Business in 2020 has been challenging. But the underlying principles of running a business haven’t changed.
You need profits to survive. And in order to gain profits, you need customers. How do you get them in a virtual world?
If you’re reading this, you may already have a variety of tactics in mind. Redesign your website. Advertise on Facebook. Open up an Instagram account … and actually use it this time.
All of that works. But you might be overlooking one other tool, the “king of the jungle” when it comes to online marketing: Google. Using Google to attract new customers is something every business needs to consider.
If you aren’t, we guarantee your competitors are.
Why Google? There are many reasons.
People search Google every day. Google is the most visited website in the world, receiving 62.19 billion visits in 2019 alone. And once they get there, people search. Statistics say just over 3.5 billion searches per day.
Google offers a variety of ways to be found. Like Google My Business, search, maps, ads. There are many ways to use Google in your marketing toolbox (and the good news is a lot of them are for free.)
People trust Google. Google is so wildly popular, we now use Google as a verb. In 2006, Merriam-Webster dictionary added it with the meaning: to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the World Wide Web.
And that’s just the start.
Yet as a digital marketing company, we also know that navigating around Google can be a bit overwhelming. Where do you start when they have so much to offer? Google’s platform is an ever-changing playing field. If you get it wrong, you will pay the consequences.
But if you do it right, you can attract and acquire customers that will help you grow steadily into the future.
Using Google Search
When most people think about Google, they think search engine first. And that’s the best place for you to start. If you’ve never considered how your website gets into Google ranks, now is the time. It’s not only important to show up, but also to be an authority site that Google chooses to feature. That’s the only way to generate quality leads.
To get there quickly, you can use Google Ads. For any search you do, they are the first listings that show up in any search result. With this method, you have to pay to play. Your results will have an ad symbol next to it. However, ad displays now flow so well within the first page of results that people often consider them authority sites and click on them to view the results. The more you define your target audience, the more this strategy works.
While Google Ads are a quick way to get into Google, they aren’t the only way. It also benefits you to optimize your website for inclusion in search results. This again means defining your audience well, and creating content throughout your site that targets them with unique offers.
We offer content marketing services because we know how well it works in the long term. If you’re creating blog posts, pillar pages, and landing pages all targeting different viewers using different key terms and ideas, you’re far more likely to speak to people looking for what you do. And that means a broader range of potential customers coming through your door.
Dig Deeper
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Using Other Google Tools
Every single customer who buys from you has a unique experience in finding your business. That makes expanding your online marketing methods mandatory. Luckily, Google has a variety of ways for expanding the way you build your online strategy.
Google My Business makes it easier than ever for searchers to discover and engage with businesses online. That means they don’t even have to click to a website to do business with you. That works very well for certain types of businesses, like restaurants.
Google Maps is just one part of creating a dynamic Google My Business profile. If you’re a local business, you can create a thorough listing, which will link your address up to Maps. Then your business can be pulled based on searching patterns within your geographical region.
Of course, your profile is a lot more than your name and address. Think of this as a mini-site within Google. You have access to a summary – fill it with a customer-oriented description that people search to find you.
Then keep adding content. Photos will help attract customers looking for visual representation of what you do. Adding phone numbers, hours of business, and other details will shorten up the timeframe of when and how they connect with you. It even allows happy customers a place to fill out reviews. If you haven’t asked your customers to leave a review to help you increase your search rankings, now is the time to build that into your marketing system.
Your Website Is Still Important
While Google offers a plethora of tools to help you rank high within the Google search engine, that doesn’t mean you should put your own website on hold. Your website is the base of your marketing strategy. It helps give you strength in gaining more traction within Google.
We can’t stress enough the importance of writing useful content. You’ll find we write about it all the time here on our site. We’ve taken businesses from “okay” to “great”, simply by placing strategically crafted content on their sites.
All you have to do is consider how you perform your own searches to know how powerful this is. The average person – 84 percent of respondents to one survey – use Google 3 or more times a day. And almost half – 46 percent – start their search for a new product by way of a search on Google.
Think all of that hasn’t changed in 2020? Think those numbers aren’t even higher today?
As you create different pages online, don’t forget SEO tactics. Things like title tags, meta descriptions, image tags, and titles matter when it comes to Google placement.
Also understand that Google changes continuously. When you search on Google, pay attention to the landscape as well as the search results. See how Google pulls video, photo, even map results? Do you watch the Google Suggest feature as you’re typing into the search bar? Do you pay attention to the People Also Ask feature that lands in a variety of results?
The results didn’t land there by accident. All of that is strategically placed by Google algorithms. Having a digital marketing company by your side, helping you navigate your way into the results can help your business grow.
How are you using Google to attract new customers to your business?
