When it comes to SEO strategy, there are a lot of aspects to consider. You can’t expect Google to give you good rankings without putting in the work. And the reality is that simply focusing on your website’s content isn’t enough. To get the best results possible, you need to think about much more than just putting out content – you also have to think about how topical authority can help you achieve better rankings. This article will discuss how building your topical authority helps boost your Google search rankings.
What is Topical Authority?
Topical authority is a measure of how well your website is performing on a particular topic. It’s also a way to examine your performance compared to your competitors and the quality of your content. While domain authority and page authority are equally as important, topical authority helps boost your overall ranking by showing you know what you’re talking about in your industry. The more high-quality, informative content you produce, the more people will trust your brand as an authoritative voice and resource on the specific subject matter.
How Does Topical Authority Differ from Domain Authority?
Domain Authority measures how well a website is trusted by Google. This measurement is on a scale of 0-100, with 100 representing the most trustworthy websites.
Google uses this score to determine how well your website will perform in search results and whether they can trust it as an authoritative source of information.
Topical authority differs from domain authority as it measures how much trust you have earned over time in a specific topic. Topical authority is determined by two main factors:
The number of times your content has been linked to or shared across the web (link equity)
The relevance of those links that link back to you (content quality)
How Topical Authority Can Boost Your Domain Authority
To help explain the benefits of building topical authority, let’s look at how you can use this tactic to help boost your domain authority.
The first step is finding a topic that has enough demand. This means that people are looking for information on this topic and are willing to pay for it.
Once you’ve found a topic with high demand, go through competitors’ websites using SEO tactics and learn what they do well. If they rank high in Google search results, determine why. Take note of what these sites are doing because you’ll want to emulate them to rank highly and outrank them in Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Page).
Once you’ve learned the SEO basics and understand what it takes to rank highly in search engines, you can begin building topical authority. This means you’ll want to create valuable content for your audience. If they find your content interesting and useful, they’ll likely share it with their friends and family, leading to more traffic for your website. The more people who visit, the higher your domain authority will be!
Benefits of Building Topical Authority
Building topical authority is essential for many reasons, and here are some of the biggest:
Increased traffic: the more you know about your topic, and the more frequently you publish articles on it, the better off you’ll be in terms of overall traffic. Staying up to date with trends in news coverage will help ensure that any reader coming to your site is likely to discover something new or exciting for them (and then share it with their friends).
Improved rankings: as mentioned above, Google wants its users to find what they’re looking for as quickly as possible. If someone searches “how do I build topical authority,” their goal will be served best if they get results from sites with great information rather than sites that don’t offer much value beyond self-promotion or spammy links.
More links back into your site(s): link building is still one of the most effective ways to increase organic search rankings across all industries. Building trust among key influencers within an industry can hugely impact how well your content performs over time without requiring any additional effort on your part once it’s published!
How to Build Topical Authority
Niche Down
To build topical authority, you’ll first need to understand your niche. What are the specific issues that your audience is facing? What problems do they have that you can help solve? How will you offer them something unique or different from what is currently available in the marketplace?
Keyword Research
Keyword research is essential for building topical authority. Keywords are what users type into search engines to find the content you have written. Understanding which keywords to target and how to implement them within your content is vital for optimization and ranking purposes.
Develop a Content Strategy
After you’ve determined what your audience wants to know and which keywords they’ll likely use, you need to develop a compelling content strategy aligned with your brand. A content strategy will help you determine what types of content to create, which media will be most effective, how to promote your content, and how to track its performance.
Create Pillar Pages
Pillar content represents the primary topic content writers and SEO experts are trying to rank for by producing more specific pieces of cluster content. A pillar page is a foundation on which topic clusters are built, covering all aspects of the topic on a single page. Pillar pages broadly cover a core topic and are longer than typical blog posts because they address all aspects of the specific topic. However, they aren’t as detailed, leaving room for more in-depth information to be explored in the related cluster content.
Build Topic Clusters
Cluster content expands on the topic covered in the pillar page, addressing specific keywords related to the in-depth topic. Apart from helping your site gain topical authority and boost rankings, pillar pages and content are efficient ways to organize multiple pieces intuitively.
For example, you might write a pillar page about Google SEO tactics (broad topic) and pieces of cluster content about building topical authority, blogging, or effective keyword strategies.
Use Internal Links Wisely
The best way to make your content easier to navigate is through internal links. These are the links you see on a page leading you back or forward and around your site.
Linking back and forth within a post or article will help readers find related information they may be interested in while reading—and it shows them you’re here to help.
Linking across different articles on your site gives visitors an easy way to browse all the content you have available (which can keep them from leaving). Be sure not to overdo it—you don’t want to overwhelm your readers!
Agency Partner Interactive
Building topical authority is one of the most effective ways to improve your Google SEO rankings. You can increase traffic, gain new customers, drive engagement, and generate conversions by establishing your business as an expert in your field. SEO is an ever-evolving process that can be overwhelming without the right partner. That’s where we come in. Agency Partner’s award-winning SEO experts can drive consistent organic traffic to your site and optimize your content to get you to the top of the SERPs and keep you there. The synergy between our SEO and Content Marketing teams enables us to help brands of all sizes and industries gain authority and dominate the market. Ready to take the leap into exponential growth? Get in touch with a digital marketing specialist at Agency Partner today!
DALLAS, TEXAS – Best SEO Service Companies, a leading independent review website for SEO services agencies, has announced Agency Partner Interactive LLC among the best SEO agencies in the United States.
Research experts evaluated each SEO agency based on customer reviews and case studies, the search rankings of the agencies themselves and their customers, industry awards, the tenure and experience of the SEO marketing team, and pricing relative to the industry.
The study conducted by BestSEOserviceComapanies.com examined large and small SEO agencies and following their internal review, Agency Partner earned a rank of #2 in the entire United States.
The review website’s research team conducted an exhaustive SEO services assessment using a proprietary methodology. The Agency Partner team is thankful for this special recognition and attributes much of their success to their constant effort to improve processes and customer service. Since before the pandemic, Agency Partner has created a unique SEO growth strategy that leverages powerful SEO content, link building, and industry leading local SEO services.
ABOUT AGENCY PARTNER INTERACTIVE
Agency Partner Interactive is a Dallas-based digital agency that helps businesses achieve aggressive revenue and customer acquisition goals. An SMU Dallas 100 and Inc. 5000 Award winner, Agency Partner, offers top-converting web and app design and high-performing digital marketing services. The company has grown from the ground up since 2010 and has completed over 1500 digital projects for more than 500 clients, including funded startups, SMBs, and multi-billion dollar enterprises.
One thing we hear all the time is: How much does SEO cost? How much should I budget for SEO Marketing Services?
As digital marketers, we hear that question and our brains start to think about SEO strategy and everything that goes into getting more organic searches for business owners. Immediately, our SEO specialists consider everything from potential website performance needs, competitor research, on-page SEO optimization, link-building strategies, local SEO, and more as it relates to your goals.
Oh, and let’s not leave out considerations for the fact that there are different SEO pricing models, depending on whether you are looking for a one-time optimization or if you’re truly looking to play the long game and dominate your industry. Depending on what you need, you will likely consider fixed pricing versus monthly retainers that support technical SEO efforts, the cost of content marketing that helps you rank on Page 1 for new keywords, and routine analytics meetings with your SEO consultant.
Those are just a few things we think about. Other questions may include:
How long has your web domain been around? What about other websites that compete for the same keywords?
How much organic traffic are we currently seeing in Google Analytics and what are the referral sources?
Is the site ranking just for branded keywords, or are more competitive keywords resulting in impressions and clicks?
What does the Google Search Console say of impressions and clicks to your website over time? Is growth stagnant?
Is your website currently holding a first page rank for any relevant search terms either locally or nationally?
How healthy is your backlink profile relative to the top ranked sites?
Are we competing with big brands, local businesses, or personalities?
How often do your biggest competitors publish blogs, news articles, and/or new web pages?
Can the business support a SEO campaign right now? …or do immediate needs require that this budget be allocated toward a more immediate, albeit less permanent marketing tactic?
In Google Analytics, what does the website’s bounce rate look like relative to keywords resulting in clicks to the site?
While these questions are fairly common, the answers to them will vary significantly from one business website to another. Competitiveness and your desire to dominate will factor into what your monthly SEO budget should look like. To generalize, most SEO experts will charge a monthly recurring investment of $2,000 to $10,000+ per month. Yes, that’s a big range!
How Much Does SEO Cost? Learn from Texas’ top SEO marketing agency.
A national or international SEO budget in a competitive online market should never be less than $5000 per month. For SEO that seeks to attract local buyers in a not so competitive market, it is possible to kick-off a local SEO campaign in the $500 to $2500 range. Again, depending on competitiveness, your budget will vary significantly.
To learn more about where that money goes, some things to watch out for when selecting a SEO partner, and when you can expect some ROI from SEO, keep on reading!
What to Expect From An Appropriate SEO Budget
Notably, the value from search engine optimization compounds over time… So unlike PPC on Google Ads, SEO is not how you make a quick buck. SEO is how you build wealth through a business website.
SEO is also kind of like caring for a plant. It requires consistent attention over time and when you stop, your SEO value slowly begins to diminish relative to other competing sites on the web. This is because Google’s search algorithm changes constantly. So as you consider your SEO budget, be mindful of the fact that an adequate SEO effort is something that should be a monthly recurring undertaking for the life of your business or website.
SEO, when content driven, ensures that whenever someone is searching for answers to any question that is relevant to your business, your brand is front and center every time. Businesses love SEO because of how the economics of it play out relative to other sales and marketing activities. If you consider an investment over 12 months, notice how the monthly expense stays mostly flat in the graph below. Also take note of what the additional revenue line is doing… strongrevenue growth.
In this example, we are looking at a Texas based, B2B medical supplies company with a monthly SEO budget of $8,500. At the 7th month of this campaign, things started to get exciting because this company’s website began to rank on Page 1 of Google for some its most commercially valuable keywords. At the close of the year and following a 12 month SEO investment of $102,000, this family business counted just under $1 million in additional revenue and a massive ROI. The break-down is as follows:
Total SEO Budget: $102,000
Total New Revenue: $992,742
12 month SEO ROI: $890,742
Unlike this company’s SEO campaign, if you look at their Google Ads marketing performance, new revenue is positively correlated to their monthly ad budget. So as logic would have it, more budget equates to more revenue just as less budget equates to less sales. In this case, the client was competing in a market with a fairly expensive cost per click and PPC was never their most desired source of new business. PPC helped them serve some immediate needs while they worked to establish their SEO game.
To reiterate, this is a big reason that business owners love the economics of an expertly crafted SEO campaign versus other marketing channels. SEO is part of a long-term, industry-dominating digital marketing strategy. A basic SEO campaign typically takes anywhere from 8 to 16 months before a mostly static, consistent monthly investment begins to generate a noticeable ROI. For some industries and markets, like SEO for family law, return on investment may feel exponential once your average page rank starts to hold search engine positions 1 through 3.
Ways to Allocate Your SEO Marketing Budget
There are different ways to allocate your SEO budget and get the work done. You may consider augmenting your existing marketing team to fill any gaps in expertise, hiring an outside agency that happens to be an expert, or you may try the DIY route. Generally speaking, these are the various ways to allocate your SEO marketing dollars:
Hiring a team of SEO freelancers with a budget of $70 to $190 per hour, per person
Hiring an in-house marketing manager or marketing project manager that can manage a team of SEO freelancers.
Depending on experience, expect to budget anywhere from $50,000 to $125,000 per year for this person. You get what you pay for!
Don’t forget to add the cost of your freelancers to this. They will most likely charge a price per word or a flat monthly fee for a set amount of deliverables.
Hiring a SEO agency at $90 to $250 per hour depending on the agency’s bill rate
Small consultancies and startups may easily feel overwhelmed by all of this and most will never have a starting SEO budget of $8500 per month…. but the fact is that there is a way to start small and grow your SEO strength in an effective, strategic way.
Many small to medium sized companies, including law firms and health practices, tend to hire marketing agencies because they are able to gain access to certified, experienced experts that would otherwise be out of reach. Most agencies will offer a full suite, white glove service that functions much like an outside marketing and technology department. Enterprises will almost always utilize their in-house teams for SEO however it is common for them to hire agencies for occasional marketing tests or simply to get some fresh ideas on the whiteboard.
Across all budgets, the common key to success is a commitment to consistent, scheduled content production over an indefinite period of time.
Why $100 Per Month Is NOT The Real Cost of Cheap SEO
Affordable SEO does exist, however there is such a thing as “cheap” or bad SEO… Bad SEO is exactly what it sounds like. It’s wholly inadequate and far too many companies fall into this trap. A lot of this stems down to the fact that less than half of small businesses have a SEO budget of any kind. Of the businesses that do have a SEO budget, a survey indicates that 71% of small businesses budget for only $1 to $99 per month for their SEO. I mean… you get what pay for. $99 is literally nothing and you will almost certainly measure some negative ROI from this.
Most often, this is due to a lack of education wherein business owners are sold by the agency with the cheapest proposal rather than the one with the highest value. This happens ALL the time. Don’t be a sucker.
Unfortunately, SEO spammers know that most business owners have no idea how SEO works.
This is why they exploit businesses every day by sending spam email with promises that you can get on Page One of Google for only $99. Because most business owners assume that SEO is a basic commodity, similar to getting gas at the pump, many opt to invest in the cheapest option. After several months, they may realize that there is “no strategy” and/or no ROI and will opt to end the campaign to either find another vendor or do nothing at all.
The way this often plays out is like this:
Company contacts 2 to 4 agencies for SEO quotes
Some agencies respond with general, templates proposals, almost immediately. Others may ask some basic business questions.
Company considers several proposals. Often, these are reviewed by several stakeholders that really do not understand what SEO is.
Company may reach out to the final 1-2 agencies with follow up questions.
Company opts for the cheapest or second to cheapest SEO marketing proposal.
Company cancels SEO arrangement after several months.
Either immediately or several months later, Company may opt to work with a different SEO Agency or does not invest in any SEO.
This scenario plays out daily. In the end, a lot of time has been wasted, a little money has been burned, and the business hasn’t really achieved its goals. But worse can happen….
Some of the collateral damage from cheap SEO may far outweigh any money that may have been (under) invested to begin with.
There are a ton of LinkedIn and Facebook groups for digital marketers. In some of these forums, you’ll observe extremely elementary questions from people posing as experts. Some of these questions may be so basic as: “I just scored a SEO client and he wants to rank for ‘keyword X’ so how do I do that?”
There are also a ton of online resources that provide free or low cost SEO tools for rookies that want to pose as SEO experts. In most cases, rookie marketers will rely on their personality and salesmanship to “score a client” and then figure out the SEO part after the sale. This is something to fear as the effects of black hat SEO may be permanent in some cases and in others, they may be very difficult to bounce back from. Things to watch out for include:
Utilization of link schemes such a private blog networks (PBNs)
Unnatural, purchased backlinks that may or may not be relevant to your industry
Keyword stuffing and hidden text on your web pages.
Zero requests for a content calendar and weekly recurring blog posts
The single most damaging thing a SEO rookie may lead you toward is a Google penalty. The effects of a penalty from Google can be absolutely devastating and you should expect a huge loss of organic search visibility, clicks to your website, and revenue. There are ways to bounce back from this, but it takes a lot of investment to do so.
DIY Stuff: Start Your SEO Budget By Collecting Some Basic Information
To truly understand where you need to go, it is important that you fully understand where your LLC or corporation is today. There are a few ways to do this and the most simple is to ensure that your technology team has been instructed to check your website for some technical best practices. Once you have ensured that some foundational things have been fully accounted for, you also will want to glance at your competitors and see what things look like on their side of the fence. We have found that some of the most powerful SEO strategies start with a basic SWOT analysis.
Compare Your Website’s SEO Grade versus Your Competitor’s
Use comparative data to create your roadmap for success.
This is something that your in-house digital marketer should be doing already: Take 90 seconds and get your Competitive SEO Report Card score to see where you stand. When doing so, be sure to enter the domain of your single biggest competitor, and enter a super common, non-branded word that a customer would search for when looking for the product/services you sell.
Competitive SEO Report Card (scroll down to “Begin Your Free SEO Analysis”)
Ensure That These 3 Fundamental Elements are In Place
Does your site adequately address demands around Mobile Friendliness and Site Speed?
As a best practice, your marketing team should be demanding a routine weekly or monthly audit of your website’s mobile friendliness and site speed. Because a majority of web searches start with a mobile browser, Google wants to ensure a fantastic mobile experience in its search results. So know where you stand and ensure that your site is up to the mark by leveraging these two free tools.
Make certain that your site is defaulting to HTTPS when opening pages.
Google has adopted a strict position on information security. Whether or not a website leverages HTTP versus HTTPS is a Google ranking signal. This means that Google will view a domain that opens in HTTPS more favorably than one that opens in HTTP. To open your website securely you must have an active SSL certificate associated with your web host. To see whether or not your site has an active SSL certificate in place, simply open your website and see what the browser bar tells you. Do you see HTTP or HTTPS next to your web address?
By leveraging HTTPS, you are telling your visitors that you value their privacy and taking a step to help prevent third parties from eavesdropping on a conversation between your website and your web visitor. This is especially important for any web forms that may ask for personal, financial, or other information. If you choose not to have your website default to loading secured HTTPS sessions, Chrome and other browsers will go so far as to inform users that your site may be compromised and unsafe to access.
So before any actual SEO work begins, consult with your technology team and ensure that you have your bases covered as things pertain to Speed, Mobile Friendliness, and Site Security.
If you are starting from scratch and have never optimized your site for speed, security, and mobility, expect to pay anywhere from $300 to $3000 for the first effort.
Once you have covered those three essentials, you are almost ready to call in your SEO experts. Be sure to discuss maintenance of these items with your technology team and inquire about a monthly and annual budget for this routine work effort. Once you get past the first big optimization, your monthly maintenance budget should be fairly minuscule. If you have any questions about that, please feel free to contact us directly by clicking here: Ask Us About Speed, Security, or Mobile Friendliness.
Have a Clear Understanding of Your Business Goals
Now that we have accounted for the basic technological leg work that goes into creating a solid SEO foundation, we can start building. But just what exactly are we needing to build? To answer this question, start by writing down what your business goals and objectives are.
On paper, define what sort of ROI you expect and need from your SEO campaign. Is it leads, sales, retention?
Discuss your goals with other stakeholders and create a realistic, “rigidly flexible” SEO budget as a conversation starter.
Put On Your “Spy vs. Spy” Hat
In a nutshell, it is time to compare your website against your industry’s top ranking sites. This helps you understand what tactics your biggest competitors are employing. In many ways, it should be your goal to match, and then one up whatever it is they are doing. To put this as simply as possible, do the following:
Compare your blog versus their’s — how regularly do they publish new content?
Does their content add value?
What is the approximate word count of their average post?
Does your competitor seem to leverage press releases?
Are there any special sections on their site like FAQs or location specific landing pages?
Does their site have a landing page that is uniquely tailored to each product/service line?
Take note of your findings and be prepared to discuss all of this information with your internal stakeholders. Also, be ready to share this with your agency partner and know that the more candid you are, the more able your SEO expert will be to devise a competition crushing strategy.
Sum It All Up And Share Your New SEO Budget
By now, you know that you need to allocate some of your marketing budget to the following, tangible deliverables:
Site Speed Optimization performed by your web team
Mobile Friendliness update performed by your web team
SSL certificate performed by your web team
At a range of $300 to $3000 for this first overhaul, these are fairly inexpensive optimizations. Once you’re past the first optimization, you should make a plan to revisit these items at least once a month.
With the foundational tech needs accounted for, you also know that you need to allocate part of your monthly SEO budget toward:
On-page optimization performed by your digital marketing team
Off-page optimization performed by your digital marketing team
Expect to pay your in-house team or agency partner anywhere from $1500 to $2500 per month for really good, US based SEO optimization. This should include the cost of monthly analytics and reporting, keyword targeting, strategy, and updates to your meta-titles, tags, and descriptions. Also, know that this alone is not enough to help you grow and dominate your market.
The next big variable, and often the most costly, is the key ingredient that actually helps you retain your favorable position and rank for new, relevant keywords:
Weekly, recurring SEO Content production performed by your digital marketing team
To determine what your content needs are, this is where you refer back to your marketing intelligence. If your competitor is posting a new blog every day at 500 words each, at a bare minimum you should be doing that as well. It is best to curate a writer that is a subject matter expert on your topic or at least familiar with your industry.
To help you do the math on this one, assume that your content will cost anywhere from $0.15 to $1.50 per word. The range is fairly expansive because some writers are much more valuable than others. There are a lot of people that will claim to be content writers but there is a huge difference in style, expertise, and process. Super cheap writing tends to be spun content and it is not suitable for 99% of business websites. If your subject matter requires unique expertise, it is possible to pay as much as $1 to $2 per word.
If it’s super specialized content that you’re after, well… yes, you guessed it: that price per word just keeps going up. Remember, you get what you pay for!
Know that the perfect SEO strategy may or may not conform to your early budget expectations but even a small SEO scope can prove to be valuable… so start with Local SEO and the basics of on-page SEO services! If in fact your site requires a lot more investment than anticipated, discuss what can be done to stretch every investment dollar and whether or not some tactics may be phased into your SEO campaign over time.
As a Leader, Educate Yourself and Make an Informed Decision
Combined with our own data, this information has been aggregated by surveying top SEO agencies and world renowned SEO authorities. If you’re looking to firmly control your market and aggressively grow your market share, a content driven, expertly crafted SEO strategy may be for you. As long as you understand that this is not about making a quick buck, with some patience and equal commitment to a full campaign, SEO can be one of your most reliable performers when it comes to lead generation.
Additionally, the best SEO tends to positively impact your other marketing channels so don’t take this budget decision lightly. For example, if you are running a Google Ads campaign, it will lower your cost per click by improving your Google relevancy score. This means that for the same PPC budget, your new business ends up winning more clicks and impressions.
Also, effective SEO allows you to build a valuable content library that will establish your brand as a thought leader. This content helps your customers make purchase decisions and it gives your sales team a more valuable reason for reaching out to sales prospects. No one likes the “check-in” or “follow-up” email so lead with value and share a new blog with your prospect.
By now, hopefully you understand that search engine optimization is a process of improving the visibility and ranking of a website on search engines. Proper SEO can help a website attract more organic traffic, which can lead to increased sales and brand awareness. While there is no set cost for SEO services, most businesses should expect to budget between $500 and $5,000 per month for SEO. The actual SEO cost will depend on factors such as the size of the business, the competitiveness of the industry, and the desired results. Businesses that commit to a long-term SEO strategy and invest in the full suite of SEO services are more likely to see a return on their investment. For this reason, it is important to partner with an experienced SEO company that can develop a custom SEO plan for your business.
Chances are that you’re seriously looking to improve your SEO game. That’s great, we’re here for it!
To get your search engine optimization game on track, contact our digital marketing experts today. Click the button below and tee up a free, no obligation 1 hour strategy session.
For more reading, we were interviewed by SEOblog. Check out our feature by clicking below.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “How to Create a Budget For SEO” instead.
Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
Expert Tips For Why Your Website Needs a Redesign ASAP
Think your website looks just fine the way it is? Those homepage sliders and flat color schemes might make you wanna think again…
If you’re not seeing the results you’d like in terms of traffic and conversions, it’s likely time for you to shake things up on your site. Here are Agency Partner’s top reasons why you need to redesign your website ASAP!
On Average…
As a general guideline, it’s recommended you redesign your website about once every two or three years. Quite simply, with the lightning-fast rate of change in the digital sphere, two to three years is all the time it takes for your site’s design to undoubtedly fall behind and look out of date.
Your site doesn’t mirror your brand anymore It’s beyond important for your website to match your brand, from aesthetic and identity to voice and messaging. From the second your home or landing page loads for a user, it should be crystal clear who and what exactly the company is. Maybe your site and brand matched when you first launched but you’ve gone through some evolutions into who your entity is today. Time to redesign for who you are now!
Your website is behind the current design trends Sure, those designs were once fresh and current…but are they still? Take a detailed look at your site and then get to Googling the new ideas and standards in the web design world. This update will keep your company feeling current and savvy.
Your website doesn’t respond well to all devices
If your site doesn’t automatically adjust and optimize to the device a user is accessing it from, odds are extremely high that the user will either get frustrated or lose interest (or both) in continuing to explore your site. This may be an iPhone, a Tablet, an Android, etc. Think of how it is also very likely negatively impacting your analytics like bounce rate and click-through rate. Don’t miss out on countless opportunities for conversion over a simple user experience issue!
Your website doesn’t give the user your entire service options You’ve probably expanded your services as your business has grown. Does your sitemap reflect that? If a user isn’t readily aware that you meet their needs, they’re likely to move on to a competitor who they can be sure does meet their needs. It might be time for a redesign to make room for some new pages that cover the details of everything you offer, both old and new!
Your website is not search engine-friendly The importance of SEO cannot be overstated, and if your site isn’t designed with it in mind, it’s definitely time to redo your website regardless of any other factor! If you aren’t already familiar, read up on best practices for site architecture optimization and even check out our blog post on Web Design Mistakes That Can Harm Your SEO. Ideally, every detail of your site’s coding should be made search engine friendly, from custom landing page URLs and meta descriptions to title tags and even image optimization.
Your website doesn’t maximize your content marketing plan Site design and content marketing are synergistic for sure. Say you have a blog attached to your company’s site, but the design has the only direct access point buried at the bottom of the page? Because the design isn’t mindful of the user journey to the marketing tool, you’re both limiting your users’ ability to find your content and your own ability to drive lead generation and customer relations – an excellent reason to redo your website!
Your website is based on outdated tech If your site isn’t current and relevant, why would a potential customer think your company as a whole is up to date? Old tech can weigh down your site processing speeds, dragging down its performance for the user. It also can be a big barrier to search engines and their ability to scan and assess your content for SEO visibility and ranking. Redesign your website for an update that makes it more efficient and supports a positive experience for your users.
Your website is missing important action drivers Much like design supporting your content marketing, optimized placement of CTAs is so important to the success of your marketing strategies and ultimately your revenue. Make sure the CTA designs are cohesive and thoughtful across all site pages to maximize impact.
Your website is open to vulnerabilities Using outdated tech can not only harm your credibility and competitive edge but also put the site itself at risk of security attacks. No matter the size of your business, data is always valuable in some way to the wrong set of malicious eyes. Updating your site can be the critical line of defense you need against hacking, viruses, and malware.
If anything on this list sounds like it applies to your site and its current design, we highly recommend reaching out to our design team at Agency Partner for help. We can work with you to create a site that not only looks great but also reflects the latest digital trends and technologies. Your website is often the first impression potential customers have of your business – let it be one they remember for the right reasons!
Expert Tips For SEO Tips for Ecommerce Businesses: How to Increase Traffic and Grow Your Store
If you’re an eCommerce business, you know that traffic is key. The more people who visit your store, the more sales you’ll make. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some tips for increasing traffic to your eCommerce store. We’ll also talk about how to grow your business and attract new customers. And finally, we’ll recommend ways to improve your SEO and get better rankings in search engines. Thanks for reading!
What is SEO?
To understand how to make our website rank better, we have to have a basic understanding of what SEO is. SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. It is the process of optimizing a website for Google and other search engines. When done correctly, SEO can help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), which means more people will see your site and hopefully click through to make a purchase.
How Does Google Find My eCommerce Shop?
As soon as you’ve launched your eCommerce site, Google knows you exist right? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Google discovers new websites in a few different ways, but the most common is through links. Google looks for a specific file in your website’s code called an “XML sitemap”. This file contains a list of all the pages on your website.
Googlebot (Google’s web crawling bot) visits websites and looks for links to other websites. When it finds a link, it will follow that link and crawl the website it leads to. This is how Google discovers most of the websites on the internet.
It looks for sites that are linked to other sites, these are called “backlinks”. The more backlinks you have, the better chance your site has of ranking higher in Google.
How Do I Increase Traffic to my eCommerce Shop?
The best and most cost-effective way to bring traffic to your eCommerce shop is through SEO. By optimizing your website for search engines, you can bring in more organic traffic (traffic that comes from people who are searching for information on the web). This type of traffic is highly targeted and has a higher conversion rate than other types of traffic.
If you’re able to rank in Google for search terms related to your products, you’ll likely see a significant increase in traffic to your eCommerce store. In order to rank in Google, you’ll need to employ some basic SEO tactics, such as optimizing your website’s title tag and meta description, publishing high-quality content, and building links from reputable websites.
Best Practices for eCommerce SEO
There are some basic SEO practices you can put in place to make sure your eCommerce shop is as visible as possible in SERPs. Here are a few tips:
-Optimize your website’s title tags and meta descriptions.
When you tell Google to crawl your site, it looks for certain information in your website’s code. This includes the title tag and meta description. The title tag is the text that appears in the search engine results page, while the meta description is the text that appears under the link to your website.
Make sure these two pieces of information are well written and keyword-rich. They should accurately describe your product or the page and include some of your target keywords.
-Publish high-quality content.
Google loves high-quality content. In fact, it’s one of the factors that determine a website’s ranking in search engine results pages. When you publish great content on your website, not only will your visitors love it, but Google will too. And it will give you a chance to add even more keywords to your site! Blogs are an easy way to expand into content, but you can try other ways such as videos, infographics, podcasts, and SlideShares.
-Build links from reputable websites.
Links are still one of the most important factors when it comes to ranking in Google. The more high-quality links you have pointing to your website, the better chance you have of ranking higher. Try to get links from websites that are relevant to your business and have good domain authority. This means that the website has a high trust score with Google and is likely to pass some of that authority on to your website.
-Use keyword research to determine the best keywords for your site.
One of the most important aspects of SEO is using the right keywords. Keywords are the terms and phrases people use when they’re searching for information on the web. By targeting the right keywords, you can attract more traffic to your website.
-Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
Google has been increasingly focusing on mobile search results in recent years. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’ll likely lose out on traffic from people who are searching on their phones or tablets. If you want your eCommerce shop to rank well in SERPs, make sure it’s responsive and looks good on all devices and browsers.
What are Some SEO Tools I Can Use?
There are lots of SEO tools you can use to make sure your eCommerce shop is SEO-friendly. Here are a few of our favorites:
SEMRush: This tool allows you to spy on your competitors and see what keywords they’re targeting. You can also use it to find out how much traffic those keywords are driving to their websites.
Majestic: This tool helps you measure the quality of the backlinks pointing to your website. It also has a feature that allows you to compare your website to your competitors.
Google Analytics: This tool is free and provides you with a wealth of information about your website’s traffic, including where that traffic is coming from, what pages are being visited, how long people are staying on your site, and where they’re leaving from.
Google Search Console: This tool is also free and helps you track your website’s search engine rankings, optimize your website for search, and find out if there are any problems with your site that Google has detected.
SEO for eCommerce Conclusion
By following these SEO tips, you can help your eCommerce shop rank higher in search engine results pages and drive more traffic to your website. And that means more sales for your business!
If you’re looking for an agency to help with your SEO efforts, contact us today. We would be happy to chat with you about our goals and help you become a successful eCommerce business!
Expert Tips For SEO in 2022: Is It Really Worth Your Time, and Money?
When it comes to digital marketing, SEO is one of the most important strategies you can implement. But is SEO worth the investment? That depends on your business and your goals. If you’re looking to increase traffic and generate more leads, then SEO is definitely worth the investment. However, if you’re not seeing a return on investment, then it might be time to rethink your strategy. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the benefits of SEO and how an agency, like Agency Partner Interactive, can help you achieve your desired results.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s a process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). When someone searches for a term related to your business, you want your website to show up as one of the top results. This is where SEO comes in. By optimizing your website and content, you can improve your ranking and attract more traffic to your website.
SEO is constantly changing as Google updates its algorithm, so it’s important to have an experienced team of professionals who can help you stay ahead of the curve. That’s where Agency Partner comes in. We have years of experience implementing SEO strategies and we stay up-to-date on the latest changes to ensure that your website is always performing at its best.
What are the Benefits of SEO?
There are many benefits of SEO, including:
– Increased traffic: One of the primary benefits of SEO is increased traffic. When you rank higher in SERPs, you’ll get more clicks from people who are looking for information related to your business.
– Increased leads: SEO can also help you generate more leads. By increasing the visibility of your website, you’ll attract more visitors who are interested in what you have to offer.
– Increased ROI: One of the most important benefits of SEO is that it can help you achieve a higher ROI. When done correctly, SEO can provide a significant return on investment, often resulting in more leads and sales at a lower cost than other forms of online marketing.
Is SEO Worth it?
SEO is a long-term investment that can pay off big time. By improving your website’s search engine ranking, you’ll not only increase traffic to your site, but you’ll also generate more leads and sales. An agency partner like Agency Partner Interactive can help you achieve these results by developing an SEO strategy that best suits your business.
If you’re an eCommerce business, like a clothing store, making sure each item up for purchase is properly tagged with the right keywords is essential to your SEO. If you’re a B2B company, creating informative blog posts (like this one!) and optimizing them for search engines can help you attract leads from potential customers.
How Much Should SEO Cost?
SEO should be part of your marketing plan in 2022 and beyond. But how much should you budget for it? That depends on your business and the goals you want to achieve. Generally, expert SEO services cost between $3,000 and $10,000 per month, depending on the scope of the project and your individualized needs. You can find more about this in our blog How Much To Budget for SEO.
SEO can be done by yourself, but it takes a lot of time and effort. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive and effective approach, hiring an agency partner is the way to go. At Agency Partner Interactive, we have years of experience in SEO and can help you achieve your desired results. Agency Partner Interactive can help you develop a comprehensive SEO strategy that will improve your website’s ranking and generate more leads and sales. Contact us today for a free consultation!
Is SEO Different for My Niche?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. SEO is different for every business and every niche. What works for a Hollywood news website might not work for a pet store. That’s why it’s important to partner with an agency that understands your specific industry and can create a custom SEO plan that will help you achieve your desired results.
There is no one size fits all for SEO, follow our blogs in the coming weeks as we discuss more tips for different tips of business!
If you have a specific question related to SEO, reach out to us to get contacted with an expert! Agency Partner Interactive is a full-service digital marketing agency that specializes in SEO. We have years of experience helping businesses achieve their online marketing goals, and we can do the same for you.
Is SEO Worth it? – Conclusion
In short, yes – SEO
The bottom line is this: SEO is worth the investment if you want to improve your website’s traffic and generate more leads and sales. An agency partner like Agency Partner Interactive can help you achieve these results by developing a customized SEO strategy that is tailored to your business and niche.Contact us today for a free consultation!
Facebook and Instagram’s servers are down for nearly 2.85 billion users worldwide. Facebook CTO, Mike Schroepfer, added the following statement via Twitter:
*Sincere* apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible
Inside Facebook, the outage has broken nearly all internal systems employees use to communicate and work. Several employees told The Vergethey’ve resorted to talking through their work-provided Outlook email accounts, though employees can’t receive emails from external addresses. Employees logged into work tools such as Google Docs and Zoom before the outage can still use those, but any employee who needs to log in with their work email is blocked.
The Verge reports that Facebook engineers have been sent to the company’s U.S. data centers to try and fix the problem, according to two people familiar with the situation. That means the outage, already Facebook’s most severe in years could be further prolonged.
What does this mean for your business?
Having a well-built website that won’t crash is important for sales and customer representation. Depending on when Facebook’s servers will be back up, this could negatively affect their business. Since Facebook went down, its stock $FB has been down nearly 5 points.
Many businesses are scrambling to cope with this potential loss of revenue due to the outage. The best course of action for businesses is to ensure their email and SEO strategies are included in their marketing strategies.
How can we help you protect your sales during outages? At Agency Partner Interactive (API), we focus on a holistic marketing strategy that does not rely on only social media. Having a proper SEO strategy can prevent your brand from losing out on sales or leads when Facebook or Instagram goes down. Contact us now!
Expert Tips For 5 Digital Marketing Myths Debunked
Most modern and online businesses have quickly adapted and took advantage of this fast-growing industry regarding digital marketing. Current marketing strategies like digital marketing have given small business owners and marketing teams of established businesses worldwide.
Social Media Marketing is also one of the most effective marketing strategies in the modern day, and businesses not making use of it will be left behind fast. Marketing teams in businesses should have adapted and allowed budgets to generate leads and sales on online platforms. The reach for meager costs will enable businesses to target the correct people while still in the awareness phase.
However, even with evidence and records to prove this, some individuals remain wary. This article will debunk the five most common digital marketing myths.
1 Social Media Marketing Only Works For Specific Industries
This is one of the most common myths because it’s not entirely true. For example, even though social media marketing may be more effective for fashion and retail companies, major brands in every industry have used this strategy to generate leads and sales.
That means as businesses evolve, so does social media marketing; all industries can use it effectively, so there is no need to avoid it! Furthermore, a study conducted by Gartner predicts that by 2020 up to 30% of top-performing companies will abandon their digital campaigns if they don’t start making changes now.
2 SEO Is Dead
No, SEO is not dead! The reverse could be true. This marketing strategy has been around for ages and will continue to exist because it’s still one of the most effective ways to generate leads and sales online. It may not have reached its peak yet either; many other industries can benefit from an increase in search engine rankings, such as healthcare or education—both ranked among the top 20 largest U.S. industry sectors by GDP contribution (Cleveland).
Modern tools like Google Maps also provide hints on where people live, allowing businesses to target neighborhoods they want to reach out to with specific products/services based on location-based searches (Google Trends). As long as these digital marketing myths aren’t true, SEO will remain a powerful way to generate leads and sales. As long as Google considers SEO an essential part of the ranking factors for businesses worldwide, no one can say otherwise.
3 You Don’t Have To Build An Online Presence If Your Competition Isn’t Online.
This myth is not valid. Even though it may seem like the competition might be ahead of you, they’re still vulnerable to being taken over—because your competitors are also running into difficulties with modern marketing strategies.
For example, Facebook’s algorithm changes in late 2016 that led to a decrease in organic content reach meant small businesses and blogs were left behind without enough budget for increased paid ads (Bates). Additionally, since digital marketing requires constant upkeep and care, so does social media; if neglected, there will be consequences!
Of course, established companies can take advantage of this on their own or hire a Top Digital Marketing Agency in Dallas to do all the work for them. Still, no matter what needs to be done, as long as these steps aren’t followed, someone else could come in and take over before you know it.
4 Mobile Website Traffic Doesn’t Drive Conversions
This myth is also not close to being correct. Mobile website traffic has increased steadily over the years, and in fact, mobile-only users have grown to be a top priority market for most businesses. For example, according to Microsoft’s latest report on global internet usage trends (2016), more than 17% of people only use their phones, which means your business must provide easy access via mobile so they can still engage with you effectively.
This also goes for all those competitors out there; if ignored, this could mean lost opportunities when small moments become big deals—such as someone searching nearby restaurants while hungry and finding yours! These digital marketing myths aren’t true, resulting in decreased leads/sales because mobile website traffic is one of the most critical driving conversions.
In more recent years, statistics have shown that mobile users came close to being 50% of all online traffic, making sense. Smartphones have enabled individuals to browse the internet, similar to a PC, conveniently. So make sure your website is optimized for mobile use.
5 Negative Reviews Will Dramatically Decrease Your Sales
This myth is false, especially for high-quality products and services! The truth is that consumers are more likely to buy from a company they know or have heard of before than if they stumble across it randomly, so in this case, negative reviews can be good marketing because people will listen to you through word of mouth. Negative reviews may also lead to increased sales when handled correctly.
By providing customer service with a smile (and sometimes even freebies!), the unhappy customers could become repeat customers who love your business! This goes back to the importance of social media because now these disgruntled customers might spread their happiness on platforms like Facebook. This means all those new potential leads will come knocking at your door, too. Unless, of course, you don’t have the proper digital marketing strategy in place.
As long as these digital marketing myths aren’t true, SEO will remain a powerful way to generate leads and sales. However, it’s essential not to neglect other aspects of modern marketing: social media, for example! Social media platforms like Facebook are just one aspect that businesses need to utilize to get ahead, or they could end up paying the price.
Literally.
This goes back again to those potential customers who might have been interested in your business but decided against it because you didn’t show them any love on their favorite platform. So make sure all bases are covered with Industry-Leading Digital Marketing Services from Dallas Top Digital Marketing Agency today if you want a steady flow of new leads coming in!
Digital Marketing Insights from Texas’ Hottest Digital Agency
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is endlessly controversial but tremendously important. Originally passed in 1996, the goal is to protect various online websites and forums from malicious activities.
More specifically, it sets a precedent that an “interactive computer service” cannot be deemed the publisher or speaker of third-party content on its platform (47 U.S.C. § 230). In short, it means that if a user publishes something illegal, let’s say on Facebook, then authorities cannot hold the company responsible. There are exceptions, however, such as when it comes to explicit materials, copyright violations, and federal law violations.
In recent years, due to political events, media falsehoods, and propagated lies, in many sectors, the law has come under fire. Some have also proposed that it offers big tech companies — like Facebook and Google and other social media platforms — unfair legal protections and absolves them of certain responsibilities. In 2020, President Donald Trump infamously targeted Section 230 and various social media giants, alleging that the law’s overreach needed to be reeled in. The current President, Joe Biden, wants to revoke Section 230 completely.
To understand why it is so controversial, along with what the law may be doing to offer unfair legal protections, we need to dig a little further.
What Does Section 230 Have to Do With Big Tech?
Social media platforms have evolved to be anti-competitive, and in some ways collusive, in undermining business partners, like Amazon’s third-party sellers or competing businesses. An excellent example is an ongoing battle between tech companies and Parler. Regardless of your political affiliation, it’s obvious that big tech has a lot of power over what happens on the internet and how conversations play out.
To make matters worse, whistleblowers have helped to expose political bias within the major big tech companies, which can infringe upon free speech and first amendment rights.
So, what does all of this have to do with Section 230? Well, that’s complicated. Because of how broad Section 230’s language is, it is often misinterpreted and may even offer too many protections in some cases, while not enough in others.
The law expressly allows tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (Google), and others to remove content they deem harmful to the public. However, some allege that the companies are removing opposing viewpoints or competitive content, all under the guise of Section 230.
Does Section 230 Enable Social Media Censorship?
Taking the idea of collusion and censorship a bit further, some believe that these tech companies are leveraging laws, like Section 230, to suppress the competition and censor various viewpoints and conversations on their platforms that may be inconvenient to them.
For example, one whistleblower claims that after Facebook acquired Instagram, it slowed down the social network’s “natural growth to benefit Facebook proper.” While that would be considered more of an internal monopolistic problem, it’s certainly still concerning.
It comes back to a question of trust. Just because these companies can censor certain types of content, language, or discussion, doesn’t necessarily mean they should. If and when they do, how do we know they’re actually suppressing something harmful? Where is the transparency to see whether or not they are holding back the competition, no matter how small?
Most critically, how do we protect these companies without providing them with too much power over our digital freedoms?
Can Regulatory Power Promote Competition?
Many companies preach and discuss the concept of human-centered design, which involves empathy for the end user during development. So, these companies understand the need for empathy, and the importance of their audience and users, including those that may be involved with competing properties. It makes one wonder why this is even a problem?
Customer happiness and user satisfaction are two of the most important metrics that any business can collect and utilize in today’s market. Wouldn’t that alone breed competition and offer room for smaller firms and organizations to grow?
The problem is that many of the tech giants are dangerously close to monopolies if they’re not considered one already. Regulations like Section 230, make it possible and legal for them to suppress the competition in rather ingenious ways.
What’s more, each company handles different aspects of the internet. Google utilizes search and ad-supported content. Facebook leverages organic social media content and exclusive platform ads. Amazon offers a host of services, including web services, on-platform advertisements, media advertisements, and e-commerce support.
Amending rules and regulations to address each of their services and practices would be remarkably difficult.
Antitrust laws do exist, but many of them were created long before the internet became what it is today, and they do not touch upon modern aspects, practices, or problems. The same is true for Section 230.
What Does Big Tech Say?
Unsurprisingly, affected companies like Facebook propose a more nuanced approach to regulation that treats them as a cross between telecommunications providers and news or media outlets. Zuckerberg, for example, argues that regulation of harmful content is necessary, but the right “framework” should be chosen.
“Right now there are two frameworks that I think people have for existing industries; there’s like newspapers and existing media, and then there’s the telco-type model, which is ‘the data just flows through you,’ but you’re not going to hold a telco responsible if someone says something harmful on a phone line.”
Zuckerberg goes on to say that Facebook should be “somewhere in between.”
Where Do We Go From Here?
It’s complicated. Very, very complicated. But there is room to improve, and there are answers, no matter how difficult these problems are to address. Anyone who has seen the uncanny ability for these platforms to triangulate on people’s pet issues and personalities should recognize the power they have over society.
Section 230, and regulations like it, have been amended before and will be amended again, especially since President Biden has voiced his intentions to adjust them. His current idea, to get rid of 230, probably isn’t the best solution either, as it would eliminate protections for a swath of online companies and platforms that host user-generated content.
The hope is that the language in the law can be modified to reduce anti-competitive violations without throwing it away entirely.
Looking to get your business more active in social media marketing? Not sure where to start? To learn how Agency Partner can help your business, contact us today!
DALLAS — August 19, 2021 — Agency Partner Interactive has been recognized as a Top 20 SEO Agency in Texas here in 2021 by DesignRush.
DesignRush is a B2B marketplace that connects brands with professional full-service agencies, web design companies, digital marketing firms, and top technology companies.
Their platform lists over 9,300 agencies from over 50 different countries and is consulted by thousands of decision-makers looking to start a project.
“It’s an honor for our agency to be recognized for our work to help businesses show up on Page 1 by utilizing our SEO expertise. This is especially notable since we are in such a competitive market,” said Adam Rizzieri, Chief Marketing Officer at Agency Partner.
Agency Partner Interactive has continued to grow its presence in Texas and North America. During this time, the Agency Partner team has focused on hiring subject matter experts and account managers to improve the quality of service on both the web design and digital marketing sides of the company. Despite the occasional growing pain, the agency has maintained a stellar 5.0 out of five stars on Google My Business’ review network.
Agency Partner Interactive helps growth-focused businesses achieve ROI-driven strategies by providing bespoke technology and marketing expertise.
Expert Tips For 10 Clear Reasons Why You Need Digital Marketing
It doesn’t matter the industry you’re in; the common goal in all organizations is growth. Not all companies have the marketing budget to do print advertising, radio adverts, or TV advertising. But that doesn’t mean that you have to throw in the towel; digital marketing has become the pioneer in brand building. Here are 10 reasons to prove why:
1. Budget Fit
Of all the sorts of advertisements available, digital marketing is the most affordable option. Even if you outsource to a Top digital marketing agency or an Agency Partner, it will come out cheaper than what other options costs would have accumulated to.
2. Access In the Palm Of Your Hand
62.07% of the world’s population owns a smart and feature phone. That is 4.88 billion consumers who visit social media sites daily, check their emails, and use other apps. Utilizing digital marketing tactics like Email Marketing, Facebook ads, google ads, and text marketing, you build brand awareness subconsciously. At the same time, the magnitude of possible customers browses through their social media and other apps.
3. Adjustable
Because you are not stuck in a medium to a long-term contract on a traditional advertising campaign, changing an ad that performs poorly is instant. There is no need to wait out the agreed-upon expiration period because there is none with digital marketing. You need first to establish the best creative way to market your company digitally.
These can include email marketing, social media posts, and banner ads. Suppose you find a particular digital marketing strategy works better than the rest. In that case, you can pump more resources in that avenue while canning the rest.
4. Brand Awareness
Since lockdown, online shopping trends skyrocket due to the sheer convenience and safety. Using google ads and Facebook ads, you appeal to these customers and build your brand awareness in the process. You can also utilize Affiliate Marketing to help boost sales further.
5. Mixed Media
Digital marketing thrives on using mixed media to deliver and promote your product or services. Not just using the standard text and picture, it incorporates more visual material like videos and audio. Youtube, Facebook, and other social media apps’ popularity are all due to their capability to connect its consumers through mixed media.
Using mixed media makes it easier for your customers and potential customers to understand what you want to say and your product. Advertisement using mixed media has a higher success rate than more traditional methods. Using social media marketing with mixed media will make your customer experience memorable and help build your brand awareness in the process.
6. Relations
One of the big misconceptions is that you will lose important input from your customers should you use digital marketing. On the contrary, it’s easier for your customers to interact with you and engage with them continuously, thus building and strengthening your relationship and credibility. Various methods can gather the data and messages, like the comments section, blogs, newsletters, and reviews.
Using these tools can quickly alleviate misconceptions and answer frequently asked questions about your product. Showing your customers your willingness to interact with them will establish trust. And using their suggestions or dislikes in the comments, you can alter your product. Marketing the new, improved product will be more accessible and better accepted by your customers because they feel that you respect what they have to say.
7. Monitor To Evolve
Digital marketing allows you to become a Big Brother, but in the best possible way. The use of cookies will enable you to see which blogs, content, review, and other methods your customers read or watched before purchasing your product or service.
Studying this data, you can make a more conscious decision on which marketing method is the most appealing to your customers and which isn’t. Logically, you will then boost these social media marketing methods and instead remove the ones that don’t work to free up more resources to concentrate on better projects.
8. Be The Expert
Because digital marketing makes it easier for you to communicate with your customers about your product, you can start leaving your mark as the expert on your industry and product or services. Answering questions quickly, writing content and blogs to highlight the pros and cons of your product, and even doing podcasts will grow your trustworthiness with your customers. Your customers will then instead come back to you for further knowledge and before buying your product.
9. Social Media Influencers
Partnering with a social media influencer has become a fast-growing trend in the digital marketing area. These are individuals who are highly active social media users. They have already established their credibility with their thousands or even millions of followers as one of the experts in their particular industry. Social media influencers include actors, actresses, athletes, musicians, highly successful business people.
But not all of these influencers come from the silver screen or Forbes 100; many influencers are ordinary everyday people who are ambitious and work hard to obtain their credibility. Influencer Marketing is well worth investing in, but you need to ensure that the influencer aligns with your industry and has the same target market.
10. Rank Higher Than Your Competitor
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the digital marketing strategies. It all revolves around where your company’s website ranks when keywords are being searched. Why is this important? Pretty simple, human nature dictates that we usually gravitate to the first 5 options when presented with multiple choices. So if your company’s website doesn’t rank even on the first page of the search engine, then the chances are that there will not be much traffic directed to it.
Therefore, you need to optimize your Off-page SEO, which is external signals and links, as well as your On-Page SEO, which is all about your website and where it ranks. The better your Off- and On-page SEO ranking is, the more traffic it will divert to your website. The more traffic it gets, the more sales you can make. But most importantly, the more credible you will be.
Digital marketing is all about influence and credibility to boost your company’s sales. It’s the new area in advertising which is faster, better and can reach more customers than you can fathom. Suppose you don’t already have a digital marketing team busy increasing your brand awareness and rankings. In that case, you are already losing money and customers to your competitors. So get in the race fast!
Expert Tips For 5 Important Digital Marketing Tactics in 2021
With the digital world constantly evolving, marketers are continuously challenged to stay updated with the latest marketing trends. A good percentage of our jobs consist of learning the new updates and seeing how it affects our current marketing strategies.
In this blog post, we will be sharing 5 digital marketing tactics that have emerged in 2021. Although these marketing tactics aren’t necessarily new, marketers are looking at these tactics on a deeper level, learning the science behind them and how they can use these updates to their advantage. Below is a list of tactics that we will be discussing:
Influencer Marketing
Mobile-First Marketing
Local SEO
Personalized Content / Audience Segmentation / AI
Voice Search
With the advancement of technology, marketers are becoming more knowledgeable on ways they can reach their consumers and telling them what they want to hear. Even though the constant transformation of the internet can be draining, its development has been beneficial.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has always been a traditional marketing tactic. The concept is simple. Someone with strong influence shares your product or service with their audience, and in return, you can gain more awareness from the promotion of your product. With the growth of social media each year, the impact of influencer marketing has become exponential.
TikTok, for example, is the newest venture when it comes to influencer marketing. TikTok has been very successful in being a video-based app. Audiences are entertained for longer periods of time and stay on the app longer, giving marketers more exposure opportunities. The influencer marketing tactics on the app have been so successful that software marketers now use them to recruit influencers influential to their target audiences.
Instagram is another powerhouse in influencer marketing. Recently, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, shared that there will be changes in the way users use the app. Video and shopping content will be prioritized, minimizing the visibility of photos posted by family and friends on the timeline. As you can imagine, influencer marketing will be used more frequently with these updates.
Mobile-First Marketing
Mobile-first marketing has been taken into more consideration by marketers in recent years. Many are starting to understand that the majority of online traffic derives from mobile devices, which means your content must be optimized for mobile devices for users to engage with it.
If your website is not mobile-friendly, you risk the chance of quality leads leaving your site simply due to user experience. Marketers now understand the importance of mobile and how their content strategies must be based around it before executing.
Local SEO
SEO (Search-Engine Optimization) is becoming a more respectable piece in marketing. With the development of the internet, a website’s quality score plays a big part in measuring its success. Google will not make it easy for websites to gain traffic if it sees no relevance in it. Google’s priority is the user.
They want more people to use Google to solve their day-to-day problems, and the way they are accomplishing that is by updating the algorithm to improve user experience. Google wants to make it easier for users to quickly search for something and find a solution to their problem. If your content is not answering a user’s question, your site will have a lower SERP (Search Engine Results Page), and it may never get found or clicked on.
Local businesses have recognized the importance of SEO, and without it, they don’t stand a chance against the competition. Local SEO is essential because local audiences have a higher chance of conversion, and as a local business, you want to be present when that user is ready to make a purchase.
Google My Business has helped many local businesses get listed on Google result pages. Utilizing keywords like your city name and services will make you more relevant, and it will higher your chances of appearing on a higher Google result page.
Personalized Content / Audience Segmentation / AI
Creating your content based on your target audience has always been a marketing best practice. And thanks to the growth of artificial intelligence, personalizing content has never been easier. Audience segmentation is the process of dividing your general target audience by traits and attributes.
The segmentation helps marketers create and tailor content that will specifically market to that group. And with the help of artificial intelligence, marketers have understood their audience’s wants and needs on a deeper level.
For example, if you are an ecommerce business, you can tailor your audience’s content by their shopping habits. A frequent buyer can receive a different newsletter from an infrequent one, and each of their newsletters will be customized to what each buyer wants to see.
Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more advanced, and it allows marketers to use it to their advantage that goes beyond just email personalization. The data supplementation from AI software systems is skyrocketing, and it will enhance our marketing strategies as we continue in 2021.
Voice Search
Search engines and other applications have introduced voice typing features to enhance user experience. It makes searching a lot easier when it is hands-free. Marketers had noticed that when audiences used this feature, the keywords used are different from their regular typing. Due to the difference in vocabulary, SEO specialists consider how this will affect their SEO strategies.
Conclusion
Digital marketing has advanced within just a few years. Marketers must consistently stay on top of the latest trends to ensure their digital marketing tactics are executed successfully. Even though some of the tactics mentioned above aren’t necessarily new, they have evolved with the advancement of technology.
Agency Partner lives in the digital world, and we know how the digital landscape changes by the minute. If you have any questions about cutting-edge marketing tactics, please get in touch with Agency Partner.
Expert Tips For How to Market Your Business on TikTok
TikTok has been the newest digital marketing venture for a lot of companies. But don’t feel pressure to make an account so quickly. Marketing’s most fundamental concept is to be present wherever your audience is. And if your audience is not on TikTok, your company may not be missing out on much. But if you believe there is an engaged audience that can turn into leads – TikTok might be the marketing platform for you.
TikTok For Business is for brands who want to speak to their audience by unleashing their creative side. The key to being successful on TikTok is being creative and aligning the latest trends with your brand. To start creating content on TikTok, you first need to create a TikTok business account. The business account shares insights into how your content is doing and tips on reaching your marketing goals better.
TikTok For Business also has a learning center with many resources on the ins and outs of operating a business account. In addition, theirblog shares best practices for content creation, geo-targeting, and more!
Once you have your TikTok business account, you are going to want to start running ads. TikTok Ad Manager gives you a more accurate reach to users who will likely engage with your content. With TikTok’s advertising, you will be able to customize the targeting by specifying the gender, location, age, interests, and other variables of your target audience.
How to Create a TikTokMarketing Strategy
Explore TikTok
Now that you have a TikTok business account, it’s time to start exploring the app. First, you want to be comfortable with the app to navigate it and learn its features.
TikTok is a video platform, so it is important to understand video editing. Within video editing, you can use effects, music, filters, and more. Watching videos of users who are similar to your brand can help you find inspiration for content. TikTok is big in influencer marketing, so if you have that opportunity to partner with an influencer, it can help bring more exposure to your brand.
Don’t be afraid to explore other video editing apps to create your content. PREQUEL and InShot aregreat video editing apps that can make your videos stand out. In addition, TikTok has a feature where you can upload videos from your camera roll, making it possible to use different editing apps for your content.
Set Your Goals
Set goals before you start creating content on TikTok. Knowing what you want to achieve will help you plan your content accordingly. Some goals you can try to attain is:
A New Audience – discover a new audience that can connect with your brand. Expand your horizons and grow your market.
Brand Image – strengthen your brand image by creating unique and authentic content for your brand.
Promote Awareness – drive awareness for a product or service by creating content centered around it.
Develop Customer Relationships – strengthen the relationship you have with your current customers by connecting with them through content. An example can be a Q&A.
Remember to put a number in your goal to keep track of your progress. The numberwill show whether your marketing tactics are going towards your goal or away from it.
Find Your Target Audience
Before you start creating content, clearly identify the audience you want to target. Follow the key concepts in building an audience persona. Know the age, gender, and other characteristics of the audience you want to reach.
An excellent method is researching your audience on your other marketing platforms. Then, try to uncover any overlap you see in your findings. TikTok is all about connecting with things you like, so if you can find an underlying characteristic in your audience, it can help you plan content accordingly.
Understand TikTok’s Algorithm
If you know anything about social media marketing, you know there is a thing called an algorithm. TikTok’s algorithm looks at the filters and music you are using in your videos. It then uses this data to target other users using the same sounds and effects, assuming you and these users have the same interest. As you start promoting your business on TikTok, you want to understand how TikTok’s algorithm works, so the “for you page” is in your favor.
As stated before, you want to be present where your audience is. So, if your audience is on TikTok, pay attention to the sounds, effects, and TikTok trends they are doing, and see if you can incorporate this into your content.
Do a Competitive Analysis
When you are building a marketing strategy, it’s good to know what your competitors are doing. Watching other competitor’s videos can help you get some affirmation that you are on the right track. For example, on TikTok, small business communities always post videos of their products, behind the scenes, and other creative content. If you have the opportunity, make these kinds of videos but make them your own.
Also, check if your competitors are using influencers, and if they are, who are they, and what are they like? Finally, partnerships are an effective marketing strategy on TikTok; you will likely reach a larger audience driving more traffic to your page.
Lastly, Have Fun!
Audiences love TikTok for its unique content. It’s different from other social media platforms because its primary source of content is video, which means you only have a few seconds to keep the audience’s attention before they scroll to the following video. But, unfortunately, there is no secret formula on how to go viral. The only thing you can do is authentically create content to show your brand. So, make sure your TikTok marketing strategies appear this way.
Note: TikTok users, especially larger corporations, should know that China-based tech company Bytedance owns TikTok. And in China, there is no private ownership of anything, where the Chinese government retains ownership of all property and economic outputs. TikTok has a history of data harvesting, data mining, and algorithms to learn more about user behavior. Although many businesses do this for profit, many perceive that political parties do this for control.
Agency Partner lives in the digital world, and we know how the digital landscape changes by the minute. So if you have any questions about TikTok’s marketing strategies and want to learn more about our best content services, please contact Agency Partner.
What You Must Know To Promote a Successful Podcast
Digital Marketing Insights from Dallas’ Top Digital Agency
As a podcast host, you are someone that believes in the power of good quality content… you’re not concerned about quantity, though you do recognize the importance of consistency. Your show solves a problem for its listeners, whether it is a need for entertainment, education, enlightenment, or some combination of that. The truth is that you work hard to create great content, but the reality is that you must also work just as hard to distribute your show to engaged listeners. Does your podcast have a website? Does that website have opt-in forms that enable you to grow your email marketing database to send show recaps? There are so many things to be done! So, let’s get into it.
Dominate iTunes / Apple Podcasts
The key to growing your podcast is all in your ability to dominate iTunes.
Believe it or not, listens on SoundCloud and YouTube are fairly insignificant relative to those who are listening to podcasts on native iOS apps, including iTunes itself.
The reality is that iTunes accounts for about 70% of all podcast downloads and listens. To get started, create an iTunes Connect account and be ready to upload your podcast cover art by designing a great looking image that is sized at 1400×1400 pixels. If you’re just starting out, be sure that you have 3 to 5 episodes that are ready to go.
Hit the “New and Noteworthy” Section of iTunes
When you are ready to launch your podcast, it is best to launch with no less than a few episodes because it is likely that your followers will want to listen to more than just one at a time.
Importantly, you have to play to the favor of iTunes’ ranking algorithm to maximize your discoverability. The more time your listeners spend actually listening to your episode, the more the iTunes visibility algorithm will favor your show.
Some quick engagement to your first episodes during your first two weeks will help you appear as a featured podcast on the iTunes “New & Noteworthy” section. If you’re able to achieve this notoriety within 8 weeks of launching you show, this can be a huge accelerator for boosting your listenership and gaining the credibility that you need to attract sponsors.
Before your podcast launches, put together a list of as many people as you can and utilize the power of email marketing to notify people about your upcoming launch date.
1 month before launch: send a teaser email
1 week before launch: share the name of the show, a few episodes, and perhaps an audio clip along with a reminder of the launch
Launch date: be bold and ask people to listen, rate, and subscribe via email and on social media.
Ask your listeners, both in your podcasts and in your email marketing database, to subscribe to your show and to also post a review. Be sure that you are telling your fans specifically why they should subscribe.
If you’re not a daily host, try and get 2-4 weeks ahead of your publishing schedule. iTunes and the various podcast platforms love active, consistent publishers. If you can get into the habit of a consistent publishing schedule, you’ll be well on your way.
Too Late for the New & Newsworthy Section? Is Your Podcast Live Already?
Where there is a will, there’s a way! Facebook advertising allows you to target your audience by the type of device they’re using. This means that you can utilize the power of paid advertising to attract iOS users to your Apple Podcasts page. Likewise, you can do the same with Android and Google Podcasts using Google Ads.
The fact is that people often binge their shows and they’re always looking to consume more, similar content. Paid advertising on social media and in search engines allows you to get your brand in front of your future listeners when they’re most likely to engage with your message.
Be Found On These 3 Other Podcast Directories
Look to iTunes first, and then focus your attention on Spotify, the #2 destination for podcast consumption, before looking ahead to Google Podcasts as a third focus.
Podcast hosting sites like PodBean, BuzzSprout, and Captivate are great doors to getting your podcast into Spotify.
Google Podcasts works a bit differently. Google Podcasts matters because it allows your show to be visible in Google’s search engine results page, making individual episodes fairly easy to find and play.
Interestingly enough, you don’t actually upload your shows to Google Podcasts. It works sort of like a website and SEO in that Google crawls the internet to locate and index your episodes.
To be found by Google Podcasts, it is important that you make a URL to your RSS feed and that your RSS feed links to your website. Most of the mainstream podcast hosting platforms will do this for you but if you want to engage in some DIY, this link will help: Guide to Google Podcasts. To see if Google has already found your RSS feed, click here to view Google’s Podcast Publisher tool.
Stitcher is number 4 on the list as it has over 8 million listeners across 65,000 podcasts.
If you do anything at all for distribution, make sure that your show exists on these four platforms and then tackle the rest!
Invite Connected Guests to Your Show
This may seem like common sense, but the more popular or “famous” your guest, the more attention you’re likely to receive. Let your podcast play out in a way that is true to your vision for the show, but do consider how you might layer in an interview format.
Make It Easy For Your Guests to Share Their Podcast
Whether your guest has 30,000 Twitter followers or 1 million Facebook fans, make it easy for your guests to share and promote their podcast episode. Do this by sending them a note on the day their podcast goes live, and also consider including a series of shareable media when you tag them in your social posts. If you utilize pull quotes, banners/images, links, and pre-written tweets and/or status updates, you’re more likely to get a response out of guests and fans.
Be a Guest On Other Podcasts
Make guest appearances on other podcasts that are in your niche. If you are able to expose yourself to someone else’s audience you might just win some folks over. A good PR person can actively pitch you to relevant hosts but scoring a guest appearance is also something that you can do for yourself!
Because of the work that goes into identifying, requesting, and booking guests for weekly or daily podcasts, you may find that your proactive outreach to another show may be very welcome. To find a list of shows worth reaching out to, start with the iTunes listing page to see podcasts in dozens of categories.
Promote Your Podcast All Over Social Media
Social media offers ample opportunity to share soundbites, video clips, images, teasers, and content that may be timely or evergreen in nature. Social media should be used as bait to create awareness and drive people to your show on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play.
Every time you publish a new episode, feature your iTunes URL first and consider pinning a link to your Facebook page, Twitter account, and any other platform your fans are present on.
Facebook
When you post a link to your latest show, include that iTunes URL, and paste it alongside a “ “quote image.” For DIY social media banners, tools like Canva allow you to create “quote images” such as the example shown on this Canva template here.
Twitter
Twitter plays quite nicely with Soundcloud, though Soundcloud is not one of the more popular podcast directories. With that said, everything matters. Twitter allows Soundcloud audio to play natively inside the Twitter stream, which is a big deal if yours or your guests have a significant Twitter following. Don’t be afraid to reshare the podcast episode 3 times the first day on Twitter and twice to Facebook within the week that it goes live.
Use Video If You Can
2021 will be the year that video will account for 82% of all internet content. Websites with video will enjoy a boosted Google ranking and podcasts that also have video posted to YouTube will enjoy greater online visibility.
With your podcast already recorded, assuming that it is purely audio, try and convert that audio to video for publishing on YouTube. If you did not happen to record the video of your podcast, you can easily create an audiogram using a service called Auphonic or Waave.
When your video is ready for uploading, be selective about how you Title the episode when publishing to YouTube. If you happened to interview someone, include that person’s name at the start of your title and also include the word “interview” as this is a good move for basic search visibility.
Use Podcast Aggregators to Maximize Visibility
Dozens of apps are designed to play podcasts. The more you’re on, the easier it will be for new listeners to find you. If your show is already live on iTunes, it is also automagically added to a podcatcher called Podcastland.
The most successful podcasts often offer a full transcript of their shows. Whether you choose to provide a full transcript or just selected excerpts is a matter of resources: time and money. Services such as Rev.com are available to transcribe your audio at a cost that is typically $1 per minute.
A transcript of your show is often a huge SEO booster as it ensures full and proper indexing by Google’s search bots.
If you happen to include a transcript of each episode on your podcast’s website, let it also be combined with lead capture forms, show notes, and things that open doors to new sponsors or listeners.
One of the tools that our friend, Michelle Mendoza of the MyMichelleLive podcast, loves is called Descript. This tool offers podcast editing, transcription, and other powerful features that will help you in your pursuit of excellence. Also, with plans ranging from $0 to $24 for most users, it won’t cost you an arm and leg to try out.
Now What? Next Steps Towards New Growth
Start by setting a specific audience growth goal. Write down exactly how many subscribers you have today and also note how many you want (or need) by a specific date in the future. Is what you are doing today in support of your goal? If not, let’s start asking some questions.
Are you currently able to leverage a great-looking logo and podcast album banners to create a strong first impression? What does your brand look like across all social pages and does it match up at iTunes and elsewhere? What does your brand look like relative to the #1 show in your niche?
What about your website? Have you launched a professional-looking podcast site that allows for easy sharing of content and fan engagement? Many podcast hosting providers, such as Captivate, not only host your podcasts but they also offer the ability to use a templated website. These templates are typically great when first starting a podcast but they offer very little flexibility and customization. It’s easy to outgrow these.
Platforms like WordPress and Webflow offer much more flexibility for show hosts that are extremely active and that leverage a blog for growth. They also are very easy to use such that non-technical users can make basic text, video, and image updates on the fly.
Unlike some of the more templated websites, designing your own, customized blog is a really strong way to improve your online visibility. With flexibility, it will help you:
Digital Marketing Insights from Texas’ Hottest Digital Agency
SEO is an excellent way to make customers aware of your business, product, or service online. However, if you want local clients to find your business online, you need to localize your marketing strategy including your search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. Local SEO optimizes a website so that it shows up in the local search results. Some of the most common terms are “restaurants near me” or “hospitals near me.” Statistics show that 72% of customers who conduct local searches visit the physical store located within a five-mile radius.
So why is it important for you as a marketer to localize your SEO? Local search marketing makes your business visible online so that customers who search similar businesses like yours will get wind of your company. This method is designed to drive more customers to your site and increase your sales performance. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, helps your business grow using various online tools that promote your brand and engage your customers.
As you read on, we’ll dive into the details of how you can dominate local search optimization and build a solid marketing campaign. We’ll show you how these tools and strategies can help move your business to the next level.
What Consumers Search for in Online Listings
Source: Blue Corona
Why Use Local SEO?
Marketers know the value of numbers and statistics, especially when it comes to understanding customer behavior. According to a study, four out of five consumers use online search engines to locate and find information about a business, product, or service. Local searches result in higher purchases versus non-local searches. Customers also prefer to search companies that are located nearby with addresses and phone numbers listed in their ads.
Businesses that utilize local SEO strategies are more likely to generate higher sales from the local niche market. Therefore, you should start adapting the principles of local SEO and digital marketing to move your company to the top rankings. The more people who come across your brand, the more chances you can convert these leads to sales.
The Benefits of Using Local SEO
With the information above, it’s imperative that marketers take advantage of this data to maximize SEO campaigns. Here are some of the reasons why you should start localizing your SEO campaigns and how they can help boost your sales.
Builds online visibility
Improves search rankings
Strengthens your presence in the local market
Reaches a more targeted audience
Drives more traffic to your website
Improves visibility from relevant searches
Local visibility leads to more customers and purchases
Improves relevance through link building and content marketing
Improves reputation and trust from customers
Leads to repeat purchases
Increases your sales profit
Increases visibility in Google Maps
Ranking on top of the local search engine results is one of the indicative signs of a successful digital marketing campaign. However, this strategy is often overlooked by many businesses that are struggling to generate more sales.
By building an efficient local SEO and digital marketing strategy, you’ll be able to maximize the available tools to help propel your business forward. If you want to grow your business further, companies like Red Stag Fulfillment provide quality shipment and fulfillment services to support your sales and marketing strategy.
How to Use Local SEO and Make it Work for your Business?
To strengthen and dominate local search visibility online, you need to optimize your company’s information. This helps position your business in the right places so that customers can easily find everything they need in one click. To optimize your searches, you’ll need to provide accurate information including your company address, website, email, and phone number.
This information will direct search engines to directories that show your location and other relevant information. On the other hand, if your listing provides the wrong information, it can negatively affect your local ranking results.
Some of the sites you should consider listing your company are Google My Busines, Yahoo!, Bing Places for Business, Yelp, and Facebook. Before you proceed, make sure to verify if all information is correct and consistent across all platforms. Signing up at these websites can significantly improve your visibility in local search rankings.
What is Inbound Marketing?
Inbound marketing is a strategy used to grow your business by driving customers to your website. Directing potential buyers to your site allows you to promote your product or service and create awareness about your brand. The main concept of this strategy is to attract, engage, and delight customers.
By attracting the right market using relevant content, you can actively engage customers better. Once you create a conversation with your customers, the higher the chance you can convert the potential customer into a sale. At the same time, you are inspiring your customers to purchase and enjoy your product or service.
How to Dominate Local Search with Inbound Marketing
A lot of businesses rely on local SEO to gain better rankings in Google’s search engine. With recent updates, paid ads have higher visibility compared to organic search results. Thus, if you want to make sure your business stands out then you need to find ways to improve your organic search rankings.
Optimize your Local SEO
SEO plays a huge role in digital marketing campaigns. An effective SEO campaign can significantly improve your brand’s visibility on the search engine result pages (SERP). The goal is to get your website visible on the first page.
One way to do that is to optimize your keywords so that when people search for relevant topics, your site will show up at the results. You can also link your content to reputable websites to help move up your website in the organic search results.
Maximize link-building opportunities
Link building is one of the key factors in a successful inbound marketing campaign. One way to get high-quality backlinks is by offering to replace broken links in high-performing sites and posts with your website link in exchange for content. Another strategy is to collaborate with influencers by linking your content to their posts. You can also become a guest blogger and provide resources about the topic by linking your website.
Another option is to research your competitors and identify which websites are linking their content. Check their domain authority, relevant domains, and perform link outreach to those domains. The more links you have, the higher the chance your customers will find you.
Use Local and Longtail Keywords
Optimizing your keywords can improve your rankings. The first thing users see on the SERP is your heading. Make sure your title and description best describe what your business is all about. Add local keywords to your description and relevant tags.
Some examples of longtail keywords are “best Italian restaurant” or “cheapest hotel in New York.” These keywords should be relevant to your business, telling people exactly what it is you have to offer.
Encourage customer reviews
Most online buyers read reviews before deciding to buy a product or service. They are looking for validation that yours is the right product/service for them.
So whenever you can, take the opportunity to encourage customers to write about their experiences. This also creates more opportunities to build links. While there may be a chance of getting a bad review occasionally, all you need is more positive feedbacks to build up your reputation.
Create compelling content
Your website’s content should be interesting enough to keep customers engaged. The longer they stay on your page, the higher your ranking will be. So, how can captivate your audience?
Start by writing high-quality articles that showcase your expertise. You can also feature local events relevant to your brand. Another option is to launch a podcast, webinar, or video series. These strategies can help you attract more potential customers and engage them by bringing life to your brand. After all, when it comes to digital marketing, content is king.
Utilize Google My Business Listing
As alluded to earlier, Google My Business page helps improve your local ranking. It provides a huge opportunity for businesses to show up in the local search results for every relevant search. All you need to do is claim your listing, verify your account, input the complete details, and link it to your website.
You can also upload hi-resolution photos of your business. Once the information is set up and customers review your business, the search engine will optimize it as a local listing.
Final Thoughts
One of the most effective digital marketing practices is localizing your SEO campaigns. To generate a successful ranking on SERPs, you’ll need to identify the best keywords relevant to your business, understand the available tools to help you improve your local rankings, and engage your customers. Local SEO can help you grow your business by increasing brand awareness, driving people to your site, and ultimately, generating more sales.
SEO campaigns take time so you’ll have to be patient with the results. Some local SEO campaigns can take from several months to a year before you can see the results. Just make sure to make the most of your campaign by crafting killer content, improving your local listings across all platforms, making sure all information is correct, consistent, and using quality keywords.
Following the steps above can help your business become more visible online. Localizing your SEO with a well-planned inbound marketing strategy will help you achieve a successful marketing campaign.
To learn how Local SEO can help your business, contact us today!
Google algorithms are the key to every single search — expedited, run, & executed every second. These algorithms are complex systems used to retrieve data from its search index and instantly deliver the best possible query results.
The search engine uses algorithms and numerous ranking factors to deliver web pages, ranked by relevance on its search engine results pages (SERPs). Google possesses a long history of famous and functional algorithm updates, search index changes, and refreshes.
In its early years, Google only made a handful of updates to its algorithms. Now, Google makes thousands of changes every year. Most of these updates are so slight that they go completely unnoticed. However, on occasion, the search engine rolls out major algorithmic updates that significantly impact the SERPs.
At Agency Partner Interactive, we leverage your brand through precision digital marketing and help you take full advantage of Google’s core updates. We are not your average digital agency. We work to understand your business and leverage technology and marketing solutions to generate revenue and increase profits. To do this, we don’t hire just anyone.
Like Silicon Valley’s most impressive tech firms, we take ownership in everything we do, and our fully distributed business model enables us to offer the absolute best digital marketers, software developers, and designers on Earth.
To top it off, our clients enjoy an average 40 to 60% reduction in their cost of investment without any compromises, and our SEO digital marketing experts provide the key insights, core web-vitals, search index changes, and Search Engine Optimization while catering to Google search visibility seamlessly.
Google’s core updates, 2017 to present.
As far back as 2017, Google has started to refer to bigger updates as Google core updates. Since then, there is even less transparency about what those updates are and which parts of the search they are intended to improve. SEOs would often track post-update ranking shifts and figure out what exactly had changed, but there is rarely a conclusive observation. Google core updates are likely just improvements on previous Google updates or perhaps bundles of smaller updates tied together.
Since the effects of Google core updates are often unknown, one thing you can do is track SERP history for the keywords you are targeting. Once the update happens, you can check which of your competitors have moved up or down in rankings and make an educated guess about the contributing factors.
To start tracking your SERP history, launch Rank Tracker, Target Keywords > Rank Tracking > SERP Analysis, and click Record SERP data. The tool will start tracking the top 30 SERP positions for each of your keywords.
Understanding the BERT update.
Hazards: Poorly written content, lack of focus & lack of context.
This Google algorithm update uses natural language processing technology to understand search queries better, interpret text, identify entities and relationships between entities. We’ve seen Panda, Hummingbird, and RankBrain updates move away from keywords, and the BERT update is the culmination of this effort — it allows Google to understand much more nuance in both queries and search results.
We’ve finally lived to see the day when Google is actually rewarding good writing. Like never before, it is important to strive for a meaningful copy. It means you should go easy on fluff words and adopt an expository style of writing.
It is also a good idea to do entity research when creating copy — including relevant entities helps create a context for your content. We at Agency Partner Interactive provide you the level-playing field you need to advance your digital website and brand through good SEO content and marketing.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Google: Algorithm Updates 2021” instead. Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
When you think of the internet today, you think of “social media,” don’t you? They weren’t always so interchangeable. One came before the other, but one forced the other to evolve. And with that, so did we.
Current Social Media Platforms in Order of Popularity:
As of Jan. 2021, according to a report published by Statista, Facebook alone recorded at least 2,740,000 active users. Not far behind were Youtube and WhatsApp, with Messenger, Instagram, and WeChat trailing behind. Tik Tok ranked seventh.
Where we can now find limited storage online for free due to services like cloud computing, there was a time when intellectual property as we know it, used to be stored somewhere physically, and there were costs associated with that, too. So much has changed since. Our livelihoods and businesses now depend on social media as a tool to keep bread and butter on the table, especially evident after the year that we just had.
This pressure to hop on the bandwagon that is the internet today has only grown since it’s debut, and it’s not stopping anytime soon.
Last it was recorded, about five million people were actively using social media, and that number continues to rise at exponential rates.
But, fret not. As your friends who keep constant watch over the digital market, we’ve compiled a list of tips, tricks, and tools for making social media work for you. Before we go on to overwhelm you with the facts, allow us to first remind you that everyone, every company, every small business that influences us today, had to start from somewhere.
Where to Begin:
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be everywhere at once. Start with where you are and with the audience you have today.
Say you’re on Instagram and it’s where you’ve found the most potential thus far, develop that before you branch out and add another network under your management. Professionals will go ahead and secure usernames and URLs in advance to not have to deal with the hassle of obtaining them later on. It’s also good marketing as it shows consistency across platforms.
Some general rules to keep in mind (maybe your bylaws, too):
Do Not: Treat people as leads.
Do: Yes, you want the close, you want the deliverables, the hard sell, but don’t miss out on the social aspect of social media. People hop online to take a break from their day, to find inspiration in a quote, a meme to share with loved ones.
Think: How are we engaging with our followers? What tone do we have online? Is there a big holiday coming up that we can prepare content for in advance, maybe a “Happy #NationalBringYourCatToWork Day?” tweet for the Twitter feed?
Do Not: Leave leads unattended.
Do: Follow through on the conversations you’re having. Socializing is important, but so is the service you’re providing, and studies show that 71% of users are more likely to buy from a company following a positive online experience. The whole appeal behind social media is the instant gratification that it delivers; you don’t have to wait to hear back from your audience. Set up a poll, they’ll tell you exactly how they feel and how they want it. Study those interactions.
Consumer data adds to any company’s intelligence, especially if they can make sense of it.
Think: Are we user-friendly? What’s our response time online? Where are we getting the most impressions for? Where are we seeing the least amount of engagement? Should we be allocating our resources elsewhere?
Do Not: Post to post.
Do: Create S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Social media can feel like a chore to the best of us, especially when we’re scrambling at the last minute for content or guilt-posting for not being active enough. And the smaller you are, the more hats you might find yourself wearing at work. Sales and general business goals are good to keep, but neglect creating a social media strategy and you’ll feel disconnected, unaligned with your goals.
Posting for the sake of posting is like shooting in the dark, but having a SMART outcome in mind will help keep you on track to achieve your desired goal.
Think: Do we have a digital marketing strategy in place? How much time can we afford to put aside for social media use each day? Is there a minimum and maximum we can set for day-to-day interactions? For example, one might choose to devote 15 minutes of their day to like and respond to 10 comments in total, with 5 re-shares spaced throughout. Is there a system here that I’m missing, that I could maybe automate for ease of use in the future? Would templates come in handy here?
These are all great questions to have answers to, especially as resources tend to trim down the smaller a business goes.
When was the last time you clicked on ‘Page 2’ of a Google search? Exactly. The web has a variety of algorithms at work, all unique to the browser or search engine you have running, not to mention that those backend formulas are also constantly undergoing updates.
Think: Are we using the right hashtags? Is our meta data clear and concise? Have we claimed our Google My Business (GMB) listing yet? What’s our page download speed looking like? Can we do better?
Next, as promised, the toolkit!
“A big business starts small.”
-Richard Branson
Since small businesses come in different shapes and sizes, each unique to the solution they’re offering, it’s only fair that we offer a few selections for you to explore in case one or even two out of four of our options don’t fit. Frankly, the internet is full of amazing resources just like these ones, but we hope this serves as a place for you to start…
We’re also on standby if you’d like to chat! Okay, here we go:
For Content Inspiration or Social Media Monitoring:
Most of these programs come free or low-of-cost, so they’re perfect for entrepreneurs with a tighter budget, but as your business grows, you might find that these tools no longer deliver due to their limited capabilities. At that point, it might be time to look at marketing ROI instead.
As always, we’ll be here for that conversation. In the meantime, feel free to explore our resource pool here.
SEO blog Interview: Dallas SEO Expert Adam Rizzieri from
Agency Partner Interactive
We’re excited to have interviewed Dallas SEO Expert Adam Rizzieri, from Agency Partner Interactive, for the next installment of our Featured SEO Expert Series!
Adam Rizzieri is a marketing expert, small business owner, and big tech critic. With over 15 years of experience in digital marketing, Rizzieri was one of the first media buyers on Facebook and among the first to work in the SAG-AFTRA New Media (WebTV) industry, serving the online advertorial needs of major advertisers.
He regularly contributes to national radio and television programs. Weekly, he can be heard speaking about big tech, Section 230, and small business topics on Fox, Entercom/CBS Radio, Cumulus Media, and iHeartRadio news stations.
Agency Partner Interactive became the 28th fastest-growing privately-owned company in Texas, according to Inc. Magazine. In 2021, Agency Partner was honored as part of the SMU Cox-Caruth Institute “Dallas 100” list of high-growth businesses.
What would you say is unique and/or challenging about the Amazon SEO industry?
The world of SEO includes consideration for three primary types of searches: navigational, informational, and transactional. The interesting challenge with Amazon SEO is that almost every search is transactional. To win the Amazon SEO game, marketers must know how to optimize product pages for relevance and performance.
Success depends on an artistic ability to utilize the right combination of keywords on the front- and back-ends of the product pages alongside expertise in choosing the best product pricing relative to the competition.
How does your agency stand out in a crowded market?
Our cross-channel marketing strategies help boost sales for Amazon sellers. But it’s not just about that one sale from a customer – it’s about how we help Amazon sellers get better access to their customers. One of the biggest complaints that we hear from most Amazon sellers is the fact that they do not get much access to their customers who purchase products through Amazon.
Our goal is to help Amazon sellers find creative ways also to acquire the customer data that Amazon typically keeps to itself. By offering certain things at the time of fulfillment, sellers can incentivize loyalty from existing customers and also open the door to future, direct sales that cut Amazon out.
Can you share a success story from a local digital marketing campaign centered around your area?
At the start of the pandemic, March 2020 is when things in our region shut down. One of our clients, a home services company, relies on a very local marketing target. A services provider, the client visits the homes of its customers to service their property. As other businesses shut down, we realized that our clients could still serve the needs of their customers in a way that was safe.
By combining a local SEO campaign with an aggressive pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, we were able to help our client gain the number of clicks, impressions, and conversions to gain record-high sales for four months in a row!
From 50 leads per month to 200 leads per month, measured through calls and form submissions, we helped to double our client’s business despite COVID-19.
What is the best advice you ever received in business?
Seek to understand every conflict as aggressively as you seek to understand every success. Working to understand ‘how we do it instead of looking back on ‘what we did’ has helped me improve our process and boost the quality of our work.
What do you think is the most important quality that makes an agency truly great?
Agility and experience are what make an agency great. To have experience implies that you have a team assembled of industry veterans that have ‘been there, done that, and who know what it will take to make a campaign be successful.
To be agile means that you can quickly adapt to a changing market, and you are able to rapidly create the right kind of value when it matters.
Any predictions for the future of SEO?
The future of SEO concerns me. There are some changes that are being discussed in Congress that may impact how and when private companies are able to make changes to what their search algorithms give preference to.
While I do not anticipate this happening in the United States anytime soon, legislation in Australia recently passed that dictates how companies like Google and Facebook can update their algorithms.
What is your reaction when you hear that “SEO is dying”?
When I hear “SEO is dying” I assume that it either came from a content writer who is seeking to utilize a provocative headline, or I assume that it is being spoken by an uninformed marketer or business manager.
The fact is that SEO is far from dead and it continues to be driven by great content and the pursuit of providing great user experiences.
What do you think is the most important contributor to keeping clients happy?
Aligning around shared goals, measuring success and discussing marketing campaigns during monthly strategy and analytics calls, and ensuring that marketing is considerate of all stakeholders contribute to keeping clients happy every month.
We like to set annual performance goals and then use our monthly meetings to measure our progress and make campaign updates as necessary. At the end of each year, the data doesn’t lie, and marketing’s success should be completely measurable.
Expert Tips For 5 Ways to Generate Leads with Your Website
If you market using pay-per-click, social media, and many other online methods, your website is the backbone of your business. Your website is the destination you redirect every ad and potential customer to.
Online marketing strategies work best when paired with an appealing website with clear and preferably concise guidance on what action you want visitors of your site to take. The clearer you make your desired action, the more likely visitors are to convert.
In this article, we will discuss five ways to generate leads using your website.
Create a welcoming homepage
Just as you would into your home, you should welcome visitors to your website – both new and repeat visitors alike.
Your homepage is often a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s one of your most frequented pages. On the other hand, it’s also one of the easiest places to lose visitors.
The homepage is your first impression. It’s a good rule of thumb to keep content and information on this page concise, clean, and compact.
Consider creating a welcome gate. To keep things welcoming yet clean and compact, it should slide out of the way after a few seconds, and there should be a way for users to dismiss it if they would like to.
You can use your welcome gate to tell users about your services and other offerings. You can also use it to point them in the direction of other informative pages and/or ask them questions and provide them with actionable options based on their response.
At Agency Partner, we use our homepage to tell visitors about our business, provide a little background info, and advertise our services.
Keep your messaging fresh
Businesses are multifaceted. Rarely if ever, does a business offer one singular service. If this applies to you, then rotating your messaging regularly is absolutely crucial.
You want visitors to know about all the services you offer but putting mountains and mountains of text on pages isn’t the most effective way to get your message across.
Try an interactive, changing banner. This often displays as the main tagline with one or two words switching in rotation.
You can use an interactive changing banner to touch on the ways your services help the audience(s) you serve.
For example, Agency Partner helps businesses with digital marketing services, strategy and consulting, app and web design, search engine optimization (SEO), and much more.
Offer a lead incentive.
Visitors to your website have no real reason to give you their email or any other contact info. Offering a lead incentive, otherwise known as a lead magnet, gives visitors a tangible reason to share their information.
Lead incentives are usually digital products like e-books, worksheets, tip lists, checklists, free trials, etc.
Once you provide visitors with something of value, they are usually more than happy to give you their information in return. When they do, you can keep in touch with them and begin the process of nurturing them as leads.
Incorporate live chat
In today’s society, people like things to be quick, but we still enjoy genuine interaction with another person; using live chat software on your website provides a good mix of both.
Live chat allows you to talk to visitors and address their concerns before they have the chance to click away. And it’s a proven way to keep customers happy and increase conversion rates.
If you can’t be online 24/7, you can connect with customers by using chatbots that respond instantly and take care of the inquiries that come up regularly.
Grab visitor’s attention before they go
When people are about to leave your website, you’ve got a short window of time to grab their attention and keep them engaged.
While regular pop-ups should be kept simple, you can use more detailed exit pop-ups to promote a specific part of your service and/or products to convince people to stay on your site or at least to share their email addresses with you.
Bonus
Let Agency Partner help you.
If you need help generating more leads from your website, drop us a line and let Agency Partnerhelp you, your website, and your business all reach their full potential.
Whether you want a simple consultation to discuss ways to improve your marketing efforts or you would like a full analysis and overhaul of your marketing strategies, we are here to serve you.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “5 Ways to Generate Leads with Your Website.” instead. Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
Expert Tips For Google Penalty and How do I Recover?
Just like your parents used to punish you for doing a crappy job on the dishes, or your English teacher gave you a zero after reviewing your term paper and realizing you copied it off the Internet, Google also gives penalties to websites.
A Google penalty, in essence is a punishment given to a website containing content that does not align with Google’s marketing practices.
Types of Google Penalties
Routine algorithm updates intended to reward high-quality websites that have good content and legitimate SEO practices are commonly confused as Google penalties.
Although algorithm penalties do occur, a routine algorithm update can easily be mistaken for a Google penalty because algorithms rely heavily on calculations and rules to deliver the desired outcome – not allowing for much gray area.
Manual penalties – often easier to identify because they frequently come accompanied by messages from Google to your webmaster account happened typically after Google has flagged something, usually content or a backlink, and Google decides to manually apply a penalty to your website’s rankings.
Common Issues Websites Receive Penalties For
Suspicious links – because Google uses backlinks as a way of tracking quality control for websites that will penalize you if they believe the link on your site was paid for or is believed to be a part of a link scheme.
One example of this would be low-quality, hidden, or keyword-rich links embedded in a site’s widgets.
Because backlinks are so specific, penalties for these are often limited to specific pages rather than an entire website.
Low-quality content – obviously Google wants to provide their users with the best information and experience possible. If your content does not add value, is run-of-the-mill, or believed to be a duplicate from another site you can expect a penalty.
To help avoid the trap of crappy content being on your website, invest time in thinking about what makes you unique and sets you apart from your competitors.
Ask yourself: what is my unique selling proposition?
Try to avoid content that is easily or automatically generated, and if your site allows for guest posts, carefully review their content because if it doesn’t add value you probably don’t need it.
This type of penalty is severely detrimental to your website traffic. This is usually a manual action accompanied by a message from Google indicating “thin content.”
Recovering from a Google Penalty
Just as with many other issues in life you can’t resolve an issue until you completely identify and understand what the issue is. This same logic applies to Google penalties. Before you can begin to recover from a Google penalty you have to understand what type of penalty you’re dealing with.
As mentioned earlier, you need to distinguish whether you’re dealing with a manual penalty one triggered by an algorithm, or is there even a penalty action present?
For instance, if you noticed a recent decline in your website traffic, you need to do some digging to figure out the cause of your traffic decline. Because for each cause of a penalty there are different resolution processes.
Identifying Manual Penalties
To check if you have been hit by manual action, you need to go to Google Webmaster Toolsand check your notifications. If Google has taken manual action against your site, you’ll be notified about it clearly in your notifications and oftentimes they will give you the reasoning behind the action.
Identifying Algorithmic Penalties
While identifying manual penalties is a pretty easy and straightforward process the same cannot be said for penalties caused by algorithms.
Because algorithm related penalties don’t come with a notification from Google you will have to do a lot of your own research to isolate the issue if you suspect you have been hit with a penalty.
Take a look at the entire span of time for which your website has declined in traffic. Make a note of it and see if Google announced any algorithm updates that correspond with the timeframe you’ve isolated.
Be mindful that each update comes with its own set of changes so you will need to know how each update is different so that you don’t waste time looking for things that may or may not have been affected.
Is your Website Optimized Properly?
Not every decline in website traffic can or should be attributed to a Google penalty.
If you notice a decline in your website traffic and have done some digging but still can’t figure out what’s going on, it could be because your digital marketing strategies are no longer effective and need an overhaul.
Whether you have been hit by a manual penalty from Google or one triggered by a routine algorithm update all hope is not lost.
Agency Partner and our team of digital marketing experts can get your website back up and running again – better than ever.
Drop us a line and let’s figure out the best course of action for you today!
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “What Is a Google Penalty and How do I Recover?” instead. Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
It’s October, and the coronavirus (COVID-19) is still leaving an indelible impact on the world. While the White House says a vaccine is coming shortly, there’s no news yet on how widely available it will be, who will be eligible to get the vaccine first, or how effective it will be at stopping the spread of COVID-19 and allowing the world – and businesses like yours – to return back to normal. The simple fact is that both large corporations and small businesses have felt the effects of extended lock-down periods that, more than eight months into this global pandemic, are still limiting normal face-to-face interactions and commerce, and for some brick and mortar businesses, restricting the number of people you can have in your storefront at one time, thus slashing your revenue potential.
COVID-19 has been an unprecedented event that hasn’t been seen since at least the Spanish Flu of 1918. This means many business leaders, marketers, and even politicians are struggling with how to proceed during these difficult times, especially since the pandemic has endured for so long and there’s no foreseeable end in sight.
As a result, businesses across the country are going bankrupt and closing for good, especially small businesses. If you want to avoid this event from happening to your company, here are some ways you can make your business survive – and also thrive – in a pandemic.
Can You Grow Your Business During the COVID-19 Crisis?
The answer to this question certainly depends on the type of business you are currently operating. Overall, the need for business has never been eliminated nor will it be diminished in the coming months.
People still have the need and desire to shop for groceries, buy essential products, and lead the lives they were used to living. Do you operate an essential business? Are the products and services you have still attractive to your target audience during this pandemic?
If not, what can you do to pivot to create products or obtain inventory that will be in high-demand given your state or local municipality’s coronavirus restrictions? From retailers offering curbside pickup to commercial airlines providing cargo flights, our economy is full of several examples of companies that have transformed their way of doing business to either maintain their clientele or open up new revenue streams in the midst of COVID-19.
If your business’s revenue has decreased because of the coronavirus and you’re fighting tooth and nail to keep your doors open, what can you do to remain relevant and continue to operate despite consumers’ changed behavior or state or local restrictions related to your industry? These are the questions you need to be asking yourself to survive – and thrive – in a pandemic.
What’s the Best Marketing Strategy During the COVID-19 Crisis?
This has been a frequently asked question since country-wide lockdowns began. Even high-level marketers had genuine and desperate questions about how they could revamp their marketing strategies.
To answer all questions, the most important thing to do now is to continue growing your online presence. With more people working from home or staying at home to avoid large crowds or help their kids with online schooling, COVID-19 has caused internet usage to spike by 70% this year. Having a strong online presence will be vital in driving your marketing strategy forward.
With that said, here are some questions you should ask yourself during this pandemic regarding your marketing strategy:
Does your business already have an online presence? If not, you need a website now. Even if you’re a small boutique and can’t ship product, creating a website for your customers to browse and then purchase curbside can boost your revenue during these trying times.
Does your business have an intuitive, responsive, and well-built website? If you think your website is outdated, what can you do to make it more modern?
Does your business have a stable search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing strategy in place?
Have you measured the user experience of your website?
These are fundamental questions you should ask to begin the steps of improving your marketing strategy.
How to Adapt Your Marketing Strategy
Social distancing and other preventative measures have made conducting traditional business near-impossible.
Trade shows and events, for example, are now nonexistent and have all moved online, if that. Like never before, you have to be quick to modify your marketing strategy, especially if you’ve heavily relied on events and customer visits in the past.
Here are some things you should keep in mind if you want to sell your offerings more effectively:
Increase the functionality of your e-commerce store to allow your customers to order your products and goods directly.
Online deliveries are very common now. Make sure you provide a convenient and inexpensive delivery service to your customers.
Add features to your website to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as online booking.
Update your Google My Business profile to reflect your business hours. This is very important in regards to user experience, especially if your hours have changed due to COVID-19.
Provide webinars instead of face-to-face meetings.
People have all sorts of questions. Create a live chat feature on your website or post FAQs to give your audience the answers they need. As a bonus, live chat makes it easier for your employees who are working from home to professionally answer your customers’ questions without their kids, dogs, or the neighbor’s lawn mower creating background noise.
Increase your email marketing, and even consider deploying marketing automation, to reach customers that you can’t visit in person or have difficulty calling due to employees working from home and having too much background noise in their makeshift workspaces. Email marketing is also a great way to inform your customers about any special promotions you may be offering or restocked inventory of essential items that have been flying off the shelf.
Another tip we want to go into detail here is to continue creating great content. With internet usage going up, it stands to reason that more people are reading online content such as blogs. Content is a major part of digital marketing.
It not only educates an audience but it also guides them throughout the process of initial interest in becoming a loyal customer. For example, if you are running an online business, you will still need to attract qualified leads and convert them. Research from HubSpot shows that companies that blog see 126% more leads growth compared to companies that don’t.
Conversion comes through exceptional and engaging content, in which a prospect finds awareness of your products and services, becomes interested in what you have to offer, and finally comes to a point of decision.
Whether your company is in the B2B or B2C industry sector, focus your efforts on creating purposeful content that assists your audience’s development in your sales funnel. Blogs with images are great, and videos help convert leads at high rates. Video viewers are anywhere between 64-85% more likely to buy from you then website visitors who don’t view your video content.
Give Us a Call Today!
Do you want to revamp your current marketing strategy to survive and thrive during COVID-19? Are you searching for ways to improve the scalability of your business? If so, then you’ve come to the right place. Give us a call today at (214) 295-5845 or click here to Get a Free Quote to speak to a member today.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “How to Make Your Business Survive (and Thrive) in a Pandemic” instead.
Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
Expert Tips For How to Reduce Your Website Bounce Rate
If you look at Google Analytics, you can see the number of pages your website visitors have viewed after visiting a specific page on your website. The percentage of website visitors who viewed only a single page then left your website for good, make up your bounce rate.
On the Internet, we should expect some percentage of our website visitors to bounce. After all, sometimes people click on a link thinking it’s one thing, but it’s actually not what they wanted. But if you have a high bounce rate, such as a bounce rate over 70%, you really need to think about the digital marketing efforts you’ve deployed to drive viewers to your website, and the content you create for them to find.
High bounce rates are one of the reasons our agency works with so many clients on website optimization and refocusing digital marketing efforts. Companies like yours want to drive quality leads to their websites and increase their conversion rates. However, for one reason or another, they’re driving traffic to their website that bounces. If you have a high bounce rate, here are some website optimization tips to reduce your bounce rate and boost your conversion rate.
Reduce Your Bounce Rate By Keeping Your Digital Marketing Campaigns Targeted
Digital marketing campaigns can drive a lot of leads. But sometimes, overzealous digital marketing means you drive too many low-quality leads.
Think about this example. Let’s say you make work boots to be used on construction sites, in factories, and in other rugged, outdoor job sites. You have a product line that has extra lining and is perfect for outdoor workers who live where temperatures drop dramatically in the fall and winter. As you’re creating your Google Ads campaign for this shoe line, you may think about including the keyword “Boots for Fall.” But doing so would be too broad of a term, especially considering that boots are very fashionable in the fall season and you could inadvertently drive people to your website looking for boots to complement their outfits, not outfit them for their cold field environment. Instead, you need to include targeted terms like “rugged,” “outdoor,” “job site,” and “construction” to better drive high-quality leads to your website who are less likely to bounce and more likely to boost your conversion rate.
SEO Web Content Can Help You Reduce Your Bounce Rate
SEO – which stands for search engine optimization – is extremely important in driving organic traffic to your website. If you aren’t incorporating relevant keywords tied to your company, products, and brand in your web content – including your websites and blog posts – you aren’t going to get discovered by the people who are really interested in what you have to offer.
One of the most important things you can do during website optimization is to update your web content for SEO purposes. To do so, you can:
Rely on your most popular Google Ad keywords and incorporate them into your web copy.
Use Google’s Keyword Planner to find new relevant keywords to incorporate into your content.
Leverage a third-party paid solution for keywords discovering and planning in your website content.
Does this sound like too much work for you to handle in-house? Don’t worry! As a digital marketing agency, we perform SEO website optimization and both find the best keywords for your websites and blogs and create that content, too.
A/B Test Your Web Content to Reduce Your Bounce Rate
As a digital marketing agency, we can’t stress enough just how important it is to A/B test your website. This sort of testing helps you identify the best combination of text and images that work for your website’s design. No matter how creative or on-target you think a new update might be, you don’t know how it’ll perform until it’s up and live.
But if you wipe the slate clean by pushing out new content and abandoning your old content, you run the risk that your new content won’t resonate, and will cause your bounce rate to jump even higher!
Instead, we always recommend you make incremental website changes and A/B test them to see whether the old, or new, performs the best. When it comes to website optimization to reduce your bounce rate, performance isn’t necessarily a conversion but is actually a decreased bounce rate when a viewer lands on that page.
Improve Your Websites Speed to Reduce Your Bounce Rate
Today’s Internet users are impatient. Did you know that 53% of mobile website users will bounce if it takes more than three seconds for your website to load? Google knows this too (it’s their statistic) which is why website loading speed is factored into their search algorithm that ranks search results. So, by increasing your website’s load rate, you’re killing two birds with one stone – you’re appeasing impatient mobile searchers and improving your search engine rankings.
The Google Page Speed tool helps you optimize all your landing pages for high-speed loading. Following best practices for image optimization and caching can help shed time off your website’s loading speed, too.
Use Social Proof to Reduce Your Bounce Rate
If a new website visitor has never heard of you before, they may be skeptical about your product or brand. Sure, you say it’s great, but what do other people have to say about it?
This is why social proof – such as testimonials and badges from organizations you’re a member of or awards you’ve won – is so important. In fact, research shows that 84% of today’s savvy Internet users trust the recommendation of an online stranger just as much as they trust a recommendation from a friend or family member. That’s how important it is to include social proof on your landing pages.
We Can Help You With Website Optimization
Whether you’ve tried optimizing your website to reduce your bounce rate and increase your conversion rate and are spinning your wheels, or you don’t have the internal resources to take on this project yourself, we’re here to help. As a digital marketing agency, we know how to create compelling web content that will keep visitors on your website and trigger them to convert. To start a conversation with us about your company’s needs, call us today at (214) 295-5845.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “How to Reduce Your Website Bounce Rate” instead.
Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
Expert Tips For How to Improve ECommerce Marketing in 2020
It’s 2020, and the future is here (as well as Coronavirus). While you may have created your Ecommerce website by yourself with Shopify or another out-of-the-box web design tool, you simply can’t go without an Ecommerce marketing agency in our ever-changing online environment. Marketing is part art, part science, and when it comes to marketing your Ecommerce site, it requires a lot of technical knowledge about search engines.
Marketing in 2020 also requires you to be especially aware of the unique opportunities created for online retailers in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
As an Ecommerce marketing agency and Ecommerce marketing experts, we’ve put together this blog post to share our best tips for marketing your website.
Always Run PPC Ads
PPC ads (pay-per-click ads) are a great way to drive traffic to your online retail website. While the most common PPC ads are on Google and YouTube, you can also run campaigns on Bing or on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and even on mobile devices.
In general, here are a few different types of PPC ads that you can choose from:
Paid search ads, which is when you bid on keywords. When someone searches those keywords and you win a bid, your ad is displayed on the search results page.
Display ads, which are shown on websites related to the keywords you have bid on, or are part of a remarketing campaign.
Product Listing ads, such as Google Shopping ads or Bing Shopping ads, which are perfect for eCommerce sites like yours.
Choosing all the settings for these ads, however, is an extremely technical task. In fact, there are people who spend their entire careers focused on search engine marketing! Trust us, you want to be working with an ecommerce marketing agency like ours for all your PPC ads to achieve the best ROI.
Your Website Must Be Search Engine Optimized (SEO) or It Won’t Be Discovered
In addition to paid traffic, you want your website to be found organically. But your site will never rank on Google if you aren’t deploying the most current SEO trends.
SEO is an entire sector of marketing that is entirely focused on getting web pages to rank highly on search engines like Google. Current things that help web pages rank include:
Using quality keywords throughout your webpage copy.
Optimizing web elements like title tags, image descriptions, and meta tags.
Creating a content marketing campaign that incorporates popular search terms related to your brand or product, such as a blog campaign.
Whether you need our help with web copy, content marketing, or something else, our Ecommerce marketing agency can fulfill all your SEO needs.
Make Sure You Have Social Proof Including Positive Reviews
It used to be that if you wanted to find a new product or service, you’d ask your friends and family. In 2020, that’s all changed.
New research shows that in 2020, 84% of people trust online reviews from complete strangers just as much as they trust the recommendations of their actual friends and family whom they know in real life. This news is great if you’ve got a 5-star rating on your Google My Business page. This is not-so-great news if your Google My Business is only filled with complaints, or perhaps even worse, has no feedback at all.
In E-commerce marketing, reviews fall under the umbrella of social proof. Social proof encompasses a wide variety of feedback from real users of your products or services that other online retail shoppers use to make a purchasing decision.
The type of social proof that your customers may consider include:
Reviews and ratings posted on your website, social media sites, and your Google My Business page.
Professional organizations that your business is a member of that you display on your website.
Awards you’ve won and mention on your website
Big press hits in major publications and websites that you showcase on your website, such as “As Seen in INC.”
Recommendations from social media Influencers who are relevant to your brand.
As an Ecommerce marketing agency, we can help you put together a plan to gather more social proof. Our work together may include:
Creating an incentive program for customers to leave an honest review of your product or service, and automating the request of these reviews.
Submitting your company, products, and services for industry-recognized or consumer awards.
Running a public relations campaign to increase media coverage of your Ecommerce website.
Working with social media Influencers, such as on Instagram, to give your brand a lift.
Ecommerce Marketing in the Age of Coronavirus
With more people working from home and taking breaks to surf the Internet, or helping their kids do school virtually, there’s never been a better time than now to be running Ecommerce marketing campaigns.
Internet traffic is up in 2020, which means that despite the challenges the economy has undergone this year, the Internet is still ripe with people who may be casually browsing online, but whom you can also quickly convert into customers when you present them with compelling content, messages, and social proof.
As an Ecommerce marketing agency, we’ve been diligently studying pandemic Ecommerce marketing. We know insider tips and tricks to help convert casual browsers who may be taking a break in between Zoom calls into paying customers.
Trust us, you don’t want to let 2020’s unique Ecommerce marketing opportunities pass you by.
Call Our Ecommerce Marketing Experts for Help with Your Campaigns
If you’re not yet working with an Ecommerce marketing agency, you need to be. 2020 is the most technically advanced year we’ve ever experienced, as well as a high Internet traffic year due to COVID-19 shutdowns. You don’t want to trust your Ecommerce marketing efforts to just anyone, and you definitely don’t want to go it alone without the help of Ecommerce marketing experts like us.
To start and implement an Ecommerce marketing strategy, call our agency to begin a discussion on your website’s unique needs. We can be reached at (214) 295-5845.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “ECommerce Marketing in 2020” instead.
Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
As the current resurgence of COVID19 cases in the US – especially in the Sunbelt – is showing eCommerce marketers like you, the COVID19 pandemic is going to stay with our country and the world for a while longer. But how can you best pivot your eCommerce marketing efforts to be sensitive about the COVID19 pandemic and its resurgence in the US while maintaining current customer engagement and finding potential new customers?
To help you stay relevant during these unprecedented times and maintain customer engagement, here are 3 eCommerce marketing strategies we recommend you deploy now.
Reach Out to Your Customer Base in an Authentic Way
COVID19 is affecting everything – from businesses to schools to the economy – so we know that it must be impacting your eCommerce business in some way too.
Your staff might be working remotely now – while also trying to keep their kids entertained or on target with distance learning milestones – which may mean that it’s taking longer for your team to respond to customer phone calls and emails. Or, you might be experiencing delays in your supply chain or shipping timeline, which means it’s taking longer for your products to get into your customers’ hands.
Whatever your eCommerce business’s unique case, make sure to send an email update to your current customer base about how you’re both responding to COVID19 and how it’s impacting your business. Also, create a special page on your website – with an easy-to-see alert on your homepage – for new customers to read about these impacts as well. For example:
If you’ve implemented a work-from-home policy, let your customers and prospects know, as well as any delays this new policy may have on customer service.
If your product shipments are taking longer to be received, give your customers a heads up so they won’t be left in the dark wondering where their packages are.
If you’re taking special precautions at your business location to make sure everything is properly sanitized to ensure a safer work environment for your employees, tell your customers. They’ll appreciate knowing you’re doing everything possible to protect your team.
If you’re doing anything special to support your community during this pandemic, such as donating a portion of sales to non-profits responding to COVID19 emergencies, share this information. Modern customers love hearing about corporate stewardship.
Whatever you do, don’t make promises you can’t keep. Adding a closing line to your customer email or COVID19 response web page such as, “Let us know if there’s anything else we can do to support you,” may sound helpful, but it could be easily misconstrued as carte blanche by some customers who have fallen on desperate times.
Instead, make supportive statements about your newly implemented policies you are ready to follow through on, such as promising a quick refund on a back-ordered item, and a full refund on an item that gets delayed in shipping by your predetermined amount of days, and so on.
Increase Customer Engagement Through Regular Social Media Updates
Social media has always been a great customer engagement tactic. But now that massive amounts of people are working from home and staying at home when they’re not working due to social distancing measures, more people are online now than ever before.
First, make sure to use your social media to communicate how COVID19 is impacting your business, just as was suggested in the tip above. Then, post content that is pandemic-sensitive to boost customer engagement.
For example, now’s not the time to be putting hard pushes on social media for a new product. And with many locations still having strict social distancing measures in place, it’s also not a good idea to encourage your followers to “venture out” or enjoy your products while “on a night out on the town.”
Instead, post social media content that checks in on how your customers are doing mentally and emotionally while being distanced from their friends and extended family members, juggling work and family obligations, shows how your products can assist them as they’re working remotely and social distancing, and highlights any community service or corporate stewardship you’re doing right now.
Use Your Blog – or Start Blogging if You Aren’t Already – To Increase Your Website’s SEO Value
Blogging has long been an important eCommerce marketingtask to increase the SEO value of your website. When you blog SEO content relevant to your eCommerce business, it increases the likelihood it’ll rank high in search engines, and thus makes your eCommerce site easier for new customers and prospects to find.
But blogging has other values outside of the SEO world.
People love consuming good content. And since they’re spending so much time online these days, they’re reading more if it. This means a blog you write with the intention of boosting your SEO eCommerce marketing efforts can also be repurposed in an email blast to customers or a social post on a platform like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. And best of yet, when your customers are reading your content as they’re spending their days inside their homes, they’re thinking about your brand and your products.
An Important Note on COVID19 Messaging
When you’re creating content specifically related to the pandemic, keep in mind that it can be a polarizing topic for some. If you’re a company that likes to put a flag in the ground and state your opinion on controversial issues, go for it and be true to your brand.
But if you want your messaging to be all-inclusive, keep a neutral tone in all content related to the pandemic.
Call Us for Help Pivoting Your eCommerce Marketing Strategy in the Midst of COVID19
Are you so deep in the trenches making your business work during this pandemic that you don’t have time to dedicate to pivoting your eCommerce marketing strategy? If so, we completely understand and we’re here to help.
Our team of digital marketing experts is currently helping eCommerce sites just like yours adjust their marketing strategies in the wake of COVID19. We can help you develop a solid COVID19 digital marketing strategy too.
Call us to schedule a free consultation so that we can learn about your business and your unique marketing needs in the wake of this pandemic. We can be reached at (214) 295-5845 or through our online contact form.
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SEO is one of the most important aspects of internet marketing. Many businesses today utilize SEO to achieve more traffic to their website and build an online presence. If you’re going to receive the results you’re looking for, then you’ll need to develop an effective SEO campaign.
So, where do Google reviews come to play? Google reviews are valued by search bots to see which businesses should rank at the top of Google’s search results. You should invest the time and resources in aggregating positive Google reviews for your business.
Keep reading below to learn more about why Google reviews are so important to SEO.
What is SEO?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of building online real estate. Simply put, having your website near or at the top of Google’s search rankings is an indicator of good SEO.
Having great SEO can help you attract qualified leads to your website, build your online presence, and help you rank above your competitors. Without an SEO plan in place, you could waste your time and hard-earned money on other marketing initiatives.
It’s important to go ahead and hire an SEO company to help your website transform into a powerhouse for qualified leads.
Why are Google Reviews Important?
Google reviews are online notes left behind by consumers. Not only are these referenced important for consumers, but they are also valued by search bots. Why?
Google reviews provide a glimpse of why it’s ideal to work with your business. Without any Google reviews, your target audience will be more inclined to do business with your competitors instead.
For this reason, it’s important to accumulate positive Google reviews for your business. By doing so, your website will receive more exposure, which will help generate more qualified leads for your business.
How do Google Reviews Relate to SEO?
Google’s new algorithm is designed to provide the best search results for web users. To do so, Google takes online reviews very seriously. For example, if you’re trying to search for the best gym in your area, Google will obviously present the gym with the best Google reviews.
As you can, Google reviews are an important part of the ranking process. It may not be the only way to rank well online, but it’s essential to accumulate enough Google reviews to give your online presence a boost.
Fortunately, there is a way to gain legitimate Google reviews. Continue reading the next section to learn more.
It’s never been simple to receive more Google reviews. Give this tip a try to begin improving your online presence.
Give Us a Call Today!
Do you want to begin making your website rank above your competitors? If so, give us a call at (214) 295-5845 or visit Agency Partner Interactive today to learn more.
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Voice Search is one of the most growing trends of the past few years. If you don’t believe that, here are a few core voice search statistics you should be made aware of.
Smart speaker sales have grown tremendously across the globe and will reportedly surpass $30 by the year 2024, according to Global Market Insights.
55% percent of households are expected to own a smart speaker by 2020, according to OC&C Strategy Consultants.
71% of smart speaker owners predict they’ll continue conducting voice searches in the future, according to PwC.
Question: How Often You Will Use Voice Devices in the Future
As you can see, voice search is a massively growing trend. With that said, here’s how you can optimize your website for voice search.
Perform Long-Tail Keyword Research
If you’re using current technology, chances are that you’ve performed numerous voice searches. For example, if you’re on your way to a new job, you’ve likely asked Google to say, “Google, where are the nearest coffee shops near me?”
If you haven’t, then you’ve probably asked Siri, “what’s the weather looking like outside?” Regardless of the questions you’ve asked using a voice search, there is one thing in common with all of the search terms you’re using.
Almost all of the search terms you’ll use in voice search are long-tail keywords. Integrating long-tail keywords into your SEO Srategy can work wonders if you’re trying to generate qualified leads via a smart speaker.
It’s as simple as using your keyword research tools to find popular long-tail keywords and generating vivid variations of each one you find.
Use Local Keywords
Like Long-tail Keywords, utilizing local keywords is also important for Optimizing your Website for voice search. People commonly use smart speakers to find local businesses. Therefore, don’t count on Local SEO to go out of style now.
You’ll still need to perform a lot of research on local keywords in your industry and invent creative ways of integrating these search terms in your site. For example, you can produce a FAQ page (we’ll get to this later) to post all of your local keywords and begin accumulating SEO real estate.
Provide Immediate Results
When people use smart speakers, they expect immediate results. So, what does this mean? If you are trying to find a nearby donut shop on a smart speaker, would you really feel comfortable visiting a shop if your speaker didn’t give you any information on star reviews or even a phone number?
With that said, make sure your Google My Business (GMB) profile is up-to-date and carries all of your business info. Your smart speaker will typically derive all of its information from your GMB profile.
Still, this isn’t all. You’ll also need to make sure you have a fast website that’s extremely informative.
Optimize for the Buyer’s Journey
Regardless of the apparatus people use to conduct a search, optimizing your website for the buyer’s journey is a critical aspect of the sales and marketing process. For example, let’s say that you want to purchase a smart speaker.
This is what a typical buyer’s journey will look like and what you can expect a potential query to look like for each specific phase.
Awareness:“What’s the best smart speaker available?”
Interest:“Can you set an appointment with Google Home?”
Evaluation: “Is Google more intelligent than Siri?
Purchase: “How much does Google Home cost?”
Customer Support:“Why isn’t my Google Home not working?”
Loyalty:“What are some products that work with Google Home?”
Predicting which questions your customers are asking via smart speaker will help you to create a roadmap and design content that will guide them through each phase.
Add FAQs
Adding FAQs to your website is a great way to improve your SEO Ranking for popular questions surrounding your products or services. Google is already displaying popular questions in their organic search results.
If you take these questions and provide in-depth and helpful answers, there’s a good chance that Google or another search engine will feature your answer as a rich snippet. Since smart speakers almost always rely on rich snippets for the answers of questions, this can serve as an amazing boost to your website.
Is Your Website Ready?
It takes a lot of effort to make sure that your website is ready for voice search. If you want to receive professional assistance, give us a call at (214) 295-5845 or visit our website at Agency Partner Interactive for more information.
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It is commonly acknowledged that having a good SEO strategy is crucial for increasing online visibility. This often involves SEO professionals investing significant time and effort into identifying effective long-tail keywords and obtaining high-quality backlinks and writers to create compelling, informative, and engaging content that aligns with your business goals and engages with your target audience.
However, even with well-researched and relevant content, it is still possible to struggle with gaining views. To overcome this challenge, it is important to implement a topic cluster model on your website. This approach helps establish your authority in your field and improves your chances of being discovered online.
What is a Topic Cluster Model?
Websites with hundreds of thousands of monthly views have cracked the newest trend: Topic Cluster Content Model for SEO. But what is a topic cluster?
A topic cluster model is a content marketing strategy that focuses on creating a group of related content pieces on a specific topic to improve search engine optimization (SEO) and provide a better user experience.
In a topic cluster model, a central “pillar” page is created that provides an overview of a broad topic. This page is then linked to several related blog posts, articles, or other types of content, known as “cluster,” pages, that cover more specific subtopics related to the main topic.
By organizing content in this way, search engines can better understand the relationships between different pieces of content and rank them higher in search results. It also helps users easily navigate and find relevant information on a particular topic, increasing engagement and time spent on a website.
A topic cluster model can help establish a company as a thought leader in their industry and improve brand recognition and reputation. Here’s an example of a topic cluster:
Keywords such as “workout routines to lose fat” and “workout routines to get abs,” among others, are examples of cluster content. In aggregate, the supporting topics create a topic cluster of conversation that all support the pillar content page of “workout routines”.
How Can a Topic Cluster Improve my SEO Efforts?
Search engines have a crucial role in providing users with relevant results for their queries. One way to improve your website’s visibility in search results is by leveraging the power of topic clusters.
By offering a group of related content, you demonstrate to search engines that your website has comprehensive and authoritative information on a particular subject.
To better understand the relationships between different pieces of content, Google uses advanced techniques like semantic search. By combining domain authority, high-quality backlinks, long-tail keywords, and topic clusters, you can establish your website as a reliable source of information in the eyes of the search engine.
Practical Steps to Create Your First Topic Cluster
Creating a topic cluster may seem like a daunting task, but it’s a methodical process that has the potential to yield great results. Follow these six steps to create your first topic cluster.
Choose a Pillar or Cornerstone Topic
Assess your brand and the goals of your organization. Your pillar or cornerstone content should be a topic on which you already have some level of expertise. Use a keyword research tool like “Keysearch” to determine which long-tail keywords you’ll target in your pillar article.
Brainstorm and Research Keywords to Support the Pillar
Once you’ve decided on your pillar theme, it’s time to brainstorm supporting topics that can easily link to the pillar article on your website. It’s important to research your chosen keywords to ensure that people are searching for them and that high ranking is attainable for those keywords.
Update Old Articles
Start with the low hanging fruit. You may already have articles on your website suitable as cluster content. Update those articles to optimize for SEO and to support the pillar article.
Write the Pillar and New Cluster Content
Using the keywords you researched, it’s time to create the pillar and start your Topic Cluster Model content. A pillar article should be broad and long-form, ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 words in length. The cluster content should be shorter posts that give detailed explanations on the subtopics in your pillar article.
Build Your Web by Linking Cluster Content to the Pillar and Other Supporting Articles
You can boost your results on SERPs by increasing the number of relevant internal links in your content. Search engines view links as a relationship, and linking related articles shows those search engines that you are an authority on your pillar content. When linking, use your keyword as the anchor text to further boost your authority on the topic.
Publish and Promote
While Google crawls your website soon after a new post’s publication, it may take three to six months to see results for your SEO efforts. Use Social Media Marketing and Newsletters to give your articles an initial boost in traffic while waiting for your content to rank on search engines.
Understanding how to leverage a topic cluster model to boost your content is imperative if you want to be found online. Now that you know how to build a topic cluster, the next step is to research your keywords, write and optimize your content and watch the traffic that is sure to come your way.
Implementing the Cluster Content Model for SEO in 2023: Tips for Success
By following these tips and creating high-quality, comprehensive content that addresses user needs, you can successfully implement the Cluster Content Model this year and beyond. Here are a few tips for implementing the Cluster Content Model in 2023:
Focus on user intent
For your content cluster to be effective, it must be designed with user intent. This means creating content that answers specific questions or solves particular problems that users might have related to your topic.
Use structured data
Structured data can help Google better understand the relationship between your pillar and cluster pages, improving your chances of ranking well for relevant queries.
Keep content fresh
Search engines prioritize fresh, up-to-date content, so it’s essential to update your pillar and cluster pages with new information regularly.
Optimize for voice search
With the continued rise of voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, optimizing your content for voice search queries is essential. This means focusing on natural language and conversational phrasing.
Why Agency Partner Interactive Is the Right Choice for Your Digital Marketing Needs
Agency Partner Interactive is a digital marketing company specializing in helping businesses improve their online presence and reach their target audience through effective content marketing in Dallas. We use various digital channels such as search engines, social media platforms, email marketing, and content marketing to promote our client’s brands and increase their online visibility.
If you’re looking for the best digital marketing company to help you improve your online presence and implement an effective SEO strategy, such as the cluster content model, look no further than Agency Partner Interactive. Schedule your free consultation to discuss your business goals today!
How many times do you pick up your phone to search the web for information? In fact, you are probably reading this article on a mobile device right now. Using your mobile device to access information has become the norm. In order for your company to be competitive, you must be found on Google’s search results.
Mobile-First Indexing and Google Results
Mobile-First Indexing is Google’s process of using the smartphone agent in their Googlebot web crawler to scan your site and index it’s content for the search engine. It uses this as the starting point to help mobile users find what they’re looking for in a format that provides the best mobile-friendly experience for the user, and–if it is a great site and experience–increases your ranking on Google.
Historically, Google used the desktop version of a site’s content when evaluating if it matched a user’s query. Now, the mobile-first version of your website will be considered the primary version on Google. You should know that there is not a separate index for mobile-first scans; if the content on an old site is relevant, it will continue to be returned on the SERP.
It is time to let go of the past. Now it is necessary that your online footprint is equal across both the mobile and desktop versions of your website. You should already be writing and designing content (including text, images, videos, and links), structuring your data and meta-data (titles, descriptions, meta tags) and experiencing your website so that it is mobile-friendly.
What Does This Mean for your Site?
As of July 1st, mobile-first indexing is enabled by default for all new (or previously unknown to Google Search) websites ready for the Googlebot indexing scan. For older or existing websites, Google will continue to monitor and evaluate websites based on its best practices.
If you are an older website, once Google sees a site is ready, it will designate the site as ready for mobile-first indexing and it will notify them of their readiness through its Search Console.
If you’re a new website, you don’t have to do anything. New sites are already showing users and search engines the same content on both their desktop and mobile devices.
Evaluate Your Users Experience
Just because your old site or your new site is ready for mobile-first indexing, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to evaluate your user’s experience.
First, Google has provided an easy tool to test and see if your site is Mobile-Friendly. You just have to insert your site and Google will give you the information you need to fix it. If you need more guidance, Web Grader has a great tool that evaluates your site and gives you detailed information on how you can make your site user-friendly.
Second, pick up a mobile device and check out your site from a user’s point of view. Write down ways you think will enhance the user’s experience based on the information that you are trying to relay.
Here are four steps to help you enhance the user’s experience:
Keep it simple
Mobile sites don’t need as many bells and whistles as they did in the past. Keep only the website elements you truly need. Ask yourself if each element is really necessary. If not, get rid of it.
Conveying your message
Make sure your message and Call to Action (CTA) are easily understood. Check text links and forms to make sure they work. Create easy-to-use buttons for connecting to other pages. Check that your forms are easy to fill out on a mobile device. Consider using mobile-friendly CTAs such as SMS text messaging and live chat.
What about SEO?
Instead of solely looking at keyword synonyms you have to start thinking about the whole mobile experience. Look at the problem a specific search query is trying to solve, and then craft a content-based response that is appropriate for that query.
Make the necessary changes
Now you are ready to make the necessary changes to create a user-friendly site for mobile-first indexing. If all of this is overwhelming, and you’re feeling unprepared to tackle mobile-first indexing on your own, get help from a Professional SEO Team.
There’s no question that mobile devices have changed the way we deliver information. Now that Google has rolled out mobile-first indexing for all sites, it is time to make sure you have a website for the devices people are using most. So, evaluate your site and implement the necessary changes to make it user-friendly. Mobile-first indexing is just an additional way that Google is addressing the needs of its, and by extension, your audience.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “What is Mobile-First Indexing?” instead.
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Website’s Visitor-To-Lead Conversion Rate Using SEO and Other Essential Strategies
Tips from Digital Marketing Experts
Focusing your attention on the type of visitors you want to attract to your website is a major part of increasing your visitor-to-lead conversion rate. Making your site a haven for warm leads is essential to your success. Concerns regarding the quality of your leads should be just as high up your list of site goals as the focus on the foot traffic. Quality and quantity are a non-negotiable, interconnected, dynamic duo.
User Experience (UX)
Your site needs to be stylish, approachable and trustworthy–just like your favorite leading lady or leading man in that iconic role you love. A clear and uncluttered website, with a focused call-to-action, interactive content, aligned branding, and intuitive design principles, will make your site visitor more likely to achieve conversion.
Removal of all friction between the customer and your goal action for them is equally important. While it is tempting to add in lots of additional products and ideas, as they cruise down the home straight to take your desired action, it can create unexpected hurdles and the last thing anyone wants is a disqualification as your ‘near conversion’ flounces off the pitch in disgust and frustration from what should have been a simple process.
Value Proposition
Here we are, down to the nitty-gritty of the sales pitch. However, this isn’t any old school sales patter. Give them absolute clarity of vision. This is the real deal of why your customer should invest their financial and social resources on your product or service. You are sure to be the savvy and practical answer to their specific problem, because they found their way to you, and because you are investing the best of yourself in what you offer. So tell them that. Offer valid reasons, a solid value proposition, why they need you and your brand.
Improved SEO
Where is a discussion about web marketing without a reference SEO? It is truly the roadmap for all serious entrepreneurs and businesses. Without it, you have little-to-no direction, and no-one can find you. Yet with it in hand, the landscape opens up and opportunities abound. Make sure all of your SEO keyword opportunities are maximized and updated regularly. Without this essential box ticked, all those lovely organic searches with strong purchase intent will breeze past you from the half-way line.
Multiple Personas
Facebook has the data, you have the creativity and vision, and so, with a decent dollop of analytics, you have a pretty solid team. Focus on the capacity to visualize the personas of the people you want to turn from cold visitors to warm leads and conversions. These personas will be able to show you how best to interact with your real-life site visitors.
They will also show you who the real visitors are. Not the expected, not the projected, but the real. You might find that a different, broader version of a non-traditional demographic than expected, is engaging with your brand. Rather than trying to corral the people you think ‘should’ be there, you are then in the enviable position of being able to tailor your style to suit them, encouraging an ever-rising conversion rate.
Website Experiments
As the saying goes, there are so many different ways to skin the proverbial cat that you won’t be able to please all of the people, all of the time. But with a keen eye on your analytics and a bit of experimentation, you will be able to find out what the majority want and tailor your sales plan and web site to fit those expectations. You are also best placed to utilize chatbots when you have deduced your best visitor personas and are in experimentation mode, ready to gain and utilise even more analytics. Try different marketing channels, and audit different aspects of your sales conversion funnel, especially if your analytics look rough in one area. Test what works in reality, not just in theory.
It’s what we all strive for, and with a few adjustments to your processes, you will see that your time poring over statistics and analyzing data has been well spent. This is something that will need to be done regularly to keep the flow of savvy, focused-on-the-next-big -thing customers engaging with your site. After all, this is a process, a journey.
It is never static, and it is never done! Keep kicking those conversions!
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Score Big With Your Website’s Visitor-To-Lead Conversion Rate Using SEO and Other Essential Strategies” instead.
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Just when you think that Facebook has been toppled from its social media top spot, a review of the actual reach and capacity of this mammoth of the social media world has everyone sitting up and considering how to maximize their ad strategies.
Facebook has one of the world’s largest user base with 1.62 billion subscribers and 2.41 Billion Active Users in the second quarter of 2019. It is one of the most engaged, so why take a page from its playbook? After all with numbers this big, it is all about making the best use of them.
So take notes, get your ducks in a row, and your game plan sorted, because this juggernaut is here to stay, and you need to be on board. But don’t worry, we have all the tips to help get you sorted out with a solid Facebook Ads Strategy, so you can sit back, and watch your conversions soar.
Duo, Trio, Quad
The first consideration, and it’s a major one, is to keep Facebook and Instagram working in tandem because they are one-and-the-same behind-the-scenes–a fact is often forgotten–so keep this pair collaborating to your benefit.
Think, ‘integrated ads strategy’ with Instagram, Facebook, and all the other platforms out there. An omnichannel experience is what both you and your customer need. This is a bottom line, non-negotiable. Your marketing plan must be seamless and holistic.
Experiment with ‘Bots’
With Ad Bots becoming more sophisticated and normalized, now is the perfect time to experiment with computer-generated marketing. The tech itself is nothing to be afraid of, how it’s employed and with what tone, is the issue. ‘Engagement Baiting’ by fishing for swipes, taps, and reposts is right out in 2019. Instead, you want to develop long-term engagement–life-long customers who are much more likely to convert.
While you are in experimental mode, get creative, and then test everything. Send out an engaging, and meaningful post or blog to assess the interest. It’s much more cost-effective than a full-blown analytics campaign.
Video is King
Long Live Video. Businesses love Facebook Video Ads. Use it to drive conversions but ensure the focus is to empower your customer with a side order of Brand Integrity, and the development of trust. People are likely to buy from companies they have positively encountered on social media, so consider creating or developing your brand identity from an anchor or hero Video for maximum impact.
Retargeting from long-form ad engagement video followed up with a ‘call-to-action’ via short video ad, post, email, tweet, etc, is much more likely to get a new convert. It is also easier to then expand the information to ‘lookalike’ audiences, speeding up the turnaround process and reducing costs.
Nano, Niche, and Micro
We are in the time of the nano- or micro-influencer. There has been a shift from celebrities delivering information to niche experts whom we can trust, people with whom we can identify. They are less distant, more relevant, and certainly more approachable. Align with one of them, and it is a short skip, and a jump, to getting the conversions.
Are You Responsive?
To say that you have a ‘Responsive Website’ which is not enough. You have to prove it. Multiple devices are here to stay, and your site must show all the fancy whistles and bells on each and every one. Ensure that every type of media will run efficiently on desktop, tablet, mobile, Android, and IOS. The last thing you want is a block to your customers’ conversion where they throw their hands up in disgust, and leave the site, never to return.
Multiple Persona
Facebook can link you up with any demographic or niche you can imagine because it has so much info on all its users and the algorithms to sift it. Forget about an ‘app for that’, Facebook can help you find your niche group and target them through its persona-driven data. Think about maintaining diversified and comprehensive ads which target different personas, but don’t just make assumptions on who they are, get the stats and work from that.
Contextual Content (and lots of it)
Get creative with ‘life events targeting’. Facebook knows when the wedding is, or was. So consider how the market can drive itself by targeting upcoming anniversaries and events. Being narrow in focus can mean increased costs (CPMs) but being specific, relevant, and targeted means being able to tailor the marketing, increasing the chances of conversion. Staying broad offers a lower cost, a more ‘vanilla’ approach, and a reduced, individual appeal.
Looking For Love
Consider yourself to be looking for the customer that represents the real deal, full-blown, lifetime love–not some fly-by-night fling or disposable fad. Developing this relationship will increase their Lifetime Customer Value (LCV), and you’ll likely to get repeat conversions. You will also get the power of ‘word-of mouth’–if one friend has a good experience, then all the friends know about it–hey presto, warm leads.
Remember, 55 percent of people bought something Online After seeing it on social media, with Facebook and Instagram taking up the top spots for driving product discovery. You just cannot afford to ignore this duo.
If you need help navigating the FB-IG building blocks to build, a solid, long-lasting plan for your business, contact us at Agency Partner Interactiveand talk with a Professional Digital Marketing Strategist to get your ad empire growing so you too can tower over the marketplace!
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “How To Build A Solid Base, One Brick At A Time” instead.
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When creating a business website, your pillar content is going to be the main, broad topic of your website. The topic can be anything: real estate, shoes, perhaps software. The pillar is the businesses underlying sales objective.
Creating a successful website requires a strategy. At the foundation, your pillar is your SEO keyword or keywords. It is the topic your customers will use when performing a search–a search that should lead directly to you.
Pick a Content Topic
Pick a topic which is relevant to the consumer. Try not to be too specific or too broad at this stage. You should consider how much your audience cares about the topic, if it ties to your services, and if it has a good search volume.
Your main topic can have with sub- or “specific” topics branching off from this central theme and are relevant to your pillar content.
Create a Pillar Strategy
Once you’ve identified your topic and subtopics, you need to create a table of contents – a list of all relevant information regarding your SEO content. This is the place to identify your overall objectives and goals.
Consider who the audience is, why are they looking for this, and what they need to know. How is your information going to serve them better than what they can find elsewhere?
Content Outline
You need to create website building steps so that you have a process. Your outline is effectively going to be your to-do list. Your outline should, roughly, include landing page, menu with subtopics, subtopics pages, payment platform, contact page, and customer service pages. Next, add to that list your editing process steps.
Edit your Content
It’s important to build this time into your to-do-list, as this is the refinement that elevates your content from decent to great. Editing steps should include narrative flow, format, editorial style, and grammar and spelling. That means you should edit your entire web content four separate times, focusing on each editing method separately, to ensure your content is perfect.
Set deadlines for each step of your outline. This will give you a structure and a timeline to follow. It’s important to keep in mind that during the content creation stage that the content does not have to be perfect. It just needs to be created. You’ll refine that content during the editing stage. Where that may seem like doing double the work, the truth is that focusing on one thing at a time will keep your mind clear and your deadlines approachable and attainable.
You’ll likely be communicating with a team of designers and content writers at this point and it’s important to remember that communication is key. Whether it’s questions or obstacles, you should establish a respectful and approachable rapport with your teams. They need to feel that you are available and willing to talk about the process.
Content Design
Lastly, you’ll want your team to implement the design, such as images, video, color, and font – all the additions that make a website engaging and friendly. This will improve your dwell time with customers and help improve engagement and conversions. Agency Partner has 10 years experience creating and implementing pillar strategy and will provide you with the expertise to get your website launched successfully.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Building SEO Pillar Content” instead.
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Creating a website is no small feat and it sounds pretty terrifying to most people, especially if you have no experience. If you happen to need a complex website you could opt to Hire a Professional to take care of it for you; however, for a basic site, you may be able to DIY with a few simple steps, and not too many tools.
Here are five simple steps to get you started:
1. Choose a Hosting Platform
A web host is a location where you decide to set up shop. It is your landlord to whom you pay rent to house all your digital content.
Each web page is a room with its own set of amenities and decor such as the images you display on the walls. As you can imagine some websites will have more detail than others depending on the level of attention given to keeping it clean and orderly.
Just like any lease contract, you will want to do your homework when choosing a provider to host your website. Read all the terms and conditions.
2. Choose a Domain Name
A domain name or URL is your location’s home address. What’s cool about building a website is that you get to personalize it and choose your street name. You will want to put some thought into this as this is how people will remember how to find you on the web.
You will want to decide if you want a .com Address or one of the many other options. There is a fee to register a domain name and often you can find web hosting providers that will include a domain name registration as part of a Package Deal, which helps to streamline the process.
3. Map It Out
This step is primarily strategically mapping out the type of furniture and decor that will go in each room. As stated above, each page is its own room and will serve a specific purpose. Your Home Page, or Landing Page, will serve as your front door–the first visual people see upon arriving at your site.
Some people display big beautiful photos on their front door to entice people to enter while others may post their store hours and the services they provide and call it a day.
Before you start designing or building rooms, you should have a clear strategy for the furniture and decor (i.e. content) that those pages will contain.
4. Design Your Website
The design step is easily the most complicated step for most people because it is the first technical step of building a website. People often hire a professional even for the most basic websites at this phase after realizing, during the intense learning curve, how much work it can be.
There are, of course, cost-effective options when you Build a Website, but it would serve you well to learn some basic coding. That said, there are web hosting platforms that provide an easier approach to this phase with more drag-and-drop design options.
5. Keep Up With Maintenance
Once you are up and running and opened your doors for business, you will want to ensure everything stays running smoothly and in working order. You’ll most likely need a maintenance repair person. If a light bulb goes out or the air conditioner breaks, who is meant to repair it?
As often as not, web hosting providers will offer this as an additional service or as part of a package deal. So it’s worth having a look at the ones that do–especially if you are not very tech-savvy.
As you can see, building a basic website can be simple if you want a simple website. However, the more complexities you add to your home, the more work it requires. It can be the difference between a tiny minimalist home in the country to a big house atop a mountain. Both are fully functional and operational, yet one has more bells and whistles to implement and maintain.
Choosing the right Web Host Platform for your business can be a daunting first step. Although no two sites are the same, all great sites have one thing in common – a plan from start to finish. You could go it alone, but with Agency Partner Interactive, we’ll help you get started on the right foot and build a website that is best suited for you.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch ” 5 Steps to Building a Website” instead.
Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
7 Web Design Basics to Consider When Making Your Website the Best it Can Be
Web design is fundamentally the same as print design. You’re aiming for something that grabs attention, catches the eye and flows smoothly. The web design basics are the elements of contrasting color, font styles, layout, and borders. All of this is what inspires a customer to explore your site and invest in your content.
Web Design Move-ability
Move-ability, or flow, is the design and navigation of your site. A crucial part of web design is concise web pages that are not too long with grammatical perfection and working links. That’s your message. We need to access your message with ease.
Web Design Page Layout
How is your foot traffic going to view this page? On a computer? A phone? A projector? Responsive Web Design (RWD) will Change the Perspective of your Web Page to device-appropriate dimensions so that no matter the platform, your website remains understandable and accessible. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is an accessible design option that will make creating web design layout a breeze. You can pick from templates or design from scratch. The benefits of CSS is that not only are the options vast, but they will impact every page of your site, saving both time and money as you implement updates to your design.
Font style is a major component of web design. We already know that print is typically easier to read and understand than cursive. Where wanting to stand out is excellent, some fonts out there come across with the wrong voice or attitude. Aim for a font that reflects the Content of your work.
Pastels or High Contrast in Web Design
The color Design of your site should reflect the nature of the content being sold. Consider your color wheel when you’re tweaking this Web Design. If I’m selling a yoga blog with classes, I’m going pastels. If I’m selling the Waldorf Astoria, it’s all non-gloss ivory and gold filigree.
A Web Design Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
In web design, an appropriate picture can convey what too many words will make confusing. Studies have shown that people have an incredibly short attention span. Ensuring that your website features short content with visuals to get the message across will be a better grab than a block of text that the customer has to scroll through endlessly.
Got the Map to This Web Design?
Navigation is one of the most important aspects of your web design. Links, subheaders, and menus should be visible, accessible and, of course, working. Try to make your pages loop back to each other instead of sending your foot traffic, offsite unless you absolutely have to. You want your foot traffic to engage with your site as long as Possible.
Agency Partner Web Design Software
Picking the right software for your web design can be a trying and annoying experience as so much information out there can be mean trail, error, and loss of time and money. With Agency Partner we’ll help you get on track to get your site up and running with concise information and clear web design.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch ” Web Design Basics to Improve your Foot Traffic” instead.
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Between the brackets, there is a whole new world that, once uncovered, will unlock many doors for marketers with a basic knowledge of HTML. You can use your coding knowledge to create a variety of headings, format paragraphs, line breaks, lists, and to set up your photos for SEO detection. So prepare to dip into the seemingly secretive world of coded meanings and symbols as we present some basic HTML tips for Internet Marketers.
HTML for Internet Marketers
Any owner of a website or blog will profess that working with a developer is helpful when getting your content live, yet having a basic knowledge of HTML will save you from always having to dial 911 for assistance. Learning this skill is a liberating and empowering move in the tech-intensive world of today. Tip: When using HTML commands, most “opening” tags have a corresponding “closing” tag that nearly matches. The difference is that the closing tag is always preceded by a slash. This tells the computer where to start a command, and where to end the command. Pay close attention to the examples below.
Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks are transporters, one click on a hyperlinked image, word, or sentence and you’re taken to a different document section, an entirely new website, or to begin a download of a PDF or ebook. Hyperlinks shown in blue underlined text, called anchor text. The essential key is an opening <a tag and the hypertext reference (href), as shown here: <a href=”https://www.destinationURL.com”>click this link”</a> The result: Click this Link Arguably, the most important hyperlink is the one that takes your customers to your website so you’ll want to memorize this: <a href=”https://www.agenypartner.com”>agencypartner</a> The result: Agency Partner Interactive. Now, simply replace the anchor text with your URL.
Paragraphs and Spacing
The popular paragraph <p> tag is placed at the beginning of, you guessed it, a paragraph. Its closer is the </p> tag. This tells the computer where the paragraph starts and where it ends so it can format it accordingly: <p>Place your paragraph content between these tags.</p> You may find times when you want to reformat elements within the paragraph. <p>To shorten a line of text, enter a line break like this.<br> The content will continue on the next line.</p> To increase the space between lines, say to double-spacing, change the opening paragraph marker to include a line-height command: <p style=”line-height: 2;”>This will double-space all the lines within your paragraph. You can set this to 1.5 for less space, to 3 for more, etc. Note that this HTML command will only work on the specified paragraph. If you want to use it for multiple paragraphs, you will need to use the line-height tag on each.</p>
Headings
These eye-catchers are reasonably easy to code and are very important in catching the attention of search engines. They begin at <h1> and move inversely: as the numbers increase, the headings decrease in size:
<h1>Big, Bold and Beautiful!</h1>
<h2>Resize your headings with ease</h2>
<h3>Discover the How-To</h3>
Lists
While they utilize the same format and are both flanked by list-item tags: <li>. Bulleted and numbered lists have additional tags used at the start and finish of each list: <ul> will give you bullets while <ol> is used for numbered lists:
Bulleted
<ul> <li>bullet 1</li> <li>bullet 2</li> <ul>
Numbered
<ol> <li>number 1</li> <li>number 2</li> <ol>
Images
Often, picture sizing and image resolution can be troublesome. A good tip is to resize your pictures before uploading. This also maintains proper proportions. Labeled images containing keywords have a better chance of being noticed in search results. And, in the off chance that a picture doesn’t load at all, the “alt” text at least provides the user with a better description than “jpeg10678”. <img>src=”https://agencypartner.com”alt=”place alternative image description here”> These tools and basic HTML knowledge are resource savers. A solution that would have taken you hours to discover, are now be easily visible and the glitch resolved with these simple, must-know coding tags. Consider your virtual toolbox upgraded!
For new websites and web redesign projects alike, the website kickoff meeting is the crux of the working relationship between a client and the website design agency.
Essential to the web design process, this kickoff meeting is the ideal opportunity to identify the high-level scope of the web project and discuss the needs of its stakeholders. To keep everyone focused on the goal and unified in purpose, adequate preparation is crucial. For the most part, the following eight questions are a great foundation for building the website kickoff meeting agenda. By all means, these don’t cover everything, but they help share the basics!
Not sure how to begin? Contact our award-winning team today and we’ll walk you through the process.
If it isn’t already clear, let’s just reiterate that this website discovery meeting is the time to explore the tactical roadmap and determine any limitations that may affect the project.
To avoid any future surprises, be sure to invite all the right people — not only the top tier management but everyone who has a stake in the project. If there is anything that you want to include in the meeting agenda, ensure that your project manager has it well ahead of time, and the topic will be integrated into the agenda of the meeting.
So let’s get to it. Here are eight questions you may be asked during the course of your website kickoff — complete answers to these will maximize the value of everyone’s time and ensure a productive, long-term partnership.
Common Website Discovery Questions
Website redesigns: “What on your site is currently working?”
Most businesses redesign their website once every two to three years, so periodic website redesigns are very normal. Before jumping into this type of project, there is a great deal of benefit to assessing what has been working about your site, and what you would like to see it do differently or better in the future. Asking this will elicit what isn’t working as a matter of course but this question will start the process on a positive note. If any existing user data, such as Google Analytics engagement metrics are available, the team should see that! In the not so distant future, we expect to see high volume websites change their design, dynamically, using artificial intelligence!
Website redesigns: “What do you most want to change about your site?”
Think: “what do I need more of from my website?” Whether you need to boost more sales to your eCommerce site or you’re looking for more phone calls or form submissions, use this as an opportunity to dream big for a couple of minutes. The free flow of ideas should paint a picture of the overall vision, company direction, and tone and style of the target goal for phase 1 of the project. Save the practical issues for later. This is just about establishing a vision and honing in on what the immediate and long-term return on investment should be.
All Web Design Projects: “Who is your site’s target audience?”
We want to align with all, not part of the website’s target demographic — sidelining anyone is a missed opportunity from the outset. Understanding the needs of the client and how to improve their customers’ experience is the heart of the project, essential to client satisfaction and positive outcomes.
All Web Design Projects: “What is your business goal?”
This is probably the most important question for any website development plan. Are you trying to sell something? Create a sticky site? Or generate leads through an email or newsletter? Find out what the client wants each visitor to do. Knowing the answer will determine the best way to engage customers and spearhead the web design process.
All Web Design Projects: “How would you describe your company?”
These answers will help to establish tone and voice and allow you to build a site in conjunction with the client’s brand. Answers such as, “fun” and “corporate” will determine what the website presentation should be–bright and lighthearted, or serious and direct.
All Web Design Projects: “What is your most important benefit?”
Remember, customers are interested in benefits— they don’t care much about the features save for how it solves their “problem.” Try to get the client to answer this question in less than three seconds. This will tell you what deep impressions they have about the company (service or product). Exploiting the customer benefits (and indirectly, the product features), the website should grab the site visitor’s attention.
All Web Design Projects: “How do you fit into your market?”
Who is the competition? Do you have any alliances? Understanding the successes and failures the competition will provide a wealth of knowledge about the market. Likewise, you may be able to build on the strengths of alliances that stretch the reach of your initial audience. Together, the perspective from these sources will help you discover gaps or identify new opportunities.
All Website Projects: “Within your market, what is your favorite and least favorite site, and why?”
This is a really quick way to discover what inspires your clients. How do their favorite sites look and feel? What is the user experience like? With a little research, you can determine what compels users to return to these sites–what’s engaging and what’s not.
This may also be a good time to address your clients’ expectations so knowing what they like personally and professionally will ensure you deliver a project that they truly feel comfortable with and that does what it needs to do.
Project Gold
The website kickoff meeting is the opportunity for you to show that you know your stuff. It’s the time to educate the team, develop a cohesive plan, and inspire a: “We Got This Covered” attitude. It’s a process that will pay dividends in the quality of the web design process, the working relationship, and, ultimately, the work produced.
Now that you know what to ask in a website kickoff meeting, you can use these questions to guide your client to a definitive plan. Are you building your own site? These questions will help you solidify your goals.
Still need some guidance?
Contact our professionals at Agency Partner Interactive today to see how we can help you realize your dream website. For no obligation and at no cost to you, we’ll lead you through a 1 hour brainstorming session. Click below to get started now.
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When you are trying to make sure your website is SEO friendly, it’s imperative that you’re on the ball from day one.
Due to the competitive nature of ecommerce, SEO is the critical component needed to raise your website from mediocrity to meticulous. Why? Because the keywords identified by search engines will drive customers to your website. Being a heavy hitter with your SEO means that search engines will place you near the top of the search engine results page (SERP), thus increasing your website’s sales rate.
Maintaining high-quality ecommerce SEO also means that targeted, organic users will easily find your website amidst the plethora of choices. If your ecommerce site SEO is up to scratch, you will appear on the very first page of Google searches. But if you really want to step up your game, you should be aiming for the top three results. At Agency Partner Interactive, we have compiled a list of techniques to whip your website into shape!
Let’s Get this Ball Rolling
Transforming your ecommerce site into a front-runner starts with keyword optimization. These highly targeted keywords need to pay homage to your niche. A good starting point includes using Moz’s Keyword Tool or Google Adwords to research words commonly used in online searches.
Researching your competitors is beneficial for several reasons too. You might feel they are out of your league at the moment, but it’s certain they are using tried-and-tested SEO techniques. There is no shame in borrowing from the best. Also, they may be your competitors, but a strategic collaboration can help you to generate more interest in your website so bear this in mind–a few shared links can go a long way.
When optimizing your own keyword roster, be careful not to be too general, as your website will undoubtedly rank lower. Creating Long-Tail Keywords will almost definitely improve your SEO rating.
Raise the Bar on eCommerce SEO Descriptions
You need to optimize your meta description–the short description shown directly below your page title in the SERPs. Although Google itself doesn’t read this, your customers will. This information is all they have on your site, barring the title and URL, before they decide whether or not you have what they need–so make it concise, clear, and relevant. Your product descriptions will also benefit from a second wind, so research similar products and use them as a guide, but be creative and make yours unique.
Mobile Optimization is a Slam Dunk
As most people use their smartphones to access the internet today, it’s crucial that you swing for the fence here. Make sure your ecommerce site is mobile friendly and you will likely see a boost in your SEO ratings. Before going live, test and retest every page on your website with various smartphone brands. Most importantly, ensure the checkout experience is as convenient as possible.
The Ball is in Your Court
The aforementioned tips are based on years of experience that we have gathered here at Agency Partner. They represent some of the most common tactics used on the web today. You may come across some sticky tricks but some quality research and perseverance will pay off in the long run. However, should you feel the need to chat with an expert, ecommerce SEO is an Agency Partner specialty and we are more than happy to help.
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Why eCommerce SEO Matters” instead.
Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
Web design should be classified as an art form in its own right. Just like any other creative work, a website conveys a brand message, communicates with an audience, and on occasion, provokes thoughts deeper than the Mariana Trench.
In the ocean of consumerism, it is vital that your customers experience smooth sailing from the second they embark on your ship. Not only do you need to captain your website like a fish to water, but additionally, you need to be aware of the web design mistakes to avoid.
Bugs naturally occur in website development and too many of these rogue waves could result in a permanent wave goodbye from your customer base. However, if there are any vessels you need to keep at bay, it’s web design mistakes that can harm your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). So if you want to have a whale of a time online, try to adhere to the following tips to avoid rocking the boat!
Is Your Navigation Completely Off The Map?
Ahoy there matey! If you want to really make waves in your industry, you need to make sure that your navigation is simple and straightforward. Reusing tried-and-proven attributes, like the placement of common navigation buttons, is the easiest way to keep things simple.
Running a tight ship here is one of the first things you should consider when building your website. People expect things in an instant, so if it takes too long to find something on your website, your customers are likely to abandon ship. But navigation is just the tip of the iceberg!
Make Sure Your Pages Aren’t Packed Like Sardines
Take a look at all the big fish in your sector and you will quickly realize they are averaging around 300 words per page. Another web design mistake to avoid is too much content. There is a lot of power in whitespace. Pictures and videos can add variety to your website, but use these sparingly. Too much will take longer to load and may even confuse visitors. Keeping your Web Design Responsive and ship-shape will help to Increase your SEO in the long-run.
Stem the Tide With a Good Call To Action
A call to action, or CTA, is simply prompting the user to do something–sign up for an email newsletter or take a simple quiz. From these actions, you’ll gather information about your users. These are your leads.
Without a good call to action, your revenue is going to be a drop in the ocean compared to what it should be. An effective call to action will ensure your conversion rate remains high and creating one is like shooting fish in a barrel. Keep it concise and make sure it tells your customers exactly what to do.
Note These Web Design Mistakes to Avoid Because There Are Plenty More Fish In The Sea
If your SEO is currently drowning under a Tsunami of bigger fish, then it may be time to rethink your Web Design Strategy. As far as the customer is concerned, there are plenty more fish in the sea, so your SEO rating has to be a Great White. You don’t need to find any port in the storm, just implement the suggestions that we at Agency Partner Interactive have made and watch your website splash its way to surf heaven. The world really is your oyster!
Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Web Design Mistakes That Can Harm Your SEO” instead.
Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!
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