Search engine optimization (SEO) and ranking well in results is pivotal for your website’s overall traffic. There are so many ways to improve upon your Calgary business’s website design and boost your position on search engine results pages, in fact, that to overview them all would require a website of their own. Some methods require long-term commitment, others work best for the short term, and they run the gamut from streamlining your code to making sure your images are all properly formatted.
There are six tools to start earning results right of the bat, though, and all are available at your fingertips and are ready to be taken advantage of. Traffic comes into a website through several different paths, and all you have to do is open up each route to start bringing people to you.
1. Direct Traffic: People entering your site by manually typing in your URL are categorized as direct traffic. Here, the user already knows who you are and how to find you. To increase the chances of this happening, make sure to include your site’s URL on all of your marketing materials, and also incorporate it into as many other communications as you can, such as your email signature, phone messages and signage.
2. Referrals: Also known as inbound links, referrals are those who come to your website from another site and not a search engine. For example, let’s say you commented on an article on a reference site you often use, and then posted a link to additional information on your own site. If someone clicks on that link, then you have earned a referral.
3. Social Media: Your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and every other social media site you can think of can be used to bring business to your home page. Create accounts for your company and post interesting information of value to your followers. Be sure to interact with others and be engaging, lively and relevant
4. Email Marketing: If implemented properly, email marketing can be an effective tool for your business, but be careful not to earn a reputation as a “spammer”. Be cognizant about who you are sending information to and considerate about not taking up too much of their time.
5. Organic Search Results: An organic ranking results from a natural search. A user wants to find something, so they hop on the Internet and enter some keywords. If you have optimized your website for search engines properly, your business should pop up early in the results. If the user then clicks on your website, you have gained an organic search result. The best part about these sorts of results is that they are free, and can be earned through comprehensive website design, great content and a platform that connects everything together nicely.
A long-term investment in your SEO combined with excellent content will make your website a constant, high-profile presence on the Internet. Studies show that people are more likely to click on an organic result than a PPC ad. Also, users tend to instill more trust into unpaid rankings.
6. PPC (Pay-Per-Click) or AdWords: is paid marketing on the web, and all search engines (Bing, Google, Yahoo!, Safari, etc.) offer it in some form or another. Also known as AdWords, PPC allows your business to display an ad promoting your company on parts of results pages that are most likely to be looked at and clicked on. Depending on your needs and budget, a PPC advertisement can range greatly in scope and substance.
The results that show up after a search in the yellow box at the top of a page are PPC ads, as well as those that appear in the right-hand column. The cost per click varies upon the size of the ad, its placement and its appearance. A company can choose to plan for as much or as little as they like per day, for example, $10 a day for a 25 cent ad, and once that ad has been clicked enough (40 times) to deplete the budget it will be removed until the following day.
PPC can get you almost instant results, and you can start being competitive in your market right away. It’s very easy to tell how successful your ads are, and studies show more people entering sites from a paid ad are likely to make a purchase in the end. However, they can be a large expense for your business and build false expectations for results.
Balance Your Web Design With Calgary’s Emphasize
As with all things Internet, it’s never a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket. You’ll earn more leads with a “divide and conquer” approach, where you utilize the most beneficial tools for you at that time and for that particular project.
