If you’re wondering, here are the 3 best ways to make your website profitable. Depending on your objective, some methods are better for you than others. That’s why it’s important to think carefully about your strategy.
1. Google Adwords
Google Adwords allows you, in exchange for a cost per click that varies according to the competition in your market, to position yourself in the first 3 search results.
It’s the best way to acquire leads or make online sales when your company’s reputation has little influence on your potential customer’s buying decision. For example, it’s a very effective way for service companies such as lawyers, electricians, accountants, etc. to generate requests for quotations. The people who are going to “convert” on your website are already in “search mode”, looking for a solution to their problem.
However, when you’re in a competitive market (insurance, real estate, automotive, etc.) your cost per click can increase significantly, and if you don’t have the budget to compete against the industry giants, you’ll run out of steam pretty quickly.
2. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or Référencement Naturel (natural search engine optimization)
If the pay-per-click option doesn’t suit you, you can also optimize your website for natural search results (non-pay-per-click). Although you appear below the paid search results, the traffic generated by your SEO efforts is free. However, it’s important to have plenty of content on your website, as each keyword you want to rank for will need its own page of content optimized for that keyword.
Unlike Adwords, where you can rank for thousands of different keywords, you’ll need to carry out in-depth research to integrate the best keywords into your pages. It’s all very well to rank first for a keyword, but if there are no searches for it, your efforts are in vain.
3. Facebook advertising
Facebook advertising is a great way to showcase your brand. It lets you target people who aren’t necessarily in “search mode” for your product or service, but who have an interest in what you’re pushing. So, if you know your market well, you can sneak into your target audience’s news feed by showing them an ad that should interest them.
For example, a bicycle linen brand can easily target bicycle enthusiasts. However, it’s essential to approach your market with the right strategy.
In fact, having a “sales funnel” on Facebook is one of the best ways to create brand awareness and drive people to do business with you.
In addition to targeting people based on their interests, locations or demographics, we can target people who have visited specific pages on your website.
Let me explain: if you own an online business and a visitor adds a product to their shopping cart but doesn’t buy it, we can target that visitor directly on Facebook and push advertising showing them the exact product they shopped for on your website.
A strategy for everyone
Every business is different, and having a strategy tailored to your needs is a ”must”. Don’t hesitate to work with a web marketing agency to develop a plan tailored to your reality.
About the author
Nicolas Rabouille – Co-founder of Rablab, a Web marketing firm in Montreal