There are several different ways to grow your business online. If you are new to the game, some of those ways may leave you intimidated, wondering where you should invest your time and money. In your research, you have most likely seen words like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC). But, what do they mean? What are they and how can they help grow your business? Both have their positives and negatives, but is one better than the other? 

Let’s look at both. 

Is SEO Better? 

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process whereby you optimize a website to appear as high in the search engine results as possible. A massive part of this process is figuring out what the search engines want and then optimizing your web pages accordingly. 

Pros of SEO: 

1. Organic traffic has staying power. Once you are able to get your website to rank highly in the search engines, chances are good that you will be able to generate consistent traffic.

2. SEO is often a less expensive option than PPC. When you compare the two traffic sources, SEO comes out the winner of the two when looking at traffic generated, as long as you’re looking at the traffic that comes once you have attained high rankings in the search engines.

Negatives of SEO: 

1. SEO takes time. It can take months for your hard work to show any reward. If you don’t have the time to wait for your website and content to rank, then SEO may not be the best option for you.

2. You need unique and quality content. When it comes to content, people want to read the best content available. This can be a lot of work and will require research and a creative mind. If you don’t have these skills yourself, then it will benefit you to hire an expert.

Is PPC Better? 

PPC, or Pay-Per-Click Advertising, is a technique that allows you to advertise in search engines, bringing immediate, targeted traffic to your website.

Pros of PPC: 

1. Quick results. Unlike SEO, where you may have to wait months to see results, it is possible to start getting substantial traffic to your website within a few hours of using an effective PPC campaign. 

2. You can accurately target different demographics. When you use PPC, you will be able to target different types of people. For example, if you want to target a woman in her 30s who lives in the UK and is interested in cooking, you can target her with your ads. SEO does not give you this option. 

3.You can experiment quickly and easily. With PPC, you can set up a campaign and run A/B tests so that you can monitor what works and what doesn’t very quickly. SEO is a slower process, so it will take time to come to any conclusion regarding the success of an SEO technique.

Negatives of PPC: 

1. It can be expensive. If you are in a competitive niche, PPC can be expensive and your return on investment (ROI) may be low while you are figuring out which ads work and which don’t. If you have a low ad spend, you may want to steer clear.

2. Ads can become less effective. Using the same ads with every campaign will result in them becoming stale and less effective. To combat this, mix up the copy and images and refresh the ads to keep them working long-term.

Which is Better for You? 

When it comes to determining whether SEO or PPC is better for your business, the answer would be that it depends. Both marketing strategies are legitimate sources for bringing in traffic.

If you want quicker results, then PPC will be the better option, because SEO will take time to work. For those with a smaller budget, SEO will be the better option, as paid ads can be expensive, especially if you don’t have experience with them. 

You may want to use both SEO and PPC in tandem. When using them together, you can seriously ramp up the amount of traffic that you can get to your website! 

You started a podcast. Now you’re wondering how you’re supposed to promote it. How do you grow your podcast, gain more followers and become podcast famous? Well, I can’t guarantee you will be a famous podcaster right away, but including these tactics into your marketing strategy will help you get there.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Before you jump right into the idea of being “famous”, you need to create the building blocks of your foundation. In this case, your “building blocks” are the different ways that you should be promoting your platform. 

Let’s step back even further. Before you even begin marketing your podcast, you should first evaluate the product that you are trying to “sell” to your audience. The two most important things about a podcast are time and quality content. The quality of your podcast is so much more important than you think. Marketing a bad product will do nothing for you except waste your time. You need to make sure that your current product is something worth promoting! 

You will know that you have a good product when you are producing valuable, attention-grabbing, and unique content. The most important piece of this is value. You will have a much easier time promoting a podcast that provides value to your audience. This is because you will be giving your viewers an incentive to listen! While you are creating this content, keep in mind that it takes time and patience for a podcast to grow. A city isn’t built in a day, right? Don’t get discouraged if your podcast doesn’t grow as quickly as you hoped it would. Growing an audience takes time, work and dedication. Focus on creating valuable content. When you are creating the right content with added value, the audience will follow. Just give it some time! 

When you’re confident that you are producing high-quality content, then you can focus on the ways that you will market your podcast. While cruising the Internet for the perfect podcast marketing strategies, you may have noticed that there are tons of different websites offering their own version of advice. All of the options available may leave you wondering what you should do! Among the chaos of options, keep your eyes focused on your audience. Your podcast will not be for everyone. You have niched down your podcast enough to where your audience is a specific group of people. You should first learn about your audience and then cater your marketing strategies around those people. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different marketing strategies to test what will work! Again, this process will take time. Be patient with yourself and the process. 

Most podcasters use basic techniques to promote their podcast. Remember to pay attention to your audience and build your marketing strategy based on that. 

1. Encourage your listeners to take action

This should be a no-brainer, but you should be encouraging your audience to subscribe, share, and leave feedback on your content. If you are not asking your audience to do the very thing you need them to do to grow your podcast, then what are you doing? Use the spare time you have at the beginning and end of each episode to promote your podcast! Don’t be afraid to be genuine about it either. Explain that their feedback and support will give you the foundation to produce better content for them to enjoy.  

2. Strategize your publishing 

If you are a brand new podcaster, you may not know that it is crucial that you publish your podcast at the right time. If you already knew that, great! Start paying more attention to it! The time in which you post your content may decide your success. If you are not sure where to start, look at other podcasts similar to yours and see if there is a trend. Look at when they post their content and how much success they have had with posting at that time. If you notice a trend in posting, consider that for your own podcast. You may also consider experimenting when you post your episodes. From there, you will gain valuable analytics that will help you figure out the best time to post in the future. 

3. Submit your podcast 

You will want to make sure that you submit your podcast to apps that play podcasts, most commonly known as a podcatcher or an aggregator. Having your podcast listed on several different apps will expand your audience and help you become more visible! Create accounts in places like Google Play, Spotify, Tunein, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, Podbay, Podtail, and many more. Once you’ve created accounts, submit your RSS feed to every podcast directory so that your podcasts will automatically upload every week. 

4. Network with podcasters 

Another way that you can get your podcast out there is by joining a group of other podcasters. In addition to making some new friends, you may also find yourself learning a thing or two that will help grow your podcast. That community of podcasters may offer support, help you with podcast troubles, or give you new ideas for content. Joining a group of podcasters may be one of the best decisions you could make for the future of your podcast. If anything, it might be nice to just have a community who understands your challenges. 

5. Use the Word-of-Mouth Method 

What an old tactic, right? You may be surprised to hear that this old tactic can actually do some good for your podcast. It’s actually one of the most effective marketing strategies known today. The first step is spreading the word in the right place. Find conferences, local events, or a group that has an interest in the topic of your podcast and spread the word as much as you can! Don’t be afraid to really market yourself and your niche. If you find a group of people who are already interested in your podcast topic, it won’t be hard to reel them in. Networking will be a huge asset to your podcast. You could even encourage your friends and family to spread the word to their friends and family. 

While I’ve only provided five ways that you can promote your podcast, they are a great place to start. I previously mentioned that first focusing on the content that you’re creating is the most important thing that you can do. Focus on creating valuable content and pinpointing your audience so that you have a better idea of your marketing strategy. In the meantime, consider starting a website for your podcast!

Just because your website is on the Internet does not mean that people will see it, find it, or go to it. You are tossing your dollars down an empty wishing well if you believe otherwise. The truth is that you have to create strategies and implement them into your website in order to see any kind of growth or web traffic. Thinking that your website will grow on its own can cause a domino effect of mistakes. It’s an all-too-common blunder.

There are too many marketers out there that offer their own solutions to such predicament. Most of these solutions require forking over tons of money, just to be noticed by people who may or may not be interested in your product. This transforms into a fatal cycle of doubt and discouragement when you don’t see the results that you expect.

Sometimes there are tactics that just do not work, even if you pay for them. That may leave you questioning whether or not you need to spend your money, and if so, how you should spend it. Luckily, there are several ways that you can generate web traffic without spending a penny.

Take a look at your marketing budget. Does it look as dry as a dessert cactus on a hot summer day? Yes? Well, that’s okay. Whether you are tired of spending money or you just don’t have money to spend at all, this article is for you. Whatever the reason, we have come up with three ways that you can generate web traffic without spending a dime. 

1. Comment on Other Blogs/Articles 

An easy and surefire way to get noticed is to comment on other people’s blogs. This might seem odd and strangely close to spammy, but you would be surprised how many visitors will view your comment. If you comment on popular blogs and articles, you may have a better chance at being seen. Make sure that your comments are valuable and nothing close to spammy. Once you start commenting on different articles, you will notice an increase in your website referral traffic. This is because people are clicking on your name after reading your comment.

Most people do not realize the small, yet significant impact this simple tactic can have on your website. Keep in mind, when you post a comment is just as important as what you say. Try to be one of the first people to comment on a blog post. That way, your comment will stick at the top, making your profile more visible. When it comes to what you should comment, you can either keep it simple and straightforward or take the time to write out a thoughtful response. 

For example, commenting something short and sweet might look like this:

1. Nice article. Keep up the great work! 
2. I really enjoyed reading this article. I can’t wait to read more! 
3. Thanks for the information. This really helped! 

You may turn more heads if you choose to write a more thoughtful response. A thoughtful response may include something you liked about the article, what you wish the author would’ve included, and why that specific topic should’ve been included. But, in all reality, you can comment anything that you think may be valuable! Use that comment box to discuss what you took from the article, what it taught you, or maybe how you are applying it to everyday life. Be creative and remember that leaving a comment will put you on the grid, generating web traffic, for FREE! 

2. Utilize YouTube

Did you know that YouTube drives more traffic to websites than any other social media platform? That must be because YouTube is the second most visited site on the Internet. If you are not on YouTube, you need to be! There are so many different ways to utilize YouTube. In today’s world, it would not be crazy to assume that most people would rather watch something than read about it. One of the many things that you can do on YouTube is turn a few of your best written articles into videos. Creating videos allows you to be thrice as creative and more engaging with your audience. You can also add a website or article link, a video transcript, a description, or more advice in the video description box.

Once you create videos, you will be able to send your work to family and friends to increase your SEO. If you have never created videos before, then start small! Start by creating two videos a month. Over time, work to increase the number of videos you produce. Another thing that you could do to get yourself noticed is to comment on other people’s videos. Do not just comment on any random videos! Treat it like you are commenting on somebody’s article. Find videos and topics that relate to your expertise and comment something of value, whether it’s a compliment or a positive critique. By using YouTube, you will be on your way to generating web traffic like a pro!

3. Follow, Connect, Share, Like, Tweet

Not only should you use YouTube, but you should also utilize every other social media channel to generate more website leads. An August 2020 survey shows that over 3.81 billion people are using social media. It’s obvious that social media is a dominating force when it comes to driving more visitors to websites. The most beneficial part of social media is that it is completely free (besides what you spend on advertising). Many businesses use social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to engage with users and other businesses, share business tips and articles, and attempt to drive people back to their website. Joining social media has the potential to increase your following and brand awareness in a major way.

Every business on the planet should have a social media account, plainly because it’s free! The way that you use social media will either help you gain more followers or hurt your chances at growing. Before you go crazy, it is crucial that you create some type of social media strategy calendar. Creating a plan for your social media posting will relieve the stress of having to come up with ideas last minute. Once you create a plan, do some research and find out where your audience is. Keep in mind that some platforms may be more effective than others. But, it’s nothing to stress about; all it takes is a plan. When successful on social media, you will start generating leads in no time! 

As you can see, it’s not impossible to generate leads to your website without a marketing budget. All it takes is a little creativity. There are several different ways to initiate brand recognition and drive people to your website, but starting with these three things will guide you in the right direction.

It’s 2020. How could we forget, right? Some of you may be thinking, “Are websites still relevant today?” 

Social media has grown exponentially in the last decade. Businesses, brands, groups, artists, average people, and so many more use it as an opportunity to connect with others and grow their online presence. Because social media is so awesome, it may seem like it cancels out the need for a website. But, that could not be further from the truth.

Believe it or not websites are extremely relevant to this day. You absolutely NEED a website for your brand to thrive. Social media is known as one of the quickest ways to establish your online presence. But, without a website, your brand/ business has no home base. 

You may be wondering, “Why should I have a website when I could just create a Facebook page, FOR FREE, in just a few hours?”

Although this seems like the better option, your social media pages are simply a funnel to your actual home: your website. Your Facebook page is not meant to be the home of your brand. Instead, social media should be used as a marketing tool to help further the mission of your brand. 

Websites are still incredibly relevant today. And guess what? They will be relevant for years to come! Do yourself a favor and give your brand a home base, even if you’re running a small business. Here are the top few reasons why having a website for your business is incredibly important and why websites are here for good. 

Why Do I Need a Website? 

1. You have the Control 

With a website, you are able to completely control the message you are sending to your visitors. You can portray your business in any light that you please. Websites enable you to control what your visitors see. If you think about it, social media really only has one standard design, depending on the platform. There is really no room to stand out in the crowd, especially if you’re using a Facebook page as your brand’s home base. A site allows you to be creative, share your message in a unique way, and make it your own. They also allow for so much creative freedom, which will set you apart from other online businesses. 

2. You Can See Who’s Looking at Your Products 

Websites also allow you to track who visits your website. Through online tools such as Google Analytics, you are able to view what platforms your visitors are coming from, who is viewing your website, your visitor’s demographics, how they engage with your content, and how long they are staying on your site. Having these analytics readily available will help you focus on marketing the right products to the right people. Even though you can also view analytics from a Facebook analytics page, you will gain much more valuable marketing information from your website. This is because visitors are able to see your products and everything you offer, making it easier to pinpoint what your visitors are most interested in. This allows you to focus exactly what your marketing strategy needs to be and how you will use it to attract more leads. 

3. Your Website Does What Your Social Media Cannot 

You need a website because it is where you want people to be. It is your online store. Your social media can not, in any way, compensate for that. Your social media, SEO, ads, and other marketing techniques are meant to funnel people to your website. The great thing about having a website is that it’s available 24/7/365. Visitors are able to engage with your content at any time of the day, week, month or year. It never shuts down. It’s always available. Your website acts as a direct marketing communication channel. 

4. You’ll Have More Precise Marketing Strategies 

You are also able to further your reach to leads with things like messaging, design, live chat support, notifications, newsletter sign-ups and more. To have an effective site, you need to make sure that it is well optimized, mobile friendly, provides quality content, and is targeted at the right audience. 

If you’re unsure of whether or not your website lives up to the standards of the modern day digital expectation, reach out to us and we will give you a free website scan and consultation.