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<\/p>\nIf your business is based in a regional area, chances are your local community is pretty close-knit. While this can be helpful in building a loyal customer base, it can also be tricky to extend the reach of your business outside of your immediate customer base. After all, traditional marketing methods such as direct mail or sales calls aren\u2019t practical or effective when you\u2019re trying to cover customers in multiple towns across the state, or branch into neighbouring cities.<\/p>\n
This is where digital marketing approaches, such as SEO and SEM, can lend a huge helping hand. But what exactly are they and how can they benefit regional businesses? We break down the differences and advantages for you here.<\/p>\n
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SEO, also known as search engine optimisation, is the act of optimising your website\u2019s content and structure to improve your ranking in search engines (i.e. how high up your website appears\u00a0 in search results whenever someone searches for something related to your business).<\/p>\n
When people want to buy something or find out information, they search for it online using keywords. All big search engines, such as Google and Bing, use an algorithm to rank websites and webpages based on what they believe will best answer the search of the user. The better your website is optimised for these algorithms, the more likely it is that it will appear on the first page of search results for those keywords.<\/p>\n
Studies show that real estate is power on search engines. 2022 data from firstpage.com<\/a> reveals that 39.6% of people click on the first webpage in search results. This drops down to just 18.4% for second position and 10.1% for third position.<\/p>\n There are three pillars of SEO:<\/strong><\/p>\n If you can get it right, SEO is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your business online and get more website traffic\u2014especially if you\u2019re trying to expand your customer base to neighbouring communities or cities. SEO helps you appear in regional searches (such as \u2018supplier in regional qld\u2019), and ultimately brings in more traffic to your site.<\/p>\n SEM, or search engine marketing, involves promoting your website and increasing your business\u2019 visibility in search engine results pages through paid advertising.<\/p>\n Google Adwords<\/a> is the most popular paid search platform. When businesses want to rank for a certain keyword on Google, they bid a certain price for each click on their ad \u2013 which comes in the form of a spot in Google\u2019s top paid search results. SEM allows you to set your own budget and target people based on location, job, gender, age and user behaviour – just to name a few.<\/p>\n For example, an electrician in Melbourne might bid on the keyphrase \u2018Melbourne electrician\u2019, offering Google $1 per click. If they outbid other advertisers, Google will place their ad in a designated spot at the top of the page and they will have to pay Google $1 every time someone clicks on their ad.<\/p>\n It\u2019s estimated<\/a> that for every $1 businesses spend on paid search, they make back $2 in revenue. Compared to SEO, SEM is a faster to way to boost your website\u2019s visibility in search engines because it essentially allows you to pay to jump the queue. This is especially useful if you\u2019re running a limited time promotion or want to reach a specific audience and don\u2019t have a few months to wait for your SEO efforts to kick in. RELATED:<\/b> Why SEM is vital for small business.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Ultimately, SEM and SEO are both valuable components of any digital marketing strategy, and when combined, give your business the maximum amount of exposure possible.<\/p>\n SEO is great to get organic visitors to your website and build ongoing brand awareness, visibility and credibility, however, it\u2019s a long-term process that can take several months to see measurable results.<\/p>\n SEM, on the other hand, comes into effect immediately, and is great if you have a new or limited-time offer you\u2019d like to communicate or you want to invest in a quick marketing spurt.<\/p>\n Looking for help with <\/b>SEM<\/b><\/a>, <\/b>SEO<\/b><\/a> or both? Yellow Pages’ experts work with thousands of Aussie businesses to ensure their digital marketing efforts get results. <\/b>Get in touch<\/b><\/a> to find out more.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":2200,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-2196","hub","type-hub","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","seo-local-seo","sem-sem"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Tips to improve your SEO<\/strong>.<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/b>Before diving into content creation, it\u2019s a good idea to know your starting point. Popular SEO tools such as Ahrefs can help you understand where you currently rank for certain keywords<\/a>, and how many other websites are linking back to your site<\/a> (which is valuable for SEO). Tools like Google Search Central<\/a> can also pinpoint any technical SEO errors on-site, such as with site speed or structure.<\/li>\n
\n<\/b>These could include the products you offer and the locations you service. You can also look into Google Analytics<\/a> (or your website provider\u2019s analytics tool) to see which keywords are currently driving the most traffic to your site. Free tools like WordStream Keywords<\/a> can give you inspiration on keywords to target for SEO\u2014simply key in your topic and the tool will generate a bunch of related search keywords.<\/li>\n
\n<\/b>Build blog posts around your target keywords and optimise any existing web pages to include these terms. Crafting great content takes work, so try to add value to each piece you create.<\/li>\n
\nBacklinks matter, and one of the easiest ways to build up the number of links to your company is to list it for free on top online business directories like Yellow Pages Online<\/a> and Google Business Profile<\/a>.<\/li>\n
\nSocial media is a valuable content distribution channel and the more people visiting and engaging with your website\u2019s content, the bigger the benefit to your search rankings. On top of that, a social media profile is another place where you can list your business name, location and contact details, all of which increases the odds that your business will appear when people search for products, services or information related to your business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nWhat is SEM and why does it matter?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\nTips for search engine marketing strategies.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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SEM vs SEO: the bottom line for regional businesses.
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