If you’re a new marketer or online business owner, you probably have some pressing questions. Which online marketing methods actually work? What is search engine optimization and can you do it by yourself? How can you measure the impact of your online campaign? The practical tips that follow will help you decide how to spend your time, and you will gain a basic online education in search marketing.
Increasing Findability – Search Engine Optimization
There are two common tracks in online marketing, SEO and SEM. SEO, search engine optimization, means developing your website such that you improve your ranking in organic (naturally occurring) search results. SEM, search engine marketing, refers to paying for ads that appear along with searches. Often, both methods are used together. For instance, keywords are tested in SEM campaigns which deliver immediate feedback. Later, great keywords will be applied to SEO which requires a longer commitment to see results. Through Google and Yahoo/Bing, you can purchase SEM ads.
When SEO companies first sprang onto the web, many people thought that search engine optimization was out of reach for small businesses or private individuals. However, any business that has a well-defined niche can optimize a web site for search results. The main factors are these:
Keywords need to be carefully selected
Content should have quality and incorporate the keywords
Keywords need to be included in headings, links and meta tags
Other websites need to link to your website
As Google is the leader in organic search results, SEO involves Google’s algorithm. This basically means you have to make sure your content is arranged so that a computer can recognize the keywords’ importance and the quality of your site. Links from other sites demonstrate quality. Good keywords included in ways computers understand—headings, links and meta tags—show that your page can genuinely answer the needs of the searcher.
Measuring Your Impact – Web Analytics
Anyone who loves a challenge can enjoy finding ways to get a page to the top of search results. Still, that hardly matters if your search engine prowess does not lead to sales for the business. Obviously, if you begin to appear in the top three of search results, that is good for your business, but you also need to know if you are getting quality visitors to your website and whether or not they are buying your goods or services. A quality visitor is someone who interacts at some level or returns repeatedly. Some basic web analytics programs can show you how many people are returning to your site—or you can use interactive online forms to engage people and measure the traffic in that way. Of course, you want to keep track of conversions–sales that occur online or through online discounts. Some people analyze all interactions as conversions and group them in layers leading to the final sale—you have to organize your data in the optimal way for your business.
Search Strategy and Social Media
As you get started with SEO basics, you may be wondering how and if social media marketing comes into play. That’s a good question! Online strategists are only just beginning to ponder the rapid, but clearly sizeable impact of social media on search engine optimization. Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind:
social searchers expect interactions—people who engage online in order to be social expect to have a place to speak and be heard
targeting social searches means spreading conversations—when thinking of those who arrive at your website through online social means, realize the potential of spreading ideas—that’s exactly what the social world does best
SEO and social marketing may intertwine more and more—social marketing is on the rise and search results are likely to become more and more focused on personal inclinations
Overall, think about the world of social marketing as you engage in SEO. Let it be there in the margin of your thoughts to later expand into a novel, fantastic marketing idea.
These are the basics in online marketing. So much can depend on well-chosen keywords. Make sure you choose words that are optimal for your audience and yet within your competition level. Try the Google Adwords analytics tool to research your competition. If 10,000 other businesses are targeting those words, they may not be for you! Most web site owners re-visit their keyword choices every six months to make sure the competition is within fighting-range. Enjoy trying out these ideas in your search engine optimization campaign.
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