Marketing with a Laser Focus:The A-Z Guide

Over the past decade how we shop has evolved. It is estimated that over 2 billion consumers buy products online annually, and according to Yahoo Business, over 70% of buying decisions will be influenced by digital marketing. For some laser entrepreneurs, this data is exciting. Lower overhead by not having a brick and mortar storefront, less time spent on per sale communication, and more time to focus on your craft. For others, navigating the world of digital marketing is abstract and insights fear of the unknown.

As Owner and Senior Marketing Executive at Chartman Marketing, I put together a simple starter list for getting more visibility online.

PICKING A WEBSITE NAME & PLATFORM

Websites are important for so many reasons. They help establish your overall brand, they build credibility for your business, they can aid in getting found more easily by search engines, and they can minimize costs to sales platforms such as Etsy. If you would have asked me 10 years ago about building a website, I would say, you need to hire an expert but now there are many good platforms to build a website on that do not require coding or a webmaster to maintain.

Buying A Domain

To get started you go to a service such as GoDaddy and buy your domain. The website platforms I will mention below do try to sell you domains but in the fine print, some platforms actually OWN your domain if you buy it through them. This becomes problematic if you decide to switch platforms, but if you buy from a site like GoDaddy, you own it outright to use on the platform of your choice. Picking a good domain means that what you are selling should be included in the URL title. My domain is www.chartmanmarketing. com. I include marketing in the title because that helps get that keyword recognized right away by search engines. This magazine’s website is also a good example, www.laserfocusedmagazine.com, it states exactly what you may be searching for; a laser publication. Once you purchase the domain, set it up for auto renewal. Go Daddy domains are low cost and if you forget to renew, there are people out there that troll the web waiting for someone to default on their renewal and they will buy your domain and try to sell it back to you at a premium. It is better to auto renew on a domain that you may not use and cancel than to miss the renewal and lose your domain.

Picking A Platform

When it comes to picking a platform to build your site on, you have options. I’ll just name a few that I am most familiar with, and what I personally perceive their pros and cons are.