Spend your ad budget on your website

In the quest for more traffic to their websites, many small to medium businesses spend a fortune on online advertising such as PPC on Google and banner ads. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Either way it can eat into your profits significantly. But is there a more cost-effective way of getting some love from web users?

According to a new study by US content marketers there is. In a month-long study of more than 100 small business websites, they found that each individual web page on a site brought in 55 extra visitors on average.

According to the study’s authors, Eden Platform, when compared with other online advertising methods this means that an average web page is worth $137.50 (£90) in advertising each month, or $1,650 (£1,070) a year.

Ryan Kettler, Eden Platform’s Director of Communication, commented: “Small businesses are beginning to discover the surprising efficiency that website content marketing provides. Adding one new page of content to a business website each week can be as effective as having a $90,000 (roughly £58,000) advertising budget.”

The true value of good web content

Of course, these figures aren’t representative of every site and shouldn’t be taken literally, but they provide further evidence of what many successful online businesses known all along – that good web content is worth its weight in gold.

Regularly added web content that has been created by a talented and professional SEO copywriter works on two levels. Firstly, when it contains relevant keywords and links it can help to increase your rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Secondly, and most importantly, if it’s good quality, it can act as ‘bait’ to draw users into your website.

What is good web content? It’s content which not only sells your business but is engaging, interesting, informative and entertaining. Such content works well on both levels because it encourages web users to read and share it, and this in turn will further help your position in the search rankings, resulting in a not so vicious circle.

Good web content isn’t rocket science, but it could launch your business so speak to your web design agency about adding new pages to your site or professional SEO copywriting for your website.  A few words can go a long way and have a positive impact on visitor numbers to your website.

Food for thought next time you’re contemplating your online advertising budget.