• 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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Thoughts On Pay-Per-Click During An Economic Downturn

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has shattered lives and disrupted economies across the globe. Not unexpected, companies everywhere are looking to reduce spending as a safeguard against the unknown. Often marketing budgets are some of the first to feel the effects of these cost-cutting measures. However, sometimes these efforts can be misguided. One such area that is worth examining is pay-per-click advertising.

Often we think of pay-per-click (PPC) as Google ads, but in reality, it can be any type of digital click-based advertising, including Facebook and LinkedIn ads. Due to the direct link between cost and result (ROI), this type of marketing is an easy target when it’s time to cut back on spending, but is that the right approach? Let’s explore the two ways I suggest you view this.

When To Stay The Course

So here is the deal, when sales are down, it’s usually not a good idea to cut back on the methods you use to attract sales. More often than not, all you are going to do is further reduce sales, thus reducing revenue. As you might imagine, this is a quick way to enter into a tailspin to the bottom.

Ask yourself this, are sales impossible during this event (whatever is reducing sales), or are sales just diminished? If you are selling raincoats during a global drought, then feel free to skip ahead to the next session. However, if you are still capable of sales, even if reduced, consider how you will reach those clients if you eliminate your PPC marketing.

If you can afford to continue your PPC marketing, I highly recommend it. One of the greatest aspects of PPC is the ability marketers have to craft a timely message that can be delivered directly to possible buyers. “We Are Still Open” and “Economic Relief Options” are both timely and impactful messages.

If $30-$100 a day spent on PPC results in positive cash flow, then there is no mathematical reason to cut back. Think about it this way, if $1,000 a month of ads results in $3,000 of sales, then eliminating your ads to save money is not a savings of $1,000 but rather a loss of $2,000. In a time when funds are tight, who can afford to lose money intentionally?

Changing Course

Understandably not all businesses will fair the same during an economic downturn. Different business models and various reasons for the downturn are two important factors. If you are capable of making sales but not able to make enough to justify your PPC spend I recommend refocusing your efforts.

Keep in mind that at some point, things will return to normal. So, instead of trying to use PPC to capture new sales, you can cut back on your spend and work on targeting your brand name and a small but important aspect of your industry. This will save you money while at the same time keeping you top of mind with your future customers.

How would this work? Let’s say you sell semi-trucks, and you usually spend your PPC money targeting truck brands and directing those clicks to various brand-focused landing pages. For the sake of this example, you are spending $150 a day on ads. If you needed to cut back, I would recommend spending $25 on ads that target your company name and $25 on your best-selling truck. That will result in a $100 per day savings and still ensure that your brand is out there.

It really is that simple. However, if you are struggling to make the numbers work and would like someone to review your situation with you, I’m here to help. It would be my pleasure.

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