The days of manipulating search results through brute force link building is no longer an effective SEO strategy thanks to Google’s Panda update. Relying only on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to drive your traffic has become more and more expensive. And, as Google continues to push its properties onto the search engine results page (SERPs), the opportunity to appear “above the fold,” is creating challenges for online marketers.
With the Internet, change is constant. If shifts in the search landscape can get a business owner to understand the value of integrated online marketing, then I’m ready to do a tap dance.
I believe many businesses have applied traditional marketing to their online marketing initiatives. It’s not so much that they’re uninformed. I think it’s more that the American consumer market is so big that even an incremental lift in website traffic provides an acceptable return on investment (ROI). With the explosion of social media, however, the Internet became much more complicated. The good news is that if you approach online marketing strategically, using a 3-pronged approach, you’ll enjoy greater profitability than your counterpart; the one who’s convinced that “set-it-and-forget-it” PPC will continue to grow his business or that standalone SEO is the answer.
Following is my reasoning why a combination of SEO, paid search and social media will provide a winning online marketing strategy.
The most successful online businesses create a cohesive Internet strategy that makes use of proven on-page and off-page SEO strategies with the goal of generating leads through social interactions. Interaction with their prospective customers and, in turn, will result in those same visitors taking a firm buying action through PPC ads.
- SEO creates awareness as consumers find content through research and surfing the Web.
- Social opens the door for prospects to consider your brand when they engage with content and share with others.
- Paid search creates action potential when a customer recognizes your brand from previous searches or interactions and clicks to your website.
An integrated online marketing strategy provides the glue to your entire fulfillment cycle. A solid promotional strategy will make use of all of the above.
5 Reasons Why Integrated Marketing Improves Overall ROI
- Using PPC, SEO and social media together will generate increased search results for a Web page which leads to more traffic and higher conversions during the action phase.
- When you optimized your Web pages correctly, you enjoy higher organic rankings as well as higher PPC positions due to improved quality scores and effective landing pages.
- The more social mentions, on-page results and ads you can provide searchers, the more “search space” you take away from your competitors (and Google!)
- PPC allows you to test keywords that you can then use to target organically and create new site sections or pages, blog posts, tweets and/or status updates.
- With more ads, search listings, rankings and social mentions consumers have a greater chance of reading, reviewing and acting on your sales message.
3 Marketing Funnels for Online Success
The use of all three funnels ensures that you control how your message appears and that it appears consistently across all online marketing channels. Monitoring feedback and criticism directly related to your brand allows you to manage both your marketing message and reputation. Bottom line: You want to own as much search “real estate” as possible for your brand and your business.
Photo credit: Planet Ocean
