Month: January 2021

Google-Ads-ppc

PPC Strategies for Home Services Companies

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Home Services Companies

The home service industry is ultra-competitive. Whether you are a repair person, plumber, HVAC technician, electrician, or any other expert in the field, the business competition –nationally, regionally, and locally is endless.

In this fight for recognition, the marketing strategy you choose for your business is crucial—the more active the approach you choose, the better.

One of the best, most versatile, and cost-effective strategies you can use for online marketing, especially for home service companies, is pay-per-click or PPC.

In this post, we will discuss some of the most useful PPC strategies for home service companies.

What is PPC?

Pay-per-click is a form of Digital Marketing. You can create ads for your business, bid to display them in search results for specific keywords and encourage people to convert into leads.

The way it works is straightforward. Your listing comes up through chosen keywords before the organic search results on a search engine’s results page or appears on that engine’s vast network. When a user clicks on your listing, you pay the search engine a small fee for advertising.

PPC can be challenging to get started, especially without the help of a specialized PPC Agency. However, once you have begun a well-organized PPC campaign, it will quickly become a vital aspect of your business.

Google ads

Google is the giant, So obviously, it’s an excellent place for your business’s PPC campaign. Google ads bidding system approach to PPC is pretty simple: companies and advertisers bid for keywords when users search those keywords, Google shows relevant ads, the more you play, the higher your ad will appear in search results, and it’s cost-effective because if your ad is not clicked Google does not charge you.

Google’s the more you play, the higher your ad displays approach is appealing because it allows businesses of all sizes to compete for advertising eyeballs. – in the home services sector, this is important.

Say, for instance, you are a plumber; if you plan your campaign strategically enough, you should be able to get your ad placed relatively high in search results. Combine a good PPC campaign with excellent customer service and five-star work, and your business will be off to a great start.

Facebook ads

Facebook ads like Google is another giant. Facebook alone provides tons of users for advertisers to target.

Facebook is well known for offering all of the data it collects on its users. The information includes age, gender, location, job, income, hobbies, and more. Instead of targeting keywords like Google, Facebook ads target interests and demographics.

Not only are Facebook ads affordable, but the platform allows you to choose all of the demographic factors that you want, choose from a variety of ad styles, and fill in the blanks.

If you’re in the home services industry, the ability to have almost limitless ways to target prospective customers is something you should want to take advantage of, and it’s affordable.

Plus, you can use Facebook’s platform for advertising on Instagram since Facebook bought Instagram a few years ago.

PPC is flexible and quantifiable

Advertising in a newspaper at one time was the most cost-effective, efficient, and reliable method of getting your branding across to prospective customers. These days that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Newspapers are not only wildly outdated but placing ads in newspapers has proven to be wildly inefficient in large part because there’s no real way to measure the success or failure of your ad.

Pay-per-click provides you with immediate metrics, is flexible enough to allow you to make changes once the ad has launched, and is adaptable based on your budget and business flow.

If a particular ad isn’t performing, change it.

You can also pause or stop a PPC campaign altogether if the business gets a little hectic or needs time to adjust.

Strategic negative keywords

Including negative keywords – words you don’t want to trigger your ad is a great way to make sure you only bid on the keywords most relevant to your business and to the desired search results you want to yield.

For example, if a person searches for “cheap area plumbers,” they are probably not likely to convert into a well-paying customer.

So, unless part of your marketing strategy is Joe, the plumber who will fix your toilet’s slow flow for very little dough, you might want to include the word cheap as a negative keyword so you can exclude those unintended customers.

Picking Great Keywords

The linchpin to PPC advertising success is selecting the right keywords and targeting your messaging to what people are searching for online.

Be strategic about the keywords you choose. Choosing the first keywords that come to mind may be easy to do. But your keywords are what is going to drive those prospective customers to your website.

Think about what makes you unique, what section apart from your competitors? The phrase “mean what you say, say what you mean” applies here. Think about your business, which you envisioned your business serving when you started it, and speak to those with every keyword you choose to use.

PPC experts are just one call away

At Agency Partner, we understand the ins and outs of PPC. We also understand how vital and beneficial it can be to your home services business. As we discussed earlier, the home services industry is brutally competitive. The competition you are up against nationally, regionally, and locally is not lost on us.

PPC home services advertising is the perfect tool to help you compete with the big companies on the block.

Our team of experts has years of experience getting you the organic search results you want. With our team working for you, you will generate leads and one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways possible.

If your business is in the home services sector and you want more leads, higher and more consistent conversions, and simply smarter digital marketing, give us a call now.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “PPC Strategies for Home Services Companies” instead. Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

shopify-website-builder

Why You Should Use Shopify to Build Your E-commerce Website

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Use Shopify to Build Your E-commerce Website

 

In today’s rapid pace digital age, people are increasingly favoring convenience over the brick-and-mortar in-person experience. These days people want everything instantly, from food and financial transactions to shopping and social interactions. People want to order their food with a tap, search for Mr. or Mrs. Right with a single swipe left or right, and be able to send money to a friend with little more than a glance.

With 2021 not yet a month old and still amid a historic pandemic, the appetite for convenience born out of comfort and necessity is only increasing. Luckily businesses of the massive, medium and mom-and-pop sizes are stepping up and creating plenty of e-commerce platforms to satisfy our taste buds for convenience.

In this blog, we will discuss the e-commerce platform Shopify and cover some of the reasons you should use it to build your e-commerce website.

What is Shopify?

Simply put, Shopify is a paid commerce platform that allows you to create and develop an online store where you can market, sell and even ship your products to customers.

Shopify is subscription-based, so you do need to purchase a membership plan before you can get started. But don’t worry too much about the cost because part of what makes the platform so popular is its range of affordable pricing plan options. Click here to see pricing.

What can you sell on Shopify?

Shopify supports a vast array of e-commerce businesses. Subscribers can sell physical products, digital products, drop ship products, and almost everything in between (as long as it is legal).

For example, businesses that offer customization for things like furniture, clothing, jewelry, and more can sell services in the form of appointments. Or similarly, a personal trainer or lawyer can sell consultations.

According to a recent study from Shopify, their highest trending items for 2020 were peel-off-face masks, nail polish, exercise bands, water bottles, blankets, and yoga mats. So if you’re in the personal care or wellness industry, Shopify is an excellent option.

Almost anything goes when selling on Shopify. But there are some prohibitive products such as alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarettes, CBD, fireworks, drugs, video game currency or credits, firearms, and weapons.

Benefits of using Shopify

Shopify’s website builder is easy to use. The simplicity of the platform is probably its most significant selling point. Shopify is tailor-made for inexperienced users. It’s simple to add products, process orders, and you can even create discounts and promotions.

Shopify’s drag-and-drop editing tool makes web design a breeze.

A wide variety of themes are available for users to choose from, and paid themes to give you even more options to create a unique and distinctive store and stand out from the crowd. Sellers can benefit from their responsive, speed-optimizing, and mobile-friendly web layouts.

Help can be easily accessed if needed, with Shopify offering technical support every hour of the day through a multitude of ways, including live chat, phone, and email. Self-help options are also available.

Another benefit of the e-commerce platform is its low cost. But as mentioned earlier, the platform has a wide range of price plan options to choose from.

Disadvantages of using Shopify

While Shopify comes packed with nearly all the features small businesses could want and need to create an e-commerce store, not every company is created equal.

Every business has specialized needs, and in this area, Shopify comes up short.

Shopify lacks many business-specific features requiring users to purchase add-ons to get their store fleshed out to their full vision ultimately. These add-ons can be costly and tend to increase your monthly fee.

It is safe to say all businesses have customer support issues, and as available as Shopify’s support may be, they are not immune from problems. Recent reviews on their customer support are mixed, which is something to be mindful of.

Shopify features and options

Subscribers have access to fraud analysis with Shopify. Fraud analysis helps to identify fraudulent orders and essentially reduces chargebacks (and stress).

With Shopify, you can choose the Shopify Payments feature (with payment methods like Visa, Master Card, Apple Pay, etc.). Using the Shopify Payments feature, you are PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant. While you can use other payment providers, you may have to pay for transaction fees.

Shopify’s shipping tool allows you to integrate major shipping carriers to calculate real-time shipping rates. You can buy and print shipping labels directly from your admin panel. With Shopify Shipping, you can also display calculated rates in your customers’ shopping carts.

You can integrate your Shopify store with your social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest so that your products can reach a wider audience.

Lastly, one of the most visible trends in e-commerce is the unprecedented usage of mobile devices. Shopify is great because it offers mobile apps for Android and iOS, which will let you manage your store from anywhere.

Is Shopify right for you?

Shopify is a brilliantly easy-to-use e-commerce platform. The subscriptions are reasonably priced, and the wide variety of themes to choose from are appealing. Ultimately the choice is yours in terms of what e-commerce platform you decide to use.

Shopify’s website builder is nearly perfect, offering just about everything necessary for small businesses to create and operate an e-commerce website.

When making your decision consider your business’s needs now and where you envision growing in the future.

Get the website you want now!

Do you want something more specialized, more customized, more uniquely you? If you want your website to have a personalized, expert touch, our e-commerce website development experts here at Agency Partner are ready and willing to work with you.

We are a full-service digital marketing agency based in Dallas, Texas, offering everything you need for now and years to come. From web development and e-commerce solutions to social media marketing, search engine optimization, brand strategy, and much more.

A top-notch e-commerce website is essential for your business. Let our web design experts help you create the bigger and better website you envision – Texas-style!

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Why You Should Use Shopify to Build Your E-commerce Website” instead. Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

speeding-up-website

Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Website

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Speeding Up Your Website

People are impatient. We expect rides across town to arrive within minutes, if not seconds, of pressing a button. Groceries now can be selected, bought, and delivered all without having to leave the couch, let alone wait in a checkout line.

With nearly instantaneous satisfaction being the standard, it’s no surprise that people these days wouldn’t dare wait for a website to load while browsing the Internet to kill time or in search of items to purchase.

Our need for instant gratification means that website speed is more crucial now than ever before. In this article, we will discuss some best practices for speeding up your website.

Manage your total file size

One significant indicator of a slowed or bogged down a website is a massive number of all the files, scripts, and images needed for your website to display correctly. The fewer files, scripts, and photos your site requires, the faster it will be.

Simply put, less clutter means a smoother, faster, and more responsive website.

To help reduce the total file size number, try shrinking your images. It’s a safe bet that you probably display images that need adequate sizing if your site runs slowly.

Use a content distribution network (CDN)

A content distribution network or CDN is a geographically distributed network of servers to reduce the stress put on just a single server to deliver content.

It’s applying the old saying “the more, the merrier,” meaning the more servers there are to help lighten the load, the faster things go.

Reduce redirects

Each time one-page loads to another page, visitors have to wait for that page to load. Suppose you have an endless number of redirects on your website. In that case, your design probably isn’t optimal, and the number of pages in the chain needing to load continues to increase while simultaneously slowing everything down.

Reduce Cookie Size

Cookies are used for a variety of reasons, such as authentication and personalization. Information about cookies is exchanged in the HTTP headers between web servers and browsers. It’s essential to keep the cookies’ size as low as possible to minimize the user’s response time.

Be mindful of setting cookies at the appropriate domain level, so other sub-domains are not affected.

Remove unnecessary plug-ins

It’s easy to go a little too plug-in happy and install far too many. Especially if you’re using a platform like WordPress, plug-ins might be free, but they take a toll on your database.

Use compression

The smaller your files, the faster your pages will load. Compressing files is one of the quickest ways to reduce load times. Enabling compression with Gzip is considered standard practice.

Gzip is a file format and software application that locates strings of similar code in your text files, then temporarily replaces them to make the files smaller – thus increasing your website speed.

Make use of Caching

If you want a fast, responsive website caching is a great place to start. Caching can get pretty technical. But the basics are relatively straightforward. In simple, plain English, caching allows your webserver to send a web page at a much faster pace to a browser after it has already been delivered once.

Speedy transmission of information from your server to the user’s browser ensures your web pages load up smoothly.

Choose a good host

The web hosting provider you choose, as well as the type of plan you sign up for, can have a massive impact on your site’s performance. Many small business owners opt to go with a shared hosting plan for its affordability and ease of use.

But if you have a thriving business that attracts a large amount of traffic or your website requires a lot of data for things like streaming videos or custom apps, a shared host isn’t going to get the job done. The stressed bandwidth and RAM will cause your site’s performance to suffer and users to have a poor experience.

If this is you, a dedicated hosting plan may be a better fit.

Before choosing a website hosting plan, evaluate your business by looking at where you are currently and from a growth mindset.

Regardless of the plan, you choose your provider to provide you with a certain baseline performance level. If they can’t, you might want to look into getting a new host.

Is speed optimization necessary?

The short answer is yes.

In business, time is money, so everything, including how fast your website loads content, needs to be optimized to achieve peak performance.

If you’re not getting the traffic you believe you should, or maybe visitors aren’t spending as much time on your side as you would like, all of these are reasons to ensure your website performs optimally.

As with everything in life, there can be multiple reasons for an issue. Don’t obsess and try to solve every single problem. Instead, you can only start running a speed test to identify the most severe issues and start with those first.

Your website speed can affect your business’s crucial aspects, from page traffic to bounce rate, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, conversions, and repeat purchase rate.

Is your bottom line important to you?

If your bottom line is essential to you, don’t fall into the trap of ignoring your website performance. While this article is filled with plenty of things you can do to stay aware of and increase your website speed, the easiest and least time-consuming thing you can do is hire professionals like us at Agency Partner.

Our full-service digital marketing agency is tailor-made with you in mind. From web and app development to brand strategy, social media marketing, and everything in between, we have you covered.

If your website is not delivering the results, you expect our web development experts can not only sit down with you and brainstorm, diagnose, and solve the issue, but we can identify areas for increased marketing opportunities and so much more.

Contact us now, and let’s get your website working the way you envision it.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Website” instead. Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

website_marketing

10 Proven Ways To Market Your Website

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Market Your Website

In today’s digital age, almost anyone can create a good website. That’s the easy part; the challenge comes in after the design is done, and you need to make the website work for you. This article will discuss 10 ways to market your website and, hopefully, help you turn your increased web traffic into tangible conversions and a reliable customer base.

  1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the art of increasing your website’s visibility in organic search engine results. You do this by using well-thought-out and targeted keywords and phrases that people are likely to search for. SEO is a basic but essential method of bringing traffic to your website; without it, your website can get lost among countless competitor sites grappling for traffic and attention.

  1. Pay Per Click (PPC)

With pay-per-click advertising, you don’t rely solely on optimized keywords to generate traffic. Instead, you would connect with a marketing company like ours at Agency Partner, and together, we develop unique ads to be used on sites like Google and Facebook ads. Every time your ad is clicked on, you pay us a fee.

  1. Use Social Media

Social media isn’t just a way for your friends from high school to show off pictures of their children or snap photos of what they had for lunch. It’s also an effective way to promote a website.

Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or another platform, social media marketing is important for engaging followers. Consistently posting compelling content increases your audience’s chances of sharing it – which is free promotion for your website.

  1. Blogging

Genuine, original, and relevant content is one of the best ways to generate traffic and help market a website. It’s a great place to seamlessly integrate SEO keywords and create a loyal base of readers (and potential customers).

Encourage your readers to leave comments and to connect. This will help foster a feeling of connectedness and hopefully increase your conversion rate and retention.

  1. Facebook Ads

To be most effective in communication, you have to meet a person where they are at in a given moment. The same thought process applies to website marketing. Fortunately for you, many people speak the same language and can be found and connected with Facebook.

With Facebook Ads, you can create a targeted ad that reaches users based on location, age, gender, interests, and even options like friends of current followers or people who like specific pages.

  1. Email Marketing

Email marketing is a classic method of communicating with your customers. But it can also be used to create and retain new ones as well. It essentially involves collecting the email addresses of any and every potential customer and then sharing content — newsletters, promotions, discounts, and information — as a way of building relationships.

Email marketing is a great way to influence past customers to return to your website using incentives.

  1. Retargeting

Whether brick-and-mortar or online, no business wants to see potential customers or web traffic leave without converting. Retargeting uses cookies to create ads that will encourage previous visitors of your website back to your website. Retargeting is a great tool because you never know why some visitors don’t convert, and this helps you stay in their stream of consciousness – increasing your chances of conversion the second time around.

  1. YouTube

Creating original YouTube videos is a great way to spread your content – and links to your content around YouTube itself. And once your content is spread around YouTube, Google will then index it, making it searchable. You can embed your content into your blog, share it on your social media platforms, and so can everyone else.

It’s cool to go viral, but don’t worry about that. The most important part is to generate traffic to your website. So, focus on creating meaningful and relevant content.

  1. Create Infographics

Infographics are a great source of backlinks to your website because they are clickable, shareable, and easy to create. Remember to keep your audience front of mind when creating your infographic. You want the graphics to be accessible to all users and visitors of your website. And it should also be as universally relatable as possible.

  1. Help A Reporter Out

Your business’s press coverage will help get your name out there and establish you as an expert in your field. Being a reliable contact and source of information to a reporter can be a lasting and mutually beneficial connection – you get press coverage, and the reporter gets a source and potential stories. If you and/or your business is referenced in an article, that can mean more exposure.

All of these tips can be used in a multitude of ways to help market your website, boost website traffic, and increase your conversion rate. Our staff at Agency Partner is well-versed in using all of these tips and so much more to help you attract your ideal customer.

Contact us now and let Agency Partner get to work for you.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “10 Proven Ways To Market Your Website” instead. Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

 

web-design-tips

Web Design Tips for Conferences and Events

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Web Design Tips for Conferences and Events

Whether it is to discuss the new year’s plan, recap last year’s successes, or for pure celebration, conferences and events are being held more and more frequently by companies and organizations.

With the new year right around the corner, we thought it would be a great time to discuss a few web design tips to help you boost event attendance and conversion rates.

Make Important Information Clear And Obvious.

Just like your English teacher taught in grade school, you should make sure that the most important details – when, where, and why are clearly displayed and concise.

Yes, many people may already know where your event or conference will be held, why they should attend, and what time it will be, but many more people do not, and they need to access this information easily.

Remember, the event’s website is not the final product. The event is the final product. The website is simply a means to an end to get people to attend your event.

Give Details About The Event.

This tip may seem obvious, but think about how many times you’ve gone to an event website hoping to learn more about it and ultimately left the site filler like you didn’t get enough details?

By details, I don’t mean when and the where. I mean specific details about the event or conference activities, group activities like games and after-parties, local hotel accommodations, and area travel services.

The website design should provide visitors with tangible details to understand what the conference is about, what they will gain from experience, and what type of activities they can expect.

Remember: Be aware of who the audience is for your specific industry when it comes to guiding voicing and terminology. For example, Dental Website Design companies will likely be speaking to a very different event attendee from that of Construction Website Design Companies. When it comes to crafting the event detail text, let your designers know about those quirks upfront.

Make The Site User-Friendly.

Keep users front of mind when designing your website. This is good advice for any web design, no matter its purpose.

Put yourself in the visitor’s shoes and ask what visitors are looking for when coming to an event website? Think about where they might click, visually how they might flow through the page(s).

Keep interfaces simple, your layout crisp, and a few navigation or option buttons as possible.

Think of it this way, if you keep a visitor journey through your website streamlined, you tighten your sales funnel, make it more direct and much more influential based on what you choose to include or exclude from the design. When you have a clear funnel of action in place, conversion rates are sure to increase.

Use Impactful Visuals

Don’t be afraid to use visual content to help sell the conference to visitors. You can use pictures of your event location, interior and exterior shots, or well-known facilities, to name a few options.

Think about the visual appeal of your event that isn’t necessarily the main subject matter. Whether you use videos, photos, or both, try not to use stock photos.

Real images help to add that authentic feel. If you are having trouble selecting the right imagery, you can also use illustrations in your visual mix. A lot can be communicated through a well-designed graphic.

Make It Mobile

Most websites today are mobile compatible, and if they’re not, they are far behind the times and need to catch up. An intuitive and responsive web design gives prospective attendees a consistent user experience. And it’s also great for search engine optimization (SEO).

Google favors mobile-optimized sites and tends to rank these sights higher in search results. In fact, as we discussed in this earlier post, you can read here, Google now penalizes websites that are not mobile responsive.

We Can Help

Web design for conferences and events is a lot like party planning. You have to keep your guests and attendees in front of mind at all times during the design process.

What will attract their attention? What info do I include? What info do I not include? What color scheme do I use? And ultimately, what will persuade visitors most to decide not only to visit my site but attend the actual event?

All these questions are ones you need to keep in mind, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. There’s much more that goes into designing a website for conferences and events.

Agency Partner specializes in web design for these types of special occasions. While you focus on making sure your guest speakers are booked and arrive on time, let us handle the marketing aspects of your company’s event.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Web Design Tips for Conferences and Events” instead. Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!