For the past month students from across the globe have been receiving their hard earned diplomas and embarking on the next chapter of their lives. Looking back all those years of school, many of us remember that one kid sitting in the back of the classroom who would always ask the teacher, “When will anyone ever use this in the real world?” At the time it was funny but now many college students are going to be putting the knowledge they learned to work. There are many valuable skills of digital marketing that college students learned while attending college, even if they didn’t realize it.
Setting a Budget (PPC)
Although sticking to a budget in college was not always easy, it can teach us some valuable lessons when applied to Pay-Per-Click advertising. Many college students wake up on Sunday Mornings with a pit in their stomach, worried about how much they spent over the weekend. By simply sticking to a predetermined budget, millions of college students could avoid the dreaded ramen noodle diet. With Paid Search campaigns on sites like Google and Bing, it is important to keep a sharp eye on every penny you are spending. If you run a local business in Boston you would most likely not want your ad budget to be spent on people living in Arizona. Here are some guidelines to follow for your next paid search campaign:
- Make sure that your ads are properly showing up on all devices. People today are just as likely to be searching on a mobile device or tablet. It is important that your ads are formatted properly for users whether they are on an IPad or a 1998 desktop.
- Take the time to develop a keyword list that is best suited for the type of consumers you are targeting. Understand what your buyer personas are searching for so that you can take customers away from competitors.
- Make life simple for your consumers. One way to do this is by creating landing pages that are direct and provide all the information they need.
- Remember that SEO practices work in alignment with paid search campaigns.
It’s a Marathon not a Sprint (SEO)
A college freshman sitting in a History 101 lecture hall is probably thinking about a million other things than that class. What they don’t realize is that every class they attend gradually makes them more knowledgeable and thus more apt for the real world. This can be applied to Search Engine Optimization because its fruitions are often not seen overnight. A person can’t simply wake up one morning and turn their website into the number one ranked page on the internet. The plan for SEO takes many months and even years to perfect. While you may not see results at first, if you keep working and applying new skills then they will come eventually. Some things to keep in mind when developing your SEO strategy:
- Content is Critical: Providing the visitors of your website with informative and relevant content is a fundamental aspect of SEO that is not going anywhere in the future. If you are feeling a little fuzzy on this subject, I recommend you Just Shut up and Blog.
- Local Search is expanding more than ever: Google and Bing are making a more user friendly experience by providing search results based on geographic location.
- Pay close attention to quality: Set a schedule of times throughout the month and check your sites for broken links, page speed, unoptimized pages, and the most/least visited pages on your website. This can help resolve issues on your website so potential customers do not have to deal with these problems.
Engage in Your Community (Social Media)
Starting school in a new city with zero friends can be very overwhelming to some people and takes getting used to. Now even if you knew a couple kids from your high school at college, you should still go out there and make new friends. Many college students join groups and other organizations and in no time they have built a community of friends that is growing larger by the day. This same principle is true when it comes to Social Media for businesses. Just as a college student won’t make any friends sitting on their bed watching Netflix, (disclaimer: these nights need to happen every so often for one to keep their sanity) your Twitter page won’t magically gain 500 twitter followers overnight if you are not involved in your community.
- Enter the conversation: Once again, the only way to build a community is if you are actually involved in it. Join in on discussions related to your industry and watch your network of people begin to grow.
- Social Brand Consistency: With so many different social networks on the web today, it is important that your company has a consistent theme so your brand is distinguished from others.
Mittcom would like to congratulate all the graduates from the class of 2014 and wish you the best of luck on your future journey. If you have any questions regarding this blog please comment below and we would love to help you out!