• FAQs

          Search engine optimization (SEO) helps businesses drive visits to their website through organic search traffic. Given that the top organic search results receive a third of the clicks, a decline in ranking could be detrimental for your business. Implementing SEO best practices on your website will help to ensure that your web content is seen by as many potential customers as possible. The more visitors you have, the better your chances are of converting those visits into sales!

          Local search engine optimization (SEO) helps local businesses gain visibility by optimizing their local business listings for local search. A business that leverages local SEO will include its address, phone number, local opening times, and exact location in the form of a local citation. The goal is to rank for local searches which are usually performed by people in a specific geographical region looking for a business near them.

          We typically see results within the first 30 to 60 days, but when it comes to SEO, there are many factors at play. It's important to remember that SEO is a long-term strategy and results may not come as fast at you wish.

        • FAQs

          Digital advertising uses the internet to send advertisements to customers who are online through different websites and social media platforms like Google, Bing, LinkedIn and Facebook.

          The price for Google Ads management depends on the monthly ad spend. For accounts with $1,000 in monthly ad spend, the price is $550/month. Between $1,000 and $5,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $950/month. For $5,000 to $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $2,000/month. For more than $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $4,500/month.

          The price for Social Media Ads management depends on the monthly ad spend. For accounts with $1,000 in monthly ad spend, the price is $550/month. Between $1,000 and $5,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $950/month. For $5,000 to $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $2,000/month. For more than $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $4,500/month.

        • FAQs

          This depends on the complexity and size of a redesign and if eCommerce is needed. On average, it takes around 14-18 weeks from the web design intensive stage to launch.

          If your website experiences the following issues: it’s not responsive on all devices, has a slow loading speed, the design appears old and tired, users don’t spend long on the site, sales are stagnant, or your business is going through a rebranding - your website needs a redesign to boost your brand awareness and sales.

          Sometimes there’s no need to rebuild a website. Minor edits, refreshing page content and images, or restructuring page layout for SEO best practices can boost traffic and sales.

        • FAQs

          Semantic search launched in 2013 with the release of Google's Hummingbird update. Since then, Google's search engine has become more complex. The integration of machine learning, with RankBrain, and NLP, with BERT, has enabled the search engine to better understand the context of a query and deliver more personalized and targeted results. Semantic SEO is the process of creating machine-readable content using structured data and linked open data to help search engines better understand your content.

          On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. On-page SEO refers to both the content and HTML source code of a page that can be optimized, as opposed to off-page SEO which refers to links and other external signals. From meta tags to page content, website structure, and HTML, on-page optimization services are focused on making your website more visible to search engines.

          Structured data refers to any organized data that conforms to a certain format, such as information in a relational database. When information is highly structured and predictable, search engines can more easily organize and display it in creative ways. Structured data involves using a piece of code that is laid out in a specific format easily understood by search engines. The search engines read the code and use it to display search results in a more dynamic way.

        • FAQs

          An SEO agency has experts in different areas of search engine optimization that may be out of the realm of your marketing team's abilities. SEO can be very complex and time-consuming. Furthermore, as search engine algorithms change it can be difficult to stay current on the latest ranking factors and strategies for improving online visibility. You will likely see a greater return on investment and better results from using a professional SEO agency than you would from tackling this on your own.

          As a digital marketing agency, SMA Marketing provides products and services in four areas: SEO, Local SEO, Digital Advertising, and Web Design

          We focus on building authentic, long-lasting relationships with our clients. We’re goal oriented and results driven and believe in doing good and making a difference in the world.

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A Simplified Digital Marketing Strategy

Beth Walker

May 6, 2021

When I tell people I work in digital marketing, they often respond by saying they don’t want to sell their products or services on social media. This reaction is understandable. These days social media isn’t always very kind, and the algorithms are unpredictable. It’s also why I like to say companies should use social media as the icing on a multi-layered cake when planning a well-rounded digital marketing strategy.

At SMA Marketing, we focus on the digital channels our clients own, such as websites and email lists. Content published on social media platforms is useful. However, any type of content is expensive. Why spend all your time on rented digital marketing channels?

Planning Your Digital Marketing Strategy

One definition of digital marketing is that it is the strategy of using the internet to market your business. The goal of your digital marketing strategy should be to create and optimize information that helps your target audience understand how your business will solve a pain point. This is a broad concept, so let’s take some time to break it down.

Digital marketing includes everything that elevates your online presence:

  • Content marketing
  • Search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Social media marketing
  • Website development and design
  • Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
  • Lead generation
  • Lead nurturing
  • Email marketing
  • Video marketing
  • Digital Advertising
  • Affiliate Marketing

To ensure your digital strategy is successful, it’s important to analyze each of your marketing activities and ensure they align with your business goals. The more efficient you are with your digital marketing activities, the more time you’ll have to spend on the day-to-day needs of running your business. Let’s explore the core areas of digital marketing and some ways each may contribute to business growth.

Content Marketing

Content is the most time-consuming and often the most expensive part of a digital marketing strategy. It’s how you engage and excite potential customers as well as drive organic traffic. When you provide valuable information and keep your audience informed about your company, you communicate that your digital spaces add value. There’s a lot of noise on the internet. Content marketing helps you distinguish your business as a space where customers won’t have their time wasted.

A review of your Google Analytics and social channel insights will help you identify the types of content your target customers prefer. Using keywords, you can create content about the most important topics for your company. When you develop a library of company assets that are well-written or produced, authoritative, relevant, and attract your audience’s attention, you will quickly become known as an authority in your industry.

Content Marketing Assets Include:

  • Web page content
  • Blog posts
  • Emails
  • Infographics
  • Whitepapers
  • Ebooks
  • Videos
  • Podcasts
  • How-to guides
  • Webinars
  • Web stories
  • Custom images

Your content should align with your digital marketing goals. Excellent content marketing elevates your digital presence and attracts the right audience to your products and services. 

Website Design and Development

Your most important digital asset is your website. It’s vital to have a website that presents a clear message and has easy navigation. User experience is something that can’t be overlooked as you seek a visually appealing design. Search engine optimization is a key component of web design. It’s vital to follow SEO best practices. You’ll accomplish this with both on-page SEO and technical SEO strategies.

When your website is fully optimized you have the best opportunities to rank in search. Incorporate SEO into your website content, meta descriptions, and titles for key terms your buyer persona is using to search for businesses like yours.

Finally, you’ll need to connect your website to Google Analytics and Search Console so you can ensure your site is being found on Google.

Why Do I Need a Digital Marketing Strategy?

A comprehensive digital marketing plan can help a business stand out from the competition by creating an online presence that speaks to its target audience. From organic SEO strategies to effective content campaigns, paid adverts on social media, or an email marketing campaign targeting potential customers – digital marketing has a range of powerful tools for creating greater visibility for a business’s products or services. Not only will the right approach help a business find new customers, but it can also drive customer loyalty and repeat purchases resulting from positive user experiences. Ultimately, having an effective digital marketing strategy in place is becoming increasingly important as our world moves further into the digital age.

Where Do You Start, and Who Do You Trust?

If you start searching for the terms and strategies I’ve highlighted in this article, you’ll find thousands of get-rich-quick pitches, hundreds of websites with people stating they are experts, and just as many videos and webinars. Each will have a different way of doing things. So, who do you trust?

The truth is there are a lot of great digital marketers with great ideas. The best way to know who to trust is to see who is transparent. If marketers are willing to teach you what they know to help you get started, that’s helpful. You also want to listen to a company that can prove with case studies that their methods work. Will a company show you that blogging is helping them grow their reach? Can a company explain how email marketing impacts its growth?

If a company cannot transparently show that its strategies work, why should you waste your time trying them?

You Need a Simplified Digital Marketing Strategy

At SMA Marketing, we’ve developed a course and private community to help small business owners, writers, and entrepreneurs create a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

The Simplified Digital Marketing Course will take the guesswork out of implementing digital marketing best practices. You’ll remain confident you aren’t missing steps like connecting your website to Google Analytics, developing a buyer persona, and establishing a multi-channel content marketing strategy. This course will help align your strategic goals for your business with your online presence.

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Beth Walker

Beth Walker is a Content Manager who is passionate about storytelling. She leads our In-House writing team and works closely with clients and CSMs to ensure all the content SMA creates meets SEO best practices and tells each client's unique story.

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