Every business is different so there are different formulas and mixes for each business with what will help them when marketing online. Below are just a few examples of methods that can be used by almost any business.

Continuous Search Engine Optimisation

When doing search engine optimisation focus on improving your link popularity, adding fresh content, monitoring web results, testing various keywords, etc. Why continuous? It’s not a one-time job to optimise your new pages that feature the new product for the search engines but a never-ending battle with thousands of other pages wanting to get higher rankings. Even if you do manage to be on the first page for several keywords defining your new product, it will take at least two months to get there but it will take forever to keep them there.

 

Affiliates marketing

Affiliates are people who will promote and sell your software products from their websites, in return for a small commission for every sale. It’s not working every time, but for some markets it is replacing the sales department! To benefit from this marketing method, you need to understand some of the things that matter most to affiliates and the mistakes that merchants do.

 

Pay per Click campaigns

Important search engines place ads near search results for a small fee. The idea is to bid for relevant keywords that bring pertinent results related to the product you’re selling, and place your advertisement on the top of the page of the search engine.

AdWords (advertising tool from Google) is very effective and it’s the quickest way to promote your new product online. Don’t assume that this is an easy task. It’s not. Remember that Google is a tough nut to crack, but with the right set of tools and a lot of hard work and dedication, it can be done.

 

Write newsletters and press releases

A newsletter is an easy way to stay in touch with your clients, prospects and affiliates. The success of an email newsletter distribution system depends on your database; you need to keep it up to date and accurate.

Announcing a new product or an update is a very good reason to write and promote a press release and to send a newsletter about it. If your press release is deemed newsworthy by the editors of the websites you submitted it to, then it may be published, which means free advertising for you and also keeping your business fresh in the mind of your customers.

 

Write and submit articles

There are many e-magazines and online publications on the internet where you can publish software related articles, in order to get free exposure and consolidate your image as a professional in your domain.

 

Social Media

Social Media Marketing mixes viral marketing strategies using social media sites such as del.icio.us, newsvine, spurl, reddit etc. Online communities may help you increase brand awareness, traffic, gain good back links. Are you wondering how this may happen? You can start by creating bookmarks to insert into your articles, whitepapers, press releases and any other pages that visitors might catalogue as useful information. Visitors will have the chance to recommend you, to tell others about you and in the end, this will lead to increasing popularity.

 

Get involved in online forums

Invest time in subscribing to forums or discussion groups that deal with themes related to your business. Be careful though, you don’t want to be banned for spamming. So be creative. Choose some forums and try posting once a week at least. Provide useful information and the other members will start trusting and loving your website.

Keep in mind that every business is different, so you need to be creative and patient until you find the best formula that brings you higher sales.