If you’re reading this article, there’s a huge chance that you’re one of those people who have taken the huge step in taking their business in the online arena. First, let me congratulate you as this is the smartest decision you can ever make in growing your sales and revenue exponentially. Now, let me help you get started on the right foot. Here are the 5 first steps to start your internet marketing campaign:

1. Start by registering a domain name. Think of an attractive domain name that is closely relevant to the products and services that you sell. As there are now millions of people who have their own website, it can be tough to get your desired domain name. Mix-match keywords related to the type of business that you’re running and see if they’re available. If not, you can contact their owners and see if they’re selling their domain names. It’s very important that you get something that is very easy to remember and something that is relatively short as this will help in attracting more traffic to your website.
2. Create your own website/blog. The next step is to build your own website. It’s okay if you don’t have the needed skills and expertise as you can easily hire professional web builders/designers to do the legwork. Work with them to create a website that compliments the preferences and profile of your target audience. Ensure that it’s well-designed, easy on the eyes, and easy to navigate. Your visitors must not have any problem looking for a specific page each time they give your site a visit.
3. Write your web content. Fill your websites with useful information to give your visitors a reason to keep on coming back. Fill your pages with solutions to their problems or offer them with useful guides. For example, if you’re selling digital cameras, you can offer product review type of articles and help your prospects make well-informed decision when choosing which camera to buy. Don’t forget to make your web content keyword-rich so your website will come up on relevant listings each time your potential clients search for the keywords that are related to the products or services that you sell.
4. Promote your website. Don’t just sit there and wait for online users to find your website. Make your online presence felt by promoting it using article marketing, PPC advertising, search engine marketing, blogging, forum posting, social media marketing, etc. Then, secure better page ranking through link building campaigns and by through off and on-page optimization.
5. Launch list building campaign and distribute newsletters. Get as many visitors as possible to sign up to your email marketing list. The more subscribers, the better your chances of making decent sales. Send these people with newsletters every week and follow-up on their desire to buy your products and services. Do this until you can get them to swipe their credit cards.

Accountants that are using Social Media for business have either recognized and set specific goals that they expect to achieve, or at a minimum have anticipated general benefits that they feel they will realize from using it as a tool in their accounting firm. To find out if your strategy has been successful and is attaining the desired results you must quantify some things over time and measure your Return on Investment (ROI). So we now have to determine, is there an appropriate way of measuring the ROI of Social Media?

Business strategists say that everything that is done for and within the parameters of a business’s activity has to be measurable. Unless social media can be measured, its effectiveness as a business tool remains questionable. The argument for the measurement of everything, including social marketing expenditures, is that it provides a basis and a guide for decision makers whether or not to increase the budgetary requirements in the future. These statistics or measurements are used to calculate a “value” or perceived benefit that is being realized, your Return on Investment (ROI).

Wikipedia defines Return on Investment as: “The ratio of money gained or lost (whether realized or unrealized) on an investment relative to the amount of money invested.” Simply put, the definition of ROI is already in itself — a (1) RETURN on (2) INVESTMENT. But this definition is limiting because it is based purely on the assumption that there is an amount of money invested. Hence, the expected return is also an X amount of money.

In measuring the ROI in Social Media Marketing, assumptions can be easily skewed because there is no “monetary” investment, it is technically free. Does this mean that if there is no money “invested” that there is no tangible return to measure? The answer is no. The investment comes in a different form, your time. We can apply the same principles used to measure financial ROI to calculate the ROI of your non-monetary investments.

The first crucial step that every accounting firm must take is to set clear goals and expectations for their social media strategy. It will be difficult if not impossible to determine if you are making progress if you really have no idea of where you are going, or what you expect to achieve.

Baseline measurements must be obtained before you begin to track and monitor your progress. You must know where your accounting firm stands before you begin. Where are you today? You will be unable to measure your progress if you don’t know where you started.

In Social Media, a lot of your activities are based on human interactions and conversations on your firm’s Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn sites. These types of interactions are not easily measured. In this case your firm will need to rely on a variety of statistical tools to accumulate your “metrics”.

Being Accountants, we love to play with numbers. A quick tip: Metrics alone will not provide you with a clear ROI measurement. You will need to use the metrics to recognize the trends and correlate them to activities within your business. Some examples of trends that Accounting Firm Partners might want to look out for.

Example 1: Your Accounting Firm Partner’s Twitter page’s followers increased 100% from the previous month – did this correlate to an increase in inquiries for your Accounting Firm’s services?

Example 2: Are your fans or friends on your Facebook site proceeding to your Accounting Firm’s corporate website after checking you out on your Social Network? After which, how many new clients did you get?

In closing, remember that measuring the ROI of Social Media is unlike any other typical calculation. You must first begin with clear goals and expectations, and baseline measurements. While “metrics” are required, they are not the sole determination of success. These numbers must be used to determine trends and correlation of these trends to changes in your business. You will then be able to make informed decisions about adjustments to your strategy for the benefit of your accounting firm.