For most people, the first place they go to find new information or products is the Internet. If you’re a marketer, you’ve got to understand how people are finding this information online to spread the word about products and services for your clients. Otherwise, you’re missing the biggest marketing opportunity the world has yet seen. If you’re new to marketing in the digital age, however, you might not know the types that are available to you. Here are just a few look at this now.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO was long the sole type of marketing that some professionals looked at; however, the narrow focus led to many people cutting corners to manipulate search ranks. It’s true that few searchers look past the first page, and the first 3 results are clicked 60% of the time, but search engines like Google provide new ways for you to attract visitors without relying on sleazy tactics. Important aspects of search engine optimization are keyword usage in titles and URLs, internal links on your own website, backlinks from other websites, proper use of alt tags with images, and social network activity, which you can read more about in further down. It’s important to remember that quality content wins out over content created in an attempt to fool Google’s spiders, so you’re going to have to work at search engine optimization.
Social Media Marketing
Social media has become ever more important as Google and company cracks down on black-hat marketing tactics. Search engines have also begun using activity on these websites as a metric for popularity and usefulness. Shares on Facebook, Twitter retweets and +1s on Google all help your position on the search engine results pages; however, social media marketing is about more than that.
With this type of marketing, your company can more directly connect with consumers to highlight your brand’s values and strengthen your reputation. You have the opportunity to turn around negative experiences in a public forum, to provide updates from your website and encourage discussion among your fans. Social networking on Facebook and similar sites allows you to track what people are really saying about your company, even if they’re not saying it directly to you.
Pay Per Click Ads
If your website isn’t seeing enough organic traffic, you might purchase ads directly on Google or on other websites via the many ad networks that exist. Pay-per-click, or PCC, ads are typically relevant to the keyword that searchers use on Google. Ad analytics software enables you to determine how successful your PPC campaigns are, and PPC ads only require you to pay when someone has clicked on your link.
Email Newsletters
If you think e-mail marketing is a thing of the past, think again. Not only does it provide you with another place to link to your website and products, but you can entice consumers with special deals or sales. If you gather enough user data when someone subscribes, you can funnel relevant information to certain segments, which helps to increase conversions.
Of course, other modes of online marketing do exist. Networking, whether in person or over business sites like LinkedIn, provides you with contacts who can pass on customers who might need your products or services. Direct advertising on websites still exists, too; although, it’s less common now that Google has come out against buying links to influence search position. A healthy balance of all these marketing methods enables your website to become more visible in an era when every business is online.
How can THP Creative help?
Whether it is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization or making your website compatible with the current “best practices,” SEO might take more effort than you realized. You can depend on THP to lead you through this digital age. Our experience includes cutting edge Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques that will help you gain exposure. Our goal for you includes gaining higher rankings and we have the necessary skills and expertise needed to drive more traffic, convert more sales and increase your ROI. Call us today to see how we can help you further: 770-483-5973
