Digital Marketing Strategies: What is the difference between Paid Vs Free Traffic?

Before we get onto what is Paid traffic and free traffic, we need to understand the word traffic in the digital world and how it is important for a website. Digital traffic can be defined as the number of users visiting as well as taking an action like purchasing, saving or subscribing on the website. It can be said the every digital marketing strategy is aimed at getting traffic to the website. 

Free Traffic:

Free traffic or commonly known as organic traffic is the mostly generated through the website content itself, your social media and SEO. In order for your website to generate a good level of organic traffic or free traffic, the content needs to be top quality, original and fresh! This helps in gaining visibility through SEO and good placing in the search results which helps in redirecting the traffic towards your website. For social media to generate free traffic for the website, you need to have good networking and an understanding of your target audience.

Paid Traffic:

Paid traffic is when the advertiser i.e. you pay the publisher for the traffic they redirect to your website. The most popular method to gain paid traffic is the Pay Per Click method. This includes banner ads like we see on Facebook, twitter and other social websites or blogs. Another method for obtaining paid traffic is with keyword bidding (Google Adwords and Microsoft Bing Ads) for better search engine results.

Pros and Cons for Paid Traffic and Free Traffic:

Although paid traffic is the fastest route to generate website traffic and is successful in reaching a wide number of users, it is not a medium that generates customer loyalty. This is the reason it is often known as rented traffic as it does not ensure a repeat view from the user, whereas on the other hand, Free traffic has more branding and brand image associated with it since it involves high research and quality content curation relevant to the user. It requires a great deal of time and energy and an expert strategy to achieve.

It may appear that free traffic is the best option to choose since it is free and generated through content purely but it is also important to note that free traffic does not necessarily ensure conversion into sales. With paid traffic the results are quicker and the leads generated are useful, given that the strategy is on point.

Hence, we can conclude that both Free Traffic and Paid Traffic have their pros and cons, they hold a very different set of approach and it all depends on your set of requirements, which traffic to choose.

5 Ways content marketing helps your business.

In this digital age, content marketing has become an integral part of any digital marketing strategy and with huge competition in the market, all businesses are in the race of grabbing the customers attention. In order to get ahead, business owners and marketers need to get crafty with their marketing strategies in order to get noticed by their target audience. Content marketing is one of those creative marketing strategies. Content marketing is when small businesses communicate with their target audience by providing information instead of a sales pitch. This content needs to be relevant and enticing to the customer.

Content marketing proves crucial for small businesses in the following ways:

1. Builds brand awareness 

Regular and authentic content builds create a name and brand for small business. The content increases and improves visibility of the business by updating fresh content regularly. This helps the customer in remembering your brand and doing business with you when their need arises the next time. 

2. Convinces and encourages the customer to take action

Just like any sales, the customers may need added encouragement to make a purchase or take any other action such as subscribe or register. This task can be very creatively handled with correct content marketing as it can encourage the customer to take an action by slyly convincing them.  

3. Creates your identity as an expert in the industry

When your content is correct and is updated frequently, the customers often start looking up to your website for information with a certain trust and considering your brand or website an expert in the matter.

4. Keeps the website fresh and updated

With regularly updated content, the website remains fresh and can become more and more visible in search results. A stale and less frequently updated website tends to attract less customers or browsers the next time. This hampers the reach of the website. 

5. Helps build a community 

Regular viewers, subscribers and bloggers come together as a community and exchange ideas and information through the blog/website. This also brings new people to the website. Covering new and unique topics relevant to the events also brings in more viewers and helps create shareable content which can help increase the visibility on social platforms.content marketing helps your business.

In this digital age, content marketing has become an integral part of any digital marketing strategy and with huge competition in the market, all businesses are in the race of grabbing the customers attention. In order to get ahead, business owners and marketers need to get crafty with their marketing strategies in order to get noticed by their target audience. Content marketing is one of those creative marketing strategies. Content marketing is when small businesses communicate with their target audience by providing information instead of a sales pitch. This content needs to be relevant and enticing to the customer.

Content marketing proves crucial for small businesses in the following ways:

1. Builds brand awareness

Regular and authentic content builds create a name and brand for small business. The content increases and improves visibility of the business by updating fresh content regularly. This helps the customer in remembering your brand and doing business with you when their need arises the next time. 

2. Convinces and encourages the customer to take action

Just like any sales, the customers may need added encouragement to make a purchase or take any other action such as subscribe or register. This task can be very creatively handled with correct content marketing as it can encourage the customer to take an action by slyly convincing them. 

3. Creates your identity as an expert in the industry

When your content is correct and is updated frequently, the customers often start looking up to your website for information with a certain trust and considering your brand or website an expert in the matter.

4. Keeps the website fresh and updated

With regularly updated content, the website remains fresh and can become more and more visible in search results. A stale and less frequently updated website tends to attract less customers or browsers the next time. This hampers the reach of the website. 

5. Helps build a community 

Regular viewers, subscribers and bloggers come together as a community and exchange ideas and information through the blog/website. This also brings new people to the website. Covering new and unique topics relevant to the events also brings in more viewers and helps create shareable content which can help increase the visibility on social platforms.

5 Digital marketing aspects to grow your business

Every digital marketing is strategist keeping in mind the business’s needs and goals. Since every business has their own USP, they need to have their own digital marketing strategy that works best for their brand image and their product. Earlier when sellers were the trendsetters, it didn’t matter much what the customer feedback was, but today due to such huge advancements in technology, it is the customer calling the shots, making it very important to know the customer’s feedback and quantify their digital activities. This resulted in tools that help marketers to devise and observe the digital marketing activities and their effects. Some of these tools are:

1. Pay Per Click (PPC)

Pay per click, commonly referred as PPC, requires the users to click on links in order to generate revenue whereas for retail stores, the aim is to lead the customer to their shopping page and get direct sales. Hence, PPC requires careful and skillful planning and strategizing in order to obtain maximum results. 

2. Social Media optimization (SMO)

Social media has brought and new wave of digital marketing platforms for all business small or big. With social media names such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest,Instagram and now Snapchat provide easy and free digital marketing platform to business owners even with no or minimal marketing experience. This has resulted in small business owners coming online and promoting their product while interacting with their customer at the same time. 

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is vital in generating organic leads to the website. SEO works by identifying and analyzing the keywords searched by the relevant or target audience to increase the visibility of the website in search engine results. These keywords help create a trail of breadcrumbs for the user to follow and reach the website and also provides an insight to the business owner as to what the audience is looking for online.

4. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization is a system to convert the website visitor into a customer. Three tools that help us in CRO are:

1) Google analytics provides a set of credible keywords that are favoured by the users and have a high probability of converting the browsers into customers.

2) Scroll map and hit map tells us what the user was looking for in the website and how far did they browse within the website.

3) A/B test and Multivariate test helps recognize the progressions, big or small, to a website that encourages a better reaction from the targeted audience or users.

5. Online Reputation Management (ORM)

ORM is vital to create and maintain a brand image of the business online, hence it refers op the core of digital marketing. In order to manage the reputation of the product or business in the digital world, feedback provided by the customers plays an important role. As digitally it is easier for the business owners and customers to interact globally in real time, ORM is the major element to achieve success in creating and sustaining a brand image.The major role of ORM includes:

1) Prompt response on queries

2) Using feedbacks efficiently and

3) Carefully handling adverse feedbacks.

Why does your business need SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Today, SEO has become an integral part of any digital marketing strategy for every industry and product. SEO determines the visibility of a website in the search results by any search engine. SEO analyses how search engines work, what people are searching for, the keywords in these searches and who are the target audience for which searches. With this analysis, the ranking and visibility of a website is determined amongst the relevant search results. 

Let’s go over the reasons that make SEO imperative for any internet marketing strategy: 

1. Increased Visibility  

Just creating a website is not sufficient today. The consumer must also be able to find your website easily. Good visibility on the search results help direct the customers to your website easily. This is done by using keywords relevant to your target audience, through which the website is optimized by the search engine and can be viewed in the top search results. 

2. Promotes Traffic   

Once the website become visible in the top search results, the traffic is directed to the website as more and more people from the target audience click on it. This is done with the help of keywords relevant to the focus audience and their search patterns.

3. Analytics   

With SEO the results can be tracked and quantified which helps in providing the insight for return on investment (ROI) for any and every kind of website, whether ecommerce or non-ecommerce. It also provides an in depth analysis of the performance of your digital marketing strategies and how the website’s visibility can be improved. 

4. Organic Traffic 

 While the Ad’s are a paid feature, the website’s ranking in the search result depends upon the keywords in its content. This results in relevant and genuine visitors on the website. The correct mix of both the strategies can help a business get more out its digital marketing strategies. 

5. Brand Awareness   

When the website is viewed in the top results, it is viewed as a trusted source by the audience, since companies on the first page are generally perceived to be more trustworthy. As  more of your web pages rank in higher positions in the search engines, there is more chances for the users to see your content and associate it with your brand.  

Someone truly said that “The best place to hide something is page two of Google search results, as nobody checks it”. This is because people seldom move to pages 2nd and more as the results on the first page are considered by the audience and the traffic gets redirected to these pages.

Why is website a necessity for growing your business?

Today a website is a universal identifier for a business. Living in the digital world, gradually we all are moving to convenient and fast solutions for our problems. But still many small businesses are reluctant to enter this ocean with the fear of drowning. This might look as a logical decision based on their offerings, whereas in today’s fast paced environment, an online presence is a must for every business. These 5 reasons show why your business needs a website:

Accessibility:

Well informed customers because of all time accessibility. Having a website helps in keeping the customers well informed about your progress and offerings. A website is accessible 24x7 and does not have an opening and closing time like a physical place which helps the customers to be updated all the time.

Wider Reach

Reaching a wider target audience through online catalogue is much easier through a website. A website is an open mall for everyone even if there are some customers for window shopping, as they can come, browse and know about you. Like a mall, there are so many things present on the website that people can choose from and gather the knowledge about. With your website, you’ll be able to reach a whole new user market which would otherwise remain untapped.

Credibility

A website improves your business credibility. Every business runs on credibility and having a website improves the overall credibility of your business in the eyes of consumers and potential customers. Hosting a website gives your business the scope of building trust in the eyes of your consumer, as people can search and know about your business before making any purchases. 

 

 

Marketing Cost

It saves overall advertising and marketing cost. The traditional method of paper and print advertising are way too costly and time consuming. A website helps in having customized ads running every time and changing to a new offer/banner can be done within minutes. A website gives you the advantage of exploring new target segments and demographics without reaching them physically, making it an overall cost efficient method of finding new consumers.

Customer Feedback

Instant answers to customer queries at no cost. answering customer queries and gaining feedback from them is one of the major roadblocks in smooth functioning of a business. Maintaining a website gives your business the leverage of giving customer their answers instantly and more over, regular queries can be consolidated under the FAQ’s section in your website so that you save time with repeated questions and focus more on growing overall.

Building a positive image in the eyes of your consumer is just the start of your business, a website also helps you in gaining the user’s trust and overall business expansion.

Reliance Jio's services to boost digital marketing in India: Lycos CEO

HYDERABAD: Reliance Jio's disruptive offer of free voice calls forever and data at just 5 paise per MB is expected to open up the digital marketing space in the country in a big way, a top expert has said.

Credits:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Reliance-Jios-services-to-boost-digital-marketing-in-India-Lycos-CEO/articleshow/54016659.cms

7 Reasons To Choose Digital Marketing Over Traditional Marketing

Digital marketing has become the go to marketing strategy since the advancement and rise of internet. Digital marketing provides the next stage of marketing where the businesses get access to huge markets and numerous tools to push their products and create their brand amongst the customers. Although traditional marketing strategies have not lost their ways but it is safe to say that online marketing is dominating these days. 

Span: Span of the market on potential customers is limited in the case of traditional market. But with digital marketing the internet has expanded the market on a global scale. Now businesses can reach a huge amount of potential customers globally by using internet techniques. 

Longevity: With traditional marketing, the campaigns were run for a limited time based on the user’s budget constraints and once these campaigns were stopped, business stopped getting the benefits whereas through digital marketing, we can keep promotions updated through blogs and social media.

Target Audience: These days, in life’s hustle bustle, everything is technology oriented. Most of the audience needs everything on the go and digital media techniques helps targeting the audience which is tech savvy. 

Scope: Traditional marketing promotes business or the product to the masses. With digital marketing, we can target the target set of audience with the same specific needs which are fulfilled by your business. 

Interaction: Traditional marketing was more or less a one way channel of communication and feedback from customers was seldom received. Digital marketing however provides an interactive platform where buyers and sellers can communicate with each other and attend to queries while receiving feedback almost instantly.

Cost: One of the major reasons why digital marketing is more preferable than traditional marketing strategy is that it brings down the marketing expenses considerably. If carried out properly and smartly, social media provides a free platform to a business to create brand awareness amongst the masses.

Feedback/Results: Since traditional marketing was a one way communication, the seller had no way of knowing the buyer’s reaction or queries to the campaign till a much later time. With digital marketing, the feedback or result is not only quick but also accurate.

With huge technological advancements, the marketing scenarios have changed considerably while giving rise to online marketing strategies and tools that are suitable for a large set of requirements at lower costs. To know more about the role of digital marketing for business read here. 

How is Facebook a digital marketing tool for business?

Social media marketing is incomplete without facebook and facebook marketing. Even with other social websites present, facebook still holds the #1 spot for online social interactions. Today facebook has grown from being just a social media website for friends to reconnect, into venue where businesses can easily market themselves among their target audience.

Since, social media sites provide an individual touch to the consumer, a facebook page acts as a  free marketing tool for businesses providing a great platform to identify themselves to the customers; and that too not just by sharing their product listings but also by sharing links, images, and information. When combined, with other digital marketing strategies, it can prompt increased deals and benefits for the business.  

Here are a few reasons why facebook is gaining more attention by business owners:  

1. It is Cost-Effective

In the time and age of startups and entrepreneurs, a free digital marketing tool like facebook provides a boost in creating brand awareness without much of an investment as required in traditional marketing tools like print media. Hence, many small business owners prefer marketing through only facebook and at times operate through their facebook pages to close sales. Also, for small businesses and startups it provides a free platform to display their work even without creating and managing a website. 

2. Introduction to the business

Through the business’s facebook page, you can not only share your basic details such as contact info, website, industry details, scope of business etc. but also the vision behind it, all the people or staff involved. This adds a human touch to the business thus making it easier for the consumer to easily accept and connect with it. Potential clients can also view the reviews and ratings by existing clients which gives them an additional push to make the purchase. 

3. Interact with the customers in real time  

Today there are inumerous facebook groups for various industries, interests and even geographical areas. This makes it even easier for the businesses to interact with potential and existing clients and answer queries. This also provides exposure amongst other customers with similar interests and preferences. Customers can also make inquiries through posting on the facebook wall or sending a message over facebook messenger.  

4. Create and raise brand awareness

With each and every like on even a single post, your facebook page gains more visibility which in turn creates more awareness about the business or product. Whenever someone likes or share or even comments on any post, it appears on their wall where it is visible to all their friends. This  not only spreads awareness about your business but the fact that it is liked by a friend adds a vote of confidence for others. 

 5. Steer traffic to your website 

To bring exposure to your complete product listings, it is very important to bring the customer to your website. This can be done by providing the official website link on the facebook page and once the customer’s interest is piqued they move to the website where other stronger advertising messages.

Four digital marketing strategies every nursing home must use

It's time to take advantage of a fresh set of digital marketing strategies that can increase search visibility and increase positive reputation management. While print media still plays an important role, data shows that most Americans turn to the internet first. As well, print media is very difficult to measure whereas online channels can be measured and drilled down to provide you with invaluable information and immediate results.

Credits:www.mcknights.com/marketplace/four-digital-marketing-strategies-every-nursing-home-must-use/article/506519/

What sets TataCLiQ apart?

Tata is now all set to step into the digital marketing with its new online e commerce website for fashion and accessories. They will be setting phygital outlet where people can buy by visiting the stores. They agree that they are bit late to enter in the market but they have taken a step after careful planning. Read along the news to see what their digital marketing strategy is for promoting online.

Credits:http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/what-sets-tatacliq-apart/275521/

With 4,000 adventures across 5 countries, Mojhi plans your adventure travel for you

Mojhi is all set to give your trip related queries a one stop solutions. The trips planning industry is quite fragmented and is not equipped with one stop solutions to all queries. Mojhi is set up with this aim website and other marketing tools have helped them to grow faster.

Credits : http://yourstory.com/2016/05/mojhi/

India among leading markets for digital marketing globally: Adobe

With the advancement of technology, the line between offline and online marketing is diminishing. The reason e-commerce has made shopping more like an experience to the customers where they can explore for more range of products. The content still reigns and the data collected acts is the response of the customer. The scope of digital marketing is increasing and the aim of Digital India is not far to be achieved.

Credits : http://www.bgr.in/news/india-among-leading-markets-for-digital-marketing-globally-adobe/

7 Ways To Promote Business Through Digital Marketing

It is actually tough for any business to stand in the competition. Surely, no business can succeed without marketing. To get the customers one has to advertise their products and services. In traditional marketing, the promotion is done through billboards, newspapers or magazines, which is usually an expensive medium and calculating their results is nearly impossible. Now businesses rely on the internet for faster promotion modes, wider market span, and results can be calculated anytime. In this post we will discuss in what ways the business can be promoted through digital marketing. Mark your footstep with the website    

The website is the first step in entering into the digital marketing. It is the face of the business and everything related to the business is available the website. A careful designing and presentation is very important for any business to take a step forward. The good website not only has keywords that are related to the products or services but also has some information for the customer to get engaged and its returns. Get traffic with SEO

Once the website is launched, the next step is to make is available to the prospective buyers. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is referred to the ways the websites are optimized on the search engines to give better results. The role of SEO is very important, without which it will be very difficult for businesses to get their ranks in search engines like Yahoo, Google or Bing. Look for customers with your PPC ads

PPC, or Pay-Per-Click advertising, is another approach to bring prospective buyers to the website. PPC ads are displayed along with search results, where they invite users to click on them to find what they are looking for. These ads require the business to pay whenever someone clicks on the ads, however they’re not so expensive. They can get good results of the competition is low and a perfectly mix of PPC with other means of digital marketing can help the business to grow stronger in the market. The Facebook advertising is a new form of PPC. The Facebook ads are highly targeted and they not only drives in more traffic but also helps to increase the fans on the business page of the Facebook. Stay connected with social media

Social media channels are good options to stay connected with your clients and new visitors. The social media sites gives opportunity to customers to get in touch with the business for suggestion of queries. The business also get to know the demand of the people directly. The data collected from the social media sites like demographic location or age group or interests of the people also helps the business to target the audience accordingly. Promote your business with email marketing

Email marketing is another form of digital marketing that is used to promote business through emails. The regular follow-up of the email and periodic updates about new products, promotion or sales can help the business to get more revisits and more sales. Keep them informed with content

Content marketing is about digital marketing the different types of the content to the potential buyers. The business keep the information posted on their blogs, videos or eBooks to keep his users informed. At times the information is shared that may not be related to the product directly, but is of good knowledge that keeps the users returning to the blogs for reading. This results in revisits and promoted business indirectly. Go mobile

As people are moving towards smartphones and tablets, the websites are now designed in a way that they are compatible with these devices. The mobile version of websites and applications can help the buyers to revisit and more sales even when they are not out for shopping. This also results in organic visits and brand loyalty of the customers.

Digital Vidya Launches Online Digital Marketing Helpline

Digital Vidya a online tool to keep changing the trends of digital marketing has launched its helpline forum for marketers, students, entrepreneurs and sales team for discussions and queries regarding digital marketing and its aspects.

Credits:http://www.adageindia.in/marketing/news/digital-vidya-launches-online-digital-marketing-helpline/articleshow/52032403.cms

National Geographic Readies First Instagram Video Series for Its 49 Million Followers

It is not necessary that one has to post text content to get the reach. National geographic video has become the biggest non celebrity brand on Instagram. With its 1.6 billion engagements last year, company is all set to gain more market this time with its new and existing digital video series. 

Credits:http://www.adweek.com/news/television/national-geographic-readies-first-instagram-video-series-its-49-million-followers-171334

5 Must-follow digital marketing aspects

Digital marketing is the most crucial concept in today’s commercial sector. Every business needs one or more electronic media to promote its brand and expand the market. With the introduction of markets in electronic gadgets like computers and smartphones the direct approach to the buyers is now possible. Earlier the sellers have to assume what the buyers want to know and it’s their discretion to choose the information that they want to spread amongst the customers. Today buyers are more educated about the brands, competitors and they rely more on feedbacks. Customers want the products that have positive feedbacks and are trustworthy.

Today the information is not only spread across the globe within few minutes but it can also be tailor made to be closer to the prospective customers

Digital marketers may use multiple tools to promote the businesses. The can be

Internet

Mobile applications

Electronic billboards

IM

Etc.

Digital marketing requires a great deal of creativity and strategic planning with prompt actions. All the strategies and revolve around the customers and their requirements. The components of the digital marketing include PPC, SEO, SMO, CRO, ORM, etc.

Pay per click: 

The PPC account on the search engines are easier to create but the search engines require the customers to click on the links for generating the revenue whereas for businesses the direct business will be the better choice. The effective PPC strategy requires careful planning so that they can get the best from the selection.

Social Media optimization: 

Social media is gaining its intervention is promoting the business. It is a great tool to promote to the selected group of the audience. If carefully chosen, the social media can be the great tool for getting closer to the clients and understanding their needs and knowing feedbacks.

Search Engine Optimization

To gain the organic customers the SEO is the most effective tool in digital marketing. It also helps to get the traffic for web portal from listings, search engines, editorial, etc. The search engine displays relevant links that are most searched and active. People usually tend to review those links that are on the top of the list and tend to ignore the ones available on the later pages.

Conversion Rate Optimization

The idea of this concept is over changing web browsers into customers. Actually, there are different tools that are accessible to gage the deficiencies of a website. These include:

Google analytics – this provides credible data on online traffic, set of keywords and other numeric and analytical data for a site

Scroll map and hit map – This advice about what the guests are tapping on and about how far of a website page they are really looking over.

A/B test and Multivariate test – These tests help to recognize the progressions, either big or small, to a website that will encourage a better reaction from the targeted online public.

Online Reputation Management

This refers to the core of the digital marketing. The digital marketing revolves around the reputation of the product on the market. The feedback from the customers about the customers is what is looked for in digital marketing. Hence, the online reputation marketing is the major element to achieve success. The major role of ORM includes:

·  Prompt response on queries

·  Using feedbacks efficiently and

·  Carefully handling adverse feedbacks.

Flipkart to allow big brands like Samsung, Puma to create exclusive 'stores' on the digital marketplace

Digital marketing plays a crucial role in building brand names. And gaining a special zone in retail websites is of course a proud moment of any organisation. The retail websites play a vital role i n gaining customers and interacting with them. The personal touch adds as a booster for prompting sales and expanding business. It also helps to understand the competitors products and their strategies. One way or the other digital marketing brings the  whole world in a single window market place that expands the horizon of any business available online......

Credits:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/flipkart-to-allow-big-brands-like-samsung-puma-to-create-exclusive-stores-on-the-digital-marketplace/articleshow/52115442.cms