The world of social media and SEO has changed significantly in the last few years alone.
New platforms, features, changing algorithms and trends have all had a significant impact on how brands utilise digital advertising and marketing.
Within the professional services sector, many firms continue to solely rely on organic SEO methods to reach new audiences and win new work, and while this can be successful in some circumstances, many practices could be missing out on a trick to target their services at the right prospects by investing in paid-for campaigns.
Google AdWords
For a long while now, many firms have strived to improve their website SEO organically by packing their website out with keywords, metadata and optimising the overall functionality of their various pages.
While this is still an essential part of reaching a top position within Google’s ranking, there is perhaps nothing more frustrating for a firm than to search for its services or expertise only to find an advert for a competitor ahead of them.
Well as the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. If you aren’t already utilising Google AdWords to run pay-per-click campaigns or have only ‘dipped your toe in the water’ you could be losing out.
Paid-for SEO campaigns are essential for every business marketing their services online. They are no longer a luxury; they are a necessity if you want to take advantage of Google and the power that it has over consumers.
And while you may be hesitant due to the costs involved, you also need to ask whether you can really afford to be losing work to your rivals because you aren’t willing to make a small investment.
Retargeting
When running paid-for SEO campaigns, they shouldn’t be considered a solitary exercise. To be as effective as they can be they should be part of a larger digital strategy that also considers social media advertising and retargeting/remarketing.
Through your digital campaign, you want to bring people through the marketing funnel and lead them to the point of conversion.
While it is possible to get a conversion on the first click (in fact, this should be your goal) the reality is often different.
Most people might land on your website take a look around and leave – in fact, the majority will.
They may want to shop around, or they might just be researching for the future and not yet in a position to utilise your services.
However, by visiting your webpage they are clearly interested and giving ‘consideration’ to the services you offer, but they just aren’t ready to convert and sign up for your support.
So, how can you encourage them to do this?
Simply by following them online as they navigate to various platforms and showing them more adverts.
We will have all experienced this at some point. You are interested in buying a new pair of shoes and visit a retailer’s website, but you don’t buy the product there and then.
But the next few days you are shown adverts for the same shoes on your Facebook, news websites and the other pages you frequent online.
This is not a coincidence, this is retargeting/remarketing. When you visited the retailer’s website it collected your cookie data and used this to create an audience of people similar to you who were interested in making a purchase, but for whatever reason didn’t.
It then fed this audience back into other methods of digital advertising and voila, you see the same advert around the web and hopefully buy their product.
By using these methods, you are continually feeding those interested in your product back into the funnel, and in doing so, pushing them subtly to convert.
Optimising campaigns
One of the chief concerns amongst those new to pay-per-click digital advertising is the potential cost to their practice.
As the name suggests, you only pay when a person clicks on the advert you have created, but the amount paid, commonly referred to as cost-per-click, can vary.
Google’s AdWords is primarily keyword-based but it also considers the ad text, keywords, landing page and maximum bid to then rank the ad based on accuracy and the experience of searchers.
Paid-for SEO campaigns are not a static exercise. They require constant review and adaptation.
Over time you may find that certain keywords become more competitive and CPC increases, which will shrink the effectiveness of your budget.
This may mean you need to pivot to a new type of advert or, if that particular keyword is effective in securing additional work, increase your overall budget.
Throughout this process, you must consider the return on investment. While spending several hundred pounds a month may seem costly at first if it regularly helps you to secure work worth three or even five times that amount it is clearly worthwhile.
Feeling a little perplexed?
We have barely even scratched the surface of digital advertising, but we can appreciate how complex and time-consuming it all might seem.
While there will be some among you who are already converted to the power of digital advertising and marketing, there will be others who have neither the time nor inclination to get involved.
That is understandable, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seek help to unlock the potential that can come from effective digital marketing.
We are here and able to help you plan, run and analyse campaigns that can build awareness of your brand and help you win new work.
To find out how we can help you, why not arrange a digital marketing discovery call with our team today?
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