What Can Print Media Learn From SEO?
What Can Print Media Learn From SEO?
We’re living in an increasingly digital world where you can get updates every second, and immediate entertainment from convenient services such as YouTube and Netflix. Unfortunately, this doesn’t bode well for print media, like magazines, newspapers, and leaflets.
An article on print media’s struggle in The Guardian discusses how even big titles like Marie Claire, NME, and FHM recently closed their print editions.
Statistics further show that the total annual UK consumer magazine sales plummeted to 481 million in 2018 from 1.2 billion in 2005.
However, titles like Glamour and The Face are still hanging on by combining digital and print. After all, there’s much that print can learn from digital practices — such as search engine optimisation (SEO), which aims to improve your brand’s visibility when people use search engines.
Below are more specific aspects that print media can up their game from SEO:
Attracting an international audience
SEO targets the widest possible audience through optimised content. If you aim to attract a bigger audience (say, on a global scale), then you’ll need to adjust accordingly. One thing you can do is publish in English if your target market is an international audience. After all, statistics from the World Economic Forum show that around 1.5 billion people speak English globally, and at least a billion of them speak it as a secondary language.
By switching languages you will be able to target a much wider reader base. Plus you don’t even need to give up the original language. Today there is a wide selection of multilingual print media on the market that cater for readers from different locations.
Using relevant terms
As a write-up on digital marketing from Ayima Kickstart points out, content SEO refers to the publishing of content that is relevant to what Google users are searching for. Without targeted SEO content, your site simply won’t rank. Similarly, print media should also be mindful of the terms they use to make their content more specific and relevant to their target audience.
Understanding keywords can help you know what terms to use in your content. One of the advantages of print media over digital media is that it is much less disposable. A reader will have a physical copy of your content, compared to seeing it on a screen.
With the right keywords in the content’s title or subheading there is a higher chance that the reader will engage with the content, as they won’t be able to simply click off the screen. Just as with SEO, you will need to do research to find out what keywords your target market is drawn to.
Tracking metrics
SEO metrics include organic traffic and organic conversions, which allows you to know how many people are ending up on your website and what they do.
There are many tools and software for digital media, but it is much harder for print media to track metrics. However, there are a few ways you can track your readers through print media.
For instance, as suggested in our 8 Surprising Ways to Use Flyers feature, you can incentivise your prints by adding vouchers or freebies. With this, you’ll be able to know how many people used the code you provided. And you’ll also be able to get new consumers to try out your products and services.
Digital media may be taking over, but print media can still use the same practices to also find a wider audience.
Article was specially written for TradePrintingUK.com by Blogger, Alice Collins.