Go Ahead — Search Anything You Like
by Allie Cormier
Do a quick search online. Go ahead. Search anything you want. 9 times out of 10 you didn’t even pause to consider using something other than Google. In fact, when you can’t quite remember who sang that one song – ol’ what’s his face… you know the one – the common way to fix that is to simply “Google it.” The online giant has clout for sure, and most of us turn to Google to help us when we need the answer to anything. Which brings us to…
A) Organic SEO (search engine optimization) which hopefully your website was already built with by your website developers (FYI — we do this with every website we create for our clients). Look for this topic in an upcoming blast.
AND B) Google Adwords. Google AdWords helps you reach new customers/clients. Using AdWords puts you in the driver’s seat choosing how much advertising you are paying for and where your ad will appear. Even better — AdWords allows you to measure the impact of your advertising.
For those of you thinking, I already have SEO (search engine optimization) on my website so I don’t need AdWords. Think again — you just might. SEO focuses on making your website content relevant to search engines and by optimizing your site in terms of keywords and articles and then putting your site in primary spots on search results. And that’s fabulous. And for those of you with service-based businesses, that may be all you need. For those of you with product-based businesses, utilizing AdWords makes it possible for your advertisement to be near the top or on the right hand side of the search results pages on Google and affiliated websites (think YouTube, shopping, etc.).
So what’s the best way to make sure you’re visible? It’s recommended that you do a combination of the two: SEO and AdWords. Your SEO will assist you in getting a higher ranking in Google for an amount of key terms. Adding in the utilization of AdWords puts you at the forefront of the search results, and it also gives you an easy method to calculate your ROI. Because AdWords is more immediate than SEO, you can create advertising campaigns almost instantly and begin getting targeted traffic while your SEO rankings develop (if you have a brand new website). Throw in social media campaigns so you get organic traffic and visits from social networks and you’re on your way to better results overall. And your business will grow.
I realize that throwing around terms like SEO, ROI, AdWords, social media marketing and website optimization is enough to make it all seem more than a little daunting. And it may prompt you to have questions:
How much SEO do I need?
If I only want to spend a little on AdWords, will I still be visible?
More importantly — where do I begin?
Google allows you to get started with the above pretty simply and Google promises to be there to support you. The other, arguably easier, option is to work with a marketing company that has been certified as a Google AdWords Partner. Companies who have earned Google AdWords Partner status, like we have here at LDM, have undergone rigorous training and certification and are able to provide you with marketing expertise as well as the keen focus of search advertising brilliance backed by Google.
So the next time you do a search, remember that while it only took .001 seconds for your results to load — there were hours, days, and months of work that went into what shows up on that results page. And if you’re still waiting on your results for your business — remember you can always Google (AdWords) it.
Guest Writer for this issue is Allie Cormier
Account Executive at LDM
(with a deep passion for design and social media)