The 10 Disciplines of Digital Marketing (Part 1)

Search Engine Optimization

Consumers are using search engines like Google to find, research, and choose what products or services they will buy. It’s important for your company to have an optimized website that ranks on the first page of Google’s results when people search for terms related to your business. For instance, Jimmy is looking for a St. Louis lawyer to handle a personal matter involving an injury that he experienced at work. He goes to Google and searches “St. Louis personal injury lawyer.” Here are the results he’s given: 

As you can see, JoshMyersLaw.com is ranking #1 for the term in organic listings. It’s likely that Jimmy will click this result because it’s the first one he sees on the page. Also, it has a lot of keywords in the listing itself. Search engine optimization is important because people can find you more easily, ultimately leading to more website traffic and overall sales.

Reputation Management 

Your potential customers are deciding whether or not to buy from you based on reviews about your business. Online review sites like Google+ Local, Yelp, and CitySearch impact the way your business is perceived by others. A lot of small business owners thrive on word-of-mouth marketing or endorsements about their business. That’s why it’s important to be aware of online reputation management and positive or negative stories surrounding your business.

Let’s stick with the lawyer example by searching for “St. Louis personal injury lawyer” on Google.

Notice anything that stands out in the above image? The second (paid) listing shows CMHLawFirm.com with 5 stars and 5 Google reviews. This is the only listing in organic or paid that has any reviews on Google’s results. Now, which one are you more apt to click on or buy from? Online reviews are word-of-mouth on a massive scale, and people buy from businesses with positive online reviews.

Display Advertising

Did you know that your customer probably visits the same 10 websites everyday? Their time is usually spent on sites or blogs that pertain to their interests, whether it be sewing, rowing, or wine tasting. The interest graph is making a comeback in digital marketing. On that note, it’s important to target your customers’ online interests. Display advertising allows you to place ads on sites that your customers visit the most.

If you’re anything like the typical Internet user, you probably visit weather sites on a daily basis. My favorite weather site: AccuWeather.com. Now, keep that in the back of your head for a second while we talk about one of my interests - shoes. I was recently shopping around on Quoddy.com to fulfill my disgustingly overpriced shoe addiction. Then, I decided (like typical web-surfers usually do) that I didn’t want to fulfill that addiction anymore. So, what did I do? Check the weather.

Curious. There’s a freaking Quoddy ad on Accuweather. How did they know I liked Quoddy’s? Welp, Quoddy is running a re-marketing campaign on Google right now. They have a piece of code that’s inserted on their website to track you down, ultimately serving you ads when you abandon shopping carts or leave their site. Remarketing is one way to use display advertising to get in front of your customers.