Digital Marketing covers any form of online marketing of products and services. Search browsers, websites, and social media are the channels making digital marketing possible.
These channels can reach all the world that can reach the Internet. That universe is vital to your business growth. But, you must know how to optimize its use.
One sign of how successful you are in reaching the audience you intend to sell is where your business ranks on Google. When computer users Google a question or topic, you want your business to rank on the first page that appears. If it doesn’t appear there, it should be listed closely thereafter. People do not have the patience to search too deeply into the rankings.
Forbes points out, “Customer conversion rate optimization needs to be the first concern of businesses. Conversion rate optimization is simply the method of acquiring the most online traffic to your website so that potential visitors are converted to customers.”
Google and other search engines are also in the advertisement business. So, they do not want your content to be advertising unless you have paid for it. The various social media channels have devised ways to verify and clear your message. If you want to reach the top spots in Google, you should explore the components necessary for making yours an effective digital marketing campaign.
7 Essential Components
Understand SEO: Search Engine Optimization helps your ranking on the top search engines like Google, Bing, Explorer, and others. If you want to be seen by most people, you must rank high on the most-used search engines.
People tend to search for single words, short phrases, or simple questions. The copy on your website, its blogs and articles, must contain these key elements. The more times people connect with your website the higher your ranking.
Dynamic Website: You must present a dynamic website, one that has elements that keep from being a static presentation. Among other things, the website is your business address, and it needs to be as attractive and engaging as good signage on a business building.
The best websites have certain characteristics that make it easier for shoppers to reach you:
- Professionally prepared and easy to navigate
- Easily used on mobile devices
- Maximized use of images and videos
- Individual pages devoted to company, products, services, testimonials, and so on.
- Repeated information on contact channels
- Links to social media
- Ability to order and pay
Get Social: People spend more time on social media than on searches. Reaching prospects on their social media venues is easier than most advertising media. You must meet buyers where they are.
You must create an identity on each of the major social media platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and others that best suit your business concept. Having created your place, you must feed it with relevant news and content relevant to your product and service. Social media let you communicate directly, participate in public conversations, include images, and embed videos.
Add Ads: Gaining and sustaining your SEO ranking takes time and management. Still, it’s not enough to maximize your digital presence. You should place advertisements.
Google and other channels invite you to pay for ads for placement on the media outlets that target the audience you value. Paid ads appear where you want them and encourage faster response. If you have a Facebook page, you will see such ads appearing in the margin. And, those ads will follow you to other frequently used web searches.
Content Voice: Web content includes website copy, blogs, images, videos, and anywhere you use language. That language must be consistent and reflect your natural voice. It must favour brevity and clarity. It must engage and sustain interest. Content must inform, develop need, and call readers to act. It should build brand awareness and credibility. And, it must invite and direct users how to purchase.
This requires a different from usual writing style. Blogs require bold and captivating headlines, short paragraphs, simple sentences, and a specific address to the audience. Content must be skimmable. Readers must understand content in a quick scan of the text. And, in the end, they must know what you want them to do.
Blog Business: Well-written blogs build your business. Blogs contain keys searchers want to find. They may review products, instruct in product use, or discuss service needs. You might compare them to letters to the editor or newspaper op-eds.
Blogs keep your website content current. They inform and educate the public while confirming your authority and credibility. They distinguish your brand as important and competitive. And, they link to other sites and social channels where friends and followers can share the content.
Keep Track: You can track your online presence and effectiveness more easily and effectively than other advertising media. Google Analytics, for instance, measure user traffic with your website and its different pages. They report measurements on user time spent on blogs, paid ads, and social media outlets.
Analytics are unique metrics for determining what works and what doesn’t. They let you improve weak elements and optimize strong ones. Results help you budget time, effort, and expenses. And, the time they require makes sense of using an effective digital marketing agency.
Reaching the top
Reaching the top spots in Google and other web search engines take creativity and commitment. Without it, you will not reach the millennial markets that buy but only purchase online.
On September 20, 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported, “Advertisers are spending more money on online sites such as Google and Facebook, with digital ads this year expected to account for more than half of U.S. ad sales for the first time.” This shift in the marketing paradigm is only one measure of the changes you must initiate and sustain.
The workload and creative demands overload new business owners, but entrepreneurs are most in need of marketing strategies and the tools to make them work.