The internet has become a crucial marketing tool for start up companies; it’s low cost and provides traction in the market place very quickly – if it’s done correctly.
If your internet marketing isn’t managed then it becomes time consuming and very frustrating, often resulting in you giving up and paying for online advertising with Google’s pay per click which can burn your limited budget within a few hours.
The key to an effective internet campaign is to understand what phrases people you want to attract to your web site will enter into the search engines. Smart Assessor has launched a new e-portfolio software solution which is targeting training providers who are delivering work based learning. When we searched for our local college of further education by their name they were returned right at the top of the results, but if I was a local employer looking for an apprentice would I think of my local college or would I Google something like “looking for an apprentice in (location)” Entering this into the search engine specifying the location of the college as the location in the phrase they were nowhere to be seen on the first 3 pages, finally getting a mention on page 5.
How many of us scroll through 5 pages of the search returns to find what we are looking for? Not many!
Google can help you understand what phrases are entered into their search engine with the external keyword tool, this tool will show you how many people have searched for a specific phrase and display a 12 month search pattern too.
Once you have revealed which phrases you would like your web site to be returned against then you need to go about create lots of content around that phrase on the web. Make sure the content of your web site is updated regularly too because Google will visit updated pages within your web site more frequently and Google indexes each and every page of your web content not just your home page; make sure you are setting different search phrases for each of your individual pages within your web site. You need to get these phrases in your title tags, headings and the content of your web pages themselves.
Consider getting content published on the web outside of your own web site too. Articles are a great way of getting your phrases indexed and there are lots of web sites that accept article submissions without charging.
Ultimately what you are trying to achieve is to create lots of ‘noise’ on the web by distributing your content containing your key phrases as widely as possible, when someone you are trying to target enters that phrase into Google you don’t just want to get returned in the number 1 spot but also the next 20 search returns too. It’s easy to do and will cost you absolutely nothing except an hour or two of your time.
That’s one of the methods we have used at Smart Assessor to create a lot of noise and enthusiasm for our new e-portfolio software in just a few short weeks. For more hints on web marketing or to find out more about Smart Assessor visit our web site www.smartassessor.com
