Home and marketing tips on questions and answers website? The sales funnel has always been a challenge for content marketers. By distributing content through popular blogs, you are immediately building your target audience’s familiarity with your brand. Thus, you are shortening the sales cycle for your products and services. Think of it this way: rather than waiting for potential leads to come to your site, you can introduce your brand’s value propositions in your guest posts. You just need to be smart when picking or pitching topic ideas for your guest posts.

With more and more customers going online, looking for the best products or services near them, they are more likely to engage with the business they searched for within a day. To get maximum visibility, your business should be at the top of the list when someone queries for the product or service you offer. But getting on to the top of local search results is not that easy, especially after Google changed their local pack to the new 3-pack listings, like that of the above image.

Initially, the term “search engine marketing” was used as an umbrella term for the process of gaining both paid and free search traffic. Over time, the industry switched to using the term “SEM”, or Search Engine Marketing, solely for paid activities. So, what does this type of digital marketing mean? Search engine marketing refers to a form of digital marketing that aims at increasing the visibility of a website in search engines by using paid methods. In other words, it’s the ads you put out there on Google AdWords and Bing Ads. You can recognize paid search results in Google by the little sign “Ad” at the beginning of the URL. Also, Google puts these pages first in the search results. By combining SEO and SEM, you can drive quality traffic to your website. With the help of search engine marketing, you can put yourself in front of the audience that is actively searching for services and brands like yours. Find more details on SEO tips.

In 2020, it’s time to take a hard look at the quality of your content – and optimizing that content for users rather than search engines, said Michelle Robbins, VP Product & Innovation, Aimclear. “In a way, the key to staying successful in search marketing 2020 is the same as it ever was – put out good content, with consistent brand messaging, in all your channels,” Robbins said. “As the search engines become ever more adapted to natural language understanding, the best-written content – in all forms – will win the day.” And in the world of international SEO, the time is now to invest in good localization of content, said Motoko Hunt, President, AJPR. “Many global websites have poorly translated content that hasn’t been edited for the local tongue,” Hunt said. “It’s not the placement of the keywords, it’s about how well your content is written for the local audience.

Ultimately, you want to be the person everyone looks to for innovation. When there’s a hot topic or dilemma within the industry, and readers need guidance or reassurance, you want to be able to provide it. You want to become a thought leader who’s reliable and respected. Guest blogging steadily builds your following and highlights your level of expertise. Every post shows readers that you understand the niche and don’t hesitate to lay out the facts. You base your content on research, life experience, and past mistakes. Then pass on valuable advice or tips to help others. No strings attached.

Sure, ranking factors vary. But you shouldn’t neglect URLs. Keep them short – three to six words that reflect the content. Too often, websites dilute URLs with so many words that they lose their effectiveness. Fortunately, Google doesn’t award the featured snippets to the largest websites. It seems any relevant website can earn the top spot. Check out Stephan Spencer’s CMI article: OK, Google: How Do I Optimize My Content for Featured Snippets? Like featured snippets and other coveted elements, your page often won’t show in the Google answer box. But you can increase your chances with some good tips from Dennis Shiao in How to Be the Content in the Enviable Google Answer Box. Find even more information on here.