What the heck is “digital”?

Digital marketing is basically any marketing effort that uses an electronic device or the internet. Businesses leverage digital channels such as search engines, social  media, email, and their websites to connect with current and prospective customers. It’s become incredibly important in today’s world because it allows companies to reach a much larger audience than traditional marketing methods, and it’s often more cost-effective. Plus, it provides a way to track results and make data-driven decisions to improve those results. 

Think of it this way: instead of putting up a billboard that everyone driving by sees (whether they’re interested in your product or not), you’re putting up a targeted ad on a website that people interested in your product are visiting. Or, instead of sending out a mass mailing to everyone in a certain zip code, you’re sending a personalized email to people who have signed up for your email list and have shown interest in what you have to offer. Digital marketing lets you be more strategic and efficient with your marketing efforts.

Social Media is a Conversation

Social media marketing is all about building relationships and engaging with your audience. It’s not just about broadcasting your message to the masses, but about creating a two-way dialogue. Think of it like attending a networking event: you wouldn’t just stand in the corner shouting about your business, would you? You’d mingle, listen to what others have to say, and engage in conversations.

That’s what social media marketing is all about. It’s about sharing valuable content, responding to comments and questions, and building a community around your brand. It takes time and effort to cultivate these relationships, but the payoff can be huge. When done right, social media can be a powerful tool for driving traffic to your website, generating leads, and building brand loyalty.

Why pay for search?

There are some great reasons to pay per click searches. SEO is a long game, with rules that periodically change and require whole new strategies. PPC is fast, but seldom cheap. The thing I really like about paid clicks is the ability to choose the landing page– and tailor the content to specifically what you want your “click” to do (within limits set up by Google and the others). It seems to get harder and harder to make money with paid search, but it’s still way cheaper than just about all the “traditional” analog marketing methods (in my experience).

How to optimize for search

What the search engines are looking for is a good search “experience” for their users. Our job is to provide useful content. Forget about meta tags– that’s so 2003. Here’s what the 500 pound gorilla (Google) looks at (primarily): your URL, your title tag and your H1 (headline) copy. Google’s AI says it can’t see pictures yet (sure) so for now just humor them and include ‘alt’ or ‘title’ text inside the <img> tag. There are lots of tools out there for keyword density; if I were you, I’d focus on writing that is clear, compelling, captivating– writing that tells a story– rather than trying to cram in keywords.

Figure out where you stand before you start your optimization. Plug in some search terms you’d like to “win” at, and see where you show up (at all). After your initial work, give it about 3 weeks for the search to crawl your site (by the way, don’t every pay someone to post your website to a search engine– again, so 2003). Now run the search query again, and document what your search “rank” is (example: 3rd page, 5th position). The goal is first page, but that may not be realistic for a broad term (especially if you’re in a super-competitive niche) so you might want to focus on some longer-tail terms initially.

How do you know what people are searching for? Analytics will tell you that…