Digital Marketing 101: A to-do checklist you shouldn't ignore

Digital marketing for your small business can incorporate so many different methods, mediums, and strategies.

But you don't have to feel overwhelmed.

First, check out our beginner's guide to better understand key concepts tied to digital marketing.

Then, let's focus on digital marketing tasks that you can keep simple and not overwhelming. The following are eight steps you should consider for the digital marketing of your small business.

Step 1: Create or optimize your website

About 73% of small businesses in the United States now have a website, so simply having one is no longer a differentiator. What matters is whether yours is optimized to convert visitors into leads you can follow up with.

One way to do this is to have an offer enticing enough for website visitors to share their contact information with you. Lead capture popups are one of the most effective tools for this, converting between 3 and 5% of visitors on average and as high as 19% for the best-performing campaigns.

Look over these 12 strategies you can try to capture more email leads without annoying your visitors.

When it comes to your overall website design, remember to keep it simple and have the visitor's needs in mind. Do not overstuff it with unnecessary information. Mobile optimization is critical: mobile devices now account for approximately 62% of all internet traffic worldwide, and 53% of users will abandon a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load on mobile. See our 16 tips for a mobile-friendly website and our guide to 10 tips to create effective landing pages.

Step 2: Set up an email marketing automation workflow

This is imperative for a couple of reasons:

1. You want to deliver on your lead acquisition promise, whether it is an email with a discount code, an educational ebook, or something else.
2. You want to continue following up with those leads so that you can eventually convert them into paying customers. This matters because approximately 96% of people visiting your website are not ready to purchase immediately, but that does not mean they will never buy. It means they need nurturing.

Setting up email automated workflows can satisfy both needs. Email marketing remains the highest-ROI digital marketing channel, returning $36 to $42 for every $1 spent. For inspiration, see our guides on 17 types of automated emails you can start using today and how to create a welcome email series that engages new leads.

Step 3: Consistently publish content on your social media accounts

This is one of those tasks that sounds easier than it actually is, because it takes a genuine investment of time and resources to be consistent and engaging on social media.

If you are starting from scratch, see our tips on deciding which social media platform is right for your business. As of 2025, there are approximately 5.66 billion social media user identities worldwide, representing roughly 62% of the global population. The average person spends about 2 hours and 21 minutes on social media every day, making it one of the most valuable channels for brand visibility and engagement.

To manage your time effectively, consider social media automation opportunities and the use of curated content, which can be a good fit depending on your industry and target audience. Short-form video on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts has become the dominant content format, generating the highest engagement and organic reach across all major platforms. Even a single short-form video per week can meaningfully expand your audience if the content is relevant and authentic. See our guide on 10 types of videos you can use in your marketing strategy for ideas.

Step 4: List your business in online directories

Two of the most important directories you need an active presence on are Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and Yelp. A complete, accurate Google Business Profile significantly increases your visibility in local search results and Google Maps, and it is one of the strongest off-page SEO signals available to local businesses.

However, there are others worth checking into as well, including but not limited to:

• Apple Maps
• Google Maps
• Yellow Pages
• Bing Places for Business
• Industry-specific directories relevant to your niche

Consistent business information (name, address, phone number) across all directories also strengthens your local SEO authority. This is one form of off-page SEO that is entirely free and often overlooked.

Step 5: Optimize your website for SEO

Search engine optimization is important for generating organic website traffic: the visitors you earn without paying for each one. Done right, it can result in a high ROI for your business. The number-one result in Google search earns an average of 27.6% of all clicks for that query. By position 10, that drops to under 2%. The difference in traffic between ranking well and not is enormous.

There are two types of SEO, on-page and off-page, that you should understand. On-page SEO covers what you do on your own website (title tags, content, page speed, mobile optimization). Off-page SEO covers external signals like backlinks, brand mentions, and directory listings.

Check whether you are making any of these 13 common SEO mistakes, and see our guides on 13 on-page SEO tips you can use today and 8 steps to create an effective SEO strategy.

Step 6: Consider PPC advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on platforms like Google and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is intentionally later on this checklist for good reason. It will not perform as well as it could if the rest of your digital marketing foundation is not in place first. A great ad driving traffic to a poorly optimized website or weak landing page wastes budget.

Once your foundation is solid, though, PPC is well worth exploring. Google estimates its Ads platform delivers an 8:1 return on investment on average, meaning $8 in revenue for every $1 spent. PPC traffic converts at a rate roughly 50% higher than organic traffic, because paid search reaches people who are actively looking for what you offer at the moment they search. Around 65% of small and mid-sized businesses already run Google Ads campaigns.

When starting out, set a specific goal for your campaign, identify and target a specific audience, tailor your message to that audience, and measure your results consistently. See our guide on 6 tips to maximize your social media advertising budget for guidance on spending efficiently across paid channels.

Step 7: Create sales funnels

Sales funnels pull together several pieces of your digital marketing to guide consumers from being a lead to becoming a paying customer.

For example, you can have a popup on your website offering an ebook download in exchange for a visitor's email address. That submission takes them to a landing page with related content, while an email with the ebook download is automatically sent to their inbox. Then an automated email series follows up with that lead over time, offering new and relevant content that builds a relationship and increases the likelihood of a purchase decision being made in your favor.

About 68% of businesses have not yet identified or attempted to measure their sales funnel, which represents a significant missed opportunity. Businesses with automated funnel workflows convert 53% more leads than those without one. Find out more with our breakdown of all four sales funnel stages.

Step 8: Measure and analyze your results

Digital marketing is only as effective as your analysis. If something is working, you need to understand it so you can replicate that performance. If something is not working, you need to know that too, so you can pivot and adjust.

Whether you are spending advertising money on a specific campaign or simply spending your time on content and social media, you are investing real resources in your marketing. Measuring the results of those investments is how you make sure the resources are being spent wisely.

Start with Google Search Console (free) to understand your organic search performance and Google Analytics 4 (free) to understand visitor behavior on your website. Use UTM codes on every campaign link so your analytics can accurately attribute traffic to the campaigns that generated it. Then review your social media metrics and email campaign performance regularly.

For more on what to measure and how to interpret results, see our guides on how to measure the success of your email marketing campaign and how to check your Google search rank for free.

DailyStory helps small businesses and growing teams execute their digital marketing more consistently, with marketing automation, email, SMS, lead capture, and analytics all in one platform. Schedule a free demo to see how DailyStory can help you work through this checklist faster and more effectively.