Cosmetic Store Advertising: How To Get Started?

Advertising activities should never be a coincidence – unless you want to waste the budget you spend on them. This principle is especially important in the cosmetics industry – whether you run a drugstore that offers a very wide range of mid- and low-priced products, or an eco-friendly or professional store. Each of these niches has to face a lot of competition. And that’s a real challenge – especially if you’re starting from scratch.

So the question is: what to do if your advertising budget is not unlimited and at the same time you expect quick results? First of all, choose the most promising sales channel, i.e. the Internet. There is even the slightest doubt that it is in the Internet that you can get the best ROI from promotional activities. Why? Because this is where your potential customers are present, and you can reach them through many channels.

Before you start thinking about starting a particular campaign, stop for a moment and think… if you really want to take these actions on your own. If you do not have too much experience in the advertising industry and you have never set up a campaign on Google before, you may waste a lot of time, energy and money learning the basics.

Meanwhile, cooperation with a digital agency, although it involves a slightly larger investment, can be a really effective way to reach a wide range of customers. Specialists know how to make the best use of the budget entrusted to them and act according to a precise plan. It takes into account:
– clearly defined campaign goals,
– precise definition of target groups of customers to whom promotional communication is addressed – it must be remembered that a different form will be advertising a cosmetics store addressed to a person who does not know what products he needs, and a different message for a customer who is looking for specific cosmetics,
– careful selection of communication tools and channels – so that your advertisement is where your customers are,
– clearly defined budget.

If you want, you can of course go through all these steps yourself. However, think about whether it will pay off for you.

And what elements should a cosmetics store advertising include? Here they are.

Paid ad for a cosmetics store, i.e. Google Ads

Google Ads is a very wide set of tools that allow you to take precise promotional activities – those that will be targeted at carefully selected recipients. What does this mean in practice? It’s just that you will be able to reach people who are potentially interested in buying the cosmetics you offer.

What is the secret of success? The fact that Google ads are not displayed to random people. They appear on the screens of computers and smartphones of those people who have shown interest in your industry and offer. See what tools will be useful in particular for a cosmetic store.

Sponsored Links
Where are you looking for the cosmetics you want to buy? Perhaps you are just visiting a stationary drugstore, but a lot of people go to the web. Especially that on the Internet, products can be even several dozen percent cheaper. And if so, the Google search engine is the first source of information. The truth is that a website user will click on one of the first search results and … often stop there or even make a purchase.

Finding yourself at the top of the organic results are a real challenge. This is because the cosmetics industry is extremely competitive. However, you can jump over others by presenting your proposal in sponsored links. These are the ones that display over the results obtained by Google algorithms. And while they’re fairly clearly labeled as advertising, they’re eagerly clicked on by your audience. This means that sponsored links will allow you to quickly build more traffic on your website, which will translate into all other goals of the promotion: sales results included.

Product Listing Ads
… that is, advertisements displayed in the Google Shopping system. It is a form of promotion that will allow you to effectively present individual cosmetics and reach the recipient directly with a specific offer. If you use this tool, the link to the specific product related to precise customer search will be in the section above the organic results or on the side. It will be accompanied by a photo of the goods and the price. Therefore, it’s a good place to compete when you offer items cheaper than others. But not only. Being in this section also helps build your store recognition and brand strength.

Google Display Network
I am talking about contextual ads that are displayed to the user on external websites he visits – e.g. with news, lifestyle or any other websites that cooperate with Google in the display of advertisements. Their ranges are very large, and promotional messages are displayed to people with a specific range of interests, passions and demographic characteristics. Remarketing is particularly effective, i.e. activities consisting in displaying advertising banners to users who have already visited your store, e.g. those who have abandoned their shopping carts. An advertisement showing the products they are watching may prompt them to return to shopping.

Why Google Ads?

Advertising a cosmetics store in Google Ads is a natural and very sensible solution, because this promotion system allows you to very precisely reach people in the target group.

Google Ads is:
– quick building traffic on the website,
– support for short-term seasonal campaigns, e.g. aimed at selling specific products,
– strengthening the store’s brand,
– the ability to effectively monitor the effects of advertising activities – Google Ads campaigns provide a lot of analytical data that allows you to improve the conducted activities with a view to increasing their effectiveness,
– strict control over the budget – fees for displaying advertisements are charged in the PPC system, which means that you pay for impressions or clicks on the banner, and therefore for effective interaction with the recipient.

However, the question is: can such an advertisement of a cosmetics store be conducted on its own? In theory, yes. After all, all you have to do is reach for the tools commonly available on Google and pay for the campaign directly, right? However, in practice, the correct configuration of the campaign, as well as its testing and monitoring, are activities that require extensive knowledge and extensive experience. This is the only way not to waste the promotion budget. Therefore, it is better to invest in running a campaign with the help of specialists. You should also be aware that the effects depend both on the budget allocated to the promotion and on the competitiveness in the industry.

SEO of the cosmetics store

Cosmetics store advertising is one side of the coin. The second is SEO activities. Equally important, if not more important, because they bring the most long-term effects. How to run them? The goal is to get the best possible position in Google’s organic search results. To get this result, you need to take care of:
– page code optimization – so that it is friendly to all browsers and devices and displayed quickly and without difficulties,
– increasing the functionality of the website – e.g. its transparency, ease of passage through the shopping route or the possibility of searching for products,
– correct saturation of the content on the website with keywords – in the case of a cosmetics store, you will probably need “deep” positioning, i.e. penetrating the structure of subpages belonging to the website,
– improvement of page meta tags, URL structure and sitemap – so that they are more friendly to Google algorithms.

However, in order to start most of these activities, you need to very clearly define which keywords the positioning will be for. It’s not as easy as it sounds. In the case of a cosmetics store, it is not enough to choose keywords directly related to the main product categories, such as “shampoos”, “body gels” or “anti-wrinkle creams”. Yes, they are very important, but … your competition also promotes such slogans. This means that you need to invest in long-tail positioning. It is especially important for stores that offer hundreds or even thousands of products. By choosing to use the “long tail“, you have the chance to significantly increase your position on many queries.

Remember: positioning brings long-term results. Although you have to wait a few months for them, it’s definitely worth it.

Advertising of a cosmetics store on Facebook – is it worth it?

Facebook, as well as other social media like related Instagram or Pinterest, is also a great place to promote yourself. Facebook in particular offers wide possibilities of communication with recipients – both by running a fan page and contextual advertising, which are accounted for and monitored on the basis of similar principles to those offered by Google Ads. Likewise, Instagram offers a space to give your products a certain ‘entourage’ and character to your brand. All of this – especially in the cosmetics industry, is very important.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a website that was created out of the need to apply the idea of a cork board in a virtual space. Its name is a combination of two words: “pin” and “interest”. It was supposed to be a catalog of visual inspirations, a place where you can collect ideas and images encountered on the web and group them on virtual “boards” according to the selected topic. The platform contains certain elements of a social networking site. For example, you can follow other users’ activities and view their public boards.

Despite its long activity (Pinterest was established in 2010) and visible growth (in May 2020 it was used by over 367 million users), the website did not change its basic profile. Over the years, only more features have been added to make it easier to gather inspiration and share it with others. In 2018, it was possible to sharing and storing video clips of any length. Today, Pinterest is also referred to as a visual search engine. It enables, among others search your database based on photos or their fragments, as well as existing “pins”, i.e. inspirations saved by users (images, articles, posts, videos, etc.).

Promotion on Pinterest – get to know your audience

Before you learn how and why to promote your business on Pinterest, it is worth taking a look at the demographics of website users, as well as their habits and preferences. Sources say that the website mainly targets women. According to data from July 2020, as many as 76% of its users were ladies. In addition, the website itself reports that in the United States, Pinterest is used by as many as 8 out of 10 women aged 18 to 64 who have children. The median age for all users is 40 years, but most active users are younger.

The website carefully analyzes the content provided by users and on this basis prepares annual trend reports and other publications aimed at, among others help brands promote more effectively. He also orders research to understand the behavior of “pinners”. The data obtained in this way shows that:

– 85% of portal users say that they use it first when they want to start a new project,
– 98% admit that they tried the ideas found on the website,
89% agree that they use the website as an inspiration for their purchases, and 90% agree that it helps them decide what to buy,
– 70% discover new products thanks to Pinterest, and 72% say that the website inspires them to buy, even if they do not have them planned,
– 66% of users bought a product after viewing a brand’s pins.

In addition, as many as 9 out of 10 users associate Pinterest with a positive message. Most users enter the portal to take a break, seek inspiration for positive changes and get in good mood.

Pinterest in business promotion – is it profitable?

Pinterest is definitely an interesting place on the web. Its users are creative, motivated and actively looking for ways to improve their lives or try out new things. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect clientele for your business? In addition, the website is a great place to maintain relationships, and according to modern marketing principles, they are the most important for increasing sales. It is a great tool for implementing long-term strategies and building a community around the brand. Especially that the average “lifetime” of posts on the site is calculated in months. This is because it is used to make plans, often far-reaching. Meanwhile, other social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, focus more on “here and now” or even on the past. This makes the posts placed in them quickly forgotten.

According to the statistics given above, the platform should be of particular interest to companies that target young women, and in particular mothers. However, there are also ways to get great results with products and services that have a different target audience. Much depends on the adopted communication strategy.

Drive traffic to your website with Pinterest actions

The research cited above shows, among other things, that Pinterest is the most effective in directing Internet traffic to store pages from all social platforms – about 33% more effective than Facebook and as much as 200% more effective than Twitter. The additional traffic to your site means more customers who may want to use the services. All this means that it is increasingly used for promotion. American brands are in the lead in this respect, but they are not only large corporations. Smaller businessmen are also eager to use the website. There is also nothing to prevent companies from using its potential! There are many indications that it may simply pay off.

Pinterest for business – how to start?

What does it take to start promoting on Pinterest? The first step is to create an account. It is worth noting that the portal allows you to create two types of accounts: personal or business. Business users have access to much more tools that enable effective promotion – incl. statistics, analyzes, methods to promote posts. They can also make it easier for other users to get to their website via a direct link. Therefore, it is the only right choice for anyone who wants to advertise their business. The website regulations say that an account created for commercial purposes should be marked as business. You can also convert your personal account into it – just look at the settings.

After signing up for your account, you can start adding pins immediately. However, it is worthwhile to think carefully about your strategy first and analyze the target group and its activities on the website. It’s also good to spend some time observing the website and its customs – especially if you haven’t had any contact with it before. Don’t forget that your Pinterest account can be linked to other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube. This will make it easier to build consistent communication and help you reach more people with your posts. It is also worth remembering that the website allows you to publish not only photos, but also infographics or video files. In turn, this will help you diversify your content and create more diverse boards that can grab the attention of many people.

How do I connect my Pinterest account to an online store?

If you run an online store, company website, or even a blog, it is worth remembering about an additional step that will help you “start” your business on the portal faster. This is linking your Pinterest account to the website. This can be done in two ways:
– adding a “follow us on Pinterest” button to a website or blog;
– adding the “Pin it” plugin to product pages in the store – thanks to this, people visiting it will be able to easily add products of interest to them to their boards.

It is a good idea to use both methods and install the “Pin it” plugin in your web browser. Thanks to it, you will be able to quickly create pins from visual content on the web.

Promotion on Pinterest – what to remember?

Once you have your goal, initial strategy, and timing of your posts, you can start building your boards. Website users are usually actively looking for new ideas, so as long as you are able to offer them something interesting, you should not complain about the lack of interest. There are also a few rules to keep in mind.

Make sure that:
– treat the company Pinterest as a business card – carefully select the pins placed on the boards and take care of a consistent, specific message;
– the published content was of high quality – it is mainly about technical quality, i.e. photos, graphics and films in high definition and presenting a professional appearance;
– do not forget about branding – it is worth placing your logo wherever possible (but not in an intrusive way);
– post not only photos, but also important information – if you publish pins with your products, always include the most important information about them in the description (including the price!) or use a paid tool that will add this type of information for you;
– use keywords – more and more users treat the website as a search engine, so their proper selection is very important;
– do not avoid contact with other users – it is worth responding to comments and reacting to other user activities, e.g. pinning your pin or following the account;
– do not spam – too intensive activity and pushy promotion of your products will not be appreciated;
– create your own unique style – a consistent message with an idea is something that Pinterest users love and that will definitely make a good impression;
– publish various, interesting content – the photos of the products themselves can be unnoticed, so remember to create a story around them with inspirational pins that will help website users identify with the brand.

Also, do not forget about using the tools that are available to business account holders. The statistics and analytical tools available on the portal can help you a lot in increasing the effectiveness of your activities.

How to read Pinterest statistics?

Pinterest statistics are available at this address. For business account holders, they are a great source of information to help you improve your brand message. It’s good to know how to interpret them in order to use them to your advantage. Here are four basic measures to help you manage your account more effectively.

Range
Reach metrics tell you how many people see your posts – daily and monthly. In this section, you can obtain data on the views of pins published by your account. This allows you to recognize which content is the most popular and drive traffic to your profile.

Pins from your website
Business account users who link to their website can also check how many pins have been created from it. This data allows you to see how many people liked your products so much that they wanted to save them on their boards. You can also check which of these pins are doing best, for example in terms of impressions or engagement. The same data is available for the pins created by you. This provides you with loads of important information to help you create new content.

Save from your side
Savings, also known as surges, allow you to get more views. It’s a good idea to check if subscriptions are coming from your site and consider what you can do to get more of them.

Clicks
This is a very important statistic that tells you how many people came to your site through Pinterest posts. This is usually the main goal of companies operating on this platform. It is worth taking a look at which pins are the most popular and use them as a determinant for creating new ones.

Is Pinterest for you?

Pinterest can be a great platform to promote your online content and your business and offerings. It is not a complicated service, and at the same time provides many useful solutions for business. In addition to statistics, for example, paid ads that can bring excellent results, as well as the so-called. extended pins for the publication of more extensive content. All this means that the possibilities of using the website are very wide.

Hey Google, I’m here!

When Google recognizes our website, it is necessary to take steps to identify those elements that its users may find useful. The steps to encourage web crawlers to go on our side are mostly found in Google’s guides and webmaster manuals.

Basic activities focus on sharing your website and allowing traffic on it – both machine-made and human-made. Then, it is worth indicating the area with which the search engine should associate our site – e.g. by including keywords related to the industry within it. In the meantime, it’s also important to create access to a place where Google stores everything about our domain – Google Search Console. And then… then a more advanced part begins that should be discussed with a specialist!

But first, let’s focus on the basics and start positioning our site on Google!

Hey Googlebot, you’ve got Allow here

Positioning your site should start with the admission of web robots to your site. For old seo enthusiasts it is obvious, but for people who have not had any previous contact with robots, this issue may be interesting.

Internet crawler / indexer – a program whose task is to collect information about everything that is available on the Internet. There are different types of robots that specialize in collecting various data.

Googlebot performs a crawl – it goes through the links on the pages and indexes its content. The frequency of Googlebot visits to websites varies – visits may be repeated every few hours or every few days. Without crawling, it is not possible to display the page in search results.

Most of the web robots obey the rules imposed on them by the website. Information on this is contained in the robots.txt file and the “robots” tag located in the HEAD section of the page’s code.

Why is this information so important? When creating a page, in most cases you disable the ability to index your site, preventing robots from entering the page. Such action makes sense – an unfinished page, full of “lorem ipsum” or pictures of sweet kittens playing the role of place holders – will not be found in the search results by accident and will not mislead the potential customer. At the time of commissioning the website, the guidelines for web robots should be changed, but this is not always the case.

These types of mistakes are not uncommon and do not only happen to small players. In 2009, Skoda’s promotional campaign was widely discussed, in which the Internet search engine played one of the key roles. In the commercial, which was aired on television, it was encouraged to search for “Yeti kidnaps”. Problem? Access to the content on the page for robots was blocked in the robots.txt file.

The content of the result description is automatic information that appears when crawlers are not allowed to access the content. This situation is not conducive to website positioning, and the popularity of the slogan was used by the brand’s competition, quickly jumping over the website advertised on TV in Google.

Titles and descriptions

Page unlocked? Time for a title and description! The elements of the <head> section – title and description are the first fragment of your website that users encounter.

Both elements are also important, although it is assumed that the description (meta description) is of less importance from the SEO point of view. The title not only appears in search results, it also appears at the top of the browser tab.

The <title> element should contain information relevant to web robots and users. Keywords assigned to a given subpage have the highest priority here, and other information may follow them – for example, for industries such as road assistance it will be a contact phone.

The content of the title should be 65-100 characters long. Both values are approximate – for titles, this is where the number of pixels the title has been created is concerned. Google displays titles and lengths of about 460-600 pixels (depending on the size of the device we use), and in the case of longer ones – cuts the part and leaves a triangle, as you can see in the screen above. To make sure that the most important part of your title – your keyword – fits in the result, place it right at the beginning.

When it comes to <meta name = “description” content = “…”>, things are a bit different – its main goal is to encourage the user of the search engine to look at the site. When preparing a description, it is worth focusing on those aspects that make the website stand out from the competition. It is worth using the appropriate passwords – in the case of online stores, it will be e.g. information about free / immediate shipping. Call To Action should also be installed in the description – a password that will encourage you to take action – “Check now!”, “Find out more now!” and so on…

The description is limited to approx. 160 characters. When it’s too long, Google limits it to the appropriate size, leaving three dots at the end. The content of the description is available in the code of the website, but it is not displayed directly on it – its main purpose is to present the website in search engine search results.

During the process of positioning a website, analyzing titles and descriptions, and if necessary, changing them, it is one of the first steps that a positioner takes. Changing the above does not require technical skills, and in the case of popular CMSs, it is limited to placing appropriate content in dedicated places, usually marked as “title, description for search engines”.

Introduce yourself… or else Google will do it

In the absence of a title and description, Google decides what will be displayed instead of them. Unfortunately, sometimes Google also takes over when both tags are properly completed. In such cases, text fragments from the page appear in the SERPs containing the words and phrases searched by the user.

The lack of properly prepared title and description prevents the search engine from showing the most important keywords and finding the site in the right places in the search results. This hinders the procedure of positioning a website and associating it with a specific topic.

The presentation of topics and phrases important for our website and business also takes place through appropriate content. Content is as important to robots as it is to those more human users of the site. Each of them has their own preferences regarding its presentation… Robots like a well-described structure – texts with different headings – h1 as title and h2, h3,… as subheadings; subsequent paragraphs placed in the <p> tag, and the most important elements (keywords!) highlighted with <strong>. Additional description of it with the help of structured data will make the robot filter the content of the page faster (and more probably!). On the other hand, the web user will appreciate the structure of the text – its length, font size, breakdown into paragraphs, clarity of graphics and all other elements that will help accelerate the consumption and assimilation of the content.

Both aspects can be neatly combined, which usually has a positive effect on the visibility of the site in search results. Well-written and html-described text is popular among website visitors, and sometimes they even pass it on. Such action also stimulates its popularity among web robots, which translates directly into more frequent visits to the website and high positions.

What is website positioning?

Positioning is primarily emphasizing the advantages of a website, while eliminating all its disadvantages, in order to achieve the highest possible position in the search engine. Website optimization is nothing more than adapting to the rules that prevail in the Google search engine environment. It is these rules that are key to the order of the results displayed on the query.

Sounds simple and logical? Unfortunately, it is not – the above-described basic steps to be included in the Google index can be compared to putting the first track while learning to write – the title of a calligraphy master from this position is still far away. The following actions should be taken after the website is published and made available:

– optimization of its operation in terms of speed and efficiency,
– improvement of functionality, elimination of technical errors,
– appropriate description of the content of the positioned website – also using structural data,
– content analysis, creation and modification,
– activities aimed at extending the database of links pointing to our website,
– analysis of the effectiveness of these activities, and in the case of low effectiveness – changing the approach and building an improved strategy.

Positioning a website is a process dependent on many factors, including not only changes in the search engine algorithm, but also the specificity of the industry in which the promoted business or budget operates. Gaining SERP peaks requires consistency and constant control – the search engine is an extremely vital organism that is constantly being modified. Unfortunately, this causes uncertainty as to the stability of the position – which in the absence of appropriate and prudent actions – may result in spectacular mishaps.

In the case of positioning, it is worth relying on current knowledge and experience that allows you to develop an effective and safe strategy.

Two ways to show your products or services in Google search results

– Google Ads – immediate and clearly visible effect, but displayed only during the promotional campaign,
– SEO – an effect that you have to wait for, but the obtained results are longer than the duration of a standard Google Ads promotional campaign. In the long run, it is the cheapest method of acquiring customers from the search engine.

How long does SEO take – can I check the waiting time?

Yes and no. Paraphrase-Online.com, a group of SEO experts providing data from the Google world, analyzed search engine traffic on the basis of 23 most important industries and over 250,000 key phrases. The results of the analysis are presented in a simple table. However, although the report deals with specific numbers, it all depends on individual calculations and many variables.

What are the general conclusions of the Paraphrase-Online.com report?

No surprises, the main principle of SEO, mentioned above, has been confirmed: you have to wait for traffic from the search engine! In order for the product to be visible, it must be worked on.

Fun fact: The main problem of SEO agencies is explaining to customers who expect organic results that SEO is a process, not an immediate action.

How long does SEO take?

Various analyzes can be found on the web, depending on the industry, website, selected keywords, competition, etc. And why is this happening? Imagine you are offering a “Miami Car Service” service. What if you still offer the same service in New York. Will the customer entering the phrase “car service + given town” see your website in the same position in the search engine? No.

On the basis of numerous campaigns carried out by Paraphrase-Online.com, we join the claim that in order to position the keyword we need a minimum of:
2-3 months for less popular phrases,
4-8 months for moderately popular phrases,
over 9 months for very popular phrases.

How is the positioning process shaped depending on the industry?

The shortest time for the effects, i.e. entering the TOP10, is in the Business and Law and Politics categories – just over 2 months, and the longest in the Style & Fashion category – it takes over 5 months for the result to appear in the top 10. The average for all categories is 105 days.

It is also worth paying attention to the Career or Hobby category. Both, despite the fact that you had to wait over 4 months for the effects, the positions obtained remain in the TOP10 for about 2.5 years!

Important: Our results show us arithmetic means for given categories, which were calculated on the basis of several thousand keywords. If we look at the deviation column, we will see that in all categories, positioned sites wait much longer or much shorter for effects than the third column shows.

Let’s also look at the Sports category. The average transition from TOP50 to TOP10 of search results takes a minimum time of about 3 months, however, the high value of the standard deviation – 566 days indicates that these differences between individual phrases may differ radically from each other.

What affects standard deviations?

The waiting time for the effects of positioning may be shortened or extended by several factors which, depending on the category of the website being positioned, are more or less important. How long seo lasts consists of, among others:

– the number and position of competition,
– industry in which the company operates,
– modernity of the website – in terms of technical and content optimization,
– having good-quality content,
– changes in the Google algorithm,
– knowledge and experience of SEO specialists,
– budget,
– speed of introducing optimization changes.

How can we accelerate the appearance of positioning results?

The basic activity that must be performed before positioning an existing website is an SEO audit. On its basis, detected errors can be eliminated and the indicated shortcomings can be filled.

What is important for a properly conducted phrase positioning process:

– qualified and experienced positioners, constantly improving their qualifications and being up to date with introduced changes in algorithms,
– technical optimization of the website,
– the quality of the content and its uniqueness,
– elimination of indexing errors,
– adapting the website code to the requirements of search engines,
– internal linking,
– proper selection of keywords,
– valuable links coming from external websites,
– getting to know the target market and direct competition,
– an appropriate budget for the implementation of SEO activities,
– patience.

Why does Google support small and medium enterprises?

According to data from the World Bank, companies from the SME sector constitute as much as 90% of all companies. The same applies to the majority of advertisers, i.e. Google customers, who are currently facing the loss of customers and employees. That’s why Google has decided to help those whose business may suffer the most during an epidemic, as well as those who play such an important role in the market and whose survival is so important.

How does Google support the SME sector?

As part of support for companies in the SME sector, Google provides additional funds for advertising campaigns run in Google Ads (including search, advertising and YouTube, as well as in all types of campaigns). Advertisers who have been running their campaigns on Google in the last 10 months of 12 in 2019 are eligible for the program. Paraphrase-Online.com specialists reports that also newer advertising accounts or campaigns that were conducted in a shorter time and whose expenses oscillated at a higher level can also count on an additional advertising budget.

How to apply for an additional amount of advertising from Google?

You do not need to apply for funds. Google itself qualifies our company and transfers the appropriate amount to our advertising account. Importantly, the amounts received for advertising cannot be transferred to another account, divided or refunded. So, if our company operates in the SME sector, it probably has already received support. We will also receive an email when the funds are credited to your account.

How much advertising money can you get under the program?

The additional amount for the ad is expected to reach all advertisers by July 1. According to Google information, it depends on past Google Ads spending, the country of billing address, and the currency in which the campaign is being run on the Google Ads account. The earned amounts for advertising can fluctuate significantly, but the maximum amount paid will not exceed $ 1,000. Currently, at Paraphrase-Online.com, we monitor the inflows to our clients’ accounts and inform those whose accounts have already appeared. According to our observations, they currently range from around $ 40 to $ 250.

Advertisers can use amounts sent by Google until the end of 2020. Importantly, the unused sum will automatically disappear from the advertising account after December 31 and cannot be restored.

The demand for IT services and the relatively easy threshold for entering a semi-professional position (e.g. creating simple websites) creates a lot of competition. The Software House branch seems to be particularly crowded, with websites building websites and other solutions necessary for conducting online business such as b2b and b2c applications as well as integrations and modules for popular storage platforms or those related to relationship management, like sparrows on the roof. with clients. High competition means the need to invest more funds – financial and time – in working on standing out and reaching new potential customers more effectively than competitors in the industry.

SEO for Software House – a starting point for online business

Brand recognition and presence – regardless of the industry – is built using a whole set of tools. Depending on who our potential client is, the dominant channel will be social media (Facebook, Instagram, and for a younger recipient – also TikTok) or search engines. In the article below, we will focus on expanding your visibility in Google search engine and SEO for software house.

In the case of Software House, the website is not only a business card of the company, but for many potential recipients – the first project implementation in the company’s portfolio. If the site is unrepresentative, resistant and not adapted to modern standards. It’s not just about the look of the page, but more about how the page behaves in the browser, how web robots see it and, above all, whether it can be found in the search engine.

Does the position of the page matter – a handful of statistics

Why is presence in SERPs so important? Just look at the statistics – over 93% of online experience starts with a search engine. However, just finding yourself in search results for a topic thematically related to the industry is unfortunately not everything – the position of our website is also important. As the article indicated above – 95% of users decide to click on one of the first results, and the further from the first position, the chance of clicking decreases.

Achieving a high position requires not only adapting to trends in website design, but adapting your site to the rules of the game imposed by Google, which are to facilitate the use of the Internet to end users – men and women who may not always boast of the fastest internet connection on market.

A good position requires appropriate actions – technical optimization in accordance with Google guidelines, optimization for keywords. This is where space for seo appears – the basis for building position in the search engine.

Step by step – specify the purpose of the SEO actions taken

Determining the measurable goal of marketing activities makes it much easier to analyze them – determining whether the goal has been met, which actions and solutions have worked, and in the case of less spectacular effects than intended, specifying what did not work as expected or which work should be deepened. Objectives will vary depending on the organization, while those that the Software House brand can achieve with the help of positioning certainly include:

A. Generating more website traffic – the increased number of search engine visits usually translates directly into a larger number of people interested in the offer and using the services offered.
B. Building brand and expert position – Internet users usually have a better opinion about companies that appear higher in search results, especially if their pages find answers to their questions.
C. Obtaining interest of a specific group of recipients.

Defining the goal will help you choose the means that will help you meet it. Drawing a destination is especially useful when creating a basic list of phrases that will be considered in the seo process. Determining the more or less defined “finish line” of positioning activities will also allow for the selection of appropriate solutions. This is also important because of the budget that the positioner will have during cooperation. More about this in the next steps.

Step by step – keywords for the software house

With a set goal, you can pre-define a group of phrases to focus on during SEO.

Most people who decide to position with an SEO agency would like to see their site in Top3 for phrases from the so-called “Short tail,” i.e. one or two word constructions. These short phrases usually generate the most searches, which also makes them highly competitive. In many industries, despite a large number of searches, these types of terms do not convert very well. Short terms are usually too general and ambiguous to match the user’s search goal.

By generating results for the query “website” Google matches the responses related to the phrase, but each is from a “different fairy tale” and can differently meet the user’s need:

1st position – Wikipedia, definition;
2nd position – wizard;
3rd position – website price;
4th position – wizard;
5th position – guide on how to set up;
6th position – definition;
7th position – wizard;
8th position – creating pages;
9th position – creating pages;
10th position – creating pages;

By adapting to the specific needs of the user who is looking for information and addressing these needs in the title and description of the page, we increase the chances of getting to the top5 results and clicking the searcher. For this purpose, keywords from the so-called “Long tail” – phrases, consisting of several words, referring to more specific issues. These types of phrases can usually not boast a dizzying number of searches, but unlike phrases from a short tail – they usually convert much better.

By entering a more detailed query in the search engine, the customer can be immediately directed to the appropriate part of our offer – in this case, information on the costs of placing a website based on the WordPress system. The search results for this query also contain advisory content, e.g. blog entries dealing with price formation.

Long-Tail, or how to effectively reach the seekers?

Product pages – with specific product specifications or longer content – usually have blog entries that address specific issues.

When choosing keywords for website positioning, it’s worth focusing on what makes your business stand out from the competition’s offer and use this knowledge. When working with a positioner, it is also worth referring to your experience and base phrases on what customers have asked about, e.g. prices of additional services, issues of removing faults on the site, or installing additional solutions.

It is worth remembering that the actual number of keywords that are positioned throughout the process is much higher. They include, among others phrases with a similar set of words but with a different arrangement. The scope of phrases during the contract can be changed – expanded to include words that will allow you to expand the visibility of the new offer or remove words that do not satisfactorily meet the objectives set at the beginning of SEO activities.

Step by step – Website analysis and optimization activities

Determining the goal of selected marketing activities and determining keywords is just the beginning of the path to achieving results in the form of website traffic and new customers. The next stage is adapting the website to Google search engine guidelines.

Google provides several documents in which it indicates which elements should be noted. There are, among others, guidelines on how to share the site with web robots. Google also places great emphasis on adapting the site to the needs of the user – starting from the speed of the site, through navigation, to the intuitiveness of use. Among the elements important for the search engine are:

– blocking some content in robots.txt;
– creating valid title and meta description;
– creating headers according to the hierarchy;
– structured data tags;
– intuitive navigation;
– content;
– speed optimization

and other. At the beginning of the guide, Google calls these changes “minor modifications”, but this is not always true. Proper preparation of optimization, implementation and control of its effects is a task extended to the entire period in which seo-related activities are carried out.

SEO – a mix of knowledge and experience

Introducing guidelines only according to Google manuals is not always effective. The person who implements the optimization must also take into account the trends in the search engine and changes in the algorithm, which the Google guide has not yet been completed. Experience in this type of work also helps to gain high positions and increase visibility. The developer, whose task is primarily to build a website and give it appropriate functionality, devotes his time primarily to training in his field – searching for new CSC hacks or testing new libraries. The developer and positioner view the site from a different perspective. The task of one is to provide an aesthetic and functional website, the task of the other – to adapt it to display in high positions in search results. Working out optimal solutions satisfying both sides will certainly increase the reach of the site, i.e. achieve one of the intended goals.

During the seo process, it is important for software house parties to learn about the competition – the above-mentioned keywords, the technical solutions they use, e.g. the schema tags they use, to help expand search results.

However, watching the industry is not everything – it is also important to take care of your own site – first of all the speed and the way it is seen by network robots. The positioner, analyzing the data collected by a number of tools, will indicate solutions that allow you to speed up the website, without changing its functionality or appearance.

However, the introduction of optimization is just the beginning of the process of positioning your IT services. Control, analysis of introduced changes, their modification – “keeping an eye on the pulse” in accordance with the adopted strategy is the best way to gain and maintain high positions in Google in the IT industry.

Step by step – Blog and offside activities

One of the goals of positioning may be building an image of a software house company and placing it in the position of an expert. To this end, it is necessary to place a blog within the domain. Regular publication of expert content – written in a specialist language, but explaining the complexities of the IT world in a way accessible to a potential customer, is also a good way to update the site and “invite” robots. The entries may include descriptions of projects that the company has faced, creative problem solutions, reports from industry events and guide content on common problems with websites or applications.

Professional and interesting content readers are happy to pass on – through social media or by placing links to our site on their sites. This also creates a natural link profile that Google values. Content that is linked to more good quality links is rated higher by web robots and helps the site move to higher positions.

Building a valuable link profile is also taking care of the appropriate diversification of inbound links are another of the challenges that should be entrusted to seo specialists. Obtaining the appropriate links to the site from trusted and proven sources will allow you to complete the next steps on the way to achieving the goal set at the beginning.

Seo – it’s time to appear on the Internet for good!

Preparation of a positioning strategy requires delving into the industry and learning customer expectations. It is worth basing the selection of measures that are to help you to break above other Software Houses on the experience of search engine visibility specialists – which will allow you to achieve the intended effects faster.

Are you planning to take your Software House above the competition? On our blog you will find effective tactics and what changes to make that will convince web robots to highly evaluate your website. Fight for high positions and successfully position with Paraphrase-Online.com!