The missing link to Internet marketing success
If you're looking at doing your own Internet marketing, it's easy to find loads of advice about things like Search Engine Optimization and social media strategies. However, there's one aspect of Internet marketing that isn't discussed nearly as often as it should: web automation. That's a shame, because when used properly, it can bind all your web marketing strategies together, while making them simpler and more cost-efficient at the same time.
What is web automation? The short version is, it's a program or suite of programs that automate as many functions of your Internet marketing as possible. While this might make you think of bad old technologies like autodialers, modern web automation is far smarter than any similar systems that have come out in the past.
Some of the Possibilities of Web Automation
One of the more impressive aspects of automating your Internet marketing is that you can compile a surprisingly robust database of information about your customers and leads. Anyone who enters your site can be tracked as they browse around it, based on a cookie or their IP address. If they give you any further information – for example, giving out their email or “liking” you on Facebook in exchange for a free eBook – that can then be tied to their profile and anchor it. Then, the more information you gather about them, the more targeted your marketing can be.
At this point, you've got a number of options. Assuming you've built a good-sized collection of leads, you can start sending precisely-targeted emails to them based on demographic information you've collected. Rather than sending out one broadly-worded message to all your leads and customers, you can send out a dozen, each aimed at a specific selection of your visitors.
Or, if you've connected with them through social media services, you can start tracking what they say about you online. This, too, can be done automatically – programs can monitor social networks for mentions of your company, and they even use heuristic analysis to decide whether the mention is positive, neutral, or negative. You could be alerted to either, or even have a script set up specifying automated actions (like auto-responses) in different cases.
Taking the Mystery out of Internet Marketing
What all this data collection and automation really means, in terms of dollars and cents, is that you get vastly more information to help fine-tune your business decisions. If you can track the individual response rate to every email you send out, it becomes simple to see which messages are successful and which aren't. (This, too, can be automatically tracked and collated according to your needs.)
By being able to “listen in” to conversations on Facebook and Twitter, you can immediately get valuable feedback from your customers and leads, in a somewhat more uncontrolled environment than a sterile focus group. People on social sites are aware that you might be watching, but they generally say what's on their mind rather than trying to say the things you want to hear, as happens so often in focus groups.
Getting Started
Depending on the goals you have for your business you could be well served by a variety of free tools in the marketplace. But if you want your business to grow past the "Mom and Pop" stage you're going to need information that is easy to get and will help you make decisions. It's possible to cobble together a working system by making use of a half-dozen free tools, but if you are serious it's far more effective to take the plunge and get a single integrated suite of software. Some notable standouts in this field are Hubspot, Infusionsoft, and the DeepSky Marketing suite of tools. Choosing the right system for your needs will give you a huge advantage over your competition!!! For expert advice on which system is right for you call Jeffrey at DeepSky Marketing: 707 823-3888.
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