Posted at 05:00h
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SEO
by Michael Utley
For some small businesses that are working on a small business marketing plan, digital marketing may still feel like new territory. Although we’ve had the internet around for some time now, digital media has changed and grown drastically over the last few years. Many marketing plans hardly include traditional advertising and instead invest more in digital marketing. Even just a few years ago, a simple email campaign may have been enough for your digital marketing plan, but now internet marketing companies know how important it is to include website SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay Per Click), Social, and Email marketing for any small business. In order to determine which avenues are best for your business, consider the ROI (Return on Investment) for each.
First, let’s answer the basic question of “What is marketing automation?” When executed correctly, marketing automation is the use of marketing software that, as the name implies, automates all of your marketing tasks. This software, offered by companies like Hubspot in Nashville, TN, allows your marketing to be more personalized to your customer than other online marketing strategies. This marketing platform from HubSpot helps your company with Blogging, SEO, Social Media, Website, Lead Management, Landing Pages, Calls-to-Action, Email, Analytics, and Marketing Automation.
Let’s break down each of these just a little bit.
There are more options now than ever for advertising. When you’re trying to decide the best steps to take in your small business marketing plan, you have to consider traditional methods, such as TV and billboards, as well as online and SEO marketing. More and more money is being spent on digital marketing campaigns, since so much of us now spend more time on the internet. Is it worth your money to advertise with companies like Yellow Pages and the newer Angie’s List? Here are a few small business marketing tips to help you navigate these resources.
“Patient First” is still a somewhat new term in the world of healthcare. Something more familiar, but with a similar meaning, is “customer first.” We all know the phrase “The customer is always right.” While we must conclude that in medical terms, the doctor does know best, the mentality that a patient is also a customer and should be treated as such is becoming more important to the healthcare industry. 
In order to optimize any of your web pages for search, there are between 20 and 100 different steps that you can take. Website optimization should be a big part of your small business marketing plan. But, if you don’t have that kind of time on your hands or room in your budget to make all of those steps happen, here are the top 5 things you can do to get the most optimization quickly.
Inbound marketing means that you have developed content creation that will naturally attract the right kind of people to buy or use your product or service. Sounds easy enough, right? Except, how do you know who that right kind of person is? 
One of the most basic best practices for search engine optimization is to have external links on the internet that go back to your site. Search engines use these links to determine the relevance and value of your site in their search engine rankings. So when another site on the web links back to you, that tells search engines that your site is important. But be warned, not all external links are created equal.
Here are a few pointers to be sure that your search engine marketing plan uses external links in the most productive way.
Videos on your business website are a simple way to let customers get to know your business. They can quickly show who you are and what you do. But be careful not to let your videos be a sales pitch. Use these videos, not as online advertising, but as a way for consumers to learn more about you. Here are 3 different types of videos that can help your business.
The answer to this question really depends on the size of your business and how important online marketing is to you. Using search engine optimization will be helpful for growing your business as it will increase traffic to your website from online searches. Unless your business has an in house digital marketing department, SEO marketing by an SEO agency will be the most beneficial and efficient way to use the internet with your small business marketing plan.
There are several valuable ways to increase your site traffic using a small business marketing plan. Things such as SEO marketing and website optimization should certainly be a part of your marketing plan. But using social media to boost your site traffic is another great tool.