Running a business in almost any industry, sooner or later it's time to take advantage of the opportunities offered by online marketing. This applies not only to typically digital businesses, but also to those that, until recently, could easily do without a digital presence. Restaurants, hairdressers, plumbers, car mechanics, physiotherapists, computer repair shops, interior design, and companies from hundreds of other industries are slowly migrating to the online world every day. In the vast majority of cases, this is no longer an option, but a common market requirement, the fulfillment of which (or not) can determine the future of the company.
This stems from the fact that consumer habits have changed dramatically in recent years. If you don't keep up with the growing digital skills of your target audience, you'll face a problem. Your customers—both a vast portion of your current ones and countless potential new ones—are already online. If you don't wait for them, when the moment comes to search for services or products your company offers, they'll turn to your more digitally exposed competitors.
Online marketing, especially if your company hasn't conducted this type of activity before (or has done so minimally), is an activity that requires a significant amount of knowledge from the very beginning. Moreover, to say that the need to expand marketing horizons grows exponentially later would be a bit of hyperbole at best. It's also worth remembering that while some elements of a brand's digital image can be done for free or with minimal effort and budget, as it grows, costs will increase.
How do you get started with online marketing? Which tools should you use? Which are essential at the beginning, and which can be postponed "until later" as your brand expands digitally?
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SEO – website positioning
Virtually every brand should have a website. This allows you to provide customers with basic information about your services/products and, above all, allow them to find you . A well-designed website will make a good first impression and provide essential contact information. The website should be clear, aesthetically pleasing, fast, and aligned with user experience standards (more on UX later).
However, for a website to be properly visible, a proper SEO approach is crucial. When a user enters a phrase of interest into a search engine, it returns a list of tens or even hundreds of thousands of results in a specific order. This list isn't random, but rather the result of Google's constantly evolving algorithm. However, it's possible to live with it and implement good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices from the very beginning.
Website and online store SEO can be divided into two categories. The first involves changes that can be made to the website itself – sometimes referred to as on-site SEO, meaning SEO performed directly on the website. These primarily involve creating and optimizing content so that it's easily digestible for both the user and the search engine bot that will regularly visit and analyze the website.
This also means saturating the content with keywords you want to use to rank your website. They should appear in several places throughout the text (possibly even in headings), but don't overdo it with an unnaturally high number of keywords, as this will reduce the readability and quality of the text itself. To free up space for content that isn't overwhelming (nobody likes reading a wall of text), it's worth considering starting a company blog. This will not only allow you to increase the amount of content but also present your brand as it deserves – as an expert in a given industry. In addition to substantive articles on a given market sector, a blog is an excellent place to introduce employees, current achievements, and company culture – so that customers can also see the "human face" of the company.
On-site SEO also focuses on the technical refinement of the website:
- improving its loading time (the vast majority of users will abandon their visit if the page takes more than a few seconds to load) – this can be achieved, among other things, by compressing images, minifying the code, moving to a faster server, etc.;
- adaptation to display on screens with different resolutions (most internet traffic is carried out using smartphones, which requires the use of different solutions than in the case of typical desktop versions - however, users of desktop computers and laptops cannot be forgotten, there are also tablets);
- installing an SSL certificate – this ensures encrypted communication between the website visitor and the server and is taken into account by Google bots;
- And many other aspects.
The second, equally important, part of website SEO is acquiring links leading to a given website, referred to as off-site SEO. These links signal to the search engine bot that, based on social proof, the site is likely valuable and can be ranked higher in search results. However, the key isn't simply "slapping" the right number of links from random sites – in SEO, quantity must be matched by quality. Tools like Senuto and Ahrefs can help analyze the link profile.
At the initial stage, a key point about website positioning is that SEO is a long-term process. Achieving satisfactory results isn't possible in a week, a month, or often even a year—it requires developing a plan and implementing it properly, adapting to ongoing algorithm updates, and continuous training. Worse still, once achieved, results can easily be lost, for example, through an ill-considered website update, which could cause indexing problems for individual pages.
SEO audit
If you already have a website, it's worth thoroughly examining its search engine performance and what can be done to improve its SEO status. This involves conducting an SEO audit , which allows you to identify both the elements that can be improved on the website itself (on-site SEO) and the link profile (off-site SEO). You can find many websites online—both free and paid—that automatically gather basic information on this topic. At Verseo, we've also prepared a quick audit for you at auditor.verseo.pl . Google's PageSpeed Insights tool can also be useful, as it checks the speed and other fundamental elements that contribute to a website's performance.
Automated SEO auditors and similar scripts provide a general collection of information and serve as a foundation for further action. They only consider the most basic factors that influence a website's ranking, so if you're serious about SEO, a professional audit conducted by a specialist is essential. A multi-faceted analysis allows for the development of a detailed SEO strategy, which in the vast majority of cases (except for extremely niche market segments) is essential to achieving meaningful results.
Google My Business
When a potential customer enters a company name, a section with information about the specific company often appears on the right side of the search results. Creating such a business card is free, and it allows you to highlight key information—phone number, address, opening hours, and photos of the office. This gives users access to basic information without having to search further, allowing you to make a good first impression. We cover GMF in detail in a separate article on our blog. Creating a business card can be the first step towards effective local SEO for your website.
Social Media
Social media are the modern equivalent of city centers. Depending on the current status of a given platform, they can be vibrant (like Instagram or TikTok) or derelict (like MySpace or Nasza Klasa). There's no doubt, however, that a social media presence is beneficial for most brands – they're excellent platforms for quick customer contact – not just an announcement of "I'm a brand," but also "maybe we should start a dialogue?"
The first question you should answer when considering setting up a brand account on social media is "which platform is the company's target customer base?" Each platform has a slightly different user profile – due to Facebook's skillfully built position over the years, you'll theoretically find all age groups there, but Instagram and TikTok are better at reaching younger users. Each platform has its own code – IG is an image-based platform, TikTok is primarily short videos, and Twitter relies primarily on 280-character text messages.
Consider which platform your brand is best suited for. A dynamic brand aimed at teenagers, with a well-managed profile, will thrive on TikTok, but in the case of senior care products, a presence there will likely end up being a waste of time and money from a business perspective.
Many brands operate on social media. This represents a huge deluge of information for users. Due to this accumulation of social media, a company should stand out – avoiding cliched, boring narratives. You have a split second to catch a potential customer's eye – don't waste it on an overabundance of platitudes.
It's worth remembering that the era of organic reach (i.e., achieved without the support of paid advertising) is gone forever. Your Facebook fan page won't be displayed to all users who once clicked "Like" and hoped it would allow them to receive updates about future posts. Social media platforms are increasingly monetizing their operations and focusing on the presentation of paid ads. For this reason, considering your social media presence, it's worth allocating a portion of your budget to, for example, Facebook Ads – it's a waste of content creators' time to have posts seen by a dozen or even a few dozen people.
Google Ads
Google Ads is a powerful advertising system that allows you to reach millions of potential customers.
The Google Ads ecosystem allows you to display ads, among other things:
- In search results, they appear above and below organic results. This placement guarantees appropriate ad exposure and usually generates clicks. Ads placed at the very top of the SERPs, although appropriately labeled, are sometimes confused with traditionally positioned pages.
- YouTube, the world's largest video content platform, is also an excellent advertising platform. Ads can be placed before, during, and after videos (in video format), as well as text overlays and product overlays. The system also allows for several other formats (e.g., at the top of a column with suggestions for other videos to watch).
- On millions of websites participating in the Google Display Network. This allows you to display ads on numerous lifestyle, news, and opinion websites—the network includes both small hobbyist blogs and the world's largest, broad-based horizontal portals. Furthermore, ads can be displayed to specific users—for example, those who have previously visited your website or expressed interest in similar products. This is a great way to remind customers about your business.
- Discovery Ads uses a graphic and video format based not on uploaded content, but on a set of elements that a self-learning system dynamically mixes, selecting the creative that will generate the best results in a given location and under given conditions. Discovery Ads appear in Discover tabs, in Gmail (the "Offers" and "Social" tabs), and on YouTube (in the "Worth Watching" panel and on the platform's homepage).
- Google Shopping – the "shopping" tab on the search results page offers a platform for comparing product prices. Furthermore, you can also advertise specific items above the "regular" results. Furthermore, Shopping ads can also appear in traditional SERPs – when a user types a phrase into Google suggesting a product (for example, a drone or a thermal mug), Google Ads can display an ad for your product with an image, name, price, and, of course, a link to the store's website.
- And this is just a fraction of what Google Ads can do!
What else is worth knowing about Google Ads ? Beyond its reach, the system stands out for its extensive targeting capabilities. Unlike, for example, television advertising, we can precisely specify who the message should be displayed to, which prevents budget burn. The platform also allows for dynamic targeting based on collected data, allowing it to rotate ads in real time to those the system deems most likely to convert. Supporting solutions are also available, such as VCM, which uses self-learning algorithms to adapt data 24/7.
This is related to the fact that in order to fully utilize the possibilities of Google Ads, the system must have something to collect data from, which is why it is a solution that requires a financial contribution.
How to start internet marketing?
The channels presented above are a good starting point for a brand looking to implement online marketing within their business. Of course, this is just the beginning – digital marketing offers virtually endless possibilities. The key is choosing the right channels – ensuring consistent communication and improved results.
Frequently asked questions about internet marketing
Defining a clear business goal (e.g., whether you're interested in selling products, generating inquiries, or building brand awareness) and precisely defining your target audience are absolutely essential. Without these assumptions, selecting the right tools and messaging will be chaotic.
There's no universal recipe, but the most commonly recommended approach is combining channels with different specificities. Search engine campaigns (Google Ads) are a great start, reaching people already searching for your service, supported by long-term SEO. Social media advertising (e.g., Meta Ads) is also a good option for building relationships, awareness, and remarketing.
No. One of the biggest advantages of e-marketing is flexibility and measurability. You can start with smaller amounts to test different channels, target groups, and ad creatives. Once you gather initial data, your budget scales (increases) to where you achieve the highest return on investment (ROAS/ROI).
The key to success is properly implemented web analytics. Using free tools like Google Analytics 4 allows you to monitor website traffic and measure conversions (e.g., purchases, form submissions, and phone calls). This allows you to know exactly which activities are generating profits and which are simply wasting your budget.
You can configure basic campaigns yourself, relying on available materials and knowledge from blogs. However, as your business grows, competition grows, and advertising algorithms become increasingly challenging, the support of an experienced agency saves you time and allows you to maximize your campaign profits much faster.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- the importance of a website for a brand and the role of SEO in building search engine visibility,
- tools supporting the start of online activities, from SEO audit and Google business card to social media and the Google Ads advertising system.
