If you own a business, odds are you understand how important it is that you establish yourself online. Because we live in a world where nearly all information is sought on the Internet, your company’s website must be optimized using search engine optimization (SEO) tactics; if a potential customer searches for your product or service in a search engine like Google, your business will pop up in the top results. Considering the fact that the top five URLs of those results get 75% of user clicks, the benefits are obvious. Unfortunately, not everyone likes to play by the rules. SEO techniques can be twisted to take advantage of Google’s ranking factors without actually creating meaningful or relevant content; this is called black hat SEO. Here are three black hat SEO tactics you should never use. Keyword Stuffing: Keyword research is an important part of SEO as it indicates to Google — and Google’s users — that your site contains what they’re looking for. However, if you simply cram a dozen keywords inorganically into your content, visitors to your site will end up feeling frustrated and will most likely leave pretty quickly. Instead, use your keywords where they fit naturally, and don’t force anything.Invisible/Hidden Text: This refers to text that search engines can view, but readers can’t. With black hat SEO, hidden text is used to incorporate extra or irrelevant keywords to boost the page’s ranking. Since this doesn’t provide anything of use to Google’s users, the tactic is not recommended.Link Buying or Exchange: Links from reputable sites that point to your website are used as a way to determine the value of your own site. However,...
It’s not enough to just have a website or social media account for your business these days — you also need to be digital marketing savvy. Pay per click, search engine optimization, digital analytics — these are all things that businesses need to be aware of and know how to utilize for the best returns. Your website is an important piece of the digital marketing puzzle, however, and website design is certainly crucial to a successful online presence. However, high-quality content and link building are two of the most important ways Google ranks your website in searches — and given that Google has almost 60,000 searches a day, having a high search ranking means more exposure and ultimately, more sales. Hiring a digital marketing firm to assist can be a great way to give your company a boost and learn strategies for the future. What Does a Digital Marketing Firm Do? A digital marketing firm helps drive and target your brand, promoting it using technology. This can be using apps, podcasts, social media, etc., but the common theme is the Internet — it’s what drives all the tools in a digital marketer’s tool belt. As the Internet becomes more and more prevalent in just about every part of our lives, digital marketing also becomes more important to a business’s success — knowing how to effectively drive consumers to your brand and get them to convert from viewers to buyers is crucial. Through social media campaigns, content marketing campaigns, and e-mail campaigns (among other strategies), a digital marketing firm can help you reach consumers, generate leads, convert leads to buyers,...
In this ever-evolving and expanding world, marketing matters. With so many startups and small businesses vying for consumers’ attention, one of the easiest ways to stand apart from the competition is to develop a quality content digital marketing strategy. As the most important aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) marketing, your company’s content can make or break its success. Yes, keyword research is important, and yes, social media presence is a must, but both fall short if they’re not incorporated into high-quality content. Let’s take a look at three ways you can make your company’s content truly effective. Focus on a particular audience. To leave a lasting impression, your content should be targeting a certain demographic. After all, effective writing is inherently specific — it is impossible to please everyone all the time, so make sure that each campaign you begin is trained toward a specific group or crowd. Consider who your buyers are, then determine what their needs are and how you can meet them.Provide value. Now that you’ve chosen an audience, you need to ensure you’re producing content that is useful to them. What benefit will they receive from reading your blogs and articles? Do your best to make it interesting and relevant, and your content will be shared and spread with ease.Make sure it’s well-structured. As a caveat to the previous bit, you need to make your content as readable and digestible as possible. If you’re writing long pieces in huge blocks of texts, your readers will get bored and leave your site. Attention spans on the Internet are quite short, so include headings, titles, and bullet points to capture and hold your...
We’re living in a world that is constantly experiencing advancements in technology. New and exciting innovations crop up every day. In order to keep up with such developments, digital marketing firms are forced to adapt their strategies accordingly. From artificial intelligence to lightning-fast load speeds, here are the digital marketing trends predicted to rise in 2019. Artificial Intelligence: With the integration of AI and machine learning now powering customer segmentation, retargeting, push notifications, click tracking, and a variety of other services, it’s no surprise that the new will be heavily featured this year. AIs are particularly favored for their ability to create more personalized consumer experiences.Chatbots: In years past, it was excruciating to communicate with a chatbot on a company’s site. Gone are the days of jilted conversation and downright incorrect answers; chatbot technology has become sophisticated enough for them to offer a high level of service without needing constant human monitoring. The end result is a much more fluid and efficient (not to mention cost-saving) method of providing customer service.Omnichannel Marketing: With omnichannel marketing, companies are able to catch and hold consumers’ attention through whatever platform they wish to operate on. Interactions can flow from social media to email and may even end with a successful sales call. Since there are so many platforms on which to advertise, getting a handle on each of them is essential.Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): We are living in a fast-paced era. Customers get impatient if their experience with your app or site is lagging, and are more inclined to leave as each second passes. Accelerated mobile pages are designed to avoid this problem by loading in less than...
As the world becomes more dependent on the Internet, getting your business online is vital to your success. Unfortunately, you’ve probably got a lot of competition; moving your company’s site to the top slots in Google’s search results is the easiest and most effective way to boost visibility and gain potential customers. Through comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) services, you can ensure that your business is one of the first to pop up when consumers search certain keywords and phrases. SEO services and marketing strategies may get you to those coveted organic top search results (statistically speaking, between 70% and 80% of users ignore the paid ads), but how can you tell if they’re truly effective? You don’t just need people to see your site — you need them to click on it and engage with the company, either by making a purchase or otherwise showing their interest in your service or product. Digital analytics reveals consumer behavior, showing you what is and isn’t working in your SEO campaign. Let’s take a look at two of the ways digital analytics shape your marketing strategy. Identify Weak Points: When you can see the numbers referring to how many people visit your site, how long they’re staying on a page, and what it is that they’re actually doing, you gain unique insight into their needs and wants. Understanding your demographic is a crucial factor in crafting a strong SEO marketing plan; once you know what they dislike, you can spring into action and change it.Identify Opportunities: SEO campaigns often expand and shrink based on the business’s needs. Knowing which aspects to grow is...
