Digital marketing is a foundational pillar and a driving force behind long-term success in the competitive business world, no matter if you’re running an online brand or a brick-and-mortar store. Modern customers search for brands, products, and services online before deciding to get in touch with a company, and even before deciding to visit a physical store, meaning that it’s more important than ever before to invest in digital marketing in order to build your competitive advantage.
That said, there’s no denying that marketing your business consistently can be a burden on your financial resources, but there’s also the problem of investing in the wrong digital marketing tactics that drain your budget. Fortunately, search engine optimization is not one of them, and in fact, good SEO can help you achieve your sales and marketing goals while helping you save money in the process.
Here are the key tips you should use to minimize financial waste and capitalize on SEO in 2021 and beyond.
1. Rank Higher With Simple Keyword Research
You probably know that keyword research, optimization, and implementation is a key process in any SEO strategy. While many business owners might feel a bit apprehensive when it comes to investing in keyword analysis, it’s important to note that you can do all of that virtually for free. You simply need to use the right tools, and invest your time and effort into optimizing existing content, and creating new optimized content as well.
Start by noting down what you already know about your industry, competitors, and target demographic. Make a list of all the relevant topics and talking points that your audience cares about and searches for. Then start researching keywords based on this information using Google’s keyword planning tool, and move on to implementing the most relevant keywords into your website’s copy, your blog posts, and other content.
Make sure not to stuff them in, though, but weave them seamlessly into the copy.
2. Improve Lead Generation and Conversion Without Investing in PPC
Pay-per-click advertising is a great way to gain online exposure and bring traffic to your website on a short notice, but that doesn’t mean that it’s for everyone and most of the time it will end up costing you more than you earn. The way PPC works is you pay Google every time someone clicks on one of your ads, but whether or not that user ends up making a purchase is anyone’s guess. And if visitors don’t convert into customers, you’re losing money.
This is a terrible investment for small business owners who want to minimize financial waste, and it’s a far better idea to invest in SEO instead, which can cost little to nothing in the grand scheme of things. While ads tend to be intrusive and annoying, optimized content and posts appear organically in the search results and naturally lead people to your website, which generates qualified leads and improves conversions. Best of all, SEO is much better at generating repeat purchases than one-off PPC campaigns.
3. Choose Outsourcing Instead of Hiring SEO Experts
Keeping a digital marketing team on payroll is not something most small businesses can afford to do over the long-term, but it may not just be about the money. While in-house SEO experts may be expensive, the bigger concern is their level of expertise, especially if you’re bringing people on a tight budget. For this and many other reasons, a much more financially-sensible solution would be to outsource your SEO needs, which is a popular tactic in costly markets like Australia.
In the Land Down Under, small business owners are finding outsourcing to SEO agencies far more affordable, yet also far more effective because of their talent and expertise. They are also finding it easier to localize their SEO campaigns by working with an SEO agency. This allows them to rank higher in their local market with highly-targeted SEO that only the top experts in the field can provide, which would cost them significantly to do in-house.
No matter the market you’re in, though, be sure to use this approach yourself and consider outsourcing your SEO to local experts in order to save time and money.
4. Include Website Maintenance in the Fee
Whether you’re working with an SEO agency or an in-house team, your SEO experts should be able to provide professional website maintenance and optimization to ensure your site is performing as it should. You see, Google doesn’t just care about great content and relevant keywords, it also cares about website performance, as it wants the user to get the best browsing experience possible.
Luckily, website performance analysis is a standard practice and one of the most effective strategies in SEO circles, so you should be able to get this service as a part of a standard SEO practice. Make sure that your team keeps optimizing your site’s performance regularly to keep your ranking high.
5. SEO Lasts Longer Than Any Other Digital Marketing Tactic
While SEO might not be entirely free, it is important to keep in mind that this is a long-term investment, unlike many other digital marketing tactics. This is your investment into the future, while PPC ads and sponsored posts on social media, as well as influencer marketing and other tactics will bring immediate but short-lived results.
Make sure to invest in SEO first, build up your presence and authority online using this affordable digital marketing tactic, and then when you start making money off of your marketing efforts, you can start investing in more costly tactics. But remember, it takes time for SEO to take effect, so be patient and keep optimizing.
Over To You
SEO is a foundational pillar of success in the business world nowadays, and the best part is that investing in SEO doesn’t have to cost you an arm, or a leg. Keep these tips in mind and start investing in SEO today to generate leads and boost conversions while saving money in the process.
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