Tag Archive: digital marketing

1. Why combine SEO & digital marketing?

   30/05/2017 09:15 Comments Off on Why combine SEO & digital marketing?

   All too often, attractive websites do little more than act as a shop window, particularly in a business-to-business environment.

   To create a website which earns its keep as a sales tool, you need to work hard on the SEO (to get visitors to the site in the first place) and then on the engagement (to get visitors to stay and take action in the sales funnel).

   This is why it’s important to bring SEO and digital marketing skills to the table, as one without the other will mean your website under-performs, both in terms of visitor numbers and conversions.

    

   The value of SEO

   A robust SEO strategy will help customers to find you by making your website visible for relevant search terms.

   To do this, there are no short-cuts or tricks to the top – you’ll need to play by the rules and abide by Google’s webmaster guidelines which emphasise the need to put users first, not search engines.  (Find out how to maintain a Google-friendly website.)

   However, while the technical SEO on your site needs to be right, it’s not going to be enough to maximise the visibility of your site on Google, or convert visitors into customers.

   Quality content – content which answers your visitors’ biggest questions – is a vital component.

   This is where good SEO crosses over into the realm of digital marketing.

    

   The value of digital marketing

   Most businesses will need to optimise their site not just for products and services they provide, but for the information people need to make a buying decision.

   This is because Google is increasingly used to answer questions in the information-gathering stage of a buying cycle.

   The companies which answer these questions well are shown to achieve the highest search engine rankings, and the best conversions.

   That means you need to understand your customers, and create on-site content which gets their attention and engages them enough so that they take the next step towards a sale.

    

   Why content is so important

   Google rewards companies which create high quality content which gives users the information they are looking for.

   When creating content strategies for clients, we focus on a ‘wide and deep’ strategy, creating content which covers a wide spectrum of related issues and deep content which covers some key subjects in depth.

   This approach helps us to improve rankings for specific search terms, but also for related search terms which engage customers while they are researching possible solutions (and improve the visibility of a site for a more comprehensive set of search terms).

    

   Reaching a wider audience

   Quality content will not only help your website to be more visible on search engines, it will also help you to use social media more effectively.

   All too often, businesses find social media is a drain on time and resources, and they find it hard to see the payback.

   However, with focus, social media can enhance your SEO and digital marketing efforts.

   This is because people like to use social media to share information and ideas, so authoritative content which is highly shareable can be a great way to reach a wider audience and build referral traffic.

   Plus, sharing content on social media can help you build a good backlink profile, which is something Google will reward.

   While Google says social share counts don’t have a direct impact on your site’s ranking, it’s clear that social profiles can be a useful marketing tool as they’re often featured on Google’s search engine results page, particularly when it comes to a branded search term.

    

   Improving conversions

   By analysing what’s happening on your website – which pages people are visiting, how long they’re staying for etc – it’s possible to understand how to improve conversions.

   As well as taking an honest look at whether and how you are providing the information a visitor needs to feel secure in taking the next step in the buying cycle, there are various calls to action (CTA) devices which you can use to build a connection.

   From email opt-in to forms, contact options, free downloads and guides, introductory offers and pop-ups, there are a myriad of devices you can employ to prompt action in your site visitors.

   The right approach will depend upon your company, industry and audience, of course, but it’s an essential component of an effective digital marketing strategy, and will help to make all your SEO efforts worthwhile.

    

   Combining digital marketing and SEO

   Taking an holistic view of SEO and digital marketing means you have all bases covered.

   A digital marketing expert with SEO skills will ensure all the technical aspects of SEO – URL structure, alt attributes, keyword focus etc – are not overlooked. But digital marketing skills can be used to create customer-driven sticky content which leads visitors through the site and into the sales funnel.

    

   Find out more about how we can help you generate more leads and sales from your website using an effective combination of SEO and digital marketing. Please get in touch for a free, informal discussion on 01606 610808.

    

    

2. Great website but no visitors?

   06/12/2015 14:45 Comments Off on Great website but no visitors?

   It’s great to have a website which you’re proud of, but if you haven’t got enough visitors, you have to ask: what’s the point?

   Quite often, customers are referred to us by web design agencies which have made their clients aware that if they expect better online marketing results, a shiny new website is only the start of the process.

   What will a well-designed website do?  It will certainly support your company’s image and help to convert your web visitors into customers. However, what it won’t do is get potential customers to visit your site in the first place.  The internet is a very crowded place – it’s definitely no longer a case of ‘build it and they will come’.

   The internet is a very crowded place – it’s definitely no longer a case of ‘build it and they will come’.

   You’ve got to find a way to get more people to your website.

   Getting more people to your website

   If you’re going to sweat more value from your website, you’ll have to put a bit of effort into raising its profile and getting it noticed – this rarely happens by accident. And while some businesses have sufficient budget to do all aspects of marketing really well, most have to decide what activities will give the best return for the invested time, effort and, potentially, spend.

   While the right approach will depend upon your business, your budget and your goals, here are five key areas to consider when promoting your website.

   Search engine optimisation (SEO)

   High organic rankings on Google, Bing and Yahoo are undoubtedly a fantastic way to draw a mass audience to your website.  You need to weigh up the search terms which most customers would use to find your products and services, then audit where you stand today.  From there it should be possible to assess the amount of effort which will be required – ongoing – to improve your rankings for those search terms, or to broaden your appeal across a wider selection of keywords.

   There are lots of factors which affect your rankings.  In a nutshell, you will then need to ensure your website is properly optimised with your most important search terms; that it contains quality content using appropriate keyword references and you’ll need to seek relevant, quality backlinks.

   This may sound like a lot of effort though once you’re on top of the main tasks and have an appropriately-scaled plan in place, the maintenance can become business as usual.

   While pursuing organic rankings, it may be appropriate for you to consider online advertising.  This can be a helpful way to achieve visibility for particularly competitive keywords for which you’re not ranking organically.  There is a cost – so again, it’s necessary to analyse and plan your approach before you sign up.

   Online PR

   Online PR involves promoting your website on other websites which are visited by your target audience.  This may involve writing some articles for the online version of your industry journal, and approach which many B2B organisations find helpful.  For B2C companies, it may be possible to link up with some popular bloggers who will write about your products.

   The added benefit to doing some online PR is that it can help boost your Google rankings, so it makes sense to tie in your keyword targeting strategy with your PR outreach.

   Social media marketing

   To begin, you need to choose the right social media channels – LinkedIn remains the most popular choice for B2B with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for B2C.

   There are still a lot of companies which simply use social media because they feel they have to.  In these instances, social media rarely gives a return.  To grow business using social media you’ve got to focus on two strands – building your audience and quality content.

   The early days can be disheartening – you’ll usually have to create really good quality content, but feed it to a relatively small audience.  However, it’s the only way to build momentum.  Once you do, however, you’ve got instant access to a switched-on audience for all your company news and messages.

   Be mindful that you may need to do some social media advertising in order to maintain a high profile, though this can be low level and inexpensive.

   Content creation

   Why do so many companies now put time, effort and energy into creating quality content for their websites?

   There are two significant factors.  Firstly, Google likes fresh content, so the regular posting of new, high quality content will make a difference to your search engine rankings.  Secondly, a large portion of people use the internet for research before they make a purchase.

   So consider ways in which you can answer your customers most burning questions and create high quality articles to showcase your expertise.  It’s a good idea to have a news or blog on your new website and ensure it’s maintained.  That way, you’ll encourage website visitors to become your advocates by sharing your content with their associates.  (You can get added mileage from your content as it can be used on social media channels too.)

   Use your contacts for links

   Most businesses grow through referral so it’s worth thinking about the organisations you work alongside to see if you can generate some cross promotion.  For example, if you’re a member of a trade association, you can usually ask for a link from their website. Also, if you have good relationships with your customers and suppliers, you can ask for links from their sites too.

   Measuring ROI

   Marketing is sometimes seen as a wishy-washy discipline with an elusive ROI.  Fortunately, most digital marketing channels can be analysed.

   You can use Google Analytics to measure traffic levels on your website – you can see your bounce rate, examine how long people stay on your site for and explore which pages are visited.  You can interrogate exit page trends and learn much from the terms people enter into your search field.

   When it comes to PR, you can see whether people clicked on a link from a third party website.  In social media channels you can see if your audience is growing or engaging with or sharing your content.

   That means it’s possible to continually tweak your approach to ensure you take the best approach for your business and goals.

   In summary

   If you have any questions about any aspect of digital marketing, or would like to explore how we may be able to help your business to reach a wider audience of potential customers, please get in touch.

   We either support in-house marketing teams, bringing digital marketing skills and expertise to the table.  Or customers use us as their outsourced digital marketing resource, commissioning us to generate leads and sales using digital marketing channels.