Advertising and promotion has always been about presenting relevant content when you need it. In the not so distant past, the big yellow page book was stored on a shelf for the day when you would need a plumber in a hurry!
Now of course that bulky book has been replaced by fast internet connections that serve up everything you want on a pocket sized phone. While this is very convenient for consumers, small businesses have yet to figure out their attractive and relevant online content in front of potential buyers “first”. The skill set to accomplish this is out of reach for many businesses unless the task is hired out. Here are a few things you should know about before hiring the help. SEO, SEM and PPC, what is that all about?
Let’s start with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It provides the best quality results.
Search Engine Optimization is a process of over 200 different elements performed to improve your website or web page rankings on the organic or unpaid search engine result listings. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) includes two main elements. The first is on-page optimization (optimizing the contents of the pages on your website so they are relevant to the keywords or keyword phrases) and off-site optimization (creating and optimizing the inbound links that link to a specific page of your website). Proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) makes sure that search engines can understand the content of your website. If search engines think that your website is relevant to a specific keyword search, they will show a page from your website as a search result. If your page is more relevant (and properly optimized) than your competition the search engines will display your result above your competitors. The main reason you would want to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is that you don’t pay for any clicks. The regular or organic search listings typically get many more visitors and clicks than the paid ads (SEM). The difference or disadvantage of SEO is that it takes longer to get listed in the organic search results. It can take months before your web pages rank well on the search engines, but once they do you will reap the benefits.
Then there is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) How can it help your business?
SEM uses paid search engine marketing such as Google Adwords or Bing Ads and it’s an easy way to get website visitors. If you go this route and decide to advertise your website through SEM, you will pay the search engines to list your website for certain keywords of your choice and to have them display the ad you have written (linking to your website). When a person searches for that keyword, the search engine will show your ad. You only pay when someone clicks your ad, the amount of times your ad shows up in the search results will depend on your budget for the day. You can set a maximum budget for the day and a maximum budget for the actual cost per click. SEM is a great way to ensure you have a search engine listing for the keywords or keyword phrases you have chosen, as long as you have a big enough budget to have your ads displayed often. There is a big disadvantage if you choose to do Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and that is the cost can get outrageous if you are paying for the wrong keyword and isn’t driving targeted traffic to your website, you will lose a lot of money.
How to get the biggest bang for your buck?
RBN Web Services has come up with an affordable solution for small and medium sized businesses. We do this by aggregating hundreds and even thousands of local businesses on a fully managed community website that is already recognized by the search engines, and that credibility is passed on to your business when you establish a listed mini-website on the community site. This builds qualified traffic to your online content on the community site as well as your individual website if you already have one. This is all done for a small monthly fee, easy to budget for, and a winner for results. RBN Web Services manages numerous community websites throughout Southwestern Ontario, in urban and rural markets.
For further information, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.rbnweb.ca
