Ask the expert: Get started with digital marketing

Last month we asked you to put your questions to our Digital Marketing Manager, Emma. And your feedback was unanimous. You want to hear about improving SEO (search engine optimisation) on your website, an easy way to get started with digital marketing and a resource to help you improve your website’s performance.

We put your questions to Emma, and she’s given us her feedback on each of those areas:

What tool would you recommend for improving SEO on my website?

First of all, let’s look at what SEO is, and why it’s a good thing for your business.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of making your website more visible and relevant to people who use search engines like Google or Bing. SEO can help your business by attracting more potential customers who are looking for what you offer. It involves creating and improving your website content and design to match the search engines’ criteria, your users’ needs and of course what they’re searching for.

One tool that we would recommend for improving SEO on your website is Semrush. Semrush is a powerful and versatile platform that helps you analyse and optimise your website’s performance, content, keywords, backlinks and more. It can help you identify and fix SEO issues, monitor your competitors, and discover new opportunities to rank higher on search engines. Semrush offers a free 7-day trial, so you can try it out and see how it can benefit your business.

Do you have a free template for a digital marketing plan?

A digital marketing plan is a document that outlines your goals, strategies, and actions for promoting your business online. It can help you to reach more customers, increase your sales, and grow your brand awareness.

A digital marketing plan should include the following elements:

• A situation analysis that evaluates your current online presence and performance.
• An objective that defines what you want to achieve and how you will measure it.
• A strategy that describes how you will use different channels and tactics to reach your target audience.
• An action plan that details the specific steps, tasks, and resources you will need to implement your strategy.
• A budget that estimates the costs and returns of your digital marketing activities.
• A control process that monitors and evaluates your results and makes adjustments as needed.

To help you create your own digital marketing plan, we recommend using the free template available at smartinsights.com. This template is based on the RACE framework, which covers the key stages of digital marketing: Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage. You can download the template here.

As a small business with limited resources, what is the number one priority for improving my website performance?

The number one priority for improving your website performance should be on-page SEO. On-page SEO is the practice of optimising your web pages to make them more relevant and user-friendly for both search engines and visitors. On-page SEO includes factors such as:

• The quality and originality of your content.
• The use of keywords and phrases that match your audience’s search intent.
• The structure and format of your headings, paragraphs, lists and images.
• The speed and responsiveness of your web page loading.
• The meta tags, title tags, and URL structure of your web pages.
• The internal and external links that connect your web pages to other relevant sources.

On-page SEO can help you improve your website performance by increasing your organic traffic, conversions, and rankings on search engines. To help you with on-page SEO, we recommend using Surfer SEO, a tool that analyses and optimises your web pages based on data from your competitors and your target keywords. Surfer SEO has a seven-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out and if you change your mind and cancel your service in the first seven days, you’ll get your money back. You can find out more about – and sign up for – Surfer SEO here.