Our online marketing services
The heart of our portfolio is the conception and creation of websites, digital applications or mobile apps. In order to survive in the digital competition, however, a modern website with a high level of usability is only part of the homework of every company that wants to assert itself digitally. Continuous content marketing, the analysis of website visitors or app users, online advertising or newsletter marketing are some of the ways to build your own brand and establish it digitally.
Where we start.
While there are preferred services in every agency, we believe that the selection of the right tools and their respective importance in your online marketing mix should be based on your objectives. For us, transparent and result-neutral consulting is therefore more important than the release of a media budget.
We ask the relevant questions in order to sensitise you to all online marketing tools related to your Internet presence from the outset. With this holistic thinking we understand our role as your digital agency.
Together we define your requirements for the online marketing mix. We offer you additional online marketing services in the following areas
Our certified SEO/SEA managers also cover this area of responsibility. Depending on your needs, we can fall back on our partner network.
In the big marketing universe, online marketing is a comparatively young star. If you search the scientific search engine Google Scholar for the term "online marketing strategy" in the period up to 1999, you will only get 19 results. From the year 2000 onwards, the number of results is well over 1,000.
The dynamic and multifaceted world of online marketing is divided into numerous sub-disciplines. In recent years, several independent professional profiles have emerged from this. The most common job titles are Social Media Manager, SEO Manager, SEA Manager or Content Manager.
In addition to the management of social media profiles, the optimisation of search engine rankings, the creation of advertisements or the creation of content for blogs, newsletters or instagram stories, the repertoire of online marketing includes a number of other specialised tasks; also known as internet marketing or web marketing. Email marketing, affiliate marketing, conversion optimisation and online PR are also part of the comprehensive toolbox in the online marketing mix.
Without Google nothing works. Every day each of us starts the search engine several times. A large part of all website entries are based on search results from the well-known search platform. Anyone who does not appear on page one has a poor chance of leading users to their offer. Search hits 1-3 already account for more than 80% of all clicks on organic search hits (source: Sistrix).
So how do you get to the top of Google?
Unfortunately it is not so easy with search engine optimisation. The number of adjusting screws is immense. And again and again the bad word: algorithm.
It is a complex construct that presumably takes into account more than 200 parameters. But first and foremost they are important - and it will not surprise anyone - the content. You have probably heard of it - König Content. A few years ago, Google's algorithm was not quite so clever, but today it can no longer be influenced by simple tricks like keyword stuffing. Google is increasingly using user signals to have the quality of the algorithm evaluated from the recipient's point of view.
SEO never stands still
Technical changes, such as the increased use of smartphones, also result in new demands on the design and content of your digital offer (keywords: mobile-first, voice search).
This is accompanied by specific requirements for the preparation of digital contents. A text for the web should be designed differently than for print. Short sentences, simple formulations, subheadings - preferably enriched with infographics. Content is also either supplemented or completely replaced by videos. Websites that answer user questions on a topic as holistically as possible and are updated are rewarded by Google with a better ranking as a test or, in the best case, consistently. With your content, you (and Google) should aim to deliver quality to users.
For SEO you need endurance
In short: the race for the top places is not a sprint, but a marathon. Depending on the individual objectives and the competitive situation, a lot of manpower is permanently required for this. Therefore, it is important to focus on technical and content-related SEO basics at the beginning. In the second step, a targeted search engine optimisation of the most important offers should then be started. This must already be taken into account in the conception of the new web project.
Among other things, we use some online marketing tools for our SEO work. Here is an excerpt at a glance:
The first and probably easiest step for all companies that want to appear on page one under guarantee: If you search for a specific company and use the location recognition or combine the search with the city name, Google's SERP (Search Engine Results Page) displays a so-called Local Box to the right of the organic hits (desktop display). On smartphones, this box is even more prominently positioned above the organic search hits.
With an entry in Google My Business, every company can manage its location(s) free of charge. Opening hours, telephone number and even small contributions can be entered with little effort. In addition, reviews can be collected, which offers the chance for an additional signal of trust to the customer. The My Business App offers the possibility of quickly making changes while on the move, uploading current photos to the company account and chatting with customers.
Investment in visitors
In addition to search engine optimisation, i.e. the improvement of the organic ranking of individual websites in terms of content and technology, search engine marketing also includes the world of advertising. Search Engine Advertising, or SEA for short, offers the chance to attract attention and traffic in the shortest possible time. While SEO measures usually only take effect after several days, weeks or even months, SEA offers the possibility to lead interested visitors to your own offer with less time and personnel effort. While SEO measures - apart from the investment in working hours - do not produce any additional costs, SEA means an immediate investment in clicks or impressions (Pay-Per-Click).
Advertising that performs
Presumably every advertising company is familiar with the quote by car manufacturer Henry Ford: "I know that half of my advertising is money thrown out. I just don't know which half." But in Ford's day, performance marketing was still a long way off. Today, Google Ads, the market leader in SEA, offers very good evaluation possibilities for tracking clicks and measuring conversions. For example, newly acquired newsletter subscribers or products sold online can be directly assigned to the advertising success. Numerous key figures signify at an early stage whether an advertising medium "performs" particularly well, whether one keyword generates more clicks than another, which ad leads to the longest retention times on the website and much more.
That's why SEA fits the target group like a tailor-made suit: If your advertising campaign matches the search intention of the users particularly well with the advertised products or services, this form of advertising is sure to have the least wastage compared to others. In other words - SEA is characterised by high effectiveness. A positive side-effect: the knowledge gained about the search intentions and the interest of the target group.
The calculation of the advertisement prices is based on the principle of auctioning the advertisement spaces. Using different bidding strategies, campaigns can be optimised according to individual goals (clicks, impressions, conversions). Thanks to the use of machine learning, automated bidding strategies can also be used here. On the basis of a certain number of conversions achieved in the past, Google's own algorithms calculate how bids can be optimised so that even better performances can be generated for individual campaigns.
At the same time, the so-called quality factor has also been playing a role in the display of advertisements for some years now. It is based on an estimate of the quality of the ad in combination with the keywords and the target page. Rule of thumb: The more relevant the ad, the higher the expected quality factor.
Google Ads offer various advertising formats and placement options. The best known form is the text ad in the search network, i.e. the search results typically discreetly marked with "ad" above the organic search results. Display advertising also offers the possibility of advertising on related pages, forums, news portals and other participating publishers (Google AdSense). Via Google's own subsidiary YouTube, a wide variety of moving image formats can be placed as advertisements and evaluated via the administration of Google Ads.
Remarketing lists can be used to target website visitors again. In this way, special ads can be played out which are only seen by users who have already dealt with your company or a special offer from you. This promises particularly high conversion rates.
Around 1.5 billion people worldwide used Facebook 2018 every day (according to Facebook). In Germany alone, Facebook announced around 23 million Germans as daily users for November 2018 (source: Allfacebook). Only the Messenger WhatsApp, which belongs to the company, is used by even more Germans every day.
![[Translate to English:] Social Mredia Werbung](/digitalagentur-koeln-muenster/leistungen/online-marketing-seo/Social-Media-Advertising.jpg)
These gigantic reach figures are just the one ace up the social networks' sleeve; first and foremost Facebook, its Messenger and subsidiary Instagram, but also Twitter or LinkedIn. In addition, the platforms are a strong force, playing out their detailed knowledge about their users. If the advertising addressee in the SEA sector can be addressed primarily according to the concrete search intention in the form of concrete keywords, social media platforms offer a particularly high potential for very sharp targeting early in the customer journey due to their knowledge of their users.
In addition to personal interests, the powerful Facebook data set also includes locations such as places of residence or holiday destinations, often education and industries, and of course the age and gender of its users. From all these parameters, very specific target groups can be defined.
If concentrated advertising in the B2B sector is of particular interest, the LinkedIn and XING platforms are ideal. Here, specific industries or job titles can be addressed as target groups.
There are many different weaving formats. Facebook, for example, offers image, video, carousel formats and collections (so-called Instant Experiences) for product catalogues. Contributions can also be advertised for a few days at short notice, for example in the case of unplanned events. In this way their reach can be increased on a daily basis. Retargeting also makes it possible to address users who have interacted with your website or app again via Facebook.
*In addition to the free use, the main advantage of using the Google service is in particular the easy integration with other Google services, such as the Search Console and Google Ads.
In principle, every website operator should use an analysis tool if he has a serious interest in reaching existing and new customers with his website in the medium and long term and in retaining them with his digital offer. Even with less intensive involvement in controlling, at least rudimentary key figures should be recorded, evaluated and reported in order to identify indications of possible problems of the users. After all, in contrast to an already printed product catalogue, an error on the website can be corrected at any time.
KPI - the key figure dilemma
Depending on the objectives of the website, the first step is to determine the actually relevant key performance indicators (KPI).
Starting with user numbers, lengths of stay, user sources, most visited pages, bounce rates, distribution according to user language, devices or operating systems, individual target actions and conversions: the possibilities for evaluation are almost unlimited. Individual user segments, comparison periods, search terms via site search, user-defined dimensions and metrics: Google Analytics is an El Dorado for number fetishists and statistics freaks. But here the rule is: less is more. Only when the figures are interpreted meaningfully in the end, in order to derive hypotheses for adjustments to the website, to implement them and to control them again, does it make sense to record them.
And what about data protection?
Of course, any form of user tracking must comply with the DSGVO. First and foremost, this means implementing Google Analytics IP-encrypted, extending the data protection declaration accordingly, defining data storage in Analytics and concluding a contract with Google for commissioned data processing (also works digitally). According to the current status (January 2019), Google Analytics can thus continue to be operated in a legally secure manner.
Speaking of data protection: We host your web project in an ISO certified data centre in Germany. You are welcome to contact us!
Closely interlinked with all other online marketing disciplines, content marketing can be regarded as a comprehensive framework of all sub-areas. Without target-group-oriented and appealing content, no SEA campaign is likely to achieve convincing conversion rates, no SEO strategy will be successful and no social media advertising will have any chance of success.
The aim is to create high-quality content that offers readers, viewers (video marketing e.g. via explanatory videos to simplify complex processes) or listeners (keyword: podcasts) real information and added value. Ideally, whole stories are told that are unique and ultimately have the potential to be shared via social media.
An example of a microsite that uses the storytelling method and at the same time relies on the explanatory video format is our project BonnPlusLicht.de.
The design should not only be convincing in terms of content, but the design should also be professional and brand-compatible. Users often research tips or further product information, which can be created in a small checklist or infographics. Depending on the scope and objectives, the content strategy can be pursued in different ways. Microsites, for example, are suitable for a focused approach to a topic. The video format is coming more and more to the fore and is also becoming increasingly important in the B2B environment today.
In the battle for particularly short attention spans, it is the task of content marketing to directly arouse curiosity, to help, advise or even entertain. Well implemented, content marketing stages your company and your brands as real experts and consultants in your industry. It is important to understand content marketing not as direct advertising, but much more as a means of long-term customer loyalty and acquisition.
