As any marketer can tell you, a positive return on investment (ROI) is crucial.

While getting and maintaining a positive ROI sounds like a simple task, not all online marketers are adept at going about it the right way, both when planning their business and once they’re fully involved in it.

For some online marketers, they make the process much more difficult than it should be, leaving those they work with and under on edge as to whether or not the company can keep pace at its current growth rate or will require cuts.

Leading the Way to Success

As an online marketer, the bottom line is to be heard by both current and potential customers in order to increase your company’s ROI.

There are several ways to do this, among which are five you can count on one hand:

• Article marketing – With this approach, you author relatively short, informative articles tied to your industry for distribution and publication.  These articles will enhance the chances of garnering new clients, along with pinpointing you as an expert in your respective field. The articles should include linking words that will also direct search engines to your site and line of work. It is also important when submitting an article to request a profile page and at minimum one link to your site. Finally, share the article across various social media channels to your network of business contacts;
• SEO - Search Engine Optimization can benefit your business by helping you construct terminology where you have a high Google ranking. In turn, individuals will see that you’re viewed as very credible in this industry by being ranked ahead of so many others. With online forums and articles, along with different content marketing initiatives, there are major SEO benefits to attain;
• Blogging – When used correctly, this is a great road to travel down. A company blog is your opportunity to speak in first-person terms; talking directly to those clients you are attempting to get to buy your products and/or services. The main challenge here is keeping the blog continuously updated. If you have a blog that receives minimal attention on your end, you’re likely to have readers who become disinterested and go elsewhere for their information. The chances of losing sales by doing so greatly increase. An updated blog is also important in terms of search engines. From an online marketing stand point, be sure  to link to a submitted article from your blog, allowing you to tie everything together. Lastly, be sure to utilize sites like Facebook and Twitter to share and tweet your posts;
• Online forums – By utilizing these sites, your company can be seen as a professional in your respective industry, along with being one that is engaged. You will want to use a signature box that will direct a link to your homepage. By doing so, you increase the odds of traffic, leading to more potential customers;
• Social media – Last but not least, where does your company stand on social media? Utilizing sites like Twitter and Facebook just to name two, SM is a great venue to spread the word about your company’s offerings. Much like the above-mentioned blogging, the key here is staying engaged. If your small business employs a Facebook fan page for instance, it needs to be updated regularly. Other than time and effort, SM is essentially free and offers real-time conversations that current and potential customers will hopefully find productive. While you may not be up to speed on share buttons and hash tags, they can be two of your company’s best friends over time.

The bottom line is that when you tie all these items together, your expectations and chances for reaching the optimal ROI increase dramatically.

One way to potentially bring it all together is reviewing what Business.com has to offer. Pay-per-click advertising, pay-per-lead advertising, sponsorship advertising, pay-per download and directory advertising are very viable options for your company to enhance its chances of a successful ROI.

Photo credit: marketinghackz.com