Tag Archives: advertisement

SEO and SEM – Promoting your website

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Establishing a website or e-commerce store is just like establishing a physical business; no one knows you exist, to begin with. Just as you would want to drive people to visit a brick-and-mortar store, you need to drive people to visit your virtual store. Similarly, if you’re going to find a website, you use a search engine. But how do you compete with everyone else to get your site near the top of the list? In this guide, we will discuss what SEO and SEM are and how they can help your website become popular.

A search engine is a program that uses a keyword to identify websites on the internet, and Google is a search engine.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is internet marketing that increases a site’s visibility through organic (unpaid search) search engine results and advertising. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is increasing the number of website visitors by making the site appear high on results returned by a search engine. SEM includes SEO as well as other search marketing tactics.

WHY use SEO and SEM?

Imagine we have moved into a retail store on a busy street. We make everything amazing inside the store but leave the outside with blacked-out windows and no signage. Will customers walk by coming in? No!

So you have a new or existing website, now is the time to get more visitors and ensure that it is optimised to give you an advantage over your competition. Put more, and help your small business drive more sales.

The best way to do this is to ensure you appear on a search engine when people are looking for your goods or services. Have you ever noticed how many results come up when you search, thousands if not millions? Your goal is to be on the first page as high up as possible.

WHAT do you need to understand about an internet search?

Search engines like Google make their money from advertising. You will find that the top searches are advertisements a business has paid for. The good news is that search engines also want to be helpful, so they understand that if all they published were advertising, people would not use them. Thus, you will find an organic or unpaid search on this page to ensure they provide the searcher with the best results. Getting your business in this organic search is key, but how the magic formula works at Google is a secret. It is a secret to stop people from manipulating the system and always being on the top of the list.

Google’s formula is considered to consider over 200 ranking criteria that are believed to be segmented into three categories: Technology, Copywriting, and Backlinks.

Technology – refers to how well a website works and includes things like the ability to represent itself just as well on a smartphone as a desktop PC, the speed a page loads, if all the links work, etc.

Copywriting – refers to the words used on the website to describe your business and offerings. Those keywords relating to a topic, the length of information, the context of your content, and even page titles and pictures will make a difference.

Backlinks – this is an incoming link from another site. If you are receiving links from other websites, then others consider your website important; thus, Google makes the same assumption.

HOW do I do SEO and SEM?

You have to decide how much money, if any, you will invest in SEM and how SEM will be integrated into other activities. For example, if you run a newspaper advertisement and the call to action is to visit your website, this is an example of SEM. Investing money can be in advertising or using the expertise of others to improve your website.

The most common form of SEM is to pay to have your site appear higher in a Google search result. The process is as follows:

  1. You select a keyword/s to associate with your business. Think about what someone would type to search for your business. 
  2. Decide where you want your ads to appear. Just your town or the whole state or country.
  3. Create a message around your benefit to the customer
  4. Decide a budget
  5. Decide when and what times of the day you want to be live

 The cost of doing this depends on how many other people want to do it simultaneously and how much they are prepared to pay for that keyword. Thus a bidding process determines the cost. You can also pay based on reaching many people or for results. When someone clicks on your site, the latter is more expensive. Google has many tools to help you spend your money and help drive the best results. The key for you is to review what you paid and measure if you saw a corresponding increase in sales (Return on Investment – ROI). If you did, it worked. If you did not, try something else.

For both SEM and SEO, there are three ways to get it done:
  1. Do it yourself – further research and tools provided by Google and others
  2. Domain Hoster – the firm you have used to host your site that potentially helped you build it via a template or website builder will have additional packages around advertising to help you
  3. Hire an expert – This specialist will know all the tricks and, for a fee, will advise you on your best options.
If we now look at how to get the best out of your website by using SEO, there are several steps you should follow:

Begin with research – Ensure you are optimising for the search terms to attract the best traffic to your website. It would be best if you researched keywords and competitors. A handy tool to use is Google’s Keyword Planner https://ads.google.com/intl/en_au/getstarted/. A free tool that gives you keyword ideas along with information on search volume. Just type in keywords that are relevant to your small business. Keyword Planner will generate a list of keyword ideas, along with information on search volume and competition for each keyword. You want keywords with a high search volume but low competition. The other part of SEO research is looking up your competitor’s SEO activity. You will want to understand the keywords that they are using as well as the websites that are linking to their site. This competitive information will allow you to refine your approach to SEO. Use a tool such as MOZ or SEMRush to find your competitors’ keywords.

Optimise your website– Take your list of keywords and include them in your page titles and descriptions, headers, web copy, and URLs.

Optimising your site for search is not just about keywords. Characteristics like site speed, usability, and mobile friendliness will affect your ranking. Test your site on your mobile. Get your friends to visit your site and see how fast it loads and give comments on its appeal and usability.

Content marketing – Creating relevant and educational content allows you to engage your customers and also positions you as a trustworthy expert in your space. This content relating to your keywords will boost SEO rankings and encourage others to link to your site. Consider what people want to know, including their questions and concerns. Ask yourself, is this engaging to the customer? (remember you will be biased)

HINTS

If a competitor’s website is appearing higher in the search results than yours, you might find it difficult to rank with the same keywords. In this case, look for other keywords.

When creating content for your site, avoid just using what your supplier/manufacturer has sent you. Instead, come up with engaging copy that will resonate with your audience.

SUMMARY – SEO and SEM to drive sales

For your website to be found, you will need to promote it. This can be done at a cost or organically.

You can start simply and then build on your SEM and SEO activities but ensure you plan from the beginning and use the information contained in this guide to maximise the effectiveness of the design of your new or improved website. Which in turn will help promote your small business and drive sales!

Social Media to engage customers

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Most people are on social media. Indeed for many Australians, it has become an obsession to the point that downtime should almost be renamed social media time. For this reason, social is a big opportunity for small businesses, and this guide will look at it objectively and advise you on how to make the most of it.

Social media refers to websites and applications that allow people to share content quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. Many people define social media as apps on their smartphones. The most common sites today in Australia include Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat.

When the likes of Facebook started their business, they allowed posting with few restrictions and allowed all followers to see those posts. Social sites need to generate income themselves, so if you are a commercial operation, they want you to spend money to talk to your audience. For example, If 100 people follow your business and you write a post saying you have a big sale this weekend, probably only three people will see that message in their social feed. If you pay $100 to boost your post, 3,000 people would have the post in their feed. So, unfortunately, social media is not a free form of advertising.

An organic post is a post that gets its distribution simply by being on the social platform.
Boosted post refers to when money is paid to reach a larger audience for your post.

WHY should I use Social Media?

The key advantage of social media advertising is targeting a customer. If you use traditional advertising like an advertisement in a local newspaper, you are advertising to everyone who reads that newspaper. With social, you can specifically target an audience. For example, you could target females, 18-30, who drive a car and live in your town.

Social media will help build your brand and provide a link to your website, driving additional traffic.

Social media is more cost-effective in reaching a customer than traditional advertising, but it has a very short attention span. If not engaging, your posts can easily be missed.

WHAT you should know about Social media

When businesses first used social media to reach their customers, there was not much competition. This is very different now, and as it is a bidding-based system, if you have multiple parties bidding for the same audience at the same time, this drives prices up.

Social media is not just about advertising. You can use it to find candidates for your business through sites like LinkedIn and provide video tutorials on using your products like Youtube.

The ideal situation you find yourself in is that after you post some content, your audience is so engaged they repost to their connected audience. If this process goes exceptionally well, it is referred to as a viral post.

Social media is a 2-way platform. Just as you can talk to customers, they can easily talk back. As this is a public medium, everyone will see the comments. Unless the comments are deemed by general society as inappropriate, you cannot delete them. The positive here for your business is you get instant feedback and suggestions. The counter to this is people will speak their mind, especially if they are unhappy with you. You do have the opportunity of turning this around by engaging the customer publically or privately to resolve their issues. The net effect here is if you use social media, you must also monitor it and realise it is not a set and forget medium.

HOW can I promote my business using social media?

Before you start, you need a plan or a social media strategy. This plan will outline how you will use social media, your ideal outcome, and what types of content you will produce. Also very important is to have a schedule of how often and who will do the posting. Remember, it is not the most posts that win. Rather, the posts that are most interesting to the customer and shared by the customer. Other considerations for your strategy should include considering seasonal events like Christmas and whether your efforts will generate sales.

To post on social media, we suggest the following steps.
  1. Decide on which platform you will use
    • Facebook – social sharing
    • YouTube – videos
    • Instagram – pictures
    • LinkedIn – business and recruitment
    • Snapchat – users send and receive self-destructing photos and videos
  2. Visit the platform site and learn about their offering and the free tools they provide to assist you.
  3. Establish a business profile on the platform
  4. Write your first post
  5. Decide if you will amplify the distribution by paying money to boost the post to more people. If you do, you will have the option to target by factors like demographics, location, and interests.
  6. Be ready to respond to comments from your post (if you do not, customers quickly form the opinion you do not care)
  7. Post more content and repeat.

HINT

Always include an image.

You must be active every day with interesting content if you want to keep customers engaged. Interesting content is content the customer would find interesting, not what you might find interesting, and it should also be relevant—no point in posting about International Happy Day if it has no relevance to your product.

Social media is bound by advertising rules, and any false or misleading advertising will be subject to consumer law. See our essential guide on consumer law.

SUMMARY – engaging social content

Social media is great for economically building a brand and promoting your business to a targeted audience. You must commit to the media ongoing and create content that engages the end-user. Boosting content will help you reach a greater audience. You should be aware and available to reply to comments.

Advertising for better sales

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Maybe you are starting a small business or maybe you have been in business for a while.  How do you reach new customers or let more people know you exist?  Ideally, when someone is in the market to buy your offering, they come to you.  Advertising is a way to let people know what you have to offer and we will cover your options in this guide.

Advertising is a marketing tactic involving paying for space to promote a product or service. The actual promotional messages are called advertisements, or ads for short. The goal of advertising is to reach people most likely to be willing to pay for a company’s products or services and entice them to buy.

f you have not already done so we highly encourage you to read our guide on marketing before you read this guide.

WHY should I advertise?

How do potential customers know that you are running a special this month that makes your offering very attractive to purchase?  Unless you or one of your staff tell them they probably don’t know. It is not possible for you to personally look for and speak to every new customer in most circumstances so you have a few options:

  1. Word of mouth – a happy customer tells a friend
  2. Having the right location – people walk by your shop
  3. Be on a directory – You are found on Google or Yellow page
  4. Advertising – you spend money to be found or promote a message

Advertising has a cost to it and the key is to spend the amount of money that you can afford to drive the greatest number of people to your business. Successful advertising would mean that you generate more profit from any additional sales (sales you would not have had if you did not advertise) than the cost of the advertising.

Beyond increasing sales, advertising can help establish your brand and increase the likelihood of someone recognising your brand. It can help you reach customers much further away than your place of business and position your offering as better than your competition.

WHAT do I need to know about advertising?

There are two types of adverting:
  1. Traditional – TV, radio and newspaper, mailbox flyer, cold telephone calling and door to door selling
  2. Digital – Internet-based including social media and digital ads (see our guide on digital marketing)

All forms of advertising have advantages and disadvantages, but in most cases, trial and error will help you decide which is best.  Digital advertising can be targeted to just the right people but will those people just scroll past your ad?  What sort of ads do you notice?  An important lesson here is to ensure your advertisements are relevant to your audience and they see some sort of benefit.  Thus, the messaging and the creative of the ad can be just as important as the type of advertising you pick.

As a small business, it is unlikely that you will go out and buy TV advertising, at least not before you are already a success or have deep pockets. 

Some ideas as to what might be most effective include:
  • Letterbox flyers – design and print a flyer that can be distributed to letterboxes in targeted areas.
  • Local newspaper – delivered free, targets people in the area your business operates and is relatively inexpensive.
  • Product Review – Look for a journalist or blogger who is prepared to write about your product or service.  This may require you to provide something for free or pay a fee.
  • Google AdWords – investing in keywords can drive more traffic to your website.
  • Google Maps – ensure you have your business listed at Google My Business so it will appear on searches (no cost).
  • Social Media – Facebook ads can be very targeted and also allows you to create a following for your brand.  Note, most followers will not see your post unless you pay Facebook for them to be seen.

HOW do I create an Ad and get it in front of people?

Simple 10 step process to advertise:
  1. Research who your audience is – who is most likely to buy.
  2. Decide who you want to reach – location, demographics, interests etc.
  3. Set a budget and a targeted outcome – if I spend this much, I hope to get this result.
  4. Choose an advertising type – you may wish to get some advice from a marketing agency.
  5. Develop a message to suit your target audience – resonate with the customer and show a benefit.
  6. Design creative assets with a call to action – you want to catch people’s eye in a sea of advertisers and give them a clear next step to purchase from you.
  7. Work out how you will measure success – yales will be your goal but consider what else you can measure.
  8. Launch your Advertising – directly with the medium like Facebook or through a media buyer.
  9. Track and analyse the performance – consider changing your advertising mid-way through if it is not working.
  10. Decide if you will do it again and how you could improve your advertisement.

To learn more about design see your guide on getting graphics done.

Picking the right type of advertising will be dependant on many factors. Watch what your competitors are doing as well as what you see working for other industries.  You will find that more than one type of advertising is better than just doing one thing.  For example, a newspaper advertisement is well complimented by doing some Google Ad words.

As a small business, buying advertising is best done directly with the vendor. If you wanted to advertise in a local newspaper go directly to the local newspaper. In the advertising world almost everything is negotiable so don’t just accept the first price they give you.  Note when buying digital advertising like Facebook or Google assets the price is based on an auction system so you will pay depending on what others are prepared to bid on the same assets.

Beyond sales, measuring results can be the number of clicks on an ad or to your website, calls received, the number of opens of an electronic direct mail, or website traffic.  However, remember only sales will mean an improvement in the bottom line.

HINTS

Any advertising of your products or services should be accurate, true, and able to be substantiated. Advertising practices are governed by law and there are fines for businesses that mislead consumers, whether intentionally or not. Ensure you read our guide on Australian Competition and Consumer Law.

Be ready to respond to your advertisement.  Make sure you have the product or service available.  Ensure your call to action is clear and respond to enquiries quickly, for example, make sure someone can answer the phone or respond to emails. Does your website duplicate the offer and what is your plan if the advertisement goes better than expected?

Unfortunately not all advertising works.  Learn from your failures and don’t make the same mistakes next time.

SUMMARY – advertising for more sales

Advertising is great when it increases your sales but finding who to advertise with and where to advertise is a trial and error approach. Newer forms of advertising like social media competes with older forms like a letterbox drop each with their advantages. Pay special attention to your creativity as it not only represents your business but also enables your advertisement to stand out from your competitors.  Always measure your advertising results and adjust any future advertising based on what you have learned.