SEO as a Component of Wider Website Marketing Techniques
Whilst I obviously spend a great deal of my time telling clients about the benefits of SEO, it isn’t your only option when it comes to marketing your website online. SEO is still hugely important, but it certainly isn’t the only thing you need to address when looking to achieve online success.
Firstly, you need a product. If your business model is inept, your prices are higher than all competitors or you just don’t have an audience, nothing will help you. Regardless of your search engine ranking, you can’t sell chocolate teapots.
Your website also has to be user friendly. If you have a dated looking website that is difficult to navigate around it will be difficult to get conversions.
Essentially you need to get the fundamentals right first. This means having something in place that will justify your search engine ranking, not just a site getting traffic and no conversions. It sounds obvious, but many people see SEO as a fix for wider problems. Unfortunately this just isn’t the case.
Whilst search engines command a huge percentage of the Internet’s overall traffic, particularly those looking for goods and services, SEO isn’t the only avenue to explore. Social media can provide a great ally to any online marketing efforts. It doesn’t have the same longevity or clear pathway to success, sites like Twitter and Facebook provide an opportunity to gain visibility.
As we know with SEO, visibility is key to building a sustainable online business. You can’t simply have a great product that can’t be found. You need to be out there shouting about it. This means marketing it in a way that provides maximum benefit for you and falls within your resource remit.
SEO will get you seen on the search engines, at least it will when done properly. Paid search can also provide invaluable assistance when it comes to conquering Google. Getting yourself a properly managed Google AdWords PPC account can encourage more targeted clicks and ensure your net is being cast as far as it possibly can.
In many ways though SEO will provide the nucleus of many of your efforts. It does take some time to perfect and should certainly provide the best long-terms results. However, complete success is far more reliant on all the component pieces coming together.
SEO, social media and PPC are your promotional tools. Yes, SEO does have an impact on your on-page content and navigational structure, but the other off-site methods still have the potential to raise your profile and traffic levels.
Webmasters and site owners all have their opinions on which marketing method is the most effective, but to be productive you have to be proactive. It doesn’t matter if you’re maintain a successful Twitter account or getting your site to the top of Google, hard work and an understanding of the environment around you is essential.
You have to market where your customers congregate most and do so in a way that will encourage them to engage with you. Okay so that might be easier said than done, but who ever said that Internet marketing was easy?
