Whether you’re a local business selling to customers nearby, or a small business trying to reach people across the country, leveraging Google should be a key component in your marketing game plan. There are millions of Google searches happening every minute of every day, and searches containing the phrase ‘near me’ have doubled since last year (with 80% of those searches coming from mobile devices).
Not sure where to get started? Here are four practical ways to get found on Google and start generating more traffic, leads and revenue:
1. Google Ads (Formerly, Google AdWords
Google Ads is Google’s online advertising platform. You bid on words and phrases that you want your ads to show for, and you only pay when people click your ads. When someone clicks your ad, you send them to a dedicated landing page with an offer and call to action. (This is known as ‘pay per click’ advertising.) Here’s an example screenshot of someone who searches ‘home builders philadelphia pa’ in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
As you can see, Google Ads allows you to get in front of your ideal prospects when they are searching/looking for a solution. And unlike SEO (which can take months or years to rank well in search results), if you do AdWords right you can be on the first page of Google by tomorrow.
My recommendation: Start off with a low monthly budget of $100 – $300 for three months, using exact and phrase match keywords only. Set up a specific offer and landing page for your AdWords, to better increase and track conversions. For example, if you’re selling Dominican Republic villas, you could setup a Google Ads campaign to target people interested in purchasing Caribbean real estate.
Here’s a short video by Google that explains AdWords in more detail:
2. Create content (that is rich with relevant keywords)
One of the most important steps in improving your site’s ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content.” – Google
Every company needs to be creating content (that is rich with relevant keywords), because it is what Google wants (and rewards), and it is ultimately what will help you rank well in the search results.
Take a look at this screenshot below. What do you notice? The articles ranking here on page one are all articles. Relevant content based on what the user is searching for.
This is Google’s mission: “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
My recommendation: Begin creating content around the questions and problems you target market has. No matter what business you’re in, all customers have questions, needs, problems, and interests that you can create useful content around,
3. Get on Google, get positive reviews
While Google Reviews don’t necessarily have an affect on organic search rankings, they do have an effect on a person’s perception of an organization.
For example, if you saw this listing below for pizza restaraunts, which link would you be most likely to click? The one with the 5-star rating, or the ones with 3.7-start ratings?
The one with the 15 reviews and 5-star rating would naturally jump out to you, because of the perceived value the social proof brings.
My recommendation: First, get your business on Google. Second, start asking your happy customers to review your business on Google.
4. Create YouTube videos
The great thing about YouTube videos, is that you can show up in front of potential customers on YouTube.com AND on Google. Videos made on YouTube are searchable on Google, even if the person searching isn’t searching on Google. Check out this screenshot as an example
This video was published on YouTube, but it is searchable on Google.
Remember, just because you create a video doesn’t mean it will rank on page one of Google. It needs to be a good video, rich with useful information and appropriate keywords that your target market uses. It’s these types of videos that rank well, get shared, and help fill the top of the sales funnel.
Conclusion
The awesome thing about Google is that it’s one of the ways your prospects are already searching for a solution to their problem/need. If you take advantage of these opportunities, you can get in front of your prospects and win more business from the web.
Want to talk more about ways your business can leverage these opportunities? Shoot me an email and let’s set up a time to talk about ways your business could implement these marketing tactics above.
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