Online marketing strategies are proving to be a reliable, and effective method for businesses looking to improve their sales productivity and web traffic. The majority of the most effective online marketing strategies attempt to improve a website’s search engine rankings, as well as the visibility of a website by targeting organic traffic that originates from search engines. In 2012, almost 90% of Internet users over the age of 14 in the United States browsed or researched products online, and it is estimated that almost 40% of all customers come from Internet searches. These statistics prove the value of marketing online and targeting search engine traffic.

SEO (search engine optimization) is among the most popular online marketing strategies used today. SEO increases the organic ranking of a website because it improves its overall quality and content visibility. Recent research shows that leads coming from SEO efforts have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads such as direct mail or print advertising provide only a 1.7% close rate. Most SEO campaigns are created and managed by web development and search engine optimization agencies. A strong SEO campaign requires much understanding of the search engine industry, requires a lot of keyword research and content writing — tasks that are incredibly difficult for a business or website owner to complete thoroughly on their own, especially while trying to manage their own business at the same time. Therefore, hiring an internet marketing firm to create and manage your SEO campaign is very valuable to most businesses.

Many people believe SEO and content marketing are separate initiatives; however, they actually complement each other wonderfully. Good content that’s valuable to the reader generates discussion, and targets keywords relevant to the industry providing the content is the most important aspect to an SEO campaign — without it, search engines will not associate the keywords being targeted with the website you’re trying to improve, and the site’s search engine rankings will never improve. In other words, behind every successful SEO campaign lies a consistent, and strong generation of both on and off-site content. An example of quality content includes blog posts, online press releases, social media posts, and optimized on-site content on the pages of your website. In recent, almost 30% of businesses outsource their social media and content marketing efforts.

Website owners and businesses that wish to generate more traffic to their websites, or wish to improve their content and social media marketing efforts should consider hiring experienced online marketing agencies. Improved online technology allows for a wide variety of affordable online marketing agencies to be available, because many of these marketing campaigns can be managed by a firm that is located hundreds of miles away. Sure, it’s always nice to work with a marketing firm locally, but many of these processes, such as SEO campaigns, can be just as effective, and even more affordable when managed by online marketing firms from all around the country.