What is SEO?

As we mentioned above, positioning is a process, the correct execution of which makes the website attract more users who enter certain phrases in the search engine. In a nutshell, SEO activities are divided into two types – both are necessary to properly position the website in search engines and ensure high positions on the list of results:

A. On-site SEO – activities that we perform at the level of our own website. They mainly include:
– publication of well-matched content, containing carefully selected keywords,
– presenting content in a search engine-friendly form – using appropriate headers, taking care of the structure of the text and division into paragraphs, graphic descriptions (alt),
– ensuring fast operation of the website – choosing a server, CMS system, code optimization, image compression,
– internal linking – simplifies navigation for the user, but also influences better page indexing;
– equipping the website with an SSL certificate,
– setting friendly addresses,
– responsiveness – the website must be displayed correctly on various devices – not only computers, but also smartphoness and tablets.

The first step in positioning, however, is always choosing your keywords. The analysis should be detailed and based on reliable data. You have to consider what phrases users may enter when looking for products or other content on our website. A good start will be an analysis of competing pages – what words are they positioned on and what “power” they have in the context of SEO. To check various aspects related to the selection of key phrases, the market offers a large number of programs and services – from free ones, such as Google Trends, to paid ones, such as Ahrefs or Semstorm.

B. Off-site SEO – activities aimed at acquiring as many valuable links leading to a given page as possible.

Linking is a key element of website positioning. As a website gains popularity, it most often also gains links in a natural way – users share content they consider valuable by placing hyperlinks to it on their own websites or blogs. In the vast majority of cases, however, it will not be enough to ensure high positions in search results, especially if the industry is highly competitive and there are many candidates for sharing the online pie.

Websites that help us buy links from different sites come to the rescue. Their form varies – it may be the purchase of a hyperlink in an already existing article on a similar topic as our website. It can also be buying space and publishing your own sponsored article on a given website, thanks to which we have full control over keywords and the form of the text. Some websites also allow you to buy a copywriting service, which consists in writing such an article, thanks to which the need to generate the text yourself disappears.

The key in this case is the quality of the page from which we want to obtain the link – the quality is calculated by the Google algorithm and depends on the SEO level of the website.

Another option is to build a network of your own pages to improve the positioning of your main site. On such pages, called backend, keywords are placed along with links, thanks to which the positioned landing page increases its results. However, building an effective back-up facility requires a lot of know-how. Usually they have to be projects based on valuable domains with a rich history, and there should be a lot of well-profiled content on the website itself. It is not enough just to “set up” a simple CMS and wait for the results – the Google algorithm very easily detects pages of little value from the perspective of the search engine, so unskillful preparation of the back-end will only be a waste of resources and time.

The principle is simple – the more links from websites defined as valuable, the greater the value of our website, and thus, the higher the position.

It is also important that the links leading to our website have the dofollow parameter, i.e. they are indexed by search engine robots. Links with the nofollow parameter, i.e. very little valuable from the SEO point of view, are, for example, links in social media – of course, they still lead to a given page and attract users to it, but they do not noticeably improve its position after entering a given phrase in the search engine.

However, link building is not easy. If suddenly many links from different sources appear to our website, the algorithm of Google (or another search engine) may determine this activity as suspicious, which will limit the effects, and in the worst-case scenario, the website will be punished, which will result in the opposite positioning result.

Is it possible to position the website for free?

Technically, it is of course possible, and with an extremely niche industry and relatively large effort, quite likely. A well-chosen strategy and on-site and off-site SEO carried out on-site in the long run may lead the website to the top of search results. One of the biggest allies here is Google Analytics along with the Google Search Console tool – these are free services officially provided by Google. However, their installation itself can be problematic (depending on the website structure and the CMS used), and improper implementation will make the results distorted.

When it comes to acquiring links, we can of course count on a natural flood of hyperlinks – especially if, for example, an entry from a company blog is substantively very valuable and solves a widely encountered problem or raises an issue that has not been explained in such a comprehensive way so far. Usually, however, you should not expect spectacular results.

We can also ask for help in linking friends who run their pages – preferably on topics related to our site. In the vast majority of cases, however, the number and power of links will not be sufficient to catch up, let alone overtake the competition in a clear way. In individual cases, free positioning can be successful, especially if the website is run as a hobby and it concerns a little-known topic. However, if we want to promote a profit-oriented business, and there are recognizable brands in the industry with marketing and SEO budgets, our chances of high positions are illusory.

Why is it worth working with professional positioners?

First of all, because website positioning is a complicated process that requires experience, specialist knowledge, professional tools, resources and time to bring good results. Many agencies allow you to conduct a free SEO audit after entering the address. This automated audit is able to find the most pressing problems related to indexing and page construction, giving an overall picture of the situation. This is a good start, but the tool will provide us with much less data than a professional audit performed by an experienced specialist.

Tools supporting the analysis of links and keywords are paid:
– Ahrefs,
– Senuto,
– Semstorm,
– SurferSEO,
– ScreamingFrog.

Professional agencies use a whole package of various programs, thanks to which they are able to correct the SEO strategy on an ongoing basis and operate on the basis of a large set of data. When working on SEO, Paraphrase-Online.com uses tools whose monthly cost for one company (one page for positioning) is over $ 2,000.

The cost of website SEO

There is no simple answer to this question. The cost of website positioning depends on the competitiveness in a given industry, the “strength” of the competing pages, previous SEO activities, content quality, site construction and many other factors. However, you can put the entire SEO process into the overall framework, relying on the rates offered by experienced agencies.

Remember: in SEO it is not possible to guarantee the result and agencies that declare the certainty of achieving TOP1 or TOP3 on a popular phrase within a certain period of time actually predict coffee grounds. Certainly, an experienced team of reputable specialists will improve positioning results, but how high the page will be is the result of so many factors that precise prediction.

The problem here is also the fact that the search engine displays different results to different users. The core of the positioning “value” of the page remains the same, but Google, based on the locations, history of visited pages and Internet behavior of a given Internet user, will probably present him with a slightly different order in the rankings than his friend.

The minimum cost of website SEO in cooperation with the agency

It can be assumed that in the case of cooperation with a good agency, the monthly cost of website positioning is at least $ 1000-1500 in the case of small service websites (local small business) and online micro-stores from less popular industries. As part of such a package, we typically get about 30-50 monitored phrases and optimization up to 10-20 subpages. These values are slightly lower for service companies and higher for e-commerce stores – due to the specificity of sales, positioning of stores is generally more difficult, and therefore costs more.

SEO of a service company – cost

A company that operates on the local market in a moderately competitive industry and plans to significantly increase the number of leads from search engines must take into account a slightly higher cost – $ 1,899 (up to 100 phrases, up to 30 pages). Extending the scale of operations if we take into account a niche industry – nationwide, it is already $ 2,700 (up to 170 phrases and up to 60 subpages) and $ 4,200 (up to 250 phrases and up to 100 subpages). Nothing stands in the way of, of course, getting involved even more on the basis of an individual valuation.

The cost of SEO an online store

A small e-shop from a relatively niche industry, offering a small number of products, should spend at least $ 2,000-3500 on SEO. As part of such a package, it will receive monitoring of 100-250 phrases and from 30 to 100 optimized subpages. Medium and large e-commerce websites with a larger assortment can consider higher packages – from 5,000 to 8,000 $ (in Paraphrase-Online.com, up to 250 phrases and up to 100 subpages or up to 400 phrases and 150 subpages, respectively). The largest platforms from the most crowded sectors of the market are subject to individual pricing – “sky is the limit”, both in terms of costs and returns on investment.

The cost of website positioning may seem high – especially in the case of microbusinesses – but the traffic coming to the website directly from search engines (the so-called organic traffic) is very valuable in the context of acquiring customers. Users come to the website in search of specific products, services or information, which means that they usually do not get there by accident, which significantly increases the chance of conversion.

We say it often, but this quote will most likely never become outdated: SEO is a race of sorts. Certainly, however, he is closer to a marathon (or even an ultramarathon) than a sprint, and a good result requires know-how, effort and, above all, time.

New Year – some entered it with greater, others with less impetus, but certainly every entrepreneur with hope and plans for the development of their business on the Internet. 2020 gave many businesses a hard time and absolutely forced them to open up online. It was also a difficult exam for us – meeting the requirements of companies and providing equal service to each partner. Our activities for clients were not limited to generating more sales or promoting brand awareness. In many cases, we have supported companies that have just entered the online world, offering them survival assistance and new development opportunities in a difficult time of the pandemic. Many companies decide to invest in online marketing at the beginning of the year, which is why I decided to briefly discuss what cooperation with Paraphrase-Online.com looks like – what we are, what we expect and what you can expect from us. If you are interested, I invite you to read.

We like what we do

On this we base all our activities and projects in which we engage. If we have the heart for it, it means that we will do it the best we can. This is our promise and commitment in one.

If you decide to cooperate with Paraphrase-Online.com, you can count on the full commitment of our team. We will always look for the optimal solution for your business and tailor services to specific goals. We will adjust the form of cooperation to the size and requirements of your company.

We work for a positive, long-term effect. We plan strategies and invest resources in tools that will affect the success of your company – both today and in the future.

We treat each other as a partnership – mutual respect, understanding and trust in our specialists and the work they undertake are extremely important to us. If we are to act, then together – because we have a common goal.

Effects of work take time

For many entrepreneurs it is most difficult to accept the fact that it takes time to develop the expected results. Of course, it happens that we cooperate with a client and we notice an increase in sales or visibility in the first months. In most cases, however, it looks different – you have to wait for the results of the work you put in. Of course, paid channels bring results much faster than, for example, website positioning, but they also need time to learn and work out the most effective mechanisms possible.

So how long do you have to wait? This is best illustrated by examples of common situations.

Many customers expect us to implement solutions that will immediately guarantee them sudden growth and a leadership position. Previously, they used the services of another agency or acted internally, but decided to come to us, seeing that thanks to the technologies, tools and practice used, we can significantly improve the efficiency of activities carried out so far.

However, signing the contract does not mean that on the next day we will “launch the rocket” and conquer the universe immediately. Everything takes time and requires methodical operation. Well-thought marketing is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. In order not to burn out and not to strain the condition of the website or advertisements shortly after the start, you should carefully prepare – test a wide range of possibilities, settings and tools to choose the “master composition”. Even if we know that certain solutions work (e.g. in the case of e-commerce shopping campaigns), it does not mean that we will not launch a search engine or other channel. At the beginning, we want to test the available tools to see if it will bring specific results. Only after checking a specific channel can we be sure that it works. If it did not work, we can be sure that you can opt out of it in a specific case. However, we do not write off any solutions. Each channel has thousands of combinations that are perfect for a different industry. Testing is key to understanding which method is right for your business.

To sum up – the success that we guarantee to many of our clients is often several months of cooperation, implementation of hundreds of improvements, and testing of solutions and channels. When you decide to cooperate with Paraphrase-Online.com, you have to be prepared for it.

We work honestly for your success

We offer many solutions, we are open and willing to test, we expand our service package, develop our skills (e.g. in video creation, graphics, animation, additional analytical and UX tools, optimization) – so as to be able to fully serve each client, according to his needs and expectations, but also with the use of the latest methods of operation.

We try our best, but we are not miracle workers. If your advertising budget in the previous agency was $ 1000 and you decided to invest with us, we will tell you openly that with this amount we will not be able to increase sales by 400%. We can improve the effects by 20%, increase revenues by 30%, reduce costs by 25%. Enchanting reality is not enough – with this type of budget, increasing the profitability of a campaign by several hundred percent is in principle impossible, especially when actions were taken in the right way before starting cooperation with us.

Clearly defined level of service

We have a clearly defined time for our clients. We are advisers, consultants and partners. It is worth bearing in mind that by outsourcing the activities that our specialists deal with, you do not gain an additional employee available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We are always in close contact and you can be sure that our specialist will always come back to you if you need advice. Yes, we are not a full-time employee of your company, although we will comprehensively deal with all the services you entrust to us – but if you expect constant, daily contact, tell us about it in the initial phase of talks – we will be able to clearly tell you whether it is feasible and how much you will pay for it so that both parties know what they can count on.

Really evalsuate your business and the chances of success

It is hard. Nevertheless, if you spend 2-3 thousand dollars on advertising activities and you do not notice any effects, and we have checked all possible channels and keywords, unfortunately you should not count on changing the agency to bring any effect. It is then worth analyzing your business, website and offer.

Let me give you an example and explain why changing the agency will be of no use in this case. Suppose you run a coffee roaster. We have already checked all possible channels, keywords (e.g. coffee shop, roasted coffee, craft coffee), several people tried to run the campaign (with a similar budget), and the results are still missing. Do not be under the illusion that another agency, modifying a given keyword (eg instead of “coffee shop” will use “coffee online shop”), will completely change the performance of the campaign. If all the attempts used do not bring results, it means that the fault is not on the side of ineffective advertising activities – most likely something is clearly going wrong in your business model or offer. Although it is sometimes difficult to accept this fact, it is worth accepting it and analyzing your business. This is a good time to make the appropriate changes.

An internet campaign is only part of the business

Please note that we will not plan the entire business model for you if it is flawed. We know advertising, digital solutions and technologies and we can help you with this. Based on our experience, we can suggest what will work for you. You can completely trust us in these matters.

We are specialists in our field, and you, in terms of business goals, count on your precise guidelines to match them with our activities.

Online activities, though, can really drive sales and bring you huge profits. In order to record these effects, you need a clear strategy and a certain business model. And it is worth starting from, and even should be started.

Too often, we encounter the case that an online store owner orders an ad for $ 1,000 or $ 2,000, or even $ 10,000, and does nothing else. The store is empty, maladjusted, unprepared for the campaign, and apart from posting an advertisement directing traffic to the website, no other actions are taken to improve efficiency. If someone thinks that today it is enough to set up an online store and buy an advertisement, e.g. in Google Ads, with the help of an agency or a freelancer, then they are very wrong. Currently, all activities related to running a business must be more comprehensive. The days when someone started an online store in a garage and launched a simple $ 2,000 campaign is long gone and they are unlikely to come back.

Multichannel is a necessity, not a choice

Using a single channel to reach customers significantly reduces the effectiveness of all marketing activities. By choosing only one method of communication, you cannot expect your business to achieve spectacular results. If you know how the Chain Reaction Mechanism works, it will be easier to understand that operating in one channel drives traffic in the next – the evidence for the correctness of multichannel actions are the values presented in the graphs below. It’s obvious you have to start somewhere. We do not always have the option to go all the way right from the start, but in the long run the implementation of new channels is a must – if we do not do it, it will be difficult to scale the company and achieve at least the same or better results.

What happens if you intensify your activities by using different channels?
There is only one answer. There will be a so-called synergy. Through various formats and targeting in Google Ads, advertising on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram or Programmatic, you will both accelerate the success of each of them individually and strengthen the results in each of them.

Building a brand requires a lot of advertising activities

The barriers to entry today are much higher than a few years ago. It is worth taking into account that other companies, i.e. your competitors, have been on the market for longer and regularly spend these funds on advertising. They invest every month, e.g. $ 5,000 or $ 50,000. They have it already contracted in the budget and spend such sums regardless of whether they have better or worse results in a given period. Even if they do not achieve the current results, they are working on intensifying traffic on the site, which in the long run will certainly translate into profits. If you are just starting your business, be aware that you will incur marketing costs. This is an entry barrier that all companies must take into account.

As an owner of a start-up business, you will probably invest wisely in advertising, allocating about $ 2,000 to $ 3,000. Meanwhile, the competition has been spending 5,000 or 10,000 dollars on marketing for a long time. With such a disproportion you cannot expect any spectacular effects.

You need to learn about the operation of individual business models and examine the competition, check how much time is already on the market and what funds are spent on advertising. Of course, spending 50% of the funds available from competitors will, in some cases, estimate the potential of the entire channel. But with us, you can safely skip this stage of estimation. After all, it is because of experience that you hire us.

The guidelines that we submit for implementation are extremely important

It happens that customers ignore the list of recommendations prepared by our team. Some business owners feel that they do not need a mobiles-friendly website. Others underestimate the role of redirects. It also happens that clients explain that they do not have enough time to introduce the suggested changes. And it is time that works to our advantage …

The implementation of changes based on the guidelines has a key role in achieving results! The client pays us for the website analysis as part of, for example, positioning or Google Ads campaigns, and we suggest actions that improve visibility and traffic within the website. As practice shows, it still happens that these suggestions are omitted and the client does not implement changes. Of course, this applies only to a certain part of the entities we support, but it is worth mentioning, because even those who rationalize their websites in terms of our guidelines, often do not realize the importance of this action.

If the changes are not implemented, it will certainly affect the results – both current and those expected in the future. When a client entrusts us with a specific task, he receives specific instructions in response, i.e. a work plan that must be performed on his side so that we can achieve the expected results together. It is very important – without appropriate modifications, we cannot efficiently perform our work and rationalize our activities. Of course, we understand that changes are introduced gradually, and in some cases it is necessary to wait six months or a year. However, if we unsuccessfully recall for a few months about minor, but necessary modifications, without which we will not achieve our goals, unfortunately such cooperation will end sooner or later.

The website is one of the most important components of your business

The online store should be treated exactly the same as a stationary point or office where contractors are received. If chaos reigns in the real space, e.g. in a supermarket or local shop, and the exhibition looks outdated, customers will avoid this place with a wide berth. The same goes for online stores. If the online store does not have a mobiles version of the website, i.e. it does not work properly on a mobiles phones, the potential customer will probably not return to it again. It is difficult to shop when the products are not showing up, and proceeding to transactions or making payments is a torment. This also applies to service pages – if you cannot find a clearly structured offer, gallery or portfolio on the company’s website, and in addition it is difficult to find contact details – acquiring a customer via the Internet will be a miracle. It’s time to accept the fact that users of virtual space have already got used to high standards of service.

At Paraphrase-Online.com, we can do a lot for you in the field of online advertising – improve the website, provide UX tips, implement tracking codes to better optimize the campaign. However, we are not able to change one thing – your approach to doing business.

The website – as a business resource – is still underestimated by many business owners. And very often, implementing a few changes on the website, rationalizing CTA, UX or improving the operation on mobiles devices can significantly improve the effectiveness of the campaign. It happened that its effectiveness was increased by up to 50%, at the same cost.

It is worth adding, as if in defense of all Google Ads specialists, advertising specialists in other channels or positioners, that they are too often blamed for failure in terms of search engine visibility or poor sales results. In fact, such cases do not occur among customers who work closely with us and prioritize their website by making the suggested changes.

If we do our best work on the advertising side, but a given client neglects his website, and in fact his business, we will never achieve spectacular results.

Fixed budget for advertising

Only constant, repeatable advertising activities bring long-term effects – mass and regularity count. Constant reminding. I will use the arguments of the author of the book “How brands grow”, who places building and maintaining reach over the occasional but intense frequency of advertising activities. This is particularly important for companies whose customers rarely make decisions. The more often we remind them of cheaply bought traffic, the greater the likelihood that we will hit the moment when they are ready to buy.

Budget to service relationship

We often come across cases in which companies have extensive marketing departments (e.g. 10 people in a team) and spend e.g. $ 10,000 a month on online and offline advertising. Including team members’ salaries, they cost in the range of $ 30,000-40,000. A simple calculation shows that only or ¼ of them go to real advertising activities. Such companies very often have a problem with generating positive effects. This is a flawed concept. Nevertheless, it is worth analyzing your sources of marketing costs to allocate them appropriately.

Do you need a website?

Some owners of “analog”, traditional and local businesses still remain technology-resistant and do not run their own websites. The reasons they mention? “I don’t know anything about it”, “why do I need this?”, “I don’t have time to play it”, “it won’t change anything” and the like. If a given company has good opinions and information about it is transferred to the so-called through word of mouth, it actually gets the impression that it does not need additional promotion. But is it really? After all, you can always have more customers, and in the event of too many orders, expand your business, raise prices or otherwise increase your profits.

What does the website give? About ¾ of consumers admit that they make purchasing decisions based on information found on the Internet. The public has become accustomed to thinking that this is where all the information is. This is why your business for many customers simply does not exist if it does not function in any way in virtual space. It may even arouse suspicion, as the website is the first step in verifying the company and its integrity. Some may argue that since no specific data can be found about business, it is unreliable. In addition, when searching for specific phrases related to your business, they will go to the competition and probably never use your services again.

Theoretically, a website is not required, especially if you manage to reach customers in a different way. Experts agree, however, that it is worth having it to build a professional image and win new orders.

Advantages of a corporate website

Need a stronger motivation? There are many advantages to having a corporate website, and the reasons why you should start one. You will find them below!

Reliable information
This is something we already mentioned above. Your own website is the best way to present information about the company – the most reliable, because it comes directly from the owner. You can present the values you follow when running a business. What is even more important, however, you can present your full offer with their detailed description, photos or other important information that interests potential customers. If you frequently answer the same questions, the website is a great place to post a comprehensive explanation.

Visibility
As we have already explained, nowadays customers mainly look for information online. So if you want to be found, you must appear in it! Your own website is the best way. You can take care of its optimization in terms of the requirements of the search engine, i.e. Google. Skillful activities in this area (preferably hire a specialist) will help you appear in high positions in the search results of specific terms related to the company’s operations.

Advertisement
Your own website is simply advertising. In addition, the best because it is effective and gives great opportunities. You can control the message that appears on your website, and by using additional marketing tools (e.g. paid Google promotion) you can reach a large number of potential customers with it. It is also worth remembering that the company’s website on the Internet, although it can be considered a form of advertising, is not intrusive or irritating like spots on TV and radio, billboards or leaflets handed out on the street. Thanks to this, you drastically reduce the risk that customers will become discouraged by your company due to intensively conducted promotional activities. It is also worth remembering that most effective ads should lead to your website. Customers are used to it and you can then perfectly measure the effectiveness of your advertising.

Credibility
We have mentioned this before. Nowadays, the inability to find company data is just suspicious. It has already been accepted that every decent company has its own website and cares about its image, which plays a very important role. Customers want to consciously make purchasing decisions, so they compare offers on the Internet and seek opinions on given entrepreneurs before they trust them. Not having a website usually puts you out of the race for a customer on the run, and it certainly doesn’t help you prove your credibility.

Global reach
This point may not be relevant for everyone, but for some companies it can be of great importance. The Internet knows no geographic restrictions, so with your own website you can go much further than in the “analog” world. Even if you run a local business, you may be able to expand it with customer service from other regions or even countries. At present, the world is getting smaller in this respect. New outlets, on the other hand, can prove extremely helpful in difficult times and help to become a bit more resistant to economic fluctuations.

Contact with the customer
If you meet clients on a daily basis, you may feel that you don’t need an additional communication channel. However, this is a mistake, because on the Internet you can confront many more opinions, questions and doubts. Perhaps you can find out why some people are reluctant to accept your offer and help them change their mind. Therefore, contact details should always be displayed on the website – preferably there should be several channels, so that everyone can choose any form of communication. For large companies, it is a good idea to provide separate contact details for each department so that questions and opinions go where they should be. If you run a stationary business, do not forget to include a map with the locations of your headquarters so that you can easily find it.

Availability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
What hours does your company work, when can you visit it, call it or get an e-mail response? Most businesses operate from a few to several hours a day, which may make it difficult for some potential clients to familiarize themselves with their offer or use it. Meanwhile, the website is available all the time. The offer can be checked at any time as well as other important information. If you adapt it to do so, the site can also collect orders and inquiries continuously. It is a convenience for the customer and more profit for you!

Task automation
The website allows you to perform some repetitive tasks much more conveniently thanks to automation. Collect orders or registrations via e-shop, form or other similar solutions, make important documents available for general use, and answer frequently asked questions in the FAQ section. These are procedures that the agency that runs the website can successfully deal with, thus relieving your team.

Save time
The above point is also related to the next one. A well-structured website is a great help for an entrepreneur. You can include everything that customers usually ask for, present all products and services in detail and explain any inaccuracies related to, for example, their implementation. Thanks to this, you and your employees can save a lot of time usually devoted to this type of activity. As a result, it is possible to use it much more efficiently – in accordance with the company’s needs.

Competitiveness
Let’s face it – your competition probably already has its own website. If you don’t want to be left behind, there’s only one solution – you should join her. Many customers are looking for information on specific products or services on the web. If he does not find you there, he will definitely take advantage of the competition’s offer.

Analytics
Accurate knowledge of your company’s customer profile, their needs, preferences and habits allows you to conduct much more effective sales. Online tools make it extremely easy to obtain information about your target group, which makes it easier to reach them. Thanks to, for example, Google Analytics, check who, when, from where and how comes to your website. You can also use your own surveys, ratings and comments as well as other systems to check the quality of the offer and its adaptation to the needs of customers. Thanks to this, you will be able to improve it and thus increase your profits.

Low cost of customer acquisition
As we mentioned at the beginning, some skeptics say they cannot afford the website. In fact, it is a very cheap solution, especially since creating a website is a one-time expense. Yes, in the case of complex websites it can be quite a lot, but most small businesses need a very simple business card website that can be built at a low cost. Thanks to CMS systems, it is possible even for free and without specialist programming knowledge (just working with a computer and the Internet). In addition, you only need to pay a small annual fee for the domain and hosting. Of course, you can allocate additional funds to run, update, optimize or promote it, but it is not necessary. The website is available all the time and constantly works on your reputation and attracts new customers. It is the cheapest form of promotion, which becomes more and more profitable with time.

Maybe social media is enough?

Social media is often used as an alternative to websites. Some small businesses decide only to run a website on the most popular Facebook page in our country, thus communicating with customers. At first glance, it seems to be a beneficial solution – Facebook costs nothing (although it offers the possibility of paid promotion), it is easy to use and you can manage the website yourself. In practice, however, it turns out to have many disadvantages. Firstly, most customers, when looking for a specific product or service, enter a given phrase in Google or in marketplaces. Thus, it receives results mainly consisting of well-positioned websites or sponsored links. It is impossible to carry out extensive SEO and SEM activities for a Facebook page. Moreover, it does not look particularly professional and does not necessarily inspire confidence.

In addition, Facebook is primarily suitable for ongoing communication. However, it is difficult to put all important information on it in such a way that the customer has free access to it. Moreover, despite the huge popularity of the website, not everyone uses it, which narrows the group of recipients of the published content.

It is also worth mentioning that when using Facebook, you have to adapt to its requirements, and the published content does not really belong to you. Sometimes the website may be blocked, and then customers will be deprived of the only source of information about the company and its offer. Therefore, a page on the portal should be treated only as a complement to the activity on the Internet – a place to interact with users and provide current information. However, it definitely should not replace a website.

Company website – it doesn’t have to be difficult

As you can see, a website for a company is not an obligation, but a highly recommended tool that brings many benefits. Remember, however, that creating and running it doesn’t have to be difficult! In many cases, a simple business card with basic information and data is enough. Then you don’t have to worry about high costs. Certainly, an investment in a website is a much better idea than the one aimed at other types of advertising (leaflets, announcements, posters, billboards, etc.).

We answer right away that the costs of an advertising campaign on the Internet depend on many factors. Therefore, it is impossible to define them precisely without analyzing a specific situation. However, it is worth knowing what influences the scale of expenses and how to plan your budget well for this purpose.

What is the price of an online advertising campaign?

An advertising campaign on the Internet can cost as much as you want.

After all, it’s up to you what budget you plan for it – a few hundred dollars, or maybe a dozen or tens of thousands? You decide. The problem is that determining how much you spend on a campaign shouldn’t be a coincidence, and neither should you plan what exactly the money will go to.

Nevertheless, the great advantage of the Internet – especially campaigns carried out in social media or via Google Ads – is the ability to precisely indicate spending limits: both on a daily or monthly basis, and for the entire campaign.

What are you paying for?

When it comes to displaying typical online advertisements, e.g. banners or sponsored links, the costs most often depend on:
– the number of impressions of the message – in this system you pay for each view, regardless of whether the recipient has decided to interact with the ad,
– the number of clicks on the ad – then the costs are generated only after the recipient clicks on the link to your website.

This is obviously a very general explanation, because it all depends on the type of campaign being run and the specific tools that will be used in it.

What affects the cost of the campaign?

The method of calculating payments by systems such as Google Ads or Facebook ads is not the only factor that translates into the final amount of costs that the advertising campaign will consume on the Internet. So what else is important for the budget?

A. Whether you run the campaign on your own or with the help of an agency
At first glance, the independent configuration of Google Ads campaigns or Facebook ads seems to be a very simple task. After all, service interfaces are easy to use, so just click through the options and you’re done, right? Theoretically yes. In practice, however, especially if you do not have any experience in the world of online marketing, you can expose yourself to very high costs that will not translate into the expected conversion and ROI, and thus return on investment. You can also expect that you will probably wait a long time for the ad’s effects, if they appear at all. So the question is: can you afford such a risky expense?

Yes, internet marketing agencies charge for their work, which can increase your initial investment. However, the actions taken by experts most often hit the spot and allow to achieve satisfactory results at a lower cost. In practice, therefore, an advertising campaign on the Internet carried out by professionals will most often cost much less and bring measurable, clear profits.

B. Experience of an interactive agency
The longer the internet marketing agency’s experience, the higher the chance that its planned campaign will be measurable. However, in the wake of many years of practice and extensive specialist knowledge, the stakes are higher. Therefore, you can expect that using experts’ services will be more expensive than working with beginners in this industry. Contrary to appearances, however, the rates of the former do not have to be “out of space”, and a slightly higher investment may bring greater profits.

C. The scope of cooperation with experts
In order for an advertising campaign on the Internet to translate clearly into the achievement of the set marketing and sales goals, it cannot be carried out without prior preparation. Therefore, the agency will certainly offer you a package of preliminary analytical services – the more precisely its specialists verify your current market position, technical possibilities, business environment, competition and promotional potential of various strategies, the higher the costs will be. Such an investment, however, usually means that the implementation of the campaign itself brings a higher ROI and gains the response you expect. Therefore, this is another issue to consider and discuss with a specialist.

D. The size of your company and the scope of its activities
If you operate on a local scale – e.g. in cities – you need a campaign with a much narrower scope than a corporation operating on the international market. Therefore, you will have to spend less on promotion. It is worth knowing that ad spend is also influenced by competition in your industry, the type of recipient to whom the messages are directed, and the duration of the campaign.

E. Selected communication channels
Advertising on the Internet is a very broad concept. You can put a lot of promotional tools into this bag – starting with sponsored links and banners on external websites, ending with promotion in social media, and even content marketing or SEO activities, which also translate into branding and conversion. The price of the campaign will depend on which of them you choose and how many you include in your campaign.

Summary

Of course, these are not all the pieces of the puzzle that must be taken into account when calculating the budget for online advertising. So as you can see, estimating how much an advertising campaign will cost on the Internet without looking at the specific situation, needs and goals of the company is like reading tea leaves. If you want to get specific information on how much your company should spend to see the results of investment in promotion – contact us. Our specialists will make a valuation and present you with various variants – from very economical to slightly more expensive – so that you can consciously choose what you need.

KPI is one of the “fashionable” words in the business world. But this fashion is not unfounded at all. On the contrary! If you want to grow and make sure the actions you are taking are going in the right direction, you need to have tools to assess the state of affairs. This is what – in the broadest sense – KPIs are.

KPI – what is it?

KPI stands for Key Performance Indicators. They can be defined as data that allows you to precisely determine whether the actions taken are getting closer to achieving a specific goal.

This definition is general for a reason. There is no single set of KPIs that can be used in all situations. After all, other factors are important in direct sales, and different in the implementation of a campaign on Facebook or using sponsored links.

However, there are several elements that all KPIs have in common.
A. KPIs must be measurable. Therefore, quantitative indicators are used. Thanks to this, it is possible to create their summaries and observe trends – so that it is easier to make decisions.
B. They must relate to the previously set specific goals of the activity. So that they indicate whether the chosen course of action is correct.
C. They must be clear, transparent and objective – so that a specific value can be given at any time.
D. They cannot conflict with each other – and this means that the key campaign effectiveness indicators for you cannot be at the same time, for example, low budget for all promotional activities and high ranges thanks to paid promotion.

KPIs can be used in various aspects of the company’s operations. They are used, for example, in the production process, especially in systems based on lean management or in the area of HRM. However, KPIs are most often referred to in the context of marketing and sales.

Why are KPIs needed?

Effectiveness indicators are needed not only to measure the effectiveness of the actions taken. KPIs set above all the “gold standard” that should be pursued. So there are:

– a clear indication for the team carrying out a given task, what results are expected from it,
– an element of feedback that will allow you to efficiently introduce modifications to activities, if necessary,
– a way to clearly define the costs of campaigns and customer acquisition (and thus – profitability of marketing activities),
– a method of expressly detecting possible errors or shortcomings that weaken the results of marketers’ work,
– a tool that allows you to forecast further progress and results, and as a result prepare a promotion strategy for many months ahead.

In addition, without KPIs, it would be difficult for you to assess the effectiveness of the work of specialists you entrusted with, for example, the implementation of SEO or SEM campaigns. Without hard data, you can’t pinpoint what worked and what didn’t.

How to choose the right KPIs?

The list of indicators that could be taken into account when assessing the effectiveness of marketing activities is very long.

Imagine that you have to evalsuate the effectiveness of a marketing campaign, and not 5 or 10 in front of you, but 40 spreadsheets, tables or charts. Yes, it would give you the power of information, but it would be extremely time-consuming to analyze and the results would in many cases come down to the same conclusions.

Therefore, specific KPIs should be selected – those that are most relevant to the specifics of the campaign. But the question is: how? Here are a few rules to follow.

Do not choose more than a dozen KPIs
20 is the absolute maximum that you can use if you implement the campaign on a very large scale. In the case of these more intimate 4-10 indicators, it is enough to get in-depth data on the one hand, and on the other – avoid overloading with them.

Before selecting KPIs, be clear about the goals of your actions
This is a key determinant of which data you will need. For example, when implementing a social media campaign aimed at acquiring leads, the key KPIs will be related to how many people left the leads and what percentage of all visitors to the profile were. However, this data will be less important if the main goal of the activities was to “start” the fan page or persuade customers to buy a specific product.

Choose multistage indicators
At the beginning of work with KPIs – especially when there is no access to historical data – it may be difficult for you to determine which indicators will be the most valuable for measuring the effects of activities and planning subsequent ones. Therefore, you can start with a slightly wider range of KPIs and narrow it down over time to those that actually convey the necessary information. Test, check, observe and analyze – so as to possibly modify the set of indicators that determine your effectiveness.

Choose indicators that show both efficiency and lack of it
Remember that the purpose of introducing them is to monitor the progress of activities and whether the money invested in marketing pays off. Therefore, it is worth choosing KPIs so that they show both positive and negative effects.

Don’t trust standardized solutions
This is important especially if you cooperate with an external digital agency that carries out a campaign for you. Make sure that the set of KPIs will be personalized and adapted to the specificity of the tasks that the experts will face.

Keeping in mind these few elements, you can be sure that the data obtained thanks to KPI will allow you to make the right decisions – with the current situation and the future in mind.

What KPIs are key in marketing?

Now that you know the general principles of selecting indicators and you do not have to ask what a KPI is, it is time to move on to details related to the area of marketing, and more specifically – internet marketing. This is the zone that interests us the most. This is because it is specific. On the Web:

– it is very easy to collect quantitative data on the course of any promotional campaigns,
– a number of factors are important, including with building interest, commitment or triggering interaction,
– data is provided on an ongoing basis, thanks to which it is possible to efficiently correct the actions taken.

So it’s time to take a look at these KPIs that are crucial in e-marketing. Here, however, a small star should be put: different KPIs will be important for the website, different for social media campaigns, and still different for the implementation of the Google Ads campaign. That is why we have divided their description into several sections.

KPIs for websites

Do you want to check what response your website evokes and whether it is an effective marketing and sales tool? This is particularly important in the case of e-stores, but also company websites, which are one of the basic sources of information about each brand.

In the case of websites and e-commerce, the key will be:
– KPIs related to website traffic.

It is about elements such as:
– the number of unique users visiting the website – given on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis,
– the number of page views – information on how many times the recipients visited the website,
– average visit time – the longer, the greater the involvement in the information contained on the website indicates
– the so-called Bounce Rate – the percentage of visitors who stopped browsing the website in the first seconds after going to the website. The higher the Bounce Rate, the clearer the message that the website can be, for example, positioned for wrong key phrases or that the website layout needs to be changed,
– traffic sources – it is assessed whether they are organic (and therefore come from regular searches) or paid for. Analytical tools also record from which websites the user was redirected to the website, which allows, for example, to decide on promotion channels,
– indicators related to user behavior and engagement.

In this context, the following works:
– duration of a single session on the website,
– number of visited subpages (and what subpages they were),
– the number of interactions per visit – e.g. clicks for more information, go to additional subpages, leaving a lead, etc.

In e-commerce websites and those focused on acquiring leads, the conversion rate is also important, indicating how many people took the action expected by the creators of the website, i.e. left an email or made a purchase.

The indicators listed above are easy to determine. But it doesn’t stop there. Marketers also pay attention to the proportions between certain values. Their attention in the context of the assessment of the effectiveness of the project may be attracted by the relationship between:
– the number of visits and the number of interactions / conversions,
– the number of leads and the number of customers,
– visits from organic sources compared to those that are paid.

KPIs for online advertising campaigns

Other KPIs will be important when you decide to pay for promotion on the Internet, e.g. using the Google Ads system. In this case, the most important things will be:
– number of ad views – indicates how many times the message (e.g. banner or sponsored link) has been successfully displayed to the recipient, important when assessing the daily, but also weekly or monthly results of the campaign,
– CTR (click-through rate) – the number of clicks on the ad, and thus the interactions with it. The higher it is, the more effective the CTA message is to convey promotional content,
– conversion rate – crucial especially if the ad leads on a landing page designed to generate sales leads. The higher the conversion rate, the more engaging your campaign is,
– conversion cost of one person – this is a proportional calculation of how much it cost you to acquire one sales lead. The lower the better
– “Quality Score”, i.e. an indicator of content quality and trust in it – is related to the quality of content, e.g. on your landing page or website. The more substantive content, the more you will gain from organic promotion on the Web.

KPI for social media campaigns

Communication on Facebook or other social media also requires specific KPIs. In this case, the following are, for example:
– the ratio of the amount of published content to conversion – marketers observe how the number of posted posts and other materials translates into audience engagement in order to correct the current campaign and plan the next campaign without errors,
– number of interactions – understood, for example, as “liking” a post, sharing it or writing a comment. The higher the interaction rate, the higher the effectiveness of the campaign,
– organic and paid ranges – the former result mainly from a large number of interactions with the post and its frequent sharing. The better the organic results, the more positive this message is for a promoting company,
– the number of customers involved in contact with the brand – i.e. those who, for example, liked the fan page or turned on notifications regarding its content.

KPI for mailing

Still other KPIs will be important when running an email campaign. This is an underestimated, but very effective way of promoting online at a low cost. Although conversion rates are relatively low here, as long as the message reaches a well-targeted client and is skillfully prepared, it can bring specific results.

In the case of mailing, effectiveness is measured using parameters such as:
– Open Rate – the number of recipients who opened the sent message at all. If it is small, it is a clear sign that you need to change, for example, the wording of the message titles or make it more attractive in some way;
– CTR – in this context, the number of people who clicked on the link contained in the e-mail is important,
– Subscription Rate – an indicator informing about the number of new users subscribing to the newsletter;
– Unsubscription Rate – this is the opposite indicator, showing how many people have unsubscribed from the mailing;
– the number of “returns” – e-mails that did not reach the addressee at all. Their large number indicates the weakness of the database, and hence the need for more effective acquisition of real leads,
– increase in the list of subscribers to the newsletter – if it is dynamic, it means that the actions taken in the context of obtaining leads are carried out correctly.

These are, of course, just examples of KPIs that matter. It should be remembered that other indicators will be important for campaigns carried out with the use of different tools. For example, in mobiles campaigns, the number of users of the application created, traffic on the company’s mobiles website or the frequency of visits via a smartphones will be important.

You have set a KPI and what next?

Setting key KPIs is only the first step towards effective verification of the effectiveness of your marketing activities. In the next section, it is necessary to indicate the tools that will be used to collect and analyze this information. You will receive many of them from the system you use – the data is provided by, for example, Google Analytics or the Facebok advertising system. Specialized software is required to receive in-depth information.

It should also be remembered that the data obtained from KPIs must be processed, developed and analyzed – so that it is possible to take specific actions on their basis. It is best to entrust this task to specialists.

Contextual advertising: definition

Contextual advertising is a promotional message that is embedded in a context close to the recipient. The point is that the ad presents content related to, for example:
– the interests of its addressee,
– information recently sought by him,
– products that he has almost purchased or is regularly purchasing.

This means that contextual advertising transmits information of value to the recipient. So it is not doomed to failure, like most messages that reach random recipients. It can therefore be said that the idea behind contextual advertising is that it should reach potentially interested, not random recipients. Which is why it works so much better.

Think for a minute: you are a cooking fan and you are visiting another recipe portal. Is it likely that when you see a banner advertising, for example, an exotic grocery store on one of them, you will click on it? There is definitely no one hundred percent guarantee – after all, a lot depends on how much time you have and how much you want to delve into such information. Nevertheless, the chances are much higher than if you were shown a banner with an advertisement for pet food in return, right?

How does contextual advertising work in practice?

What makes the displayed ads really put in the right context? In the past, they were simply related to the subject of the portals on which they appeared. For example, cooking pages featured banners from kitchenware stores, restaurants, and the like.

Today, it can also work to some extent, but most websites are based on advertising systems – primarily Google Ads. And here we are dealing with a much more precise “targeting” of customers, i.e. with the exact matching of the message to the person who visits a given page.

On what basis does the system display such and not other advertisements?

There are two basic mechanisms.

First, answer one important question to yourself: are you logged into your Google Account? Most of us have them. You need, among others because Google offers the most popular e-mail box. But that’s not all. Let’s not forget about mobiles traffic, largely based on androids phoness. And to use such a smartphones, you also log in to your Google account.

When creating this account, you have probably provided your personal data – at least your gender and date of birth. Most of us provide truthful information – if only because it can be useful for password recovery. These simple demographic data, combined with your locations, are an important reference point for contextual advertising.

Second – cookies! These are, of course, cookies. These are small files with information that are saved in your browser. On the one hand, they serve your convenience – for example, that you do not have to log in to your favorite websites every time and re-select their settings. On the other hand, they are a real “gold mine” for advertising systems. They show them what websites you watched before, what you were interested in, what you buy, what topics keep you for longer… in one word: they let you get to know you better and, consequently, show you ads that interest you. It’s so simple!

Therefore, when you visit another page, an ad system, such as Google Ads, sends a query to your browser and accesses cookies in response. From there it is a simple way for algorithms to match advertising messages to what you really are interested in, and then – to conversion.

What types of contextual advertising can be distinguished?

Contextual advertising is a very powerful tool that can fulfill various promotional goals. First of all, there are various advertising systems – apart from Google AdSense, you can mention Programmatic and many others.

When you take a closer look at the set of available tools, you can see that the person planning the campaign may choose several models of contextual advertising. Due to their purpose, they can be divided into messages focused on:

– sale – this type of advertisement is chosen for the implementation of short-term goals, e.g. various promotional and sale campaigns in the store. It is most often chosen by e-stores,
– acquiring leads – valuable contacts that may result in a purchase in the long run,
– increasing traffic on the website – the campaign is primarily to attract attention to the website and increase the number of visits to it (which also translates into the effectiveness of positioning),
– brand awareness – messages addressed to “strangers”, i.e. recipients who have never dealt with your brand, but may be interested in the solutions it offers,
– arousing interest in products / services – messages addressed to people who initially express the need to use a given solution.

Where do contextual ads appear?

Contextual advertising can appear in several forms. Those are:
– classic advertisements – e.g. promotional banners on websites or on social networks,
– sponsored links – are published above, below or next to organic search results,
– sponsored e-mails – this form of promotion can be used for Gmail users who will receive sponsored messages to the “regular” mailbox, in relation to the visited pages.

On what basis can contextual ads appear?

Contextual ads target people at different stages of the sales funnel. Among them, the following messages can be distinguished:
– thematically matched to the content viewed by the user – targeted at those who are generally interested in a given issue,
– dedicated to people who initially expressed an interest in purchasing a specific product – e.g. those who viewed offers in e-stores or searched for information about various versions of the product,
– “remarketing“ – targeted at people who have already visited a specific store, most often with the intention to buy, spent a certain period of time on the website, maybe even put the product into the basket, but … changed their mind at the last moment.

The audience you want to target with contextual advertising can be determined during the planning and setup of your campaign.