If 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’t practical or effective when you’re trying to cover customers in multiple towns across the state, or branch into neighbouring cities.
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.
What is SEO and why does it matter?
SEO, also known as search engine optimisation, is the act of optimising your website’s content and structure to improve your ranking in search engines (i.e. how high up your website appears in search results whenever someone searches for something related to your business).
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.
Studies show that real estate is power on search engines. 2022 data from firstpage.com 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.
There are three pillars of SEO:
- On-site SEO. This refers to the content you have on your website, such as your blog posts or web pages. By creating relevant content on your website that’s optimised for keywords, search engines will see your company as a valuable source of information and rank it higher on unpaid search results.
- Technical SEO. Technical SEO refers to things like your site speed, the linking structure on your website between pages and the mobile-friendliness of your site. Search engines rely on ‘crawlers’ to dig through your website’s content and technical SEO ensures your website is crawlable by Google.
- Offsite SEO. When other reputable websites link to your website (known as backlinks), search engines view your content as more relevant and useful. By creating highly valuable content that other websites link back to, you can improve your website’s authority on a certain keyword or subject, and improve your rankings on Google.
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—especially if you’re trying to expand your customer base to neighbouring communities or cities. SEO helps you appear in regional searches (such as ‘supplier in regional qld’), and ultimately brings in more traffic to your site.
Tips to improve your SEO.
- Do a simple SEO health check.
Before diving into content creation, it’s 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, and how many other websites are linking back to your site (which is valuable for SEO). Tools like Google Search Central can also pinpoint any technical SEO errors on-site, such as with site speed or structure. - Choose your target keywords.
These could include the products you offer and the locations you service. You can also look into Google Analytics (or your website provider’s analytics tool) to see which keywords are currently driving the most traffic to your site. Free tools like WordStream Keywords can give you inspiration on keywords to target for SEO—simply key in your topic and the tool will generate a bunch of related search keywords. - Create content around these keywords.
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. - Don’t forget your website listings.
Backlinks 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 and Google Business Profile. - Set up at least one social media profile.
Social media is a valuable content distribution channel and the more people visiting and engaging with your website’s 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.
What is SEM and why does it matter?
SEM, or search engine marketing, involves promoting your website and increasing your business’ visibility in search engine results pages through paid advertising.
Google Adwords 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 – which comes in the form of a spot in Google’s 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.
For example, an electrician in Melbourne might bid on the keyphrase ‘Melbourne electrician’, 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.
It’s estimated 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’s visibility in search engines because it essentially allows you to pay to jump the queue. This is especially useful if you’re running a limited time promotion or want to reach a specific audience and don’t have a few months to wait for your SEO efforts to kick in.
Tips for search engine marketing strategies.
- Set goals. Decide on what you’d like to happen once someone clicks on your ad. If you’re simply aiming to improve brand awareness, you might define success by the number of clicks through to your site. If you want people to take a specific action, you might look at the number of new customer enquiries or sales. Defining your goals is essential as they will guide the purpose of your ads, where they lead to on your website and your calls to action (for example, ‘Learn more’ versus ‘Contact us now’).
- Know your target customer. Remember that you’re paying for every click, so it’s a good idea to be as targeted as possible when setting up your ad campaigns. If you’re servicing Illawarra Coast in regional NSW, for example, set your location targeting within this region. The same goes for industry, if you’re in manufacturing, limit your customer interest targeting to keep your ads relevant.
- Focus on top 3 rankings. Like SEO, ranking is important: bid on specific keywords where you can get (or maintain) the top 3 position, such as ‘plumber in Wollongong’ rather than ‘plumber in NSW’ or ‘licensed plumber’.
- Make an impact with your ad. The copywriting on your ad can make or break the success of your ad campaign. SEM listings on Google Adwords look the same as Google search results, so it’s important to stand out. Be straightforward in your writing, and include a call to action (‘buy now’ or ‘click here’). Keep in mind that each part of the ad has a set number of characters, so be sure to use up all the space available to you.
RELATED: Why SEM is vital for small business.
SEM vs SEO: the bottom line for regional businesses.
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.
SEO is great to get organic visitors to your website and build ongoing brand awareness, visibility and credibility, however, it’s a long-term process that can take several months to see measurable results.
SEM, on the other hand, comes into effect immediately, and is great if you have a new or limited-time offer you’d like to communicate or you want to invest in a quick marketing spurt.
Looking for help with SEM, SEO or both? Yellow Pages’ experts work with thousands of Aussie businesses to ensure their digital marketing efforts get results. Get in touch to find out more.
