Online marketing is all about getting more people to visit your website. There are three main avenues for getting more traffic (visitors) to your website:
- Search Engines – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO your website so that it comes up on the first page of Google. This is the best because once you’ve paid the up front cost for SEO the ongoing traffic will be free. Unfortunately it’s very difficult to get to the first page for many competitive industry sectors. - Social Media
Social media is the new buzzword, and while it has the allure of being “free”, it actually costs a lot in terms of your time and it’s just not appropriate for most businesses (nobody wants to follow the posts of a truck driving school or a plumbing business on Facebook!) - Online Advertising
While it costs money to advertise, it is the one method that’s guaranteed to bring new potential customers to your website. The big question is whether it can be done in a cost effective way that increases your profits. Often the only way to find out is to give it a go.
Why Should I advertise?
SEOing your website is usually the first step because it’ll usually bring you the greatest return on investment. But there are several situations when it’s wise to also run an online advertising campaign.
- New Websites don’t rank well in search results
Google penalises new websites, so no matter how well a new site is SEOed it can take up to a year before the website will be given it’s true rank by Google. Therefore most new business have no option but to advertise, if they want to get new customer from the internet. - Search results are too competitive
For many industry sectors it’s difficult to get listed on the first page of google and so it may be cheaper to advertise than to spend money on additional SEO efforts. - Reach Wider Search Audience
Even if you have achieved a good search ranking for some of the keywords relevant to your business it’s highly unlikely you’ll rank well for all of them. Therefore it’s often wise to advertise on the keywords that you’re website’s not ranking well for. - Reach an Audience that’s not searching
Being ranked highly in search results will only reach potential customers that are actually searching for what you’re selling. If they’re not searching for “Sydney landscapers” they won’t find you. Advertising on Facebook is a good way to reach people who aren’t searching for what you’re selling but are likely to be interested in buying it anyway.
Where can I advertise?
There 3 main places to go for online advertising
- Google:
- Adwords (Advertising in Google search results)
- Adsense (Advertising on other websites, but organised by Google)
- Facebook Advertising (Ads & Promoted posts)
- Bing Ads (Advertising in Bing search results)
Where should I advertise?
It all depends on the type of business you have and your particular circumstances. We can design an online advertising strategy that suits your circumstances and budget. We’ll implement it and then help you manage, review and fine tune it to produce the best possible return on investment.
