Growing your online reach allows you to grow your brand, authority, and profits within your market. Every website owner should understand that an increase in qualified traffic will directly convert to an increase in their business opportunities. Unfortunately, many site owners become stuck in the mindset that free options are the only cost-effective methods for their business.
Haven’t they ever heard the saying, “You have to spend money to make money”?
The free traffic and marketing methods reduce the operational cost but add up when considering the amount of time one would need to invest in order to see significant results. Paid methods and those requiring a decent investment, on the other hand, can cut through the chatter and allow your business to overcome the competition because so few others are willing to take the risks.
The following are three different ways to grow your online reach – these are the ones you’ve most likely resisted, the most, until now…
1. Pay-per-click Advertising
Pay-per-click advertising delivers near-instant results the moment that your ad campaigns reach approval. Pricing will greatly depend on the platform you choose but it truly comes down to your usage of keywords and whether you are ready and optimized for the ad traffic.
A small investment into a PPC campaign can provide the following benefits:
- Agile research and development based on visitor response and tracking
- Keyword optimization based on high performing ads (then recouped into other campaigns)
- The ability to test products and services without committing to large marketing campaigns
If you were to place a monetary amount to your time it will be revealed that it could be a logical decision to choose PPC advertising because the time it takes to create content, network, or build links may be immensely longer than handing over funds for an advertising campaign. Additionally, this free time will allow you to explore other marketing options at the same time that the advertising campaign is underway.
The best way to manage your entry into this form of advertising is with PPC management services and tools, such as those offered by SEOInc. This type of management allows you to setup and launch a wide variety of campaigns without becoming overwhelmed and forced to devote large amounts of your time manually tracking the performance.
In all, PPC will allow you to quickly scale campaigns and rework your strategy in a very limited scope of time. Investment in tools and services will further increase benefits with the marketing campaign. You won’t be able to remember why you resisted this method once you begin seeing real results.
2. Local SEO
It doesn’t matter if you’re exclusively operating an informational blog, selling online services, promotion information products, or covering the local news – your website should show up in local results because it doesn’t cost you a dime to setup your listings.
Working from a central location and then extending your reach by a couple miles each week will allow you to begin creating great business contacts with those within your community. No doubt you will find a handful of local individuals that could utilize what you have to offer and having them local means that you have the ability to build stronger relationships since you have access to physical meet and greet.
Likewise, there is just as much chance to find customers for your offers on a local level so you may as well optimize for local SEO since it only takes a couple of hours of your work week for the basics.
Simply put, get on these platforms:
- Yelp
- Google Places
Then begin working on the big factors:
- Correct categories, keywords, titles, and proximity
- Reviews
- On-page signals such as phone number and address
- Social signals (get shared by locals)
You may not see the amount of traffic as you would when focusing on other online marketing methods but local SEO is free and well worth the shot especially if it’s something you’ve yet explored.
3. Video Marketing
Finally, it’s all about trying new media.
Online video is massive and, quite frankly, easy to create especially because there is a likely chance that you have a video camera at your disposal … your phone. Alternatively, you could make the investment in screencasting tools like Camtasia which allows you to record your screen, edit, and publish for the Web.
For a small investment, around $100, you can get started with video marketing.
Here is a breakdown of the basic items:
- Video camera (just use your phone)
- Microphone (your built-in computer mic may be fine otherwise find a $20 headset)
- Video editing software (cheap ones are under $100 but you can find many for free)
- Titles, transitions, and other effects (search marketplaces like VideoHive for cheap stock video)
- Music and sound effects (search AudioJungle for inexpensive audio files)
Now you’re ready to get started.
Begin brainstorming ideas for your online videos the same as you’ve done for your written content. Record these videos by either being on camera and talking about the topic or recording your screen and taking the viewer throughout the process. Do the essential edits and ready it for publishing.
Head over to a video sharing site like YouTube or Vimeo, begin uploading your work, and optimize it based on your keywords and subject.
There you go.
You’re now on your way to exploring this wonderful form of marketing. You will see your videos begin to climb the search engines and work in your favor for growing your reach. You may also begin using them internally on your site, lists, and social media, or as part of other marketing campaigns. The sky’s the limit.
Conclusion
Don’t be afraid to grow your business if it’s a strategy that requires a monetary investment. The free methods of traffic generation and branding will certainly take you very far in becoming a staple in your industry but if you wish to overcome the big hurdles and eventual glass ceiling than you need to keep an open mind to expand your marketing strategies and campaigns.
Which of these have you put up the most resistance?
About the Author: This article is written by Tara Miller