EDUCATION CONNECTION
DIGITAL MARKETING 101:
Capture Your Customers Online By Frank Sciarrino
In today’s marketplace, if you’re looking to grow your business
meaning does it dish a good user experience when users are on a
or even establish one, you can’t overlook the online opportunity.
mobile device? Remember, more than 60% of your traffic comes
Your website is an online showroom, open 24/7, and you must
from users on mobile. Web developers are continually improving
treat digital marketing with as much priority as the tools and
technologies and design, so it’s imperative your website is up to
equipment in your workshop. The internet is a busy place, riddled
date to ensure a rich user experience by your potential customers.
with queries and questions and potential customers. Every day,
It’s all about making a good impression. Spend the time to find
there are more than 63,000 searches per second on Google, five
out what it is that’s most important to them. Content is king,
billion YouTube videos viewed, 95 million Instagram photos
and a good website should include various surfaces you provide,
posted, and more than two-thirds of the population access the
images of recent installations, stories about helping customers
internet on a mobile device.
realize their dream project, and, of course, reviews.
The fact of the matter is, your potential customers are
And with a well-planned website comes a robust digital
shopping online first, investing their time to research materials,
marketing plan. When you’re seeking an agency or expert to build
designs, installers and more. If you’re not investing in digital
your site, be sure comprehensive digital marketing is among the
marketing, you may be missing out on that powerful digital
requirements. Here are some tactics to consider including in a
connection — the conversation starter that brings customers
digital marketing plan:
to your door. Your competitors are likely investing in digital
• SEO – Search Engine Optimization. It’s one thing to build
marketing and showing up first online when customers are
a website, but it’s an entirely different endeavor to ensure
searching. See for yourself; search “granite installer” or “quartz
potential customers find you when they’re searching online.
installer,” and what you’ll see in the search results will give you an indication of whether you’re ahead of or behind the competition. You’re an expert in countertop installation and growing your business with traditional methods, but you don’t need to be an expert at digital marketing to take your business online. There are agencies and freelance digital marketers specializing in your industry, and it’s not as expensive as you might think. In fact,
Search engines use bots to scan pages on the web, going from site to site, collecting information, and creating an index. Then algorithms analyze the index, taking into account hundreds of ranking factors or signals, to determine the order pages should appear in the search results for a given query. How your website resonates within this index is the key to ensuring your site is a top result when someone searches for a business
you’ll likely realize a return on investment relatively quickly. Here
like yours.
are a few pointers to get you heading in the right direction.
• SEM – Search Engine Marketing. Augmenting.
For starters, if your website hasn’t been redesigned in more
Augmenting SEO is paid search advertising based on specific
than three years, it’s outdated and overdue for a facelift. Your
search terms, like “best granite installer” or “quartz countertop
digital presence says a lot about you, and an outdated website
installer near me.” SEM is essential in getting your business
could be turning off your customers. Is your website responsive,
on the front page of google while you are using SEO to International Surface Fabricators Association • Vol. 14 / Issue 3 • 23
