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Effective Web Marketing Strategies
by Mackenzie Fogelson, M.A.
Printable Version
Email Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are both effective Web Marketing strategies that can be beneficial tools when considering your marketing options.
Depending on your marketing goals, your company might find one, or both, of these strategies to be an effective asset to your marketing campaign. How can they best work for your company?
Email Marketing vs. Search Engine Optimization
In a nutshell, Email Marketing is a communication strategy that provides your target audience with valuable industry related information.
This information can help to establish your company as a trusted, industry expert, build strong and lasting relationships, and bring your target audience repeatedly back to your Website.
Search Engine Optimization is an organic practice that can assist a Website in gaining successful rankings in the search engines for specific industry related keywords and phrases. SEO can help to attract members of your target audience and bring them directly to your Website.
Email Marketing Highlights
- Offers Valuable Information
Email Marketing Campaigns are a great way to provide your target audience with valuable, useful information about significant topics in your industry. Without “selling” yourself, the information provided establishes your company as the expert and fosters a feeling of trust in your target audience.
- Provides Effective Metrics
Email Marketing provides actual metrics that report on the results of your campaigns. Most importantly, these metrics reveal click-through rates that illustrate exactly what your recipients were interested in and where they clicked.
- Maximizes Use of Content
The content created for Email Marketing Campaigns can be maximized to serve several purposes. This same content that is used for monthly or quarterly E-Newsletters can also be incorporated into your Website (and crawled by the search engines) and be used for a print mailing (print Newsletter) or additional print publications as in other marketing materials (pocket folder, handouts).
- Boosts Search Engine Rankings
Email Marketing aids in search engine rankings due to fresh content that is created for each campaign and posted to your Website.
- Serves as a Resource
Because the content from your Email Marketing campaigns is provided on your Website, it serves as a resource for any visitor.
Even if members of your target audience do not wish to receive Email Marketing from your company, they can still benefit from the knowledge provided. Just be sure to direct traffic to those resources on your Website.
Search Engine Optimization Highlights
- Attracts Qualified Visitors
Through effective competitor and keyword research, SEO can help to attract qualified visitors (those actually looking for your specific “product”) and direct them to your Website.
- Provides Visibility
Using an SEO program can help keep your Website (and company name) in front of your target audience and your competitors. SEO can also assist your company in staying ahead of your competition (especially if they are not taking advantage of an SEO program).
- Increases Rankings
Among other strategies involved with the organic practice of SEO, your Website will naturally become more and more established over time (due to time spent at your Web address).
If you are continually adding credible content (perhaps from an Email Marketing campaign) and your Website is effectively designed, your rankings will clearly increase.
- Provides Opportunity for a "Sale"
Top 10 placement in the engines for specific keywords and phrases in your industry can certainly be obtained. However, ranking top 10 does not guarantee a click or that your company will make the “sale” once a click has been made (one good reason why it is so important that SEO is just one part of a marketing campaign where other marketing efforts—besides Web—are being made).
Both SEO and Email Marketing are valuable strategies for increasing traffic, building awareness and establishing your company as a valuable industry resource. Evaluate your marketing goals and decide how these tools could be an asset to effectively marketing your company.