. Implementing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) When people want to learn more about something in this generation, they go online and use search engines. Google, the most widely used search engine in the world, averaged over five billion searches a day in 2012, reaching almost 2 trillion searches in that year alone. However, people generally just click on the first couple of links on the search results page, rarely going past the third page. SEO helps websites rank higher on those pages. It accomplishes that through optimizing a site’s code and content (mainly through keywords), and by building quality links with other relevant sites. With the right keywords targeting the right audience, a business’ website will get more of the right leads the higher it ranks. 3. Using Pay-per-click (PPC) Ads Advertisements are a tried-and-true tool in traditional marketing, but they can also work to great effect in Internet marketing when handled properly. PPC is the way to go for those just starting out their online marketing efforts. An ad is paired with a number of keywords (prices of which are dependent on its level of competitiveness), and they show up either on the top of search engine results pages or on relevant websites that have agreed to show ads. As the name suggests, a business owner only has to pay for the ad whenever it gets clicked. This makes it easier to manage the budget. Tracking the number of people who clicked is also much more convenient than traditional advertising. Leads are mostly quality especially for search ads, as people who click on them are usually already primed to make a transaction. 4. Blogging High Quality and Relevant Content Internet users who aren’t ready to buy are rarely swayed by interruptive advertising that’s merely focused on selling them a product or a service. When they are just looking for information to make better shopping choices, they want content that isn’t forcing just one product at them. Generating new leads can then be accomplished by starting a blog that delivers fresh content packed with useful info that’s highly relevant to the target audience. It also creates more trust between the business and the consumers, as the latter comes to know the former as an expert in the related industry. New content even helps with SEO, making for great synergy between the two tactics. 5. Creating a Lead Generating Website The most obvious way to generate leads online would be to create a website for the business. People will tend to look for a business’ official website to get basic information such as product descriptions and contact details. However, it’s not uncommon to see websites for businesses to have unhelpful content or outdated info within confusing layouts and navigation. A business website needs to provide useful content that answers potential customers’ problems and gives them insight on which offered products can help them. These contents must then be housed in a site architecture that is logical and intuitive, and with a design that is appealing and consistent with the business’ brand. Conclusion These are just some of the foundational elements in building a strong online presence that will help any business start generating new leads in the intensely competitive Internet market. To truly get the most out of each strategy, it is better to bring them all together into one integrated system of updated quality content optimized for search and paired with targeted ads, delivered to the right audience. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article was written for Business 2 Community by Kane Pepi.Learn how to publish your content on B2C Author: Kane Pepi <p>Kane Pepi is an experienced financial and cryptocurrency writer with over 2,000+ published articles, guides, and market insights in the public domain. Expert niche subjects include asset valuation and analysis, portfolio management, and the prevention of financial crime. Kane is particularly skilled in explaining complex financial topics in a user-friendly … View full profile ›More by this author:VoIP Basics: Everything Beginners Should Know!Bitcoin Investment, Trading & Mining: The Ultimate Guide for BeginnersIs This a Better Way to Set Your 2020 Goals and Resolutions?