When it comes to digital marketing, many businesses think that they know the basic differences between themselves and their larger competitors. They may believe that SEO is a form of marketing, or that their social media strategies are similar to those of their competitors.

While there are similarities between the two, there are also some key differences that set each company apart. Knowing these differences will help you choose to specialize in one area or the other. Here are some of the key differences between web development and online marketing:

Design

If you are building a website, you will most likely want to take the time to lay out the design and layout of the site. This is known as the website’s ‘look and feel’ and will affect the user’s experience on your site. You might want to consider having a professional designer help you out with this process. They will be able to suggest different layout and design ideas that will enhance the user’s experience on your site.

Depending on the type of product or service you offer, finding the right balance between functionality and design can be a challenge. For instance, if you sell beach towels, you might want to go for a design that is on the minimalist side, in order to make your site less overwhelming. On the other hand, if you sell weight loss supplements, you might want to invest in a more decorative and vibrant design, as your target audience is most likely going to be more receptive to such designs.

In addition to the above, you also need to make sure that the content on your site is easy to understand and compelling. Designing an easy-to-follow site map is also crucial to having a smooth and efficient user experience. User experience is vital, especially on mobile devices, where screen real estate is at a premium. Having a site map that is easy to follow will also allow your users to easily find the products or services they are looking for.

Content

When someone lands on your site, what do you want them to experience? In other words, what is the purpose of your site? The content on your site is going to be what encourages them to stay or to come back. In order to have the most effective content, you are going to want to write unique and compelling content for each individual user that visits your site. You can also use various types of content, from text-based articles to videos, infographics or tool kits.

Depending on your niche, you may want to create a buyer persona and target audience, in order to better understand who your ideal buyer is. Once you have a clear picture of who you are trying to reach, it’s much easier to come up with content that they will value and benefit from.

With the amount of content that is being uploaded to the web each and every day, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to get noticed. Having a compelling piece of content that is guaranteed to stand out is the key to having a successful marketing campaign.

SEO

When it comes to SEO, many businesses think that they know exactly what it is and how it works. While there is a lot of overlap between SEO and digital marketing, there are still some key differences. One of the biggest is the fact that SEO is a long-term strategy, while digital marketing is a short-term strategy. This is because you are trying to drive traffic to your site, so that you can convert that traffic into paying customers.

SEO is not something that you ‘set and forget’, because you want to be sure that you are setting the right keywords and linking to keywords that are highly relevant to your product or service.

Choosing the right keywords is an art form in itself and requires a lot of research and testing, before you determine what is and what isn’t working. This means that you are going to have to spend a lot of time developing your SEO strategy, before you even start seeing results. To make sure that you don’t lose momentum, you are going to have to revisit and adjust your strategy, often. This is why SEO is considered to be a long-term strategy and not a one-and-done affair. However, as long as you are getting results, it’s still worth it.

Link Building

One of the main components of SEO is link building. When someone links to you, it means that they have recognized your site as being ‘authoritative’ or ‘trustworthy’ and that they believe that your site will offer them value. There are several different types of link building, which means that you are going to have to make the decision as to which one is the best for your site.

Depending on your niche, you might want to focus on getting links from high-quality websites. Having an authoritative source that is also one of your backlinks is going to do wonders for your SEO strategy. For example, if you are trying to rank a website for the keyword ‘real estate marketing’, having an authoritative source, like a real estate agency that is also linking to you, is going to help your cause.

Link building is a never-ending process and requires constant attention and effort. You don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket and assume that high-quality links are going to magically appear. Instead, you are going to want to choose a variety of link building strategies and measure the results of each one. This way, you will be able to determine which one is working best for your site.

Analytics

Once you start getting some traction with your SEO strategy, you are going to want to make sure that you are tracking the results of each strategy you are using. Without analytics, it’s very easy to get lost in the weeds and not even realize that your efforts are not paying off. The good news is that there are several different analytics platforms that can help you track the results of your strategy, no matter which one you decide to go with.

Depending on your budget and the depth of your analysis, you can choose between free and paid analytics platforms. If you are wanting to track a large number of metrics, such as the performance of your landing pages, videos or blog posts, you may want to consider investing in paid analytics. However, if you are looking for a simple solution that you can use to track the results of your strategy, you can use a free solution. Just make sure that you keep track of your Google Analytics account, which can be found in the settings section of your dashboard. This is where you are going to see all of the data that you have collected, regarding website traffic and engagement.