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What You Need to Know About SEO, SEM, and PPC

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |SEO |What You Need to Know About SEO, SEM, and PPCDid you know that a staggering three quarters of internet users don’t click past the first page of search results on Google? This is the reason why search engine optimization, or SEO, has been and still is a dominating force in the world of digital marketing. However, while SEO is arguably the most important factor to consider, it is not the only factor that is going to help you maximize your online sales. SEO can and should be combined with both SEM and PPC for optimal results.

Here is what you need to know about all three.

SEO

SEO refers to the practice of optimizing your company’s website for search engines. In other words, the ultimate goal of a good search engine optimization strategy is to rank higher in search results, something that MackMedia can help you to ascertain. SEO is comprised of both on-page and off-page factors. On page factors refer to those aspects of SEO that you can control on your own website, including metadata, user experience (UX), keywords, alt tags, and internal linking. Off-page SEO refers to the aspects of SEO that happen off of your website, but have a direct effect on your website’s rankings. Off page factors include backlinks, domain authority, and social promotion.

PPC

PPC refers to pay per click advertising via search engines. Essentially, you decide on a budget for your campaign and create ads that display on Google or on various social media platforms (most platforms have their own PPC tools and procedures). You only pay a specified amount if and when someone clicks on your ad. Generally, the ad directs the person to your website and drives a specific CTA, often resulting in a conversion or at least commencing/progressing the buyer’s journey. You have the power to set a specific budget per day and/or per month so that it is impossible to overspend.

Many business owners put more effort into PPC because it promises immediate results and automatically takes their ad to the top of the Google search results. Many also opt to make use of PPC because they believe that it positively affects their organic rankings. However, this is a myth. No matter how much you spend on PPC advertising, it will not alter your organic rankings in any way.

SEM

SEM is short for search engine marketing and it is very similar to PPC. Most experts will tell you that PPC is a large part of SEM, but that SEM extends further than just PPC itself. While PPC is generally more focused on paid advertising via search engines, SEM is focused on paid advertising across the digital board, including on third party websites like online directories, Amazon, and YouTube.

At the end of the day, a great digital marketing strategy will encompass SEO, SEM, and PPC in order to generate maximum results and maximum brand awareness. Not sure how to get started? It is always a good idea to consider hiring a professional digital marketing company for assistance if you do not feel secure enough in your own skills. That way, you can reap all of the rewards without having to put in the extra effort.

Outside Of SEO, Why Is Your Content Gold?

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |SEO|Outside Of SEO, Why Is Your Content Gold?It’s impossible nowadays to launch your online presence without considering the importance of SEO – Search Engine Optimization – in your business growth. Indeed, mastering the art of boosting your SERP ranking — aka your ranking in the search engine result pages – can substantially influence web traffic. Search engines such as Google and Bing prefer content-rich sites that diversify their content and update it regularly to reflect on current trends.

Ideally, blogs are one of the most effective tools when it comes to creating keyword-targeted content.

Content, as a result, is the key to your SEO strategy and, by extension, your digital visibility. Creating new and informative content has become a major marketing strategy for any business trying to leverage their online presence. It’s not uncommon, as a result, to design a content plan that addresses major primary, secondary, and long-tail keywords to maintain your presence in a constantly changing market. However, you’d be wrong to assume that content only matters to support your SEO strategy. Content, as it happens, is a crucial factor of growth for your entire business. Here’s everything content can transform that isn’t SEO-related.

It establishes your reputation

While your products are your main offering, your content is the closest your audience can get to understand your brand. Therefore, ensuring you push your content online, not only on your website but also on social media platforms can help to build your brand reputation. Indeed, your audience uses online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to interact with businesses – it’s the favorite channel when it comes to customer care inquiries and complaints. As a result, it’s fair to say that your social media posts are considered with great interest. Not only can you engage in direct interactions with your audience, but you can also launch a campaign to share your latest updates. Your choice of hashtags is detrimental to reaching out to a broad audience and establishing your reputation. Additionally, your attitude and behavior on social media are public, which means that the way you choose to share content online can affect your brand image too.

It generates passive income

If you’re an established blogger or digital influencer, you understand that content is money. Indeed, a youtube affiliate, for instance, use their content creation as part of their traffic strategy. Creating videos that appeal to a broad audience can maximize their channel subscriptions – aka the number of active and loyal followers – and views. It’s important to understand that users don’t need to follow a channel to watch its content. The affiliate network can share both the subscription volume and viewer number with businesses that are looking for advertising partners. The collaboration typically defines the affiliate earning by considering the total number of views each video receives. Therefore, building an informative and popular portal of content can indirectly create a stream of passive income through affiliate activities.

It showcases your expertise

Very few experts can claim they don’t worry about competition in their niche. Showcasing your expertise when you’re one of many other market players can be challenging. While success stories and portfolios can help to display your skills, they may not be enough. Ultimately, nothing seems more suspicious of potential leads than reading testimonials from your past clients. What evidence is there that those clients are real or that you’re as good as they say you are? None and as such, most digitally-savvy users tend to ignore testimonials – these are, after all, very easy to fake. However, you can publish your opinions, tips, and case studies online to attract your audience. Guest articles on a popular blog, for instance, are an ideal ice-breaker to reach out to a new audience. You can even consider creating tutorials or online courses to share your knowledge.

It gives your website depth

Sure, you might have a responsive web design, but what good does it do if you don’t have enough content? For a web visitor, reaching a site that feels content-light or that hasn’t been updated with new content leaves a poor impression. Most visitors judge your business by your site. If you don’t provide enough informative background – about the business and its expertise – people tend to be reluctant to purchase. Your content gives an additional dimension to your company, turning the online presence into a professional and trustworthy organization.

Content is at the heart of your business growth. It builds your online visibility through SEO ranking, but that’s not all it does. High-quality content can help to establish your brand and showcase your expertise. Additionally, you can use your content to support your affiliate marketing income. Finally, content brings trustworthiness to your online presence.

What To Look For When Choosing An SEO Company

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |SEO|What To Look For When Choosing An SEO CompanyBusinesses have every right to be nervous when it comes to SEO. Times are changing, and Google is really mixing things up a bit. That’s why the attendance numbers at SEO events all across the world are massively increasing. People in the industry are having to get used to a new way of doing things. Mobile platforms are being preferred over desktop websites. Websites without videos are being put further down the list. On top of this, there is worry that Google will be making itself a competitor in search results. In other words, content that is approved by Google will be given higher precedence than that which is not. This might be speculation, but it’s certainly something that is on the radar of many SEO specialists. So, what should you as a business owner look for when choosing a company to work within this area?

What is your need?

Before you start to look for an SEO company that can suit your needs, pinpoint what your need is. Do you desire content that would fit your YouTube channel? Maybe you would like SEO that is purely focussed on specific content. Perhaps you’re just about to launch a product and you would like superbly written content that explains what the product will do, what it’s made out of, what the research was behind it and more. On the other hand, you may want more backlinks, better and more powerful keywords, raising your rankings in Google, outreach to news reporting entities to get the word out there etc. What is your aim and what do you need to achieve it? These two questions must be answered before you can begin your search.

Some are better than others

Some SEO companies will be better than others, for the type of strategies you want. For example, some SEO companies may only be able to produce written content. Articles, blog posts and product descriptions etc. Other SEO companies may be better at producing videos and creating trending campaigns on social media. There are lots of SEO companies that have their own specialist area of expertise. It’s vital then that you discover which companies are better for you. It’s also vital that you choose an SEO company that knows it must stick to fair play practices. Google can dish out penalties if you try to cheat the system, which will end up hurting your campaign as the sort of punishment handed out will hamper the SEO company you have hired. Thus, playing it safe and relying on great strategy rather than any so-called ‘dark arts’ of SEO should be one of your requirements.

Speaking for itself

Quality should and must speak for itself. Consistently well-written and interesting content will keep customers coming back. Content is just as important as keywords, keyphrases and website standards such as video and mobile versions.

Look for an SEO company that lives and breathes the industry. Preferably, one that is truly adaptable and modern, able to create video content as well as excellent blog articles.

The Need of SEO in the 21st Century

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The term Search Engine Optimisation is quite a head-turner. It is something that dominates the market scene of the 21st century. If one were to put things into perspective, Search Engine Optimisation or SEO, was always there since the advent of the Internet; just not in a way and scale as it is today. You cannot think of a business venture that still puts its faith in medieval methods of marketing and branding. It does not work anymore. New age requires newer and fresher solutions to every marketing woe. This is exactly where SEO steps in. Its revolutionary approach to notch up the branding and marketing game few notches up has become a game-changer in the arena of digital marketing. There is no way one can hope to thrive and scale businesses without seeking refuge in SEO.

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article | The Need of SEO in the 21st Century
 
The article discusses the importance of SEO in the 21st century, how it has led to a tectonic shift in the world of digital marketing and how enterprises can keep benefitting from it in the days that shall follow. But first, we are going to run through the basic concepts.

What is Search Engine Optimisation?

Simply put, Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is a technique which helps in putting your business website on a suitable spot in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) and thus, enhances its ranking. Ranking on search engines is of paramount importance in this century since that is the only way a business endeavour can hope to gain the required attention to its products and services. You might have the best products or services in a certain niche. But if you cannot get them to your target audience, all your efforts into making the best for public and making money hands over fists will end up in smoke. You must first be able to convince your target group about what you have to offer and how they differ from the rest of the products in the market, before you can do something to convert them into your loyal customers. Search Engine Optimisation helps you take your business out there in the world by acquiring good ranks on the results page and by grabbing the eyeballs of your target group.

How Does It Work?

We have discussed quite a few points on SEO and how it works in this day and age, in the previous section. But we now need to see how exactly it contributes towards scaling a business. So, we talked about how SEO helps in tweaking the rank of your website on the SERPs. But why do you think that is even important? It is tremendously important for visibility, yes. But that is not all. It is crucial because the right techniques of SEO draw more and more potential clients and customers to your website and help them make an informed decision regarding your service.

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article | The Need of SEO in the 21st Century
 
The technical jargon of this world would be, drawing optimum ‘traffic’ to your site. Once your website keeps drawing organic traffic to itself, it will definitely succeed in converting customers, and thus, help in enhancing the conversion rate. Therefore, it is quite clear why Search Engine Optimisation has such importance in today’s world.

Coming up with the right SEO hacks is not very simple and we have excellent analysts and agencies who handle this part of digital marketing for almost every business venture. They look into what kind of websites are drawing traffic, study their on-site and off-site elements, research on Google’s metrics and then come up with ways that conform to Google’s standards of ranking. Google is the smartest search engine ever devised, and that is why it is not easy to fool it with reverse engineering hacks. But smart SEO analysts and experts know just the right ways to do that. Google keeps upgrading its metrics for ranking to enhance user experience. Therefore, if you want to outrank other websites from their topmost ranks on the Search Engine Results Page, you have to up your SEO game and look for ways in which you can conform to Google’s ever-evolving needs.

Conclusion:

Search Engine Optimisation is an institution in itself, one that cannot be understood in one article. It has several techniques and methods associated with it, and not even one carefully structured course could deal with all the details. It requires years and years of experience and maybe only then, one can hope to understand what this entire world of SEO actually is. However, for starters, know that SEO is an integral part of digital marketing, and no business can climb its zenith of success without asking for its help. Therefore, if you have been in two minds about the SEO and whether you should rope in an agency or an expert to cater to its needs, brush any dilemma off your mind. The 21st century calls for SEO to be involved in every venture and marketing tactics, and you should do the same.

Take The Weight Off Your Shoulders With A Web Design Agency

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Website Design|Take The Weight Off Your Shoulders With A Web Design AgencyNowadays literally everything has moved to an online platform. People do their grocery shopping on the internet. People pay their gas and electricity bills online. They book their holidays, apply for bank loans, reschedule their post deliveries, buy clothes, send birthday cards and take out insurance policies, all via the World Wide Web.
The need to have an effective and dominant online presence has never been so important. For a business to survive, let alone take great leaps forward, they need to ensure that they are reaching customers via the use of the internet. Any business which does not do so is simply falling further and further behind their competitors with each and every day which passes by.

There a whole host of components which go into securing an effective online presence. Nevertheless, a company’s online debut always begins with a website. A place to showcase what the business is all about, explain what they can offer the potential customer and also offer the goods and services to buy within the click of a mere button.

A lot of people attempt to set up their own website. Some people manage to do so effectively, however, for many, this is not the case. The design of a website is absolutely crucial. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that it is simply the case of developing a website which is pleasing on the eye and then the job is done. 99.9% of these people sit there wondering why nobody is visiting their website.

The truth is; there is a lot of thought and consideration which goes into a vast number of factors and components which eventually makes up a website. In order for a website to be an effective and successful one it is thus highly important that individuals seek the aid of a web design agency. There are a whole host of reasons as to why this is the case.

A lot of people deter from using a web design agency because they simply see it as more money being spent. Nevertheless, the awards will certainly be reaped in the end when more people are visiting the company’s website and more customers are taking advantage of the goods or services on offer. Quite frankly, the money spent will be made back in no time.

Furthermore, time is of the essence. Every day wasted without an online presence is another day which is lost to rival businesses. Designing a website on your own takes an extremely long period of time. Taking advantage of the services professionals have to offer is much quicker, convenient and effective.

Finally, and most importantly, web design agencies have invaluable knowledge. There is a lot more to creating and designing a website then meets the eye. The following is just a taster of what needs to be considered; how user friendly the website is, what colour scheme is most effective for the type of business in question, how to use search engine optimization to climb up the search engine pages and how to structure the site in the most convenient way.

Web design is highly important to any company and thus it is vital to put it in professional hands.