Marketing

What is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing is the process of creating writing, images, and videos that are used to draw the attention of your intended audience. Good content on your website is needed for all aspects of digital marketing. What you offer has to be unique and valuable to your current and potential viewers.

Aspects of Content Marketing include:
1)    Copywriting – what is written on your website, promotional material, printed material, etc.
2)   Graphic Design – the colors, logos, icons, images, and layout of your content.
3)   Video Design – filming, editing, production, design, sound, music, talent, etc.

The content you create changes dramatically depending on your organization, goals, and target audience. For example, a blog is going to use their content to attract readers and provide information. An ecommerce website is going to use their content to attract customers and sell products.

The best websites leverage all aspects of content marketing to provide a bend of the best experience and best information possible. Regardless of your goals, to be successful in digital marketing, you can not forget to incorporate high quality copywriting with your design. To Google and other search engines, your website is only as good as the information you provide. Once the information is high quality and organized, you can build everything else attop it.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization, known as SEO, is the process of organizing the information on your website to levredge Search Engines like Google so more traffic is directed to your website. Most people find new products, services, or blogs by searching a question or topic in Google. SEO is focused on helping your website appear as close to the top of those searches as possible.

Aspects of SEO include:
1)    On page SEO – Optimizing meta-data, setting keywords, researching content, page speed, site errors, and site indexation.
2)    Outreach – networking with other websites in your sphere to create connections between your website and theirs.
3)    Link Building – creating links from other websites to your website to establish authority.
4)    Research & Analysis – discover keywords, competitor analysis, ranking data, organic traffic.

SEO is the long term play in digital marketing. Unlike online advertising, SEO doesn’t see an immediate response or change, and can be difficult to measure. It can take several months to see the effects of your SEO efforts, but once you begin making progress, you will start to see it’s effects.

The reason SEO is so important is due to the high impact it has on your website’s long-term viability. Not every company, small business, or freelancer can afford to spend thousands on ads. The more people that find your website organically through Google Search, the more customers you get without occurring ad costs.

The world of SEO changes more frequently than online advertising. Every time Google makes a change to their search engine results pages (SERP) and the way they organize data, SEO’s must adapt and improve their strategy. This doesn’t change the fundamental needs, but it does change what your team will need to focus their time and resources on.

The average website has a life span of two years. So in the end, your website’s viability will be determined by how long you have been working on SEO and how flexible or adaptable you are in changing to meet evolving demands.

What is Online Advertising?

Online advertising, known as PPC (Paid Per Click) is a resource of digital marketing that allows you to bid on high volume keywords and attract more customers to your website. These digital ads are displayed and charge per click, not per conversion. This can be costly, since hundreds of people can click on your ad without making a purchase, causing you to lose money. However, good ad campaigns leverage the success of one ad conversion against the number of non converting clicks. Like traditional advertising methods, not everyone who sees your ad will buy, but if the ad is good, you will make your budget back and then some.

Aspects of PPC include:
1)    Google Ads – advertisements on google’s search results pages
2)    Social Media Ads – advertisements on facebook, instagram, snapchat, etc.
3)    Email Campaigns – advertisements sent to customers via email or via subscriptions
4)    Discounts & Promotions – discounts displayed on your website banners to drive sales.
5)    Affiliate Marketing – selling and promoting your products/services on 3rd party websites

There are several key terms that are used when calculating the success or potential of an online ad. These include CPA, ROI, and Spend.
CPA (cost per acquisition) is used to determine how much money was spent per new customer acquired.
ROI (return on investment) which is used to determine how much money was made vs what was spent. Everyone wants their ads to make them money. A good metric to determine if your ads are suitable is if your performance gives you a 5x ROI.
Spend is the word used to determine the budget for the ad campaign. Spend is a term that is frequently used by digital marketers as well as in the tools used for creating online ads.

Social media platforms and google run ads differently, and there are many different tools and resources available to help you create, manage, organize, and analyse ad campaign data. There are common pitfalls that can be costly to new companies and freelancers that try their hand at online advertising for the first time. It’s always best to consult with a trained digital marketer, conduct detailed research about your digital sphere, and start small when getting started.

Online advertising is a great way to grow your company, business, and website during the early stages. A young website and company takes time to build, and ads are a great way to grow quickly at the beginning. As your business and website grows, ads mixed with organic traffic from SEO, will begin to work together. Not every company needs ads, and not every company can grow without them. Each website needs it’s own custom digital marketing strategy that is tailored to its own needs and limitations.