Digital Marketing Basics 3 – Digital Marketing. Ever since the first two articles were published in 2017, there has been a lot of questions. So this installment picks up where you left off with the previous two articles. Also, this article takes a much closer look at one crucial aspect of SEO.
Part 3 of 2?
First, here are the links to the previous two articles, which were both published in August 2017 (with edits in 2020):
This way, you have access to the information that will be referred to in this article. Also, having the links as a reference helps with SEO as well as being convenient for you, the reader. Do you see what we did there?
Regardless, dive right in to tie up some of those loose ends with the Digital Marketing Basics.
What about link building or backlinks?
Since Backlinks were never discussed in the previous two articles, here are a few key factors. Honestly, it’s a part of what is known as Content Marketing and that was covered, but only briefly. Also, it didn’t specifically mention link building or how the two are dependent upon each other.
Content is king!
Firstly, Content Marketing and Backlinks are highly dependent on you creating content. Content is simply pages, posts, and media that your audience finds interesting, entertaining, and/or educational. The more images, videos, pages, posts, and articles that you have, the easier it is to build more links to your offers, website, blog, etc.
But the pivotal point here is that YOU HAVE TO HAVE AND CREATE CONTENT. Without content you have nothing. Nada! Zip! Zero!
However, if you don’t have content, you will have no real foundation to build upon. SEO and backlinks are completely dependent on you having at least some content. But your content needs to be entertaining, educational, or at the minimum, useful for your audience.
So it’s baffling when we are contacted about Digital Marketing Services for someone that doesn’t have any content. Furthermore, Backlinks don’t magically appear out of the Internet for no reason at all. If you don’t have content, what are you linking to anyway?
Digital Marketing Basics 3: What about SEO?
So there are also a lot of questions about search engine optimization or SEO. And we do mean a lot! But even though SEO was in both of the preceding articles, there is still seems to be some confusion about it.
So let this be abundantly clear; without content, what are you optimizing? The answer is nothing.
You’ll still need content!
Since SEO is also dependent on your content, the more relevant or related content you have, the better. Ideally, you will have 3 to 5 long pages or posts about the main keywords or keyword phrases you want to target. You will then have at least another 6 or more, shorter posts that are related, linked to the main article or articles, and back again.
But the main point here is this; you have to have content. You have to have content to apply search engine optimization. Additionally, you have to have content to build more links going back to your offers, website, and so on.
Without the all-important content, SEO is a waste of your time! So in other words, SEO only works if you have content. Also, trying to get links back to your website, blog, etc. only works if you have content.
Mystery solved.
Video is HUGE!
First of all, if you’re not already creating videos, what are you waiting for? So here’s the scoop, ever since about 2008, I have been saying that video is going to be the next big “thing” on the Internet. And ever since social media really took off, that prediction is now a reality.
Video is powerful!
Secondly, posting videos on your website and blog is one form of content that is referenced here. It’s engaging for audiences of all ages, especially if your target audience includes Millennials. You can make engaging videos with something as simple as your smartphone and some creativity.
So here is a major consideration to keep in mind if you are on the fence about making even just one video. Much less making dozens or even hundreds of them. Year after year, studies conducted by the likes of Facebook, Google, and others show that videos get more views. But did you know that it can be as much as 75% more!
Also, videos are great for capturing attention and teaching. But on the other hand, they don’t do squat for SEO. In other words, videos alone are not great for getting found other than on YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
So why not blog about your videos?
Digital Marketing Basics 3: in summary
So to summarize this article and this series of articles, Digital Marketing can mean a lot of different things. It has a lot of moving parts and some of it overlaps into other areas. So even if you have been around it, Online Marketing can be a bit confusing and daunting.
However, the biggest takeaway for you should be that any sort of digital marketing is based upon content. So it doesn’t matter whether it’s SEO, link building, or content marketing, you need content. And your ads, videos, infographics, social media as well as blog posts all form your content.
Because without it, everything else is a waste of time, effort, and money.
