Going viral on social media or running ads can provide bursts of visibility to your local business, but a strong digital marketing strategy includes a foundation for long-term, sustainable visibility.
It all starts with optimizing your website to drive more traffic and increase your chances of ranking higher on search engine results pages.
Here are four low-cost tactics to build a consistent online presence to keep new business coming in:
- Search engine optimization — SEO tells search engines like Google which information to pull when someone searches for a specific answer and helps determine where you should rank on a search engine results page.
- Local SEO – Local search optimization focuses on improving visibility in search engines for local results.
- Conversion-driven web design – Beside useability, your end goal for web design should be conversions, whether that’s more driving direction requests, phone calls, emails, or purchases.
- Email marketing – Email marketing aims to build a list of engaged subscribers and is a much less volatile digital marketing strategy than social media.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO can be the difference between your website performing well online or not. Start with keyword research to see what users are searching for on Google—this way, you can begin optimizing your website’s content to match user intent. The more your quality content matches user intent, the better your page ranks on search engine results pages.
Local SEO/Google Business Profile
If you’re a local business, the best free digital marketing strategies start on Google Business Profile. To start, create your Google My Business Profile and start optimizing your online listing by adding relevant, accurate information about your business like:
- Business name
- Business address
- Phone number
- Business categories
- Business description
- Hours (including special hours)
- Photos
- Website URL
Conversion-Driven Web Design
If you’re trying to gain more phone calls, online purchases, or requests for driving directions to your business, your website needs to be able to track those conversions. When you track conversion rate metrics, you can learn where visitors are finding your website, how they’re interacting with your pages, and how much each visit is worth to help you calculate your cost per conversion.
Tracking this data also allows your business to be better informed for its next ad campaign, since these metrics can show you what worked best and what needs rethinking. Just make sure to target only a couple of meaningful metrics, though, as too much data can be overwhelming and unhelpful in achieving your specific marketing goals.
Email Marketing
Although email lists have been around for a while, they are a tried-and-true digital marketing method to building an engaged subscriber base that converts. In fact, 47% of people prefer to receive communication and promotions from brands via email.
Unlike your social media feed, email marketing campaigns allow you to be more in control of personalized messaging—you decide who sees what emails and content at which point of their buyer’s journey, making it easier to drive a sale.
Learn more about how SEO and other digital marketing strategies can help increase your online presence for the long term on the Hurrdat Marketing Blog!