Gone are the days where banners, Adwords, and other forms of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) were the dominant ways to advertise your business online. Today, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and just about every site where your clients spend a considerable amount of time offer a way for you to advertise to the people that really matter to your business.

 

SEM, Search Engine Marketing, Internet Marketing, Google AdwordsSEM – Search Engine Marketing

First of all, what is Search Engine Marketing (or SEM)? While SEO focuses on free or “organic” traffic, SEM (Search Engine Marketing) focuses on paid listings. The most widely known program is Google Adwords and AdSense. These are the ads that appear at the top of search results and on the side of Google and other search engines. The ads can be text only, or banners of different sizes.

Having a strong SEO and SEM strategy will greatly improve the visibility of your website and of your products and services.

There are different SEM campaigns:
Pay-per-Click (PPC): you pay only when a user clicks on your ad
Impression based or CPM: you pay each time your ad is shown. The purchasing unit under this method is a thousand impressions.

There are also different advertising networks that we work with, including Google and Facebook

We can :

  • Set up an account (with Google Adwords, Facebook, etc.)
  • Set up your campaigns
  • Create ads (text, banners, multimedia)
  • Test different ads to find the one that generates the best response
  • Create, improve and test your landing pages (the page where customers go when clicking on an ad, if different from a regular page on your site). Having a landing page targeted to specific ads or campaigns is a good practice that can improve your results
  • Provide reports and recommendations on campaign performance so you can maximize your advertising dollars
  • Report on the impact the campaigns had on your site (did people stay on your site or just clicked and left? what pages did they see? did they purchase?)

Google Maps

If your business has a physical address, you can add it to Google Maps. In addition to displaying your business in the map, Google Maps allows you to add your phone number (which when seen from a mobile device allows you to call with a click), hours of operations and even discount coupons to attract more customers.

One additional benefit is that it will help boost your search engine rankings.

E-ffectiveWeb - Internet and mobile marketing using FoursquareFoursquare (Mobile)

Foursquare is a location-based mobile app that in addition to showing your business in a map, it allows customers to “check in” to your business allowing friends of your customers discover your business through their check-ins.

 

E-ffectiveWeb - Internet marketing with YelpYelp

Yelp is a site that helps people discover local businesses. When you add your business to Yelp, you can add your full business information (address, phone number, hours of operation, etc.) as well as photos. Adding your business to Yelp allows you to:

  • offer discount coupons to entice customers to buy your products or visit your store
  • add photos to show off your business/products
  • be reviewed by your customers. Many studies show that customers are more likely to buy from businesses that have customer reviews
  • boosts your SEO rankings

E-ffectiveWeb - Internet marketing with PinterestPinterest

Pinterest is a new social network that allows users to create pinboards with images they collect from websites. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, ‘re-pin’ images to their own collections or ‘like’ photos.

If your product or business lends itself to attractive imagery (architects, interior designers, fashion designers, food, etc.) Pinterest is an ideal network to be found int.

But other business can also benefit from this additional venue, by creatively crating photos and posting them. For instance a groomer or veterinarian,  a consultant posting infographics, etc.

E-ffectiveWeb - Internet marketing with SlideshareSlideshare

If your business, as part of its services provides or generates information that can be put into a PowerPoint presentation, then Slideshare can be a great venue to participate in. For instance Accountants can post information about tax changes for the current year, Financial Advisors can post presentations about investing strategies, Consultants can post information, research or insights that could be of interest to their current or potential customers, Hairdressers can detail the steps to a new style they just performed, etc.

Expand your marketing

With a little creativity, you can use each one of these tools to promote your site, boost your SEO rankings and get more customers.

Ready to further your site’s marketing?

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