Internet Marketing Strategies for Phoenix Companies
by
BANG! Website Design • April 29, 2016
Internet Marketing Strategies come in many shapes and sizes. While we always custom design a plan specific for each client to reach their goals, the strategies do tend to follow a familiar pattern.First - We always start with a great website which MUST have the following points covered...
- Mobile friendly, preferably using Responsive Web Design so it provides a great experience for site visitors.
- A clear call to action (what do you want the site visitor to do now that they are at the site) typically filling out a contact form or making a call.
- Great content is a must both for your site visitors and to achieve high rankings in the search engines
- And it goes without saying that the website should be visually appealing and connect with your target site visitors.
If you haven't addressed these issues yet, hold off on the Internet Marketing. There is no point in driving traffic to a bad website that isn't going to convert site visitors into customers.
Second - How old is the website, or more importantly, how long has Google been aware of its existence?
If the answer is less than 6 months we've found that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or working on natural or organic search results to build traffic is unlikely to bring results very quickly. Google, in our experience (there is debate in the industry), just doesn't trust and reward a new site with great rankings until after the first year. So with a new site, we are likely to suggest using SEM (Search Engine Marketing) using tactics, including Google Ads, Bing Ads, and perhaps remarketing. These are surefire methods that are easily budgeted so you know what you are going to spend on a monthly basis and, more importantly, easily tracked to make sure the dollars you are spending are a good ROI (return on investment) and are meeting your goals. Ads can be set up in less than a week and turned on and off at will as your need for new prospects or sales raises and lowers. Again, great short-term solution when SEO isn't going to be effective.If the answer is 6 months to a year we are probably going to suggest a hybrid approach. Using Ads to get immediate results but starting up an SEO campaign to work on local and natural search results. If the company is looking to be found for City + Service keyword phrases, i.e. Internet Marketing Company in Phoenix, then spending time and effort on local directory citations, links from the local chamber of commerce, BBB, etc., all make good sense and can be implemented (at least by BANG!) in a $1,000 monthly budget. Combined with a Google Ads budget to generate traffic right now, over time, we'd start spending less each month on Ads and more on SEO. Maybe 75% ads to start, 25% SEO, then flipping to 50/50, and then 75% SEO and 25% ads as the site is ranking for most of your keyword phrases anyway.
If the site has been around for over a year, we'd suggest a 50/50 split Ads/SEO to begin with and again plan to taper to 75% SEO or even 80% over time. Long term, the company might be able to stop the Ads completely. The new SERPs page, though on Google, doesn't show natural results very high on the page, so there may be a benefit in keeping high-converting, low-cost AdWords campaigns running for the foreseeable future. Don't agonize over these splits, either. No point in each method arm wrestling to see who gets the money. If you are thinking short-term results, go Google Ads. If you want long-term, less expensive, and greater results, the SEO path is the right way.
We see some client's that can't ever seem to find enough budget to start the SEO campaign and wind up stuck running AdWords campaigns forever. I don't like seeing that situation as they've really got all their eggs in one Internet Marketing basket, but in some cases, that is their decision.
This is one approach to Internet Marketing Strategies, there are others, but this is one we've seen work time and time again for our clients. What are your thoughts? What's worked for you? Leave a comment below. We would love to hear from you!