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Online Marketing SEO Web Development

SEO Basics and How They Can Boost Your Online Sales

In today’s marketplace, there is a growing need for an optimized online presence. Many companies are aware of the benefits of a strong website, but they still neglect to use techniques to get their business discovered by new clients or customers. Many have chosen to work with a search engine optimization company, which is an organization whose focus is driving clients’ sales utilizing SEO. Search engine optimization can also increase volume of sales by setting up a specialized ecommerce area and directing clients to this site with increased visibility.

But how do search engine optimization companies drive up their clients’ business so effectively?And, how can businesses looking to start selling their products online capitalize on their expertise? There are a variety of ways a search engine optimization company might assist their clients in increasing sales. The items below share effective methods for any organization looking to break into the online sales market.

Identify What Search Engines Are Looking for – And What They Aren’t

– Relevancy is one of the top things search engines look for when determining ranking on search results. This extends to many areas, including what type of information is on your website, how well your website functions, its user-friendliness, and how often your site is referenced online by other experts in your area. These are the foundation of a good SEO campaign. A site with poor content and choppy navigation will be left in the dark.

– Social media presence is another thing that helps websites consistently land near the top of search engines. A page with high like, share, plus one, or retweet counts is much more likely to have a higher search engine ranking because of its increased online visibility.

These factors get a page closer to relevancy, as they cause the page to be more highly circulated and establish it as an authority in the eyes of an online search. SEO companies work to get their clients the social media exposure needed to make them well shared and widely accessed.

– SEO basics, such as a fast website and use of H1 and H2 tags, were able to increase a company’s ability to be found on search engines; however, over time these techniques became so widely used that they no longer give companies the leg up they once did. Since almost everyone utilizes these methods, they have become basic requirements more than optimization techniques. They are still essential components to increase online visibility, as sites without them suffer, but they are no longer a golden ticket to the front of the search result line.

– Keywords, once hailed as the top players of SEO, fell greatly in their usability. Websites began producing low quality, keyword dense content in order to catapult themselves to the top of the search engine results page. Eventually, this prompted search engines to change their game. While the selective and professional use of keywords can still be helpful, loading your site with keywords will hurt your chances more than helping them in the long run.

Incorporate Multiple Channels of Media

– Videos and other media-rich content are great additions to any site looking to up its search engine ranking. Search engine optimization companies work with clients to produce this highly accessible and sharable content because of the increased reader and viewer access it provides. Getting your text page to a top ranking result can be difficult if it is strictly text, but incorporating a variety of content will make your site more searchable to a broader audience.

– Social media had an interesting run in the SEO world. In 2010, Google revealed it was going to be a significant factor in determining the worth of a site according to their search engine. Likes, shares, plus ones, and other types of social media recognition were said to have a direct impact on a website’s find-ability online.

Later, Google stated that these factors did not have a direct impact on Google searches in particular. While Google is the leading search engine it is far from the only one. While they may have waivered on this point, other search engines maintain the usefulness of social recognition online for those looking to optimize their rank.

Moreover, even if the sharing of content through social media is not directly linked to the search engine ranking, it is still a useful tool for online companies. First, the social media page itself acts as a website of its own. Social media pages turn up in online searches just like any other site, so their existence gives the company using them higher visibility.

Higher visibility means more references and links to the site, both of which establish the company as an authority according to online search engine ranking criteria. This means that maintaining a solid social presence across various platforms remains vital for SEO.

Optimizing your brand for searches across multiple channels is also incredibly useful. While loading your content with keywords will do little to help your SEO efforts, establishing a few solid keywords and inserting them in moderation across a variety of platforms will give your company a universality that will make it easier for it to be found and referenced. Placing your keywords and brand in your social media updates, marketing emails, and offline ads and publications is a great way to keep your company linked in and allow for search engines to recognize these links with ease.

– Backlinks are another great channel that allow websites and vendors to be optimized in search engine results. Backlinks, which are links from other websites back to your own, increase not only your site’s popularity but also its ability to be found. Search engines place high importance on the occurrence of backlinks because they are a great way to determine the way the public is receiving and reacting to the bulk of the site’s content. A backlink acts as a stamp of approval, which often denotes quality on the part of the website and the business.

Ensure the Consistent Use of Domain Names

When it comes to high rankings in search engines, consistency is vital. Providing duplicate content within a site, marketing, and social presence may seem small but it is a great way to give your business a cohesive presence online. Search engines look for terms and make connections between those, so if a user is looking for a particular term, service, or product, the recurring terminology that shows up on a website will boost the search engine’s ability to recognize their relevance to the search and therefore give priority to that site or business.

Expertly Index the Site

Search engine optimization companies often offer their clients the option of having their site professionally indexed. Indexing improves the site’s ability to be navigated. This means that users and customers can easily find content, topics, and products. One important tool for indexing a website is the use of Meta tags. Meta tags allow the site or business owner to decide which concepts, products, or words will be available in a particular area of the website. They also serve as guides for search engines, helping them to determine which word meaning is correct when there are multiple definitions or interpretations.

Give Search Engines the Ability to Relate Their Content to Search Inquiries

– Literal searches are a good way to help search engines understand exactly what you are offering and accurately promote it. For example, if one searches for “cone” they may be looking for one of many things. If you are a vendor of traffic cones, you will want to qualify the word “cone” as much as possible within your content. By keeping the language in your site as direct and precise as possible, you can avoid being lost in the shuffle of mistaken searches and be easily found by those looking to access your particular wares.

– Eliminating superfluous words is another way search engine optimization companies help their clients capitalize on their web presence. Search engines do not recognize terms like “and” or “for,” meaning that the overuse of these types of words within your website is useless in optimizing it for search engines. Keeping your wording as descriptive and concise as possible keeps your content from confusing the search engine and potentially increases your ranking in a search. Clarity in content is the best way to communicate to potential customers, so eliminating unnecessary text bolsters both your revenue and your search engine ranking.

Google, Bing, Yahoo, and any other major search engine are businesses like any other. They profit the most by giving their users high quality results; therefore, creating a quality website with reliable products that are likely to be highly regarded is the best way to ensure that your company is high in the search engine’s ranking. The more traffic your site has, the more likely it is that your online sales will increase and remain steady. Working with an SEO company is an investment that will quickly show a return and will continue to produce positive results for your business’s future.

Sources:

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-and-seo/

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/search-engine2.htm

Consistency Is King In SEO

 

If you find this helpful please review author at bradyorourke.com or give us call for a consultation today!

Categories
Online Marketing Web Development

Mobile Marketing Trends

Mobile Marketing – the Latest Industry Trend

The mobile marketing trend blasted into the marketing scene in the last few years and has been rapidly growing since. In fact, if your business is not participating in mobile marketing already, you may soon be left in the dust. More and more people are using their mobile devices to browse, search, and buy. In January of 2015, a reported 3.649 people were performing these activities on their mobile devices, for a market penetration of 51% (the population is estimated at 7.210 billion). This number is expected to be even higher by year’s end, so make sure your marketing campaign is optimized and ready to go mobile. Whether your mobile strategies are in the works or you’re a seasoned vet, here are some considerations for a successful mobile marketing campaign.

Make sure you optimize your site with responsive design. Responsive design takes your website and adapts it to a variety of mobile devices, from iPhones to Android tablets. Additionally, make sure your site is high-quality. Mobile sites are expected to perform and look better than their desktop counterparts, so make sure you do some testing before launch. Quick Tip: Avoid using longer headlines so they don’t get cut off on a small mobile screen.

Optimize Your CTA as well. Place your CTA in a highly visible area of the page and make sure it’s large so it is easy to click. Somewhere between 44-57 pixels is a good size for the average American thumb.

Make your e-mails mobile. It’s estimated that 48% of e-mails are read on a mobile device, and surprisingly, many e-mails still aren’t designed around this statistic. Reduce the size of images, resize them to fit a mobile phone, and utilize clickable CTAs.

Consider your overall campaign. Many consumers will start researching a product or service on a mobile device and then complete the task on a computer. So, in addition to making your mobile marketing campaign top-notch, you should retarget and streamline your desktop site as well.

After all is said and done, take the Google Mobile Friendly Test. The test will analyze your mobile site and report on its mobile friendliness based on several criteria.

 

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Email Marketing Online Marketing Tips and Tricks

25 Best Tips for Email Marketing

Top 25 Best E-mail Marketing Tips

E-mail marketing is a great way to stay relevant in your customers’ minds. An expertly crafted campaign can be targeted to select audiences to drive customers and convert them to buyers. Aside from capturing new customers, it’s also an effective tool for building customer loyalty. Follow these best tips for e-mail marketing and ensure the success of your campaign.

  1. Make it easier to register with several options. Don’t ask for too much information.
  2. Offer valuable incentives for joining.
  3. Customize your messages and make them personal.
  4. Make text easy to read and don’t forget to alt tag images!
  5. Don’t make promises you can’t fulfill.
  6. Make sure to include relevant details in the e-mail, so they can learn about the product quickly.
  7. Optimize your e-mails for mobile devices.
  8. Provide information on what they will be receiving from you in subsequent e-mails.
  9. Position the registration box in a visible and easily accessible part of the e-mail.
  10. Use social media to drive e-mail registration.
  11. Monitor your results and cater accordingly.
  12. Make it easy for readers to unsubscribe if they want.
  13. Incorporate a content marketing strategy in your e-mails. Make sure the content is high-quality and relevant.
  14. Use lots of links within the e-mail.
  15. Don’t overdo it on the images, they may not even show up in the e-mail.
  16. Make sure your e-mail list is clean. Remove bad e-mail addresses so you don’t get flagged as spam.
  17. Send a test e-mail to yourself before sending to the main list.
  18. Ask users to add you to their contact list so they don’t miss information from you.
  19. Incorporate your social media profile with buttons.
  20. If you have an e-mail list, use it! Always create interesting newsletters to send to subscribers.
  21. Never, ever buy e-mails from another source. It’s spammy and will punish your business in the long-run.
  22. Don’t overuse your privilege by sending out constant, boring newsletters. Only send newsletter that are relevant and well-crafted.
  23. Always perform A/B tests to find the following info: what time is best to send e-mails, where the registration box is most effectively positioned, what types of e-mails to send, and what titles work best.
  24. Cater e-mails to cross-sell and up-sell. If you know what your customers are buying, you can suggest related products they may also like.
  25. Watch your competitors’ campaigns, but don’t copy their practices – one-up them!

Sources:

https://www.reliablesoft.net/25-email-marketing-tips-for-small-businesses/

http://emailmarketing.comm100.com/email-marketing-tutorial/email-marketing-tips.aspx

Categories
Online Marketing Tips and Tricks Web Development

Real Estate Marketing Nashville

Nashville Trends Realtors Need to Know

The Nashville real estate market is growing rapidly. Home values have gone up 9.2% since 2014 and are projected to grow another 3.1% this year. If you’re looking for effective real estate marketing in Nashville, there are a few great ways to improve your campaign.

Zillow Is A Great Way To Capture Leads

If you don’t have an account with Zillow already, you should consider signing up ASAP. Zillow is one of the top real estate search tools, capturing about 17% of online search traffic. Zillow offers free and premier accounts. The free account lets you create a profile, ad listings, and post on forums. As a premier agent, you will be the sole agent included with a real estate listing. A premier account costs between $200-400 per month, but it’s worth the investment for real estate marketing in Nashville, which at the moment is a booming and competitive market.

Optimize Your Website For Google Search

This one is a no-brainer, but there are ways to optimize your site specifically for Nashville’s market. Incorporating keywords on your site pages is the best way to rank highly with Google search, but the keywords have to have meaning. Do your research to find out which keywords work best and then cater them to your audience. In Nashville, that may mean incorporating trendy area keywords, like East Nashville, or catering to Nashville’s target market: musicians and young families.

Send Out e-mail Newsletters and Direct Mail

This is a low-cost way to market to a target audience. Sending out monthly newsletters and postcards will keep you in your customer’s minds, making them more likely to remember you when their real estate needs arise. As with website optimization, remember to cater to your audience. Maybe your newsletter can focus on DIY fixes in a craftsman bungalow home or the new restaurant that just opened in South Nashville. Or, send out direct mail that includes catalogs of listings, great things to do nearby, or statistics of Nashville real estate.

 

Sources:

http://www.zillow.com/nashville-tn/home-values/

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/how-to/marketing/2015/02/9-top-marketing-ideas-for-real-estate-agents.html?page=all

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Social Media Marketing Tips and Tricks

Social PPC Management – 5 quick tips

Social PPC management for beginners

A well crafted pay-per-click campaign can generate a substantial amount of sales and insight for your business. Social PPC campaigns engage your customers by offering promotions and advertisements that are meaningful to them. While a social PPC campaign does drive visitors to your site, turning them into customers is not as simple and straightforward as just getting them there. In order for a campaign to be successful and worth the investment, your business needs a strategy that is proven to convert browsers into buyers. At Social Link, we offer social PPC management that will:

  • Drive traffic to your site at competitive pricing.
  • Convert visitors into buyers.
  • Retain customers and earn their loyalty.

 

Quick Tips For Social Media PPC Management

An expertly managed PPC campaign should rank your site in the top tier of results. PPC allows searchers to discover your site based on keywords that you may not otherwise rank with.

PPC is advantageous because it’s a flexible way to buy keywords that work for you. If you’re trying to target a niche audience, bid on specific, long trail keywords which will cast a deeper net. On the other hand, bidding on more generic keywords will cast a broader net, bringing in higher volume but lower quality.

Ad Content is changeable and scalable, so it can be updated day-to-day to reflect trending topics. To avoid ad burn-out, you need to stay on top of trending information. However, you can use old posts as a template for headlines and to A/B test images.

Incorporating effective images is another vital aspect in gaining and keeping customers. This can be harder than it sounds, but effective images will generate more clicks than text alone. Use images that include people, especially if they’re looking at the CTA button. Be sure to test and update your images often.

If you’re using Twitter, use Lead Generation Cards. They stealthily hide an ad within a tweet, and are great for driving e-mail sign-ups and white paper downloads.

Most importantly, PPC produces measurable results that you can use to your advantage. You can see exactly how much traffic is being driven to your site based on the ads and how many of those visitors were converted to buyers. Use this information frequently to find out what works and what doesn’t. Then, cater new ad campaigns around this data.

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Blog

Meadowbrooks Farm Selects Digital Marketing Agency

Exeland, WI May 3rd, 2015 – Meadowbrooks Farm is springing into action this month with a brand new e-Commerce store. The beloved family farm recently announced its intentions to partner with the digital development company Social Link to launch a new web site.

For years, the Meadowbrooks family farm has grown some of the finest cranberries in Wisconsin. Locally, Meadowbrooks is celebrated for its homemade products. It produces superb jams, mouth-watering chutney, and a slew of other products.

Yvonne, the owner of the farm, is excited for the upcoming changes.

Soon, all of Meadowbrooks nonperishables will be available through its online store at www.meadowbrookfamilyfarms.com. Social Link is helping Meadowbrooks Farm imprint its brand on the site and roll out a splendid new design. You can find all of the events on the farm.

Scheduling, hours, and contact information will all be available. All of its products, from dried cranberries to cranberry chutney, will have product and pricing information. This will enable its devoted customers to order pie ingredients from the comfort of home.

The community is excited about the move, too.

All of its products have been made within the family for several decades. The Meadowbrooks name is built on freshly-grown cranberries and some of the best cranberry chutney in Wisconsin. Anyone familiar with Meadowbrooks will recognize the freshness of its food and the pointed tart taste of its pastries, and anyone who has spent time at the farm knows how much they care about what they do. That infectious, positive passion has bled into the site’s design, as well.

If you are looking for a new source of homemade treats, check out Meadowbrook’s new website. Feel free to stop by the page, drop an email, or find it on Facebook.

Meadowbrooks Farm is excited to be a part of the online conversation.