Get More Website Traffic
Your Website Will Only Work If People Get To See It
Having a website is one thing but the most expensive, well planned website in the world is a failure if you can't get traffic to it. There are many digital marketing strategies and tools to choose from and which one will work best for you depends on your product/service and target market. Some of the options we look at are:
SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the activity done to get a website ranking in the top few search results in Google and other web browsers. It is the most over-hyped and misunderstood method of driving website traffic. It can be broken down into:
Onsite SEO
Onsite SEO is the optimisation of the content and structure of the website. In theory, your new website should be delivered with onsite SEO built in but it rarely is. If your website developer has not optimised the heading structure, meta-data and keyword placement, images, navigation and other elements of the website it will cost you $100 per page or more to do afterwards. Onsite SEO is integral to our website development methodlogy and we wish the rest of the industry would catch up.
Once a website is live, onsite SEO consists of adding new posts and content, usually in the form of blog articles. Each article should also be optimised for best effect. We provide training to site owners on how to optimise blog posts. If paying a third party to create blog posts you should ensure they are not plagiarising or using software to "spin" articles. Spin software replaces words in an existing article with synonyms to try and trick Google into thinking it is new content. Any technique that is based on tricking Google will ultimately fail with risk of losing your sites ranking.
Offsite SEO
When SEO companies quote for SEO they generally are referring to offsite SEO. This is made up of backlinks, directory listings, guest posts on social media etc. SEO campaigns have become more expensive over the years as competition goes up and Googles AI gets smarter. You can expect to pay a minimum of $800 per month for a local SEO campaign but will not see much for your money in under 6 months. For small businesses focusing on Google Business Listings is usually a much cheaper and more effective option.
Google Business Listings (previously Google My Business)
Google Business Listings is the latest name for Googles amalgamation of Google Places, Google Maps and Google Reviews. Almost any search for a product or service on Google will result in three Google Business Listings or Maps listings showing above the top ranked websites. This is arguably the most valuable real Estate on the search page. W had a client spending around $2,000 per week on Google Ads resulting in his ads always showing at the top of the search page for any related search. His business was also in the Google Maps "3 Pack" and the website ranked at position 1 for most searches. 45% of the clients business came from the Google Maps listings despite the amount being spent on ads and the number 1 ranking. That is how valuable being in the 3 Pack is.
Optimisation of your Google listing requires weekly posts, responding to reviews, adding current Questions and Answers and regular uploads of images. To have this done professionally will cost less than half the price of an SEO campaign and will result in faster ranking and better placement.
Paid Ads
Google ads are pay per click. They are the most targeted online advertising because they are shown to people who are searching specifically for what you are advertising. You cost per click may be more than for other online platforms but the returns are often much higher. PPC works best if you are able to target specific search terms. It is least effective if your product is generic in a high competition niche.
Facebook ads are essentially sponsored posts that appear in potential customer's feeds so they are more like a billboard you place on the side of the road and hope some of the passing traffic has an interest. Facebook allows you to select attributes of people that you would like to see your ads when setting up a campaign. Facebook ads can be very effective but the effectiveness for many businesses is reducing by first Apple then Google reducing the ability of Facebook to track what you are interested in. At the moment Facebook ads still work very well for some businesses but it is becoming more expensive than in the past. Businesses that are likely to get the best returns from Facebook advertising are those whose target marget is mum and dad consumers.
Linkedin advertising is very much like Facebook advertising except it is more "Business to Business". Currently advertising on Linkedin is more expensive than Facebook but if your target market is businesses rather than consumers you should get a better return for your money.
Tik Tok
Advertising on TikTok is relatively cheap and can be very effective if your target market is Millenials and GenZ. It is a video platform so you must create video ads.
Email Marketing
Email is still one of the most effective marketing tools if you have an existing list of contacts. If you don't have an existing list, start building one asap. DO NOT buy lists. Email works best when you establish a relationship with the recipients. Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp are cheap and often free to get started (Mailchimp doesn't charge you until your list is over 2000 strong) and make it easy to measure what sort of emails your list is interested in.
Social Media
Social Media is a powerful force but takes time to build an audience. Strategies vary with platform but the one thing they all have in common is the need for consistancy. You must keep posting content on a regular basis and comment on other peoples posts. It is called Social because you have to be social, not just focused on your own posts.
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