The days when you could afford to ignore the intricacies of digital technology are long gone. No matter what kind of business you operate.

Not too long ago, such interest was relegated to ‘computer nerds’, but smartphones have changed that perception forever. Today, all online content is viewed from mobile platforms, like smartphones and tablets rather from a desktop computer.

Smartphones are cheap, intuitive, and have the same capability that expensive, bulky desktop computers had just 10 years ago. And now, almost everyone has them.

What this effectively means is that many services that were previously constrained to the physical, offline world have almost completely migrated to the online, digital world. And the foremost of them is marketing – the ability for other people to know that your business exists and that your business is just the right one for them.

Accordingly, here are the essential tools you must master in order to run a successful business.

Establish Your Own Website

People who think that a Facebook page is sufficient for their ‘web presence’ are sorely mistaking. Sure, you can have your Facebook page, but only in addition to your own website. Otherwise, you are not viewed as a serious business, but only one that is dabbling.

Furthermore, you have no excuse to not have one given how cheap and easy it is to create a web page using a comprehensive, intuitive tool like WordPress. Even if you are a complete beginner, by viewing a couple of tutorials and installing a proper WordPress theme that suits your business type, you can have your website set up in less than a day.

And registering a domain name and a hosting service will cost you less than $20 USD for one year.

However, if you feel that there is a better use for your time, you can hire a full-range service like Broadplace to make everything truly professional.

Content Is Everything

Once you are satisfied with the overall look of your website via the WordPress CMS, or via the service you hired, you are now ready to fill it with content.

But not just any content – SEO content. When someone tries to find something, the first thing they do is type it into the search engine, like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. And if you have content that is Search Engine Optimized, it is far more likely for customers to be funnelled to your business, instead of your competition. Yoast SEO is among the top WordPress tools to use to make this possible.

Online Advertising

The reason why Google and Facebook are such gigantic, obscenely rich companies is because people give them money in order to advertise themselves. This makes it easier for people to find them, instead of just relying on the content itself.

Advertising is critical to amass the initial momentum for your potential customers to become aware of your site/business, and if it is sufficiently attractive and SEO optimized, you will grow in the future without having to constantly employ advertising.

Tracking and Monitoring

Precise feedback is critical in an online world. After all, you don’t want to throw your money at something that is not working. You would want to know exactly from where the traffic to your site is coming from, and what is the conversion rate from visitors to buyers. WordPress has a huge range of plugins that help you track and monitor many aspects of making your business profitable.

However, if you are mainly engaged with Google AdWords advertising and Google services in general, their analytics are more than enough to cover your needs.

In particular, Google Remarketing is an exceptional tool to make sure that you don’t throw marketing darts in the dark. Essentially, it tracks user behaviourand adjusts the marketing accordingly.

For instance, if a visitor puts something in the basket, but then changes his/her mind, Google Remarketing allows you to target the visitor with that exact or similar product, as they continue to browse the internet. And that is just one small sample of its power.

Final Words

Even if you want to save money by doing everything yourself, you would still be better off than just casually making a Facebook page in the hopes that eventually your business will gain online traction.

On the other hand, if you want some serious traffic, precise targeting and tracking, and complete service from web design to marketing, it would be best to hire a serious full-package service like Broadplace.

After all, as any business owner knows, you don’t make profits by shying away from investment.