The Internet makes it possible to sell everything to everyone all the time and everywhere. This sounds great – until you try to form realistic goals for your marketing expenditures.
Successful Internet marketing is all about targeting and engagement; its primary tools are search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC). You’ll need to consider all four when setting your goals for 2022 – and beyond.
Set Markers
Every website is measured and ranked constantly, meaning that it’s easy to find out both where you stand and whether your marketing dollars are being spent efficiently. But where you end up depends on where you begin. So, do you want to be among the top five or top ten search results on Google, for example? Do you need to be verified on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? And how many badges, endorsements, ratings, testimonials and/or reviews do you need before your domain authority hits the jackpot?
There won’t be one answer for everyone, and sometimes just moving in the right direction is an accomplishment in itself. But whether your immediate goals are engaging an audience, building an audience or converting leads, remember that what ultimately matters in the virtual world is establishing trust.
Nail the Landing
Whether a user finds you by clicking on an ad or entering a Google search term, where they land is extremely important. Remember that getting eyeballs to your site is just the first step. You’ll want to have goals in terms of sales conversion, follow-ups, and engagement in calls to action (CTAs), at minimum. If you’re spending a lot of money on PPC and SEO that delivers users into a black hole, your marketing budget is being wasted.
Engagement Plans
A lesser-known fact is that the quality of your landing site relates back to your SEO, PPC and ultimately your domain authority–basically your “trusted” rank on the Internet. In order to build up your SEO–and get better PPC prices – you must build a quality site that engages visitors. Benchmark yourself against popular sites to know when you’re falling short.
It’s no secret that granularity is becoming a thing of the past. In April, Apple made third-party apps ask for permission to be tracked, and according to Flurry, only 18% of iPhone users in the U.S. are giving it. Meanwhile, Google has announced plans to get rid of third-party cookies by late 2021. What this means is that you’ll need to grab a visitor’s data yourself, or lose it forever.
What’s My Story?
One of the most effective ways of gaining trust is telling a compelling story, so building a narrative around your brand should definitely make your list of goals. A recent study, for example, showed that most millennials and GenZers now get their investing advice on YouTube, where thousands of thought leaders share their knowledge about everything from buying stocks to crypto, largely by telling stories of the market’s past and future. My advice is, don’t present a book. The Internet is a visual medium, so invest in some high-quality photos and video.
You can’t afford to tell a boring story or the same one over and over again. Your site, like your goals, should be dynamic, challenging and a little tribal. When you reach a milestone, celebrate it online and don’t hesitate to thank your users for being the bigger part of it. Be inclusive. We may set goals for ourselves, but an engaged and excited online audience makes those goals achievable.
