FAQs

Digital marketing refers to tactics that put your business in front of a customer on a digital channel. These channels mainly include search engines, email, social media and websites.

Digital marketing is one of the fastest ways to interact with a targeted group of customers. This helps you and your business to build trust with a group of people who could become your biggest fans.

The term digital marketing was coined in the 1990s. At this point, users could find information, but didn’t have an easy way to share it, unless they emailed a website link. But that quickly changed. By 1993 the first clickable banner appeared. Google was born in 1998. And by 2006 search engine traffic had reached 6.4 billion in one month.

It wasn’t until Web 2.0 launched that users became active participants. This new platform meant people could interact with other users and businesses, which spurred the growth of social networking sites and the development of the “cookie.” A cookie is a bit of code that tracks a user’s browsing habits. Advertisers use this information to tailor promotions to customer browsing history.

The goal is for people to be able to find your website or get to know your business. To accomplish this, your website must rank higher in the search engine results than your competitors. Higher rankings mean increases in organic traffic, as more people will find your site using their favorite search engine.

Specific search engine optimization (SEO) strategies are used to achieve these higher rankings. There are three main categories of SEO in digital marketing.

• On-page SEO refers to actions taken on your website that help it rank higher in organic search engine results. Organic meaning “natural,” non-advertised search listings.
• Off-page SEO includes certain actions taken off your website. Specifically, this is an “inbound” linking strategy. Inbound means that visitors to your site arrived by clicking on a link from an outside source.
• Technical, or structural, SEO refers to tactics used on the back end of your website that make your website more appealing to search engines.

When done right, these SEO strategies help more potential customers and clients to find your website organically.

There are several other common methods of attracting customers, including the following:

• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: This is advertising you pay for when someone clicks on your sponsored, online ad. PPC advertising can include search, display, remarketing, shopping and social media ads.
• Social media marketing: This uses social media channels to promote your business. Channels can include Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok and others.
• Email marketing: This is also called permission marketing, as you must first get permission to send an email. This allows you to promote directly to your customer using customized messages.
• Content marketing: This is the publication and distribution of any online content. It can include audio (podcasting), video, articles, blogs, vlogs, white papers, infographics and press releases.

Done correctly, marketing can change consumer behavior. There is a psychology behind each step in communicating with your customers and prospects. On the other end of every marketing campaign are readers and listeners. A positive emotional response can make a significant impact on your business. Digital marketing strategies attempt to understand consumer thinking, reasoning and decision making through collected user data. This information is often used in applied tactics to convince people to take a specific action.

It’s important to remember that no matter what you are selling, it’s likely that the market is crowded. Marketing psychology affects consumer behavior. When done correctly and intelligently applied, strategic marketing initiatives give you an edge over your competition.

The great news is you don’t have to be a psychologist to achieve positive results. The basic approach is to understand, and then predict, how and why people act or think in certain ways. Use captured performance data to understand your target market’s digital behaviors and preferences. All your marketing efforts should originate from this data-confirmed understanding. Each video, infographic, compelling article or other marketing source should be created with these consumer preferences in mind.

Content marketing is the foundation of all organically-driven online and digital marketing strategies. Marketing communication seeks to provide customers and prospects with qualified information—and this information is best provided through thoughtful and data-centric content creation.

Search-qualified content improves your search engine ranking. In addition to improved Page Quality (PQ) scores, authentic content may earn links from other sites. Plus, it’s sharable on social media.

Content marketing may also improve your industry and domain authority by demonstrating your expertise. When outside sources mention your business, or link to your site, they reinforce your online expertise, authority and trustworthiness.

Digital marketing can be challenging. Online channels are rapidly growing, evolving and changing. Businesses need to stay abreast of digital marketing best practices to remain competitive and relevant in this ever-changing online landscape.

Plus, it’s getting more difficult to attract your customer’s attention in a world overrun with distractions. Effective digital marketing is based on a data-driven and deep understanding of your consumers’ behaviors and preferences. When done right, digital marketing can stop your customer in their tracks to read your blog, watch your video, browse your social media channels or take any number of other actions.

Utilizing an agency adept at the most effective strategies to push your website or brand to the forefront can, ultimately, help drive business success. Deciding to do it is the easy part. Choosing the agency best fit for your needs and business is more challenging.

Just like every business is a little different, so is every agency. When you understand your goals, it is easier to choose an agency that delivers the digital marketing strategies your business needs. True, the choice you make should be based on your current business needs. But it’s also important to remember that needs can and do evolve.

FORTHGEAR can produce what you need to help accelerate your business success. We provide a comprehensive and integrated array of digital marketing services. From structural and on-page SEO to content creation and online ad management, we can help you navigate the ever-changing digital landscape and improve results.

Display advertising refers to visual advertisements across the internet via websites and social media platforms. They often appear in banners, sidebars and within newsfeeds.

The largest display advertising source is the Google Display Network. A collection of more than 2 million participating websites, this expansive network displays visual ads that represent advertisers through the Google Ads platform.

Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook also allow display ads, which appear naturally within personals newsfeeds as visitors scroll through posts.

Display ads can be targeted based on interest, demographic and/or location. They can also be performance tracked using pass-through tracking variables embedded in the ads. Display ads can also be set up in ad retargeting campaigns that will follow visitors to your website for a defined period of time.

Display advertising has many benefits. For starters, it’s an affordable way to increase brand awareness. With the right targeting options, potential customers can be made aware of an advertiser’s products and services, which they may have never found otherwise.

Display advertising can be a complementary element of most digital marketing plans. While an advertiser might be using pay-per-click (PPC) to target internet users actively looking to purchase, a display advertising campaign can reach those who are potentially qualified but may not be actively searching for those same products or services.

For products and services that customers buy repeatedly, display ads keep these advertisers’ brands persistently visible, which helps to increase customer retention rates.

In short, yes. In fact, display ad campaigns tend to complement other advertising mediums directly and indirectly, while increasing brand awareness for lasting impact. But it’s all about ensuring display ads appear in the right location, in front of the right audience. If campaign targeting options are too broad (or too narrow), advertisers will likely experience lackluster results. Also, some audiences will respond better to social media platforms, while others might be best served via a search engine, such as Google. In the end, it is generally best to feed good, relevant parameters to the platform host and allow their powerful algorithms to then go to work.

Native ads are those that appear naturally, as part of the host platform. A great example of this is sponsored posts on Instagram.

These ads tend to complement native content, and often, this means users are far more likely to engage with them.

Programmatic advertising basically refers to the automated process behind buying display advertising space. This “space” is managed through ad exchanges that bring together both parties into an auctioned transaction. It works similarly to Google’s bid automation for PPC ads.

Programmatic advertising takes the hassle out of buying ad space for businesses. Advertisers simply enter the maximum amount they are willing to bid for ad space, and the algorithm-based technology on the ad exchange does the rest.

The main difference between PPC (pay-per-click) and display advertising is intent. In PPC, ads are actively displayed when an internet user enters into their search a keyword related to a given product or service. Whereas display ads appear on websites or social media channel feeds based on targeting user interests, location or internet history.

Display advertising is a great way to increase brand awareness and customer retention—and is well-placed in most digital marketing strategies. For best results, be sure to effectively target customers, chose the most advantageous platform for your campaign and work with qualified marketing experts. When needing help to plan your display advertising campaign, we’d love to help—after all, we’ve been doing this since 1995. Get in touch today.

Graphic design is an art, profession and discipline. “Back in the day” graphic design was called commercial art. And that word commercial is the distinction. Graphic design at its most fundamental is art for commercial use and benefit. It most often manifests itself through the development and projection of a company’s message through visual content, and is an essential part of running a business, creating a website and so much more. Without graphic design, businesses would be limited in how they convey their brand image and advertise their products. “Visual communications” may be a more contemporary manifestation of the term graphic design.

Graphic designers combine words, images and layouts to communicate a message—whether for business, marketing or advertising. Graphic designers communicate these messages in a variety of ways, depending on their specialty. The responsibilities of graphic designer can range from designing a logo to a website, and includes such things as brochures, displays, packaging, presentations, book covers, magazines, menus, billboards, posters, advertisements and infographics—just to name a few.

The best way to find a graphic designer is through a qualified design firm, marketing company or advertising agency that offers graphic design services. This ensures your business will have professional-quality, graphic design that meets your project objectives. Using an marketing company or advertising agency may be beneficial if your business needs assistance in areas such as advertising campaigns, branding initiatives, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media. There are also graphic design freelancers and online groups representing a variety of independent contractors—but be sure to qualify these resources beforehand.

Graphic design is used for just about anything that has a visual component in a business setting, such as a company’s logo, advertisements, website, videos, product packaging and even presentations. The main types of graphic design might fall into these broad categories:

• Advertising
• Brand Imaging
• Corporate Communications
• Digital Media
• Environmental Design
• Print Media
• Products/Packaging
• Publishing
• Websites

Professional graphic design is important as it helps businesses to develop a credible brand image, and advertise or promote its goods and services. People tend to remember images over words. If the visual manifestation of a business’s logo, website or advertising are not professional in quality and appeal, this may hint to the consumers mind that the company and its offering are substandard. Such perceptions can be incredibly damaging for a company or brand—potentially shrinking its customer base drastically and interfering with business viability.

Graphic design software is essential. Even when a graphic designer’s specialty is in print media, digital design software (called applications) is required to create the design. These powerful applications allow graphic designers to develop and properly prepare artwork for its intended use and destination. Some of these include:

• Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or Dreamweaver
• CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
• Sketch
• Affinity Designer
• GIMP
• Xara Designer Pro X
• Gravit
• Visme

Lead generation is the process of attracting interest in a product or service with the intent of developing a sales pipeline. Lead generation allows companies to nurture targets until they’re paying customers. Think of it this way: a small clothing store doesn’t attract customers by walking out on the street imploring them to come to check the store. Not only would this freak people out, but it would also be a waste of time, as some of the people walking by likely have no interest in the offering. Instead, that clothing store might write blog posts, send targeted emails and use other online advertising tactics to generate interest and sales. 

Although the ultimate goal of lead generation is to increase sales and improve the bottom line, it comes with other benefits. Lead generation:

• Helps build awareness around a brand to educate and inform an audience about products and services. 
• Makes it easier to target desired customers and waste less money or resources on the wrong customer.
• Plays an important role in collecting information about prospective customers. Businesses can tailor messages that relate to the customer’s journey to offer a more personalized experience. 

Lead generation strategies vary from business to business. However, there are some typical steps most businesses take to generate leads via content marketing.

• Identify the Target Audience. Come up with a clear picture of who a product/service will benefit the most—including age, gender, location, characteristics etc.
• Choose Promotional Strategies. Once identifying the target audience, figure out how best reach and influence them, whether it be social media posts, blog posts, segmented emails, industry events, video marketing or other.
• Create a Sales Funnel. Funnel prospects to a destination allowing for the capture of contact information (i.e., a landing page that asks for an email).

After securing a prospects’ contact information, take steps to nurture them into the buying stage. For example, send out a weekly email that describes and promotes intended products and services. 

Now with an understanding of the lead generation process, it’s time to act. With the right lead generation strategy, businesses can bring in more customers and improve sales. 

For questions regarding lead generation, or for help to launch a lead generation strategy, contact FORTHGEAR today.  

PPC (pay-per-click) ads are displayed on search engine results pages, and sponsored posts on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. They’re also referred to as cost-per-click (CPC) ads because advertisers only pay when someone clicks their ad. PPC ads are an effective way to get a business and its products or services in front of potential customers.

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) works via a bidding system. One or more campaigns are set up to target searchers using various metrics such as: keywords, location, subject interest and user demographics. Settings can then be adjusted as needed to achieve optimal performance. Bids, budgets and ad schedules also are set and managed as part of the ongoing process to position ads in front of people most likely to convert into a lead or sale. Advertisers with a higher bid on relating keywords are more likely to show in the top of search results.

When a person clicks on an ad the advertiser is charged based on the bid amount and competition. An advertiser is never charged more than the set bid amount. However, actual cost per click can be lower than the set bid amount if competition is not as strong.

Some studies have shown that those who visit a website after clicking a PPC ad are more likely to purchase than those who click on organic search results, and that paid ads can also substantially boost brand awareness.

Search-based PPC campaigns can be targeted to qualified customers through relevant keywords. Ads can be narrowly targeted to exactly match a keyword (called exact match). Or, ads can be set to target keywords more broadly (called broad match), which means that the ads might show for more general search terms. Other keyword match options include broad match modified and phrase match.

To measure the effectiveness of PPC advertising, calculate the return on ad spend (ROAS), as follows:

ROAS = Revenue derived from ad source/Cost of ad source

For example, if earning $1,000 in revenue from a PPC campaign on a $200 ad spend, an advertiser would enjoy a ROAS of 5, meaning 500%.

$1,000 of revenue/$200 cost = 5.0 = 500%

There are at least eight types of PPC campaigns, and each has its own best use and purpose. There is no set formula for picking the right PPC campaign type. It’s worth testing different options and carefully measuring the performance results before deciding which will work best for a given product or service. Given the complexities of running and effective PPC ad campaign, it’s best to work with a qualified source, such as an advertising agency or marketing firm (i.e., FORTHGEAR hint, hint)

• Search
• Shopping
• Display
• Retargeting
• Sequential retargeting
• Social media
• Video
• Email

Many potential advertisers wonder how much PPC costs. It’s a question we hear all the time, and it’s not an easy one to answer. The truth is that there are so many factors at play that it can vary wildly from campaign to campaign. There are campaign setup and ad creation costs, campaign management and monitoring, and the actual cost for every click. And the cost-per-click will also differ based on the targeted keywords, the size of the targeted area and the platform. But with some good information and a little time, most able-bodied sources, such as an advertising agency or marketing firm, can provide a recommended campaign cost. But in the end, PPC campaign costs can be pre-determined based on a set budget.

Simply put—search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the practice of managing an organization’s online presence to increase positioning in search engines results when people search a particular keyword or phrase related to its offering.

SEO is made up of many technical and content-driven activities to help websites rank higher in search results. Google comprises 90% of all search activity and is used more than any other search engine. Using sophisticated algorithms, Google measures and tracks several factors to determine which websites will be displayed in search results—the goal being to come up organically on page 1.

Local SEO emphasizes local search results to target people in a given area, as opposed to people all over the country or the world. This usually involves the careful management of search engine profiles, along with online citations—including listings and directories.

SEO professionals will research the most common keywords people use in search when looking for specific products or services, and incorporate them into website content, blog posts and social media posts. Specialized tools allow these professionals to determine which relating keywords will produce the best search results.  

On-page refers to the SEO work done on a website, along with its content, functionality and features, to improve search visibility and traffic. On-page SEO techniques include:

• Creating search-qualified content
• Adding relevant keywords
• Optimizing title tags and meta descriptions
• Optimizing images
• Optimizing page URLs
• Creating internal links on pages
• Improving site load time
• Adding responsive design
• And more

Off-page is all SEO work done outside of a website that improves search engine rankings and drive links back to a website (called backlinks). Some examples of off-page SEO include:

• Brand mentions
• High Authority Articles
• Guest posting
• Link building
• Local NAP citations and listings
• Online forums
• Press Releases
• Social Media
• And more

Technical SEO relates to website and server optimizations that aid search engine spiders to more effectively crawl and index a site to ultimately help improve organic rankings. Here are some Technical SEO inclusions:

• SSL
• Structured data
• XML sitemap
• Hreflang tags
• txt
• Meta tags
• Load speed
• Responsive (mobile-friendly)
• Crawlability

Is the internet dead? No—and it won’t likely die… at least anytime soon. So long as there are websites that need (or want) to be found online, SEO will be required. Google adjusts its algorithms regularly and websites need to adjust and plan optimization activities accordingly.  

According to Forbes, measurable results can be realized from a solid SEO plan in 4-6 months.  Of course, this varies based on industry and competition. Patience, determination and regular effort is required, and SEO should be an ongoing, long view strategy.

People use different methods to increase SEO, some more dubious than others. The “hat” worn refers to the validity of given SEO practices and how well they match with the spirit of fair play—as qualified largely by Google. White hat SEO refers to practices deemed completely legitimate, while gray hat SEO refers to practices considered “shady.” Gray hat activities may, or may not, result in search engine penalties—but consider carefully whether it’s worth the risk. Black hat SEO refers to overtly risky practices that may produce results short-term but will likely, in time, result in penalties that impair or eliminate search results.

An SEO audit is when a full analysis is performed to determined exactly how well a website is doing in terms of search results and traffic. Contact FORTHGEAR for a detailed audit of your website and SEO practices. We can create a plan to increase your search engine results, increase your online presence and sales. Reach out to us to see what other services we offer.