Guest blog by Caroline Buhler
Owner of Flymydarling Marketing

Have you ever heard of those gooey grow toys that you drop in water and then expand immensely in size? Well, that’s how you should look at yourself and your own business. You are your very own personal grow toy. Soon, with the right ingredients, you will triple in size! The first step is to, of course, believe it and feel it as if it is already true. I’m sure you have heard this before, but it works. Have complete confidence in yourself, and you are already ahead of the game. Next, take action. As a marketing consultant for a wide variety of businesses, here are my top five favorite tips for growing your business online.

1. E-mail marketing. Customers and businesses seek inspiration. For effective e-mail marketing, send your current, past and prospective customers a monthly e-mail newsletter with beautiful photographs and inspiring tips related to your business. Segment your content, meaning title and separate your content in an organized way. Pay attention to the delivery time of the e-mail, and test for optimal delivery times.

Grow time: At least 6 months, but totally worth it in referrals.

2. Facebook marketing. Create an aesthetically pleasing Facebook page, and make it feel personal. Same goes for your posts — the more personal the better. Include videos of your business from YouTube. Keep your messages short. Post photographs related to your business. Respond to every single post, even if you’re simply telling someone with negative things to say that you’re listening. You may purchase Facebook ads that target your customers by interests, but be sure to be visual, don’t oversell, and optimize ads for peak times.

Grow time: Could be as quick as 1 day or as long as 1 year. Good for new business and referrals. Stay at the top of their minds, and be remembered.

3. Twitter marketing. Have fun with it, design a background that matches your brand, use a personal photo for the profile shot, design a header that reflects your trademark, and say hello in your bio. Learn what hashtags are, and use them on posts. Retweet relevant posts, respond to Tweets, and follow other accounts. Remember to give on your Tweets by spreading the social media love to other brands, don’t try to get, and time your Tweets so you’re not overloading your followers. Tweets later in the day obtain a higher click-through rate.

Grow time: 1 month to 1 year. Great for online presence and search engine optimization (SEO).

4. Article marketing. Quality, quality, quality — keep your content positive, informative and inspiring! Use tags and categories that best fit your article. Write as if you are trying to help a friend, and write at least 400 words of content. Pay attention to your titles, be unique (this is good for Google), and submit your articles to article directories. Then, post your articles on Facebook and Twitter, or maybe mass e-mail them to your contacts. Remember to use hashtags and keywords when posting on social media.

Grow time: Anywhere from 1 day to 1 year. Great for online presence and SEO.

5. SEO. SEO is still alive, it is only changing, and for the better, I must add. Google’s new 2013 algorithm will rank your site higher if it believes a human wrote the content, linked the words, and is updating the site. Know your keywords, make sure your content is relevant to those keywords, and engage visitors with photographs. The longer people stay on your site, the higher Google ranks your site. Interlink on your site, answer questions on other related sites and link back to your website, and make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Have active social media accounts linking back to your site, and keep your website updated. Google likes updated unique data.

Grow time: Depending on the competition per keyword, anywhere between 1 week and 1 year. Absolutely worth the effort once you’re on top of Google for your preferred keyword. Be at the top of Google, and receive daily phone calls.

Please note that there are tons of ways to be seen on the Internet and to grow your business. As long as your business has a positive purpose and your true intention is to help people enjoy their lives in a healthy way, you will become successful. Let perseverance be the definition of your efforts, and see results. Most of all, be patient. Imagine putting a grow toy in water and expecting it to expand within seconds, and then giving up! Little would you know that the grow toy would mature to an unimaginable size if only you would have waited and not given up.

Don’t take yourself out of the water — keep yourself indulged and surrounded by the right ingredients. What online marketing strategies work for you? Let us know in the comments.

Caroline Buhler, founder of Flymydarling Marketing, adores inspiring people all around her and sparking motivation. As an Internet marketing strategist, she has helped companies organize their leads and implement streamlined conversion plans with the purpose to maximize the company’s potential.