Website, SEO, PPC, Pay-Per-Lead Services, Etc.
When it comes to Internet Marketing for your business, there are several avenues to explore. This article will briefly touch on the various available Internet Marketing channels.
This blog serves as your “Marketing Plan” and Roadmap going forward.
Online Marketing Channels
Online Marketing Channels
- Search Engine Optimization (Organic Listings and Map Listings)
- Search Engine Marketing/PPC on Google AdWords and Bing Search Network
- Social Media Marketing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)
- Video Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Paid Directory Marketing (BOTW, Spoke.com, Yahoo, Yelp, Foursquare, Yellow Pages, etc.)
- Paid Lead Services (Emfluence.com, Fuellead.com, Intellibright.com, etc.)
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing your company’s visibility on major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) in the organic, non-paid listings as consumers are searching for your products or services.
There are three very critical components of Search Engine Marketing:
- Paid Listings – The area along the top and side that advertisers can bid on and pay for to obtain decent placement in the search engines
- Organic Listings – The area in the body of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
- Map Listings – The listings that come up beneath the paid listings and above the organic listings in several searches
Search Engine Optimization involves getting your website to show up in the Organic and Map Listings. These listings account for a majority of the search volume. As illustrated below, more than 78% of searchers click on the Organic (non-paid listings) rather than the paid listings.
When most people think of “Internet Marketing,” they think of Search Engine Optimization. However, you will begin to see that SEO is only a tiny piece of the MUCH BIGGER “Internet Marketing” puzzle for business owners.
Search Engine Marketing / Pay-Per-Click
Now that we have discussed SEO, let’s talk about Search Engine Marketing or PPC (Pay-Per-Click). Google, Yahoo, and Bing all have paid programs that allow you to BUY listings associated with your keywords and place them in designated areas of their sites.
There are three significant benefits of PPC:
- Your keyword listings will appear on search engines almost immediately.
- You only have to pay when someone clicks on your listing – hence the term, Pay-Per-Click Marketing.
- You can get your ad to show up on national terms in the areas/cities you operate.
PPC Marketing works on an auction system similar to that of eBay. You simply choose your keywords and propose a bid of what you would be willing to pay for each click.
Several factors determine placement. In the broadest sense, the one who is willing to pay the most per click will be rewarded the top position in the search engines, while the second-most will be in the second position, etc.
PPC Marketing is a great way to get your company’s website to appear at the top of search engines right away, driving qualified traffic to your website.
Social Media Marketing
There is a lot of buzz around Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube), but how can it be utilized by a small business that is just starting? How can you use social media to grow your business? Take a look at the staggering statistics for Facebook:
- More than 500 million active users
- 50% of active users log on to Facebook on any given day
- The average user has 130 connections
- People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
So, how can you employ this fantastic tool to grow your business? Use it to connect with your sphere of influence, past and new customers. By doing so, you can solidify and maintain existing relationships, remain top-of-mind, and ultimately increase repeat and referral business.
Video Marketing
Did you know YouTube is the second-most used search engine on the market? Would you guess it is even ahead of Bing and Yahoo? It’s true!
Millions of people conduct YouTube searches daily. Most business owners are so focused on SEO they completely neglect the opportunities that video and YouTube provide.
By implementing a Video Marketing Strategy for your business, you can get additional placement in search results for your keywords, enhance the effectiveness of your SEO efforts, and improve visitor conversion.
Email Marketing
Similar to Social Media Marketing, Email Marketing is a great way to remain top-of-mind with your customers and increase repeat business and referrals. Compared to direct mail and newsletters, Email Marketing is by far the most cost-effective means to communicate with your customers.
We feel Email Marketing can effectively draw your customers into your social media world.
Paid Directory Marketing
Several Online Directories are essential for businesses:
- BOTW
- Spoke.com
- Yahoo
- Yelp
- Foursquare
- Yellow Pages
Paid Lead Service Sites
An array of services will sell you leads on a “Pay-Per-Lead” basis or a flat monthly fee.
- Emfluence.com
- Fuellead.com
- Intellibright.com
While these leads tend to go to several different providers and will be less qualified than other sources, these Pay-Per-Lead services can be a profitable online marketing channel if executed correctly.
Where To Start?
With such a large amount of Internet Marketing channels, where should you start? We firmly believe that over time, you should be appropriating each of these online marketing opportunities.
However, you must first begin with the foundation – your website, organic rankings, and social media/email. You should start looking at the various paid marketing opportunities when:
- You’ve set up your website correctly.
- You’re ranking on search engines for your most important keywords in the organic (non-paid) listings.
- You are actively engaging in social media.
We have found that the most significant and most impactful opportunity is getting ranked organically (in the non-paid listings). You may then leverage the additional profits in paid marketing to further augment your growth.
Once you are ranking well organically and things are firing on all cylinders, then you can start to run a well-managed Pay-Per-Click campaign and explore paid online directory listings on Yelp, Foursquare, etc.