If you have your own small business with a website, one thing you will want to get good at is digital marketing. As the name implies, this is a way of marketing your goods or services on the Internet. In truth, it’s something of an umbrella term, so it includes mobile marketing and other types of marketing that uses digital technologies.

One mistake many online marketers make with digital marketing is that they try too many methods, fail to appreciate the nuances of each method that they try out. As a result of this scattered, superficial type of approach, they fail to get good results. A simple, sensible plan to quickly succeed at digital marketing is to just start with mastering four proven methods of getting website traffic: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing (SMM), and content marketing.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization affects your website’s online visibility on a major search engine like Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Your website’s name and description will show up as a natural or organic result on a search engine’s index page for a specific keyword. These unpaid results are contrasted with paid results, where ranking is based on paying for visibility. However, the search engines don’t exactly tell you what you have to do to get ranked on the first page for a keyword.

So, if, for instance, you have a vegan-based nutrition lifestyle website where you share a lot of recipes, you will need a keyword to help rank your website. However, there is so much competition for almost every keyword in the vegan niche that it will be hard to get noticed. If, say, the primary keyword you have used to identify your website is “vegan recipes” the search engine will show users over 11 million results. It will take a lot of research, deep thinking, and trial-and-error to figure out how to get your website on page one.

Since it can be so difficult to get ranked high in the search engines, as difficult as picking the winning horse at a state Derby, many small business owners give up on SEO before even trying. However, hiring a quality SEO agency can help you navigate the tricky search engine terrain. Find the best local SEO company you can to do all the search engine optimization work you need to optimize your website on the search engines.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search engine marketing is another method to get ranked in the search engines. However, now instead of trying to find a high-demand, low-competitive keyword for your website, you simply research the most popular keywords for your niche then use paid advertising to rank well on the search engine results pages (SERPS).

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

With Social Media Marketing, you focus on social media platforms websites to attract attention to your product or service. Instead of trying to rank on the SERPs, you spend your time sharing useful content on your social media pages to build your brand and reach more customers.

Although you may want to open up several accounts on social media, perhaps an account on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus, Reddit, Pinterest, and Instagram, you should make one your main platform. This will make it easier to develop your content on a regular basis without getting overwhelmed by the differences between each social media platform. So, for instance, if you pick Facebook as your primary platform what you post on it can also get mentioned on your other social media accounts.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is all about researching ideas, creating valuable content, publishing them on your website, blog, or social media account, and then distributing them to your target audience. You can share your ideas via blogs, videos, podcasts, and social media posts.

The basic strategy behind content marketing is to not focus on selling your products but on delivering free value. While it’s fine to merely mention your product and share your contact information, the emphasis is on delivering content that engages people. They will then click your links to find out more about what products or services you have to offer. When done well and over a long period of time, content marketing will build and grow your customer base. It will help you build a brand, establish your credibility as an expert in your niche, and generate online sales due to your repeated public exposure.

Stay Focused

While there are many more exciting digital marketing methods–like YouTube marketing, email marketing, joint venture marketing, etc.– start with these four methods first to build a solid foundation before testing other methods that interest you.