In 2019, Google received nearly 1.2 trillion searches. If you want to succeed as a business, you have to rank well in Google.
However, blindly throwing your money and efforts at online initiatives is a bad idea. You need to take a methodical approach to online marketing techniques.
Fortunately, there are many approaches you can take. The important thing is to fully understand what works best for your specific market.
To help you out, we’re going over some top search engine marketing strategies that will help you build a strong online reputation.
Establish Your Target Demographic
Are you providing a product or service to the public? Or, are you a B2B entity providing service to other business? Depending on the type of organization you are, you’ll have a completely different client base.
In order for any online marketing campaign to be effective, you have to understand who you’re marketing to. This means you’ll need to nail down a solid customer profile.
Having an understanding of who your customers are will guide your search engine marketing techniques. This will allow you to get the maximum ROI on your campaigns by targeting your audience instead of casting a wide net.
For example, you may find your target customer spends a lot of time on social media. You can then purchase Facebook ads that will reach the right eyes.
In addition, by looking at the buying preferences of your target demographic, you can create promotions for certain items. You can even make upgrades to your product or service to cater to what the consumer wants.
Optimize for Organic Search
Search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) go hand in hand. You’ll need to employ SEO tactics to climb the ranks of search engine results pages.
This means ensuring your website goes through extensive optimization. Both the backend code and on-page content needs to contain certain elements.
Much of this site optimization involves integrating the right keywords into your website copy. These keywords allow you to rank for certain search queries. You’ll need to perform research to determine what phrases people search for when looking for the products and services you provide.
Along with using keywords within your website copy, they need to show up in title tags, meta tags, meta descriptions, and alt tags. These appear behind the scenes of your site but can affect your website’s performance in search engines.
Your website also needs to contain well-written code. This ensures search engines can index it in search results pages. It also needs to load quickly to avoid a high bounce rate.
An Effective PPC Campaign
When it comes to targeted marketing, nothing beats a pay per click (PPC) campaign. This strategy allows you to promote your website by purchasing ads based on those keywords we discussed earlier.
With PPC, you bid on certain keyword phrases related to your product or service. A text ad will appear at the top of search results pages when someone searches for that keyword phrase. You’ve probably noticed these ads while browsing the internet.
The great thing about this is you only pay each time someone clicks on the ad. This means getting a return on your investment is very easy.
Google AdWords is a great tool for setting up and managing a PPC campaign. It allows you to control when and where your ads get displayed. You also have control over how much you pay per click.
The great thing about a PPC campaign is you can spend what you like. This makes it easier to test different ad placements and make modifications to future campaigns.
A Good Link Building Strategy
We discussed optimizing your website for better search results. However, gaining high-quality inbound links to your site will help with rankings as well.
When search engines see quality links back to your site, it increases your relevancy. The reward is higher search engine rankings.
You’re probably thinking how on earth you’ll get inbound links. It’s actually easier than you think. It just takes some time.
First, ask vendors you work with to link to you from their site. In return, provide them with an inbound link.
You should also list your business in online directories such as Bing and Angie’s List. These are very prominent directories and an inbound link from them is quite valuable.
The primary thing to keep in mind is that your inbound links need to come from relevant sources. Getting hollow links from as many sources as possible could hurt your site rankings.
Content Marketing
The quality of the content you put out is critical. It’s no longer acceptable to saturate the internet with as much content as possible in order to rank well. It has to be high-quality.
Ensuring the content on your website is top-notch is a good first step. However, you need to take things further.
Consider starting a blog and publishing well-written articles related to your industry. This establishes you as an authority and also gives visitors a reason to return.
You should also invest in video content. These videos can be informative, entertaining, or promotional. They add value to your site and are easy to share via social media.
Measure Performance with Analytics
There’s no way to know how well your SEM campaigns are working unless you track them. This means looking at metrics to get a good understanding of what’s working and what’s not.
Tools such as Google Analytics can provide you with information such as bounce rates, website traffic, and conversions. You can also find out what keywords are getting used to lead people to your site.
You also need to track click-through rates on ads placed on social media pages or blog articles. This will provide valuable information regarding public response to your products and what platforms provide effective ad environments.
Which of These Search Engine Marketing Strategies is Right for You?
Online marketing is a science. It requires experimentation and lots of trial and error.
Take some time to explore the search engine marketing strategies discussed above. Then, take a look at the results to determine what works well for your business.
If you’re ready to take your online presence to the next level, we can help. We provide digital marketing solutions in Fargo, ND. Learn more today.