Guest Post: Don’t Get Left Behind
This month our guest blogger is George Peebles, who is a freelance content writer and web-master based in London. His passions include fine art, business and finance.
The Internet has become the greatest marketing tool to grace this decade and the most revolutionary form of advertising the world has seen. This is because it’s not cripplingly expensive like television, and it allows more creative freedom as well as specifically targeting the audience that you want to target.
However, the most wonderful trait of the Internet in terms of marketing is its uncanny ability to generate organic advertising. In a world of speculating audiences and doubtful consumers, where advertising has been heavily criticized for being unreliable and forced, Organic advertising is a blessing. Organic advertising is generated by the consumer (with a little push) for the consumer and therefore becomes a much more trusted source. It creates conversation and sharing, which as we’ve seen in the past can be incredibly powerful.
Social media platforms are a fantastic way of generating conversation about a product, service or business. Social media is at the heart of the Internet, connecting individuals to groups of people who have the same needs, interests and wants and that makes it the perfect place to generate conversation about your business. Social media sites can also create organic advertising and can be used to target certain demographics. For example, women over 30’s are the most common group on Facebook, Twitters age demographic is reducing in age year by year, and LinkedIn is the most effective way of targeting professionals.
Blog writing is also a brilliant way to catch the consumer’s attention. Blogs have a natural and relaxed tone of voice, again generating trust and interest and people love sharing their opinions. Once your blog has a high visitor rate you can begin to monetize your blog and charge guest bloggers to host their own material on your website. A site such as Outreachr for example generates influential contacts in order for you to find the right people for the job.
Search Engine Optimisation is key when promoting a blog or website. Google is the most visited site in the world for a reason, and research shows if you’re not in the first two pages of a search in Google then you might as well not be there at all. This is where SEO comes in- follow these tips to boost your blog or site to the top of the Google page:
- Content is hugely important, updating regularly is one thing but making sure the content is rich and readable is another. Make sure your content is gripping, interesting and addresses the subject clearly and interestingly
- Use keywords and embed them in the text. Make them relevant and natural, if you can tell the keyword was put in the content for search purposes it looks messy and forced. Don’t overdo it either, keep the keyword ratio at about 3-4%
- Hyperlink the keywords and phrases
- Don’t just create and forget- use analytical tools regularly such as Google Analytics to measure the effect the SEO is having on your website
Lastly, remember SEO, Outreach, and social media are all relatively new ways to market a business- it’s a learning curve for everyone, but it is one of the most influential and cost effective ways to market a business and has become a must.