5 digital marketing tools to help your small businesses succeed
Choosing the right digital marketing tools can feel incredibly overwhelming as a small business owner. HOW do you navigate this ever-changing web landscape on your own? Do you absolutely need to hire a full-time digital marketing specialist? What about a marketing agency? The good news is – there is no wrong answer, and there are a ton of resources at your disposal. To help you determine the best strategy, these are our top five recommended tools to jumpstart your digital marketing strategy. You can choose to leverage these on your own. Alternatively, you can partner with an agency to grow bigger, faster. Google analytics: Google analytics is a simple, effective tool to help you track your online traffic, discover trends, and pinpoint behavioral patterns. It’s fairly user friendly after a few online tutorials, so don’t be afraid to dig in and try this one on your own. It’s especially important to feel comfortable reading and gathering data as a small business owner so you can digest and validate any information regarding the health of your business. If you only dedicate time to learning one digital marketing skill this year, Google Analytics gets our vote. GoToWebinar: Increase your reach and get the word out by using GoToWebinar. This platform allows you to broadcast sales calls, product and service releases, announcements, and speeches to hundreds of people at once. It encourages viral integration, so it will help generate buzz for your business. If you’re comfortable speaking in public and want to unleash your creative side, GoToWebinar is a straightforward, powerful platform. However, crafting webinars that will generate leads and reel in ROI can be time consuming, so this is a good opportunity to partner with an agency or take a hybrid approach (i.e., an agency creates the content, you present it) if your team is too small for this type of indirect marketing. SEO support: SEO support is probably the best place to splurge and hire a digital marketing agency. SEO rankings are one-part science and one-part art. High rankings require blending content marketing, tagging, and back-linking to boost your search engine results. If you are already tech savvy, the actual work isn’t as difficult as you think; but if the thought of a meta tag makes you want to break out in hives, it’s best to leave this critical piece of the puzzle to the pros. A strong content marketing agency will guide you in choosing the right keywords to target, help you craft content that will rank around those terms, and ensure your site is optimized for search engine crawlers. HootSuite: It’s common knowledge that social media is a key to engaging with your audience. Use a tool like HootSuite to schedule your posts in advance and aggregate multiple social accounts and platforms into one easy-to-access place. HootSuite is easy to set up and use, so this is another great place to begin playing in the online space on your own. Not only can you use this platform to schedule posts weeks in advance on multiple channels, but you can also respond to feedback about your brand. This gives you a great opportunity to showcase your true, authentic brand voice. WordPress: Building a blog on WordPress takes the power of social media one step farther. Well written blogs can significantly boost SEO, drive traffic to your site and build credibility in your industry. Plus, WordPress is an incredibly easy platform to build your blog on. If you like writing, blogging can be a fun and cathartic way to express your professional passions. However, hiring a content marketing agency to work with you on blog topics or keywords will ensure your blog gets the most mileage and supports your SEO needs at the same time. With these five tools, you’re practically a digital marketing pro already. So what are you waiting for? Start exploring! To learn more about our Digital Marketing services, click here.
How to get your business on the first page of Google through SEO
With the data suggesting that there are more than 6 billion Google searches each day and that 91.5% of the total clicks go to websites listed on the first page of Google, it’s no surprise that the first page is a popular place to be. But how can you make sure your business appears there? There are actually many ways to appear on the first page of Google – from paid listings through AdWords, to local listings on Google My Business, to news listings for certain queries. But when you are looking to appear on the first page, the primary place to start is with the organic listings. These listings appear on every single Google search results page, and show 7 to 10 webpages that are both relevant to the search query and well-structured for search engine optimization, or SEO. Since these listings make up the majority of first page results, we’ll focus on the process behind trying to get your webpages ranked in this very important space. As with most things in life, good search engine optimization (SEO) and ranking on the first page of Google starts with research. Keyword research can be used to determine categorically those services and goods that your target audience is using the internet to search for or conduct research on. (And the data suggests that it’s over 80% of their major purchases)! More specifically, keyword research allows you to determine what keywords your audience is using when they search for specific products. You could have the best SEO in the world, and yet if you haven’t done the research to know that your consumers are searching for – such “gizmos” and not “gadgets”, Google won’t see your page as relevant enough to rank on the first page for all the users who are searching for “gizmos”. [blogCTA] Request a free SEO report [/blogCTA] Keyword research: The beginning of the SEO process Keyword research is the process of using Google’s search tools to build out a list of commonly searched keywords with statistics such as their average monthly searches, competition rating, and average cost per click price from AdWords. It’s best to utilize keyword research to find low-hanging fruit: keywords that have high monthly searches and a low competition rating. And if those keywords also happen to have a high average cost per click, well, that’s even better – if people who are purchasing keywords for paid search commonly view that keyword as being valuable enough to spend a lot of money to purchase, then it’s probably a strong keyword! After you’ve completed your research and identified which keywords are likely to be the best drivers of qualified traffic to your website, you’ll want to choose one keyword to represent the content of each page you are expecting to receive organic search traffic from. If you are designing your website as you begin this process, remember that each of these pages will be an entry page for new users who may not have heard of your brand before, or may be unfamiliar with your services. You’ll want to choose a single keyword for each page, so that you can be sure that you are structuring the content on the page to specifically provide the information that users are looking for when they are searching. Remember that people search online to answer a specific need, and if you are not answering that need, they will look elsewhere. Webpages that have strong content that is built to answer a well-researched, common search query are the ones that do best in Google. This is as a result of Google’s SEO ranking algorithm, designed to find content that will answer Google searchers’ needs. The last thing Google wants is for users to click on multiple webpages listed on the first page of Google and not find the information they were searching for. If Google search results couldn’t consistently provide people with the information they are seeking, we would quickly learn to go elsewhere and Google’s central business model would be in serious trouble. Technical SEO After you’ve crafted your content to reflect exactly what users are searching for – utilizing the specific keyword you’ve researched – there’s still some minor search engine optimization work to be done. What is left to be completed are the on-page factors that let Google know you have taken their algorithm’s needs and limitations into consideration, and optimized your webpage accordingly. This is oftentimes referred to as technical SEO, as it pertains to the HTML attributes of a page – the H1 heading, title tag, meta description, and any image or video ALT tags. The H1 heading is general used by a content management system or CMS as the headline of any page, and Google views this as a succinct description of what a page contains. Depending on how much content you have on your page, you may also have H2 headings and H3 headings, which function as sub-headlines to break-up content. Since the H1 heading is a description of what your page content is about, Google looks to make sure that it is relevant to a given search query. You should also be sure to utilize the keyword you have chosen for your page in the H1 heading, and likely in the H2 and H3 headings, as well, if applicable. The title tag (sometimes called the SEO title) and the meta description are the two aspects of your page that Google uses to showcase your webpage in the search results. The title tag will be shown underlined in large, blue font on the search results page, with the meta description included in a smaller grey font beneath it, and the URL. Not only does Google use these attributes to show your webpage to searchers, it also emboldens any words in your title tag and meta description that match a given search query. That means that including your chosen keyword in these attributes will increase the likelihood searchers will click your result
Dear Chipotle: Clickbait isn’t always a bad thing
Let’s get controversial. You’ve probably heard the saying, “no news is good news.” You’ve probably also heard the saying, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” But when your company is the target of bad press – such as fast-food behemoth Chipotle’s recent scandal, thanks to the “Chubby Chipotle” smear campaign running in the New York Post – which maxim do you stand by? The reality is, there’s some truth to both statements. If you suddenly find your brand at the center of unwanted attention, take a step back and remember that your response can radically influence how the public weathers the news. If we were in Chipotle’s shoes – this is what we’d do. 1. ENJOY THE CLICKBAIT: First and foremost, publicity equals free advertising. We hate to be reductive, but in terms of raw numbers, an article in the New York Post is the public relations equivalent of a $300,000 ad campaign. Even though the article questions Chipotle’s ethics, a feature in the Post means more people will be surfing to the Chipotle site and thinking about their products. And when your burrito brand is at the top of mind, it’s also more likely to be the go-to dinner spot after a late workout at the gym. Clickbait – those scandalous headlines that blur the line between journalism and gossip while begging to be clicked – may not always yield the best online traffic, but they do increase visitors, have the possibility to go viral, and keep people talking about your brand. 2. DON’T FORGET TO ASSESS THE DAMAGE: That said, we aren’t suggesting that you ignore the gravity of the situation. Take a step back from the immediate impact of the article and ask yourself if the situation is really going to turn customers away. If you’re a loyal Chipotle customer and you see the Chubby Chipotle ads, you may be tempted to surf onto the Chipotle website and join the conversation. If you’re anti-Chipotle, you might want to do the exact same thing. The article doesn’t reveal anything most Chipotle fans or fast-food followers don’t already know, so it may be safe to assume that this story will line tomorrow’s waste bins and little or no response is needed. If you were in Chick-Fil-A’s shoes back in 2012 when they were brought to task over their religious intolerance toward same-sex marriage, this may be a different story. Only your target audience, the severity of the article or accusations, and how brand loyal your followers are can answer that question. 3. DECIDE IF YOU NEED TO RESPOND … AND HOW: If a response is needed, recognize the power an influx of online traffic and social media attention has on this situation and your brand. You’ve just increased your reach and given yourself an organic platform to handle the situation with grace, uniqueness, and class. A well-timed article, blog post, or Facebook campaign could turn a scandal into a sensation and validate the values your brand stands for. No one likes to be criticized, but a memorable response can make or break the public’s reaction to even the worst faux pas. For example, on August 6, Vanity Fair ran an article chastising Tinder for supporting an unhealthy “hook-up culture.” Thirty-one rapid-fire Tweets later from one of Tinder’s employees, and the abashed dating site went from zero to hero. The company never admitted whether the response was planned or not, but the results prove our point entirely. We feel for you, Chipotle. But when life gives you lemons … we recommend that you make a big ol’ burrito with all the fixin’s. Is your brand in need of some repositioning to positively impact consumer perception? Contact our team of brand strategists today to learn more about how we can help!
Watch Out for the Bumps in the Road: Conversion Roadblocks
A client I once worked with, who specialized in online foreign language instruction, offered a series of classes for a relatively low rate, yet the business’ marketing director explained that they were experiencing an extremely low conversion rate – relative to the volume of visitors to their site. This was one of the most affordable language programs in town, yet conversion rates were at a dismal 4%. He’d come to me for guidance, and actionable assistance in pinpointing the potential reasons why so many of these visitors would “bounce off” the site before purchasing classes. When I audited his website, I was shocked to discover that there were at least seven steps involved in the conversion process. And, that didn’t include the third-party payment system that was working in tandem to provide e-commerce services. Overall, it was no wonder that the user experience was “clunky” at best. Since the language class curriculum and offerings were a primary source of revenue for the client, I suggested a strategy that might have appeared to be an obvious solution to an experienced digital marketer, but perhaps, was not so apparent when coupled with the management of various marketing tasks associated with a large language school. My recommendation was simple: implement a more efficient process for prospective students to navigate from the homepage to the checkout phase – all in an effort to increase conversions. To define conversion marketing in the broadest sense, it is the process of converting site visitors, or browsers, into paying customers. While there are no guarantees that a user who accesses a company’s website will “convert” – or perhaps potentially transact business – there are measures that can be taken to help reduce roadblocks during the purchasing process, which, in turn, may often lead to profitable conversions. With regard to the client example I used earlier, for his website, I emphasized the importance of placing a clear call-to-action on the company’s homepage. For instance, “Learn More” provides clear direction that all site visitors are able to interpret and understand. When integrating this call-to-action button in a prominent spot on the home page, BIGEYE’s team of digital strategists determined that it was important to ensure that it was accessible across all devices by sampling and A/B testing different layouts to determine the best placement, all in an effort to ensure an optimal click through rate. As a result of our preliminary analysis, we discovered that when placed just below the central image on the website’s homepage, the target audience of prospective students responded. In addition to placement, we also experimented with various color palettes, and ultimately uncovered that blue incited a greater number of users to “Learn More”. The client’s foreign language program offerings were quite extensive, however rather than providing page after clickable page of information pertaining to online class options, BIGEYE’s digital team opted to include relevant information, as well as a “Sign-Up Now” button, on the second “inside” page. With a more streamlined process, a seemingly cumbersome number of clicks was no longer required to navigate from the homepage to the checkout screen. The prospective student was able to easily enroll in courses, reducing the friction that initially clogged the process. With the advice of the digital experts at our Orlando internet marketing agency, and with a small amount of web development, conversion rates increased by 40%, and all in a matter of weeks. This added significant revenue to the company’s bottom line, with minimal investment by the client. Ensuring an effective approach to manage conversion roadblocks requires the expertise of a professional partner, and our team at BIGEYE is poised to assist you with your strategy. While in this day and age (and of course, depending on the specific industry), a conversion rate of 5.31% or greater is an ideal goal, there are always opportunities to continue to strive to achieve the highest possible results. Dedicate time to review your website for potential roadblocks to the conversion process. To further your efforts, work closely with a user experience designer to better assist with website optimization by reaching out to our Orlando marketing agency. We’ll help better position your business’ online user experience for conversion success – contact us today!
Influence the Influencer, the BIGEYE how to guide
At our Orlando marketing agency, we believe influencer marketing can be a valuable part of any company’s marketing strategy. Influencers have the power to be “in the know” about what’s cool and interesting; something about who they are attracts others to them, which can result in an increased brand following. Many times, these influencers can be celebrities, but often times, they aren’t. Many times, they’re just connectors, people who just happen to know lots of others based on what they do, and, by virtue of their status, have the power to lead others’purchasing decisions and ideas. An influencer might be fashion trendsetter, blogger, photographer or party planner. Somehow, these people have developed a reputation of being “in the know,”and can guide their valuable networks if brands can link into them properly. Typically, they also have large circles of influence —even if others have bigger followings, these influencers have followings that are interested and engaged in what the influencer has to say. A brand can discover who its influencers are through social media listening. If people are already raving about your brand, and this conversation has garnered tons of likes, follows and comments, then tapping into this person for special deals, discounts and party invitations is a great way to take someone who’s already a brand ambassador and give them even more reasons to spread the word. More often than not, however, marketers seek to reach new faces to dub influencers. This means having a great product, reaching out to the influencer, and offering samples and products with the hopes that they will share. While this sounds fine in theory, the problem with this is that people see right through these tactics, and often don’t give a second thought to new hair products and eyeliner pencils. For more ideas as to how your company can utilize influencers to better market your products or services, please contact us today to learn how our Florida ad agency can help you! The best way to reach the influencer is to be part of the conversations that he or she is part of. For example, a person who is a thought leader in the green space, and who is thoroughly against animal testing, would be an excellent target to reach out to on a personal level to talk about your brand. This might mean soliciting feedback about what the company can do to help change the social landscape of a cause that influencer can support, thereby offering an opportunity to reach the influencer in a new and personal way. Even to an influencer’s loyal following, there seems to be an obvious difference between a paid mention and the genuine belief in a product or service. A shoutout that feels forced does much less for a brand than a shoutout that seems heartfelt and sincere. Take, for example, Oprah’s Book Club. Each time she would add a book to her book club, sales would skyrocket. One could imagine that wouldn’t be the case if that was followed by a line, “I’m being paid to say this.” Therefore, reaching the influencer means showing some actual care, rather than hawking product and hoping for a mention. For more ideas on how to use influencer marketing to help grow your brand, set up a consultation today – we want to help your business influence the influencers to help get your brand more business.
Optimizing Your Website Experience for Conversions
A client I once worked with offered a series of language classes for a relatively low rate, yet the business had an extremely low conversion rate relative to the number of people who visited the site. This was one of the most affordable language programs in town, but conversion rates were at a dismal 4%. He came to me for help in pinpointing why so many people who visited the site would leave before “converting” or in layman’s terms “purchasing classes.” When I audited his website, I discovered that there were no fewer than seven steps in the conversion process. And, that didn’t count the third-party payment system in place, which had a defective user experience as well. Since the language classes were a primary source of revenue, I suggested simplifying the checkout process. By making it super simple to go from the homepage to the checkout page, visitors would be more likely to do just that. Online conversion marketing describes the process of converting site visitors or browsers into paying customers. While a business can’t force a person to spend money with their business, they can do things to help reduce friction in the purchasing process, which often leads to greater sales. For the client, I suggested his business start by placing a clear call to action on the home page. “Learn More” offers a clear direction that anyone can understand. We integrated this call to action module to a prominent spot the home page, where visitors from any device could see it. However, we didn’t stop there. Using several different tools, we tested different layouts to determine the placement of the call to action to get the most clicks. We discovered that when it was just below the central image on the page, this drew the most attention for the audience. We even experimented with colors, ultimately finding that blue had the greatest impact on getting people to click the “Learn More” button. Then, instead of providing page after clickable page of information on the class options, we opted to include relevant information (and ONLY relevant information), as well as a “Sign Up Now” button on the second page. No longer would it require seven clicks to move a person from the home page to the checkout screen. Now, the user would be able to get there in two clicks. With the advice of the team at our Orlando marketing agency and a little bit of website redesign, conversion rates went up 40% in a matter of weeks. This added significant revenue to the company’s bottom line, all with minimal investment. If your business’s conversion rates are under 100%, then there’s always room for improvement. Try looking for areas of friction on your website, and work closely with a user experience designer who can help optimize your website for conversions. And, if you’re still stuck, reach out to the team at our Orlando marketing agency, who can help you learn to optimize your webpage for success.
The Guide To The Social Media Management Juggernaut
There’s an old episode of the hit television show The Office where the now infamous boss, Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell), hires his nephew to work for Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. Rather than providing any sort of value to the company and the employees therein, Scott’s nephew becomes a burden, creating more problems than he solves. Between his lack of experience and lack of competency, he’s simply not qualified for the position. When I hear that a business owner has hired a nephew, or a cousin, or a family friend to run social media for the company, I think of this episode. Sure, it seems like a good idea — where else are you going to find such cheap labor? And, if people as young as 10 are on social media, how hard can it be? Well, that’s a lot like saying that anyone who owns a television set should write for TV. The reality is that knowing social media and understanding how it can impact your marketing efforts takes passion, commitment, and most importantly, an educated strategy. First, assessing a candidate to implement your social media program starts with the knowledge that even people who use these platforms on a daily basis may not posses a complete understanding. For instance, people who have been on social media since 2005 are likely to have never used a Facebook brand page, purchased an ad on LinkedIn or built-up a 10,000 person following on Twitter. In many cases, and much like that fateful episode of The Office, hiring an inexperienced person to do your social media management may cause more harm than good. [quote]Your novice social media manager could be so focused on getting “likes” and shares that he or she employs methods that are actually detrimental to building a loyal audience within your target market.[/quote] For example, I’ve seen people buy “likes” and use shady Facebook Ad strategies to drive traffic to their sites, only to find that these inflated follower counts are full of people who really don’t care about your product and aren’t interested in engaging. [featured] What kind of impact do you want your social media to have? BIGEYE can help create a kith and kin connection with your audience. Contact us today, and we will share our recommendations to set up your business for success! Also, when it comes to social media, there’s the lingering question of legal issues. For instance, many people don’t know that according to rules defined by many social networking sites, brands running contests are obligated to use specific language and provide contest rules to ensure they’re not misleading the public (that’s the “no purchase necessary” language you hear in most sweepstakes offers). Companies that skimp on engaging a professional to do this type of work for them on social media put themselves at risk of lawsuits when they hire people who aren’t trained in these matters. Even those users who have large followings and a strong understanding of social media don’t necessarily know about tracking metrics. And, likely can’t tell you how to use social media listening tools like Engagor, SocialMention and FollowerWonk to increase engagement. As you can see, there’s a lot more to running successful social media than just posting a photo to Facebook or writing a funny caption that your two best friends “like.” Across the board, most businesses will benefit from working with seasoned professionals who know and fully understand audience engagement. If you are considering hiring a family member or friend to run social media for your business, our Orlando advertising agency wants you to be sure you ask them the right questions to ensure they’re qualified. Remember that social media is, at its core, a strategy for developing trusted relationships with your audience. Leaving this in the hands of your nephew is, put quite simply, a “Michael Scott mistake.”
Learn the Keys to Attracting Customers – Great Ones
Interestingly, when businesses contact our Orlando marketing agency, they have a pressing issue: Business is steady, but they’re often frustrated with the client base itself. Whether it’s the salon clients who don’t tip, the hotel guest who always complains so she can get a free upgrade or the consulting client who rarely pays on time, there is a common refrain – how do you attract and retain the best customers? It’s no misnomer that if you don’t diligently focus your branding and marketing efforts on finding good customers, you may end up with too many of the wrong type of customers. In addition to simply being a headache to you, the wrong type of customer may actually dilute the value of your business as a whole. [featured] Don’t know what strategy is best for attracting customers? Let BIGEYE discover and define the right customers for you. Contact us today, and we will share our recommendations to guide your business for success! [/featured] Let’s talk about the “daily deals” industry, for instance. These limited-time offer sites capitalize on deal seekers, people who purchase tickets for a dinner or excursion that they may not have purchased without a special incentive. (In most cases, the opportunity for consumers is to pay less than full price.) The “daily deal” strategy works well for some businesses, as they may promote deals often because it’s what their target market loves. Big retailers such as Walmart and JCPenny both keep their customers returning by offering low prices and sales on everyday products. But the problem with some of these deal sites is that the deal-seeking customer can be detrimental for businesses in search of long-term clients rather than a one-off visitor. The person who comes in using a Groupon may not have much interest in returning to the restaurant, unless he or she can get another offer. In this example, the deal seeker just paid half-price for a meal, and may have done so with no intention of returning or spreading the word to other potential diners. In applying the “deal strategy” on a larger scale, you’ll notice all kinds of problematic customers. These are the types of people who shop in department stores for fancy dresses, wear them out for a night on the town, and then return them the next day (yes, people really do that!). Or, they might be the people who come into your restaurant and complain during every visit until their meals are comped. While it’s important to provide a great experience in hopes that customers engage in positive word-of-mouth marketing, it’s also necessary to consider whether your marketing efforts are attracting these “Debbie Downers”…and if so, how to change course. When evaluating whether you’re working with the right types of customers, focus on the 80/20 rule, which suggests that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. Essentially, this means that for many businesses, [quote]80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients[/quote] 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients. The goal here should be to focus on the tactical strategies that drive that 80% of sales, rather than exhausting yourself trying to please those customers whose purchasing power makes up only 20%. If you’ve noticed that the quality of your customer base is on the decline, contact our Florida marketing agency for strategic direction. We can assist you in determining how to target your marketing efforts toward the right customers with the right message.
5 SEO Mistakes that are Costing Your Business Money
If you’ve been in the digital marketing world for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the term “SEO”. If not, it stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it describes a subset of digital marketing and development that emphasizes keywords, website design, linking and other tactics to help gain traction in search engine rankings, and ultimately, result in conversions. This is important because people around the world conduct millions of searches a day, and if your business is the top rank for a particular keyword, then that simple placement on Google’s search engine can earn you thousands or even millions of dollars in additional income. While the concept of SEO is fairly easy to understand, mastering search engine rankings and conversions is another story. Google wants the most relevant sites to come up first in rankings and uses a complex algorithm to make sure this is the case. At the same time, companies who want to secure coveted positions can implement website optimization tactics to their websites to secure top rankings that lead to conversions. As a result, companies turn to search engine optimization for help in implementing a strategic approach to both SEO and conversion optimization. Unfortunately, we see far too many businesses executing incorrectly, and succumbing to SEO mistakes. Here are a few things that can harm your SEO rankings, compiled by the team at your favorite Orlando SEO agency: 1. Not Having a Web Page This is a rather obvious one, but when companies have no digital footprint, potential customers on the web have no way of finding them. While in this day and age, it seems like every business you can think of has a webpage, you might be surprised at the number of businesses that solely rely on sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor as the only means of being found online – leaving these businesses virtually invisible to the Google-searching masses. [quote] Find out how BIGEYE utilized SEO when working with Ability Wood Flooring to enhance their internet marketing strategy. [/quote] 2. Paying for Cheap Services Inexpensive SEO services may actually cause more harm than hurt. Many times, businesses try to “cheat” and end up outsourcing website copywriting assignments to foreign agencies that produce keyword heavy content in broken English. In theory, the notion that the copy is keyword-heavy would produce strong results, but Google’s algorithm is trained to recognize keyword density above a certain level. As a result, businesses are penalized for attempting to employ outrightly obvious SEO boosting tactics. Remember that Google wants to provide the most relevant results, not necessarily the most keyword heavy ones. Therefore, sites that rely on inexpensive services may end up at the bottom. 3. Bad Keyword Research If you’re in a business that’s highly competitive in the SEO field, you’ll have little chance of competing with companies that have years of SEO experience and are major players in the space. A better tactic is to focus on more narrow keyword searches, but not so narrow people can’t find you. Developing a strategic course of action takes time and effort, but a great place is Google’s AdWords Keyword Planner. You may find you need to stay away from high volume searches due to stiff competition. Instead, you can hone in on more specific searches that don’t get as much volume, but are more targeted toward your business offerings. 4. Link Exchanges / Spam Links / Paid Links in Content / Other Shady Linking Tactics Google gives a fair amount of credit to legitimate links included in blog posts, but if you’re engaging in shady linking practices, you might have a problem. [quote]There is a multitude of ways people try to manipulate links, but if you think you’re smarter than Google, guess again.[/quote] If, for example, you’re using low-quality blog networks to try to increase ranking in SEO, or are inserting paid links in your content, then you’d better be ready to watch your search engine ranking drop dramatically. SEO experts know that Google doesn’t allow companies to recover from this practice easily, and that it can take years to regain ranking if Google’s algorithm flags you for using shady linking practices. 5. Not Keeping Apprised of Updates and Best Practices Google is constantly updating its algorithm to help combat shady SEO tactics. Even if you’re someone who’s simply dabbling in SEO, it’s important to be up-to-date with the most current SEO ranking trends and practices. A great resource to figure out whether your SEO needs a refresh is Google’s Webmaster Rules. Need some help updating your page’s SEO strategy so Google’s search engine can better locate your business? Contact the team for at your favorite Orlando ad agency for assistance, and let us help you navigate the tricky terrain of SEO best practices.
Generate Leads Using a Twitter Marketing Strategy
You’re social media savvy, right? Sure, you may love to post your thoughts about the big game to Twitter, or tweet out about events and interesting articles. But if you’re trying to grow your business and aren’t seeing the anticipated results, then maybe it’s time to try a Twitter marketing strategy that includes a lead-generation campaign. Twitter has a number of built-in ways to help you generate leads, plus, with a bit of creativity you can also create your own. Follow these guidelines from our Orlando ad agency, and watch as your business grows through your Twitter-based outreach strategy. Try a Promoted Post One of the easiest ways to generate awareness about your business and services is through a Twitter promoted post. You can set up your promoted post based on users’interests and locations, meaning if you only want to target female college students in the Orlando area, you’re in luck! You can also target users based on the types of people and brands they follow. For example, if you’re in the high-end fashion business, you can target people who follow iconic fashion brands like Vogue and Vanity Fair. Twitter’s Lead Generation Cards can shorten your conversion path and make it easy to collect potential customers’email addresses. Or, Go Organic If you don’t have the money to invest in Twitter ads, then you’re going to need to do a little bit more planning to focus on getting leads organically. Luckily, with a little bit of social media listening and some influencer outreach, you can make some major traction just by interacting with the right accounts. First of all, you’ll need to follow the right people. If you don’t know who the influencers in your space are, go on to Google and do some searches to find out who’s talking about your brand or related brands. Also, on Twitter, search hashtags related to your brand and area of expertise. Spend a little time digging around to see who is connected to whom, and how they interact with one another. Once you’ve identified these key players in your scene, do some influencer outreach. Tweet out at them, interact with them, and try to develop those online connections that can result in true relationships. While you can’t force someone to retweet you to their hundred thousand followers, you can be funny, uplifting and engaging and hope your followers and influencers play along. And, in doing this, remember that no more than 10% of your business’s tweets should be outright self-promotion. Check out BIGEYE’s social media marketing strategy for Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children’s rockin’ donorship event. In using an organic Twitter outreach strategy, it’s important to remember that, especially for people with big followings, Twitter outreach alone won’t be enough to establish the relationships that will help you get your foot in the door. Instead, try tracking down your influencers through LinkedIn or through their blogs to help continue the relationship in a professional manner. Remember that there’s no one way to use Twitter that’s going to work for every brand, so it’s up to you to learn how to best interact with your followers. Learn about the value you can provide for them, and then take it to the next level by connecting with them on a fundamental level, bonding over they things they’re already talking about on Twitter. And, if you’re tried all this and still aren’t seeing the results you want, the social media strategists at our Orlando marketing agency can help you create a Twitter marketing strategy and outreach plan that gives you the most bang for your buck. Contact us today to get the conversation started!