How To Generate More Leads Using Your Website, SEO & Paid Search Advertising
Generating high-quality leads will give your business the online boost it deserves and turn your website visitors into paying customers.
SEO is always at the forefront of the conversation about lead generation, and for good reason. One study found that in 2019, as much as 53% of all traffic was driven by SEO. That’s over half your traffic!
However, driving online leads is rarely as straightforward as it seems, and SEO alone isn’t always enough. Generating online leads takes a combined effort, and you shouldn’t ignore other methods of bringing traffic to your website.
SEO can be an extremely slow process. It can be months after starting your first campaign before you notice any significant results. This is because it can take a while to build up everything you need to get noticed by your audience and gain Google's trust.
Sometimes you might even realize that the work you’ve put into your SEO campaign hasn’t worked, or you’ve been ripped off by a marketing company and wasted your time and money. This ineffective SEO won’t give you the results you deserve and could damage your search engine ranking.
So instead of spending months waiting to see results from your SEO campaign, only to realize you’ve been unsuccessful, find other ways to generate leads alongside your SEO efforts. This will give you a backup solution to help ensure your website gets noticed online by your audience while you’re waiting for your SEO tactics to start working.
Today we’re going to show you how to generate leads for your business using other methods and how to ensure the SEO work you’re doing will be effective for your company.
Can you use Google Ads as an alternative for SEO?
Google Ads is a paid online advertising platform that allows you to display advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users.
It’s an effective short term alternative to SEO and a great way to drive your target audience to your website.
With Google Ads, you can time your ads to reach the right people at the right time on both mobile and desktop. Your company will appear on search engine results (SERPs) when your target audience seeks a product or service like yours via Google Search or Google Maps.
Besides boosting your website traffic, Google Ads is a cost-effective approach to generating leads and gives you control over how much money you spend per month, per day, and per ad.
Google Ads also allows you to measure the success of each of your ads so you can determine what’s working and what isn't in your current strategy and adjust accordingly.
You Can Also Generate Leads With:
- Paid traffic from social media ads
- Referrals from other clients or businesses
- Guest posting
- Working with influencers
- Email marketing
Black Hat Vs. White Hat SEO
Despite being a slow process and not a quick fix, SEO still has a vital role to play in generating quality leads for your small business.
If you want to use SEO effectively, then it’s important to understand the difference between ethical and unethical SEO practices.
Black hat SEO goes against search engine guidelines by using underhand techniques to manipulate Google's algorithms. These unethical tactics include keyword stuffing, link buying, hidden content, cloaking, and more.
Black hat SEO methods may increase your search engine ranking in the short term but negatively impact your long-term chances of visibility. These methods might even get your site banned by search engines - which is definitely not the results you want!
Google and Bing's Webmaster Guidelines have discredited a list of black hat methods.
White hat SEO, on the other hand, uses ethical techniques to increase a website's ranking on the search engine results page (SERPs). Unlike black hat SEO, it’s always in line with Webmaster Guidelines and is above board.
Examples Of White Hat SEO Include:
- Using keywords and keyword analysis
- Link building
- Writing content for human readers
How To Make Sure You Have Good SEO
To improve your SEO and secure a prime spot on the search results page, consider these five ethical SEO improvement tips!
1. Carry Out Keyword Research
Keyword research is the foundation of your local SEO campaign.
Through keyword research, you will discover the popular phrases and words potential customers in your area are searching on Google when looking for your products or services.
For example, if you’re an Italian restaurant owner, popular keywords in your niche might include "Italian restaurants near me" or "popular Italian restaurants." To increase your ranking on Google, you can include these phrases in your content.
When you carry out keyword research, it allows you to attract the right leads to your website. This will positively impact your site's engagement levels, conversion rates, and overall brand awareness.
To effectively carry out keyword research, you'll need to use a trusted keyword research tool to help you gather the important data you need.
2. Create A Google Business Profile (GBP)
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is a free feature that helps you increase your company's visibility online.
GBP gives you total control over your company's appearance on all Google platforms, from search results to Google Maps. With GBP, you can provide essential details about your company, including its location, services, and products.
The platform is also a useful way to influence your local SEO and search ranking, making it an excellent opportunity to connect with customers in your area.
To get the most out of your Google Business Profile, take the following steps:
- Claim your GBP
- Complete every section of your account
- Include updated contact information
- Include applicable attributes
- Write a business description
- Answer questions
- Read and respond to reviews
- Add your products and/or services
- Set up messaging
- Maintain your profile
3. Produce Helpful Content
Earlier this year, Google launched its "helpful content update" as part of a larger effort to ensure users see more original, helpful content written by people for people when they search for something on the platform.
If you’re creating helpful content that works to solve customer queries and meets user intent, then Google will favor your website over those not making the same effort.
With the new update, Google will be able to root out content that isn’t valuable, making it less likely to perform well in search results.
According to Google, you can ensure your content is aimed at people and not search engines by following their long-standing advice and webmaster guidance.
4. Update Existing Content
While many businesses focus on churning out new content, the truth is that you can secure quality leads by updating the content already published on your website.
In fact, if you're only publishing new content, you're missing out on a huge opportunity. Updating your existing content helps increase organic traffic, improve conversion rates, and create better click-through rates.
When Google realizes that your content is fresh and more likely to meet user intent, you'll get a spike in traffic.
Tips To Follow When It Comes To Updating Your Content:
- Review your current content and design
- Evaluate your competitors' websites
- Gather inspiration
- Add powerful multimedia elements
- Align your design to current trends
- Perform
simple A/B testing
5. Ensure your Website is Mobile Friendly
In 2022, it’s estimated that almost 54% of visits to the web will be done on mobile, compared to 46% percent from desktops.
Mobile-friendly websites boost your sales and conversions because they are easier for customers to access and use on the go.
Optimizing your website for mobile allows people to interact easily and engage with your brand across different devices without becoming annoyed or frustrated.
On the other hand, when your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you risk potential customers abandoning your site for one that is more helpful and easier to navigate.
Tips For Creating A Mobile-Friendly Website Include:
- Use a responsive design
- Simplify your navigation menu
- Optimize call-to-action size and location on the screen
- Get rid of pop-ups
- Keep content short and concise
- Optimize page speed
- Optimize images
We hope this blog has helped you gain a clearer understanding of the relationship between SEO and lead generation.
If you’d like any further guidance, then the team at 406 Marketing is here to help you enhance your visibility and reach your goals in the online world.
We're masters at helping small businesses like you succeed online -
get in touch today.