Few things in today’s market are prone to staying the same. That includes customer expectations, technology, and ‘ most importantly ‘ your marketing strategy. In the Web Marketing world, things can change at the drop of a hat. More often than not, it’s Google dropping the ‘hat.’
At Market Hardware, we’ve made a career out of staying up-to-date with the best online marketing strategies and the latest trends affecting Google. Rather than hoard the knowledge, we choose to share information through our recurring Client Webinar. Our upcoming presentation is entitled: ‘Key Google Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2021 ‘ and How to Use Them to Drive More NEW Customers!‘
For those that are interested in the webinar ‘ or for those who don’t have a clue about 2021 Web Marketing ‘ we want to take this opportunity to give a taste of what we’ll be discussing on Wednesday, February 10th. We would love for you to bring any questions or comments to the presentation; we can either give you an answer during the webinar or follow up with you afterward!
Targeted Display Ads: GeoFencing
If your company has used online marketing strategies before, it’s likely you’ve employed Display Ads. These are those online advertisements that seem to follow you around the Web, typically for things you’ve been searching for or from sites that you’ve visited. A common strategy is to pick a city you want more work in, send ads that way, and hope for the best (a strategy we do not recommend).
Now, what if your ads could be more targeted ‘ even to specific blocks or neighborhoods, and you only have to spend pennies to get them in front of your prospects? They can be, with GeoFencing. This style of Display Ad marketing gets its name from the idea of placing an imaginary fence around streets, zip codes, etc., that mean the most to you. Rather than paying for ads across an entire city or county, you can choose to target neighborhoods, main streets, and even a specific office/apartment building!
The way GeoFencing works is simple. If anyone with a WiFi-enabled device (smartphone, laptop) walks through the GeoFence that you’ve set up, they’ll be served an ad from you. This process is completely automated, and the user receives no notification of this process. It costs about a penny (yes, that is $0.01) to serve that ad to a user. If you aren’t using this cost-effective marketing model in 2021, you may be missing out on leads.
The 2021 Standard for Websites
We won’t spend much time here explaining why it’s important to have a company Website ‘ because most organizations know this by now. In 2021, showing up online is no longer half the battle; you have to show up well.
Times are always changing and so are the standards for Websites. To give you an idea of how your site should appear and be organized, answer the following questions:
- Can users on mobile phones experience my Website as well as desktop users?
- Is my Website fully loading on users’ devices in less than 10 seconds? 3 seconds?
- Does my Website make it clear what my company wants them to do? Is there any sales funnel in place?
- Does my Website look modern and clean, or will some think that it was built years ago?
If you aren’t able to answer ‘yes’ to most of these, you may have a problem. Online web marketing strategies all point to one place: your Website. If you’re interested in running an ad campaign or implementing a social networking strategy, make sure your foundation is secured with a quality Website.
Old SEO vs. New SEO
The benefit of being in the Web Marketing game for a long time is that we know what works, what doesn’t, and what used to work with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). A lot goes into an effective campaign, which is geared at making your Website appear in the search engine results for the keywords that reflect your business. But it’s important to keep your strategy up-to-date, as your online placement can suffer if Google sees you using old techniques.
Old SEO tactics can include keyword stuffing (nonsensically adding keywords and city names throughout your site, hoping no one by search engines notice) and exact-match domains (putting keywords and cities into your URL). Keeping SEO current also means abiding by trends, like low page load speeds and responsive design (your Website adapts to different screen sizes seamlessly). If your SEO campaign has been using the same tactics for years, it may be time for an update.
We could go into more detail for any of the above, but that’s what the Webinar is for! We hope you’ll be able to make our presentation on Wednesday, Feb 10, 2021, from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST. The team here loves to help small business craft online marketing strategies that work as they do. Register for our Webinar today so that you won’t miss it!
