A lot of people who have blogs or websites online know about search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.
When it comes to search engine marketing (SEM), however, many people confuse it with SEO, and these terms describe two very different practices.
Before telling you all about search engine marketing tips, let us first know what it is.
"Search engine marketing" is a broad term and refers to marketing techniques or strategies used by website owners to advertise their site online, with an intention to increase their ranking in search engine result pages and drive traffic to their site.
The marketing techniques employed for effective SEM include SEO, as well as paid techniques.
We will cover many of these aspects for effective search engine marketing of your small business or non-profit website.
1.
Create your online identity There are many websites online that employ SEM techniques to catch the attention of both search engine sites and visitors, but not all websites are successful in achieving both these goals.
This is primarily because they simply copy other websites, refusing to stand out from the herd.
As a small business or non-profit organization it is all the more important for you to create and strengthen your unique identity.
For this you need to have a good website design, with clearly defined content and goals.
In addition to this, your website should be easy to navigate with relevant keywords embedded in the headings, description and tags.
Use suitable images, metatags and titles with targeted keywords in it.
All these things play a big role in making your website search engine friendly and driving traffic to your site.
2.
Research relevant keywords Researching relevant keywords in accordance with your work and product is a vital search engine optimization technique.
"Keyword research" means focusing on words or phrases that visitors often enter in a search engine site to find information on a particular topic.
If you are a small business, then it is imperative for you to research relevant keywords pertaining to your niche.
While choosing keywords, take into account on how popular and competitive your keywords are (you choose less common keywords for common topics) and then spread them throughout your content.
It is also important to remember that keyword phrases lose their popularity at regular intervals, so you need to check your targeted keywords periodically and change them whenever required.
3.
Optimize your website To optimize your website, you need to optimize the content of your website, the codes in it, as well as the anchor text used in links.
Use relevant keywords in all areas of your website.
To begin with optimizing your website, first target your homepage and then apply the same principle for other webpages.
Whether you are a small business or a non-profit organization, consider using short titles and headings with suitable keywords inserted in them.
Create backlinks, including your in-bound navigation links using keywords and place them in every page of your website.
Also remember to name the images in your webpages clearly.
All these points contribute to stronger website optimization.
4.
Content marketing For any SEM or SEO strategy to work effectively, content marketing is vital.
The high quality of your content is not only important for attracting and retaining readers, but also helps drive traffic, increase online visibility and get leads and conversions on a constant basis.
To have high quality and targeted content, you first need to know your target audience and then build your content-based on research.
Optimize your website thereafter, while also including reader-friendly topics.
Use traffic-tracking software to help determine what is working for you and what is not.
As you continue to build backlinks to your site, release your content through different media channels to meet your search engine optimization strategies.
5.
Link-building Building links is another great organic SEO technique.
Link-building means creating keyword-targeted links from other websites into your own website.
Sure, this helps people visiting those other sites click your link and reach your website.
Google also uses the quality of your link profile to determine your authority, which helps them determine where to place you in the search results.
Because of this, backlinks are a great way to drive traffic and improve search engine rankings.
To strengthen your link-building strategy, leave links in blogs and online community forums and consider buying highly powerful, trustworthy and quality links like.
edu and.
gov (both these links are highly-favored by search engine).
Create quality articles, press releases and newsfeeds with quality backlinks pointing to your website and submit them to high-traffic websites and forums.
You can also take part in discussions related to your niche on other sites and leave your links there.
6.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) There are certain search engine providers that sell advertising space for a specific amount.
This is another very popular search engine marketing technique that can be implemented to increase visibility of your non-profit organization and drive traffic to your site.
By paying these search engine providers a fee, you get advertising space to promote your site on front result pages to anyone who searches for your targeted keywords.
Pay-per-click (PPC) is one of the most dependable search engine marketing techniques.
Non-profit organizations and small businesses can use this technique to enhance rankings of their website.
Pay-per-click means you pay only when a visitor clicks on your advertisement(s) and visits your website.
Marketing through PPC permits advertisers to bid for specific keywords against their competitors.
These advertisements can be placed within the search results as well as on featured and paid listings.
Google AdWords is currently the most popular PPC platform.
Note: Only one issue here, however.
Once you cancel your PPC campaign, your work and your prime rankings are gone.
Better: Target improving your rank in the natural listings through proper search engine optimization.
These results often linger for years after you've stopped your search engine marketing efforts; that is, if you ever stop.
7.
Refresh your content regularly If you are a business, it is vital for you to regularly update your webpage or blog to provide current and useful information to your users.
Search engine sites like Google.
com review sites and give higher rankings based on how frequently contributors make relevant and informative updates to their site.
8.
Website saturation The popularity of a website depends upon how many of its pages are indexed by search engines like Google and the quality and quantity of backlinks the site has.
The more indexed pages and the better its backlink profile, the more effective a website's SEM.
This is primarily done to enhance the popularity of your site extending its reach into the marketplace.
If you are a fundraiser, you can use both these things to your advantage.
9.
Website analytics Using SEO and SEM to market your website can be useful if you can gauge its effectiveness in driving traffic to your site and increasing your website's online presence.
For this, you need to be able to measure the amount of traffic flowing into your site.
Your days and months of labor can now be gauged by using website analytical programs.
Though many tend to overlook this SEM technique, it is crucial.
Website analytical programs like Google Analytics, collect, measure and analyze statistical data for you.
This helps you recognize your unique versus repeat visitors, the number of pages viewed, where they leave your site, from where did they come, how much time they stayed at your site and more.
This information helps you adjust your current SEO/SEM strategy and makes it all the more possible to achieve your business goals.
All these search engine marketing tips-from website optimization to content marketing, and from link-building to PPC-are important keys to promote your non-profit organization and drive traffic to your site.
Use them to breathe new life into your traffic-less website, and watch your site flourish!