Forming and implementing smart marketing strategies is something I find myself discussing quite often. As I meet with SEO clients and leads around the Indianapolis area, this topic by far dominates the conversation.
Let’s start by making a list of some of the more well-known avenues of growth online: having a website, appearing on Google search results, actively using social media, online business listings, and paid ads online. Admittedly, this list is not complete, but for the sake of our conversation today, it will do.
Consider the following situation: you have a great website. It looks nice, it’s interactive, and it’s dynamic. You even hired a web designer to set it up for you. And at the moment, when someone goes to Google to search for words that describe what you do (keywords), you aren’t included in the search results.
There could be many valid reasons for this: your website could be brand new, your domain name could be newly registered, or there is an overwhelming amount of competition in your area. The common suggestions to address this challenge would be to post updates on your site everyday, actively use your social media networks, activate online business listings, etc. But is it enough to just “do” these things?
The answer is no. We need to form a strategy. We need to do all of these things, but they need to be done together, in lock-step fashion. Find out what keywords people are search for, and use these words in your blog, social media updates, and online business listings. Dedicate a comfortable dollar amount per month to a Google ad-words campaign. Develop a network of links to your site from other websites (inbound links).
Lastly, get this strategy down on paper. Review your strategy once a week and once a month. Identify key-indicators that you can review to determine what’s working, and what’s not. And perhaps most importantly, do not be rigid with your strategy, but be prepared to make many small adjustments in response to the weekly and monthly results of your effort.
We call this ‘Strategic Online Marketing’, and if done diligently and consistently, results in beneficial visibility and increased profits.