Get Pushy With Your Marketing: The Difference Between SEO & SEM

We’ve established that SEO [Search Engine Optimization] can effectively pull traffic to your website through the use of strategically planted “seeds” within your site. Search engines continually send out “spiders” or web crawlers, looking for those keywords that you’ve carefully embedded within your site as metatags, alt tags, page titles, page names and links – each of which is seen and recognized differently by the spiders.

Search Engine Marketing [SEM] pushes traffic to your website. SEM refers to the practice of increasing traffic to your website through the use of paid placements [advertisements, pay-per-click listings] and external directories [trade and business membership listings – Chamber of Commerce and similar networks, for example]. Blogs and social media are essential tools in today’s marketing world.

Search engines like links – both incoming and outgoing. Links from your site to other sites, articles, and resources are easy to add to your site, but the search engines know that. Incoming links carry a little more weight with the crawlers, but finding those opportunities might present more of a challenge.

There’s good news here: you can create your own incoming link opportunity with a blog or e-newsletter for your business. The beauty of these media formats is that they work double time for your business. Done correctly, they will literally push traffic to your site: the reader reads and then clicks – beautiful! But they’re also virtually pushing traffic via the search engines. Not only is your link from your blog to your website [incoming link] attractive to the crawlers, but so is the content of your blog. Search engines love fresh, keyword-rich content, so keep feeding them with regular blog posts [like this one].

Lastly, don’t discount the importance any Internet mention of your business: Has your business been in the news recently? Has it been recognized by a trade organization or received an award? There may be a listing [incoming link] as a result, and if you make mention of it on your site you can create a reciprocating [outgoing] link.

Ready to get pushy with your marketing? Call us, we’d love to help!

Organic Marketing? Really?

In the Internet marketing world, there’s a lot you don’t have control over. However, Search Engine Optimization [SEO] and Search Engine Marketing [SEM] offer you a surprising bit of influence to draw the customers right to your virtual doorstep. To do this you need to identify these things:

Who are the customers you really want?

The ones who want you, of course! They’re the ones most likely to purchase your services or products.

How do they search for and find you?

Putting yourself in the role of your customer, generate a list of words and phrases you would use to search for your products or services. Layering these terms deep within your site will provide a path for the search engines and web crawlers to find you organically. Think of these keywords and keyword phrases as the “seeds” you will plant with the hope of a bountiful harvest [of purchasing customers, of course].

Are you ready to go organic? Graphic Matter can help you to find the hidden marketing opportunities in each and every page of your site. Give us a call – you may be surprised at the potential you have on your website right now!

SEO Unplugged

It seems like everyone is tossing the acronym SEO into marketing conversations.
And yet there are a lot of us hearing it that still don’t know what it means – and are afraid to ask.

Here’s what you really need to know:
Search Engine Optimization [SEO] is a multi-faceted process for improving a website’s ranking in the search engines.
Search Engine Optimization is THE essential tool for connecting you [via your website] with your target audience.

Why should you care?
Higher rankings = more [quality] traffic to your website = more potential conversions [purchasing customers].
That’s why everyone wants to be Google’s #1 listing.

How can you be in that #1 spot – or at least closer to it?
By methodically “aligning” the key messages on your website, from the inside out.

For most industries, there’s a huge amount of competition for the #1 spot, and it’s dependent upon which keyword phrases you select. The good news is that placing on the first page in the search results is an attainable and notable accomplishment that will yield a marked increase in traffic to your website. Still confused about SEO? Call Graphic Matter to demystify SEO and begin your rise to the first page.

What Can Your Blog Do For You?

In recent posts we shared information on how best to start a business blog – including tips to help define it’s purpose and audience, and the importance of planning your blog.

This post will focus on the RESULTS your hope to achieve through your blog. Now that you’ve determined your blog’s purpose [see post #7], what result or results, do you hope to see? For example, if your blog’s purpose is to inform about upcoming events, the result you see might be an increase in attendance. But if the blog’s purpose is to promote a service or product, how will you know if it is effective?

By defining WHAT you’re looking for, you will also better understand how to measure it.

For example, while you might not consider a blog to be a typical direct sales tool, you can get a sense of the traffic and conversions that result from your blog simply by tracking the number of visitors to your web site or blog. There are analytic tools such as Google Analytics that provide this service, that are easy to install and use and they are free!

Do you have a newsletter or catalog that you send to your customers, via email or snail-mail? Include a sign up feature on your blog and track the results. Adding a Contact form to your blog, and making a point of asking new contacts how they learned about your business can also give you data about your blog.

So remember: plan, plan, plan before your write, write write!

Now leave a comment on this post to let us know how we’re doing. This will help us to track our results and practice what we preach!

What’s Your Purpose? ..the purpose of your BLOG!

A successful blog needs to have a PURPOSE. Why, you ask? Think about the blogs you follow. Chances are, you are benefitting in some way, correct? Perhaps you like a particular blog because it increases your general knowledge base. Or perhaps it provides entertainment. Or even specific information about a product or service, or upcoming events.

Ask yourself, “What purpose do I want my blog to serve?”

It is crucial to clearly identify WHY you want to start a business blog.

• Will it serve as a focal point for a network of contacts for your company?

• Will it help to position you as an expert in your field?

• Is it to promote a particular service or product – and perhaps in the process, create a group of evangelists for your product or service?

• Perhaps the focus will be internal communications, either for the company as a whole, or for a specific business unit?

While these are ALL great reasons to start a blog, it is important to identify and focus on ONE objective in order to maximize your blog’s potential. Keep in mind though, that you may need to adjust your blog’s focus down the road to adapt to evolving business and audience needs.

Come back next week to find out how to define your target audience. Can’t wait? Assistance from the Graphic Matter Team is always just a phone call away!

How Do I Start A Blog?

You’ve made the decision to begin a blog for your business. How do you get started? Not to worry. The Graphic Matter team is ready to provide guidance as you embark on your blogging endeavor.

Before diving right in and writing your first post – or any subsequent post, for that matter – you need to answer these 3 questions:

1. What purpose will your blog serve?

Identify the role your blog will have in your business. How will your audience benefit when they visit your blog. For example, will they receive information about upcoming events or new products? Will this serve as an information exchange with other participants?

2. Who is your blog’s audience?

To whom are you writing – your client base? Your potential client base? Both?

3. What results are you looking for?

Set some goals for what you want to achieve through your blog and how do you intend to measure your results. How will you know if you successfully met your goal?

With a little planning, you will ensure your business blog maintains its focus in terms of content and audience, and provides your readers with what they are looking for – and you will reap the rewards.

Look for more in-depth answers to these questions in upcoming posts. And, as always, assistance from the Graphic Matter team is just a phone call away.

To Blog or Not To Blog?

Now that you know how to follow a blog, you might be considering a blog for your business. Blog marketing continues to be a hot topic for both businesses and marketers alike.  Is a blog right for your business? Consider first defining the purpose of your blog – then set some goals for how you want to use this tool before you begin thinking about what to write. These are the top 5 reasons why your business should have a blog:

1. Blogs offer the author a user-friendly tool for publishing information.

2. Blogs are easy to navigate for your readers.

3. Readers can comment on your blog, encouraging 2-way communications between you, your clients and your prospects.

4. Search engines LOVE blogs.

5. Blogs can be an active prospecting source for your business.

If you are ready to begin blogging, or have questions about how to get started, ask Graphic Matter! We are here to help! Come back and visit us next week to find out how to start a blog.