Let’s face it: it’s not so easy to drive traffic to your website these days – what with the glut of businesses in the online space. However; it’s still the flat-out best form of marketing (in terms of your return-on-investment) because it allows any business, no matter how small, to compete without breaking the bank.
Here, we’ll outline some tried-and-true techniques that continue to withstand the changes to Google’s search algorithm. Some of them you’ve undoubtedly heard of; but do they still work well in terms of ROI? Let’s take a look.
1. Social Media is Here to Stay
When it comes to website promotion, social networking is right up there with Google Search in importance. Facebook, of course, commands the lion’s share of traffic – but sites such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr and others rate very well and bring visitors from all over the world to your online business.
As such, create a profile on the top five sites, and allocate resources to consistent promotion. The key is to build up enough of a social network that, after a critical mass, some of your posts go viral. To learn how to gain subscribers in depth, find out here.
2. Conduct Long-Tail Keyword Research
The difference between long-tail keyword and keywords is simple: the former is more targeted. Think about how this affects your marketing directive; by finding excellent long-tail words, you cut down drastically on the amount of money you spend acquiring customers that aren’t primed and ready to buy – or, at least, place themselves in the sales funnel.
To find the long-tail keywords, scour forums related to your business subject, check out Google’s Search function compilation of related words, sign up for an Adwords account, or even use paid services that are expert at locating the right phrases for your industry.
3. Conduct Proper On-Page SEO
If you’re not well-versed in programming or using markup languages such as HTML and CSS, then you might hire a developer for this part. They can be had very cheaply these days; just check out any online SEO company. Alternatively, you can simply look online for tutorials on how to properly format your title tags, your meta description, your alt tags for images (these help pictures show up in Google Image Search), and even advanced topics like utilizing rich snippets. This lets the search engines know how to find and where to rank your content.
4. Video Marketing is the Future
Adding videos as some of your content is essential; why else, do you think, that Google takes a loss on operating YouTube? If a picture is worth a thousand words, then video is worth a thousand images. The numbers are in, and people are consuming more video than any other form of content, which means that ad companies are paying a king’s ransom on well-structured, popular videos.
There’s no question they’re getting their money’s worth, which is why you should include video and monetize them when sensible. For best results, you want to use non-skippable video ads to catapult you over the competition. With more than a billion users of YouTube, there’s plenty of reason to justify hopping on the platform.
5. Invest in Analytics for Content Creation
The best thing about analytics is that one of the most comprehensive ones out there is free: Google Analytics. There is a rather generous limit of about 100 properties; which means you could sign up 100 of your websites with their own separate codes on a single account.
The utility of analytics is to help you identify the nature of your traffic. How to use this to your benefit? For example, it will identify your highest-converting webpage for you; you can then better understand what your readers want from you and expand on that content.
Just as well, by understanding where your traffic is coming from, you can decide to ramp up your promotional efforts in that direction. It’s definitely a way to improve your ROI by helping you to focus on what’s working.
6. Foster a Consistent Program of Online Engagement
This means reading and commenting on blogs in your industry. Join groups where topics related to the products and services you offer are discussed at length; by contributing something of value to these, you’ll find that a lot of traffic trickles to your website through your profile.
As mentioned above, social media promotion is a part of this, too. Seek out the smaller platforms and find – using Google Search – where the conversations that involve similar content to your sare happening. Prepare for your incoming streams of traffic by creating a targeted landing page that has everything they could be looking for, with an eye towards converting them on the spot.
7. Local Marketing Is Very Important
Google’s latest algorithms have elevated local marketing to near the top of the line in terms of SEO relevance. This means that people from your area are searching for services, and Google is prioritizing websites that have a physical location near them. Similarly, if you don’t have a physical address; you can establish a cyber-address by getting listed in local directories, making a profile on Google Plus, and getting backlinks to local charities and organizations.
You can incorporate your social media activities into this plan by announcing events, changes and additions with a keyword that includes your city, for example. If you manage to add all of these tips to your marketing plan, you could see your site rise head and shoulders above the competition.