Are you rethinking your digital advertising strategy? Alternatively, just starting and looking for the best place to put your hard-earned dollars. When researching this topic, you will find varying opinions on what is best for a local business.
Perhaps the most common question is whether to put your money in search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, or pay per click digital advertising? That’s a dilemma that every Houston TX local business will face sooner or later.
Pay per click advertising is its own animal, so for this article, we will focus on “organic search engine optimization” and “content marketing”. Most people tend to think of SEO and content marketing as two separate entities. However, they are very much dependent on each other.
Of course, everyone wants to keep their marketing budget in check. So investing in two processes, rather than one, may seem like it would cost more. However, if your SEO strategy is not content-driven, or your content is not SEO-friendly, you’re spinning your wheels. So, if your digital advertising efforts are not fetching the desired results, this could be the reason.
SEO and content marketing do work differently. Moreover, they require different skills and knowledge. What do we mean? Start by looking at the technical differences.
On Site SEO is More Technical
Onsite SEO involves techniques used to change things on the front and back end of your website. Doing so to improve your website’s online visibility and search rankings. When doing Onsite SEO, some key aspects you need to focus on include:
- Local SEO implementation
- Keyword research
- Strategic use of keywords
- Building a mobile-friendly website
Plus, you need to consistently monitor and tweak your On-Page SEO strategies. Top SEO companies know the importance of using tools like Google Analytics. Because search engines use algorithms, all your SEO efforts need to fact-based. Digging into data gives you a complete picture of your traffic and rankings. So you know what’s working and what’s not.
Local SEO Requires Knowledge of How Search Engines Work
SEO is all about ranking high on SERPs. So, it would be best if you had a basic understanding of how search engines work. However, the most effective Local SEO strategies target both search engines and your end-users because search engines rank websites on one criterion and end-users use another. For example, search engines determine factors such as keywords, headers, title tags, and other code-related elements more deeply than a human.
Human visitors, on the other hand, aren’t this technical. They judge how informative, creative, or helpful copy, graphics, and format. That’s where content marketing comes into play.
Digital Advertising Content Marketing Approach
Content marketing is about crafting high-quality content that attracts, informs, and engages your target audience. Content can be produced in a wide variety of formats: articles, blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, whitepapers, ebooks, and more. In today’s competitive market to have an effective digital advertising plan, you must have great content on your website.
Content serves its purpose throughout the marketing and sales cycle. For example, it helps spread awareness about your business. It attracts the attention of new potential customers. Then, it helps keep them engaged as they move closer to becoming real customers. Not only that, content can help keep your customers informed about new products or services. As such, your digital advertising content efforts can play an essential role in generating repeat sales.
Content Revolves Around Human Users
As mentioned before, content must be for the target audience. So it must be engaging not just to search engines, but to real people. However, it’s not easy, given the enormous amount of content that is needed. Therefore, your focus should be to create content that will help your business stand out.
Paid Digital Advertising, SEO, & Content Marketing
Finally, SEO and content marketing each add value to your business in their ways. However, they have a mutual relationship.
SEO drives high-quality traffic to your website and helps you reach new visitors. Content marketing allows you to keep those visitors hooked once they arrive on your website. The more time they spend on your site, the higher the chances of converting them into paying customers. Also, creating good content consistently improves your brand’s authority. Ultimately this boosts your overall digital advertising return on investment.