blogs

10 Ways to Improve Your Website Promotion Strategy

November 13, 2019 by Catherine Stone

Think About a Visitor Conversion

Website visitors don’t mean much if they don’t convert to actionable leads before they leave. Figure out what needs to be accomplished to improve your website promotion and how to make it happen. Revisit this game plan every few months, fine-tuning the approach to maximize results.

Blog Post Creation & Writing

A thoughtful, well-crafted blog post captivates readers and encourages them to share it, browse the rest of your website or subscribe to future posts. If you don’t have the time, energy or finesse to write your own blogs, find a professional who does it for a living.

Blog Post Optimization

Whether you choose to write your own content or have a professional write it for you, be sure to fine-tune the message and add some great visuals. Write an irresistible call-to-action and optimize the post for social media and search engines. Then, it’s on to promotion.

Blog Post Syndication on Social Media

A billion+ users means that no other form of marketing has more potential than social media. When publishing a blog, post links and carefully crafted messages to your social media profiles. Syndicate these posts over the course of a few months to maximize exposure.

Website Promotion on Social Media

In addition to your blog posts, be sure to also promote the other content on your website. Determine the most interesting and relevant aspects of your website, posting links to those pages, pictures and unique messages on social media, throughout the month.

Twitter Engagement

Some people see Twitter as weird and confusing. But people who do use it, see it as THE place to get their news, entertainment and education on a daily basis. Follow people, favorite and retweet relevant third-party content to grow your audience to continually expand your exposure.

Full Website Optimization

To take full advantage of the search engines, your entire website needs to be meticulously maintained, by targeting optimal keywords for your business. Update outdated information and continuously improve the SEO titles and tags throughout your website, to increase your organic, search engine visitors.

Keep an eye on keyword SERP tracking, keeping you up-to-date on the overall visibility of your website.

Local Search Optimization

If customers actually stop by your store or office, perhaps the most important form of marketing is local search. Apps like Google Places, Apple Maps and Yelp all collect information from different sources to display the most relevant places to their users. Keeping those sources consistent and up-to-date can be a nightmare to handle on your own. Get a professional to help and get back to what you do best.

Landing Page Development

Keeping your website current with new content is as important for your visitors as it is to the search engines. Consistent blogging plays a big part in that, but more is always better. New landing pages, with specific, sales-oriented messages, can focus your visitors, priming them to become actionable leads and customers. Every few months, create a beautiful new landing page, based on the marketing concepts you’ve already developed through the blog.

Email Publication

Email marketing remains a cost-effective way to promote your business. Implement website strategies to grow and nurture your list of customers, prospects and influencers. Design a standout, branded, mobile-responsive email template and blast your latest blogs every month, keeping YOU at the top of everyone’s mind.

Learn about our booster services to keep your website working hard.

6 Spooky Stats for Small Business Websites

October 31, 2014 by Nathaniel Kruska

Every so often, we like to take a look at our industry to see what’s going on. In honor of Halloween, here are a few scary statistics that are hellishly haunting.

1. More than half of all small businesses do not have a website.

Granted, there are a select few businesses that can probably get by with a simple presence on Facebook or Google+. It’s truly baffling though, how many companies do not recognize the massive market they’re missing without an actual website. If you’re among those naive souls, it’s time to take some action… and it’s probably less expensive than you think…

2. 70% of small business websites have no call-to-action.

Ten years ago, websites were designed to be online brochures; informational, one-way pamphlets, used to tell people what you did. Today, they are so much more than that. Every square inch of a website needs to be designed with the sole intention of converting or interacting with your visitors. Calls-to-action are the driver that get people to do just that.

Also check out: Some tips to improve your website’s organization.

3. 27% of small business websites do not provide a phone number.

A huge percentage of your potential customers still prefer to pick up a phone and talk to someone. If you accept phone calls, your phone number has to be on your website. If it’s not… rest assured that your competitors will accept your could-have-been sales.

4. 56% of small businesses have no clue which of their marketing efforts are working.

You probably know how much you made last month, and you might know how much you spent on marketing, but more than half of you haven’t tied those two together. Marketing budgets make up a big chunk of small business expenses and it’s crazy to think that most of ’em have no idea if all that money is even worth it.

5. B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads than those who don’t.

We’ve been preaching blogging for a very long time. Industry news, company events, fun editorials… blogs take many forms and are powerful tools. Internet marketing has been and always will be based around great, original content, and there’s no better way to publish than with a blog. If you’ve still got doubts about whether you have the time, know what to blog about, or whatever… consider how many leads you’re missing out on.

6. Google+ receives more monthly visits than Facebook.

For those of you that use social media to actively promote your business and engage your customers, my bet is that most of you don’t regularly do so through Google+. If I’m right, today’s the day to start. Google+ receives 1.2 billion visits per month compared to Facebook’s 809 million.

If your company made this list… don’t go having nightmares—these are all very fixable problems. Give us a call and we can help you find the best course of action and a solution that’s right for you.

Happy Halloween!

Stat sources:
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/snap-out-of-it-the-surprising-basics-business-owners-are-ignoring/
http://www.yodle.com/company/press-releases/yodle-smb-sentiment-survey
https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/83-exceptional-social-media-marketing-statistics-2014-160016146.html

SEO for Business: Bobbing for Customers

October 27, 2014 by Nathaniel Kruska

If you’ve ever tried working on the SEO for your business website, you know it can be a time-consuming, and sometimes frustrating undertaking. There are a dozen factors you need to consider, even before you make a single change to your website. What’s more… after you’ve made those changes, it can take weeks to figure out if you’ve actually made a difference.

Also check out: Some tips on how to boost your website leads.

If you’re relatively new to the SEO game, chances are you won’t be achieving super high rankings for the premier keywords that you want. One thing you can do to save yourself days of fidgety anticipation is to broaden your horizons from the beginning and start bobbing for customers.

For example: If you’re an accountant looking to sign some new clients, trying to go after “accounting services” will likely be a fruitless experiment. There is simply too much competition and too many BIG players going after the same keyword. If, on the other hand, you focus in on more specific search terms, something like “income tax preparation service”, you will have a much higher chance of success.

There will certainly not be as many people searching for something so specific, but you will end up ranking higher for those that do. As an added bonus, when they see you provide exactly what they searched for, they are even more likely to take you seriously and become your customer!

If you can bob for customers in a few different niches, SEO efforts for your business will gain more exposure, and be far more effective than going after the most obvious keywords you can think of. In fact, if you create different pages (or blog posts), each one optimized for a niche keyword, you’ll have even more luck ranking, converting and learning what works best!

A Blog About Blogs

February 11, 2013 by Nathaniel Kruska

Over the years, as the internet has become a part of every American’s life, most have developed fairly steadfast opinions about what is fundamentally wrong with the web. You know the type, the ones that either love or hate Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, etc. There’s rarely any middle ground and there’s rarely any changing anyone’s mind. As a web developer, I’ve talked to many people about what they want in a website; how it should express their business, what it should look like, what kinds of people will be visiting the site. Usually, people sort-of-know what they want, but for some strange reason, they always know exactly what they think about blogs.

So I decided to write a blog about blogs…

There’s Always Something to Blog About

I always get one of two answers. It’s either a definitive “Yes, of course I want a blog”, or a starkly dismissive “We’ve got nothing to blog about.” The latter is always nonsense. There may be a couple of reasons why you wouldn’t want a blog on your website; you have no interest in writing, you don’t have enough time to update it regularly… but banishing the idea of a blog because there’s not enough to say, is never one of those reasons.

When it comes to the purpose of a blog, to each is truly his own. The past few years have seen a transformation in the culture and use of blogs in general, and have become one of the most efficient ways to distribute content to the world. If you haven’t noticed, it’s probably because most people don’t even call them blogs. Your favorite news site… pretty much just a blog. That hilarious website you go to when you’re bored… a blog. Sports stories, movie reviews, financial newsletters, event announcements, anyway you get it.

My point is that a blog is what you make of it. Use it to share company news, broadcast promotions and sales, provide details about upcoming events, comment on current events, announce new products or expound on existing ones. How you use it is up to you, but a good company always has something to say.

Undoing the Stigma of the Blogger

Granted, the conventional practice of blogging is to offer long winded opinion pieces, such as this one, without regard for who is offended or agreeable. We see them in movies, TV and even commercials. This stereotyped idea of the blogger usually taking the form of a hipster or a foodie or a struggling writer, sitting in a coffee shop just hoping someone will come over and talk to them about what they happen to be writing about.

These characters do exist in real life. I’ve met them and some are actually pretty talented writers. But the vast majority of bloggers out there are not pecking away on their iPads about what they had at that new Moroccan restaurant last night while sipping their triple espresso macchiatos. No, they’re sitting at their desks (as am I right now) editorializing about the state of their industries, offering late-breaking news and opinions to their highly loyal reader base. Company employees introduce new products to their customers, proving that there are real-live people working behind the scenes.

The most important distinction however, is that today’s blogger does all of this, in between what they would call their “real job”… talking to vendors, building websites, shipping orders, and so on. For most, “blogger” is not a career path, it’s just another bullet point in the job description.

Put it on the Homepage

A few months ago, a customer came to us after much internal deliberation and provided us with content for their new website. It was well written, nicely edited and meticulously organized… but some of the content just didn’t seem to fit. For example, this company wanted to show off their participation at a local charity event. Now, I’m all for supporting local charities, but a 5K run sponsored back in 2011 doesn’t really belong on the homepage along side a list of services, does it? Needless to say, convincing her of this was a bit of a touchy subject, but we had a solution.

In my professionally humble opinion, this is where a blog can be an organizational godsend. Every company has things they want to share with their current or potential customers, many of which are particularly time sensitive. A blog on your website can allow you to showcase those things while they’re relevant and move them automatically out of the spotlight, when they become obsolete.

So in the end, we both got our way. We agreed to set-up a blog and to put the most recent blog posts on the homepage. They got to highlight their 5K… at least for a little while, but eventually it will be replaced by newer, more timely events.

What’s the point?

Communication has always been a major driving factor of successful companies. Every good business always has stuff to say and a blog is a fantastic way to say it. Make it a point to stay in touch with your customers and your could-be-customers; and keep an eye out for the next “Blog About Blogs”, as we’ll be discussing the incredible SEO benefits of constantly adding fresh content.