What is PPC Advertising?

Pay Per Click (PPC) is an online form of marketing in which advertisers only pay when their ad is clicked upon. Bids are placed on keywords which relate to your target audience and in turn affect the position of where they appear (1st place, 2nd, 3rd, 1st page, 2nd, 3rd, etc).

PPC can be extremely useful when your website is in its infancy. As it takes time for a site to appear in search engines organically, Pay Per Click advertising is an effective way of getting it on the front page in search listings.

Website marketing requires a healthy balance of both SEO and PPC advertising. SEO takes time to improve in rankings but is free. Whereas although PPC can be costly, it is an instant way of appearing on the front page of search engine results (such as Google).

When considering a PPC campaign, it is advised that you seek professional assistance. It can easily become a very expensive form of marketing which exceeds your budget. Getting a company to handle your PPC advertising can prove useful, as they will be unbiased, constantly tweaking your adverts and controlling your budgets to maximise your ROI (Return on Investment).

Offline Marketing Tips for your Website

There is a common misconception amongst many people in regards to websites that as soon as you have a website, people will start looking at it and therefore it will attract new business. This is not entirely true. A website is like anything else; for people to find it, they need to know it exists first.

There are a number of ways in which to let people know about your website, such as:

• Business Cards
• Complement Slips
• Adverts
• On Invoices, Quotes and Receipts
• Store Front
• Company Vehicles

These are just some examples. There are many creative ways in which you can get your name/brand and website out there. Take every opportunity to let people know the address of your site!

What is Search Engine Optimisation?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website or a page (such as a blog) from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results as opposed to other forms of search engine marketing ("SEM") which may deal with paid inclusion. The theory is that the higher a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors/traffic it will receive from the search engine.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimising a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

Source: wikipedia

Why have a website?

There are many reasons why it is becoming more and more important to have a website, such as;

• Your business is open 24/7, 365 days of the year
  Unlike normal office hours, your website is running all the time. This makes it available at all hours, meaning it is much more convenient to find out more about your business to those who operate outside such typical office hours.
• It can be updated at any time
  Unlike brochures, your website can be amended at any time. This will save you a great deal of money on printing and distribution costs.
• Improve customer service
  By providing FAQs and contact forms, your customers can get answers to questions almost immediately. You can also provide useful or important downloadable documents.
• Present a professional image
  For a small business, a well-designed web site is a great way of instilling confidence and looking bigger than you actually are. In this day in age, customers assume that you already have a website. By now, your primary competitors probably already have a presence on the Internet. If they do, keep up with them and find ways to make yours better.
• It can increase the amount of business you do
  If you don't currently have a website you are almost certainly losing business right now! If you do have a website that is out of date, difficult to navigate around, is not optimised for search engines, or simply its design creates the wrong perception of your business, you are losing business!

If you would like a friendly chat to discuss the possibilities for your website, or for a completely free, no obligation quotation, please contact Viron Media who offer web design services in and around Peterborough.