Category Archives: Search Engine Optimization

Using Internet Marketing

Marketing is an ever changing field of business that professionals are still spending a lifetime to truly grasp. Ever since the need to sell a product or service existed, so has the idea of using effective marketing.

From the traditional yellow book ads to the fifteen second long Snapchat ads that dash over our mobile screens today, it’s safe to say that marketing has evolved faster in the past ten years than ever before.

At one time in history, using cutting edge technology was limited to just a small fraction of the population. Now, with technology advancing quickly and customers becoming more picky with what media they allow to be interrupted by, it’s incredibly important for marketers to use tactics that will provide the most bang for their buck.

Let’s look at which methods are making waves through the cluttered media scene and what are leaving old fashioned brands behind in the dust.

Internet marketing is essential for today's business market.
Internet marketing is essential for today’s business market.

Marketing Back In The Day

Let’s go back a decade in time and revisit the marketing environment that grabbed the attention of customers. The year is 2008, the stock market just crashed, the Lehman Brothers just caused a worldwide recession, and iPhones are still a considered a prized possession for the richest to enjoy.

What type of marketing do you think was convincing enough for businesses to pull customers out of the trenches? The answer was outbound marketing, a method thatis very interruptive and pushes out a brand’s message to a mass audience. This was never dependent on whether or not the audience wanted to actually hear it. The types of vehicles that are included in outbound marketing are the cliche television and radio ads you’ve heard as a kid, traditional telemarketing, pop up banner and display ads, roadside billboards, cut out newspaper ads, or door to door cold calling.

Back in the 2000’s, these methods worked like a charm since our phones were not as advanced as they are today. People were still walking outside and actually looking at what ads or posters were mounted up in their surroundings. We had cable lines attached to walls that rang with questions from salesmen, we still treasured the Sunday newspaper, and our living room television was our best friend.

I remember waking up early on Saturday as a kid was the best time to catch great TV cartoons and funny commercials. Today, premium Hulu is available for even a five year old to skip ads and watch shows on via iPad.

 Introducing the Internet

Although the Internet has been around for much longer than ten years, the advances that it has allowed for technology has been unprecedented. With the rise of Facebook videos, Instagram ads, Snapchat news, the online blogging scene, and online or on demand television via Netflix, there is less and less space for physical ads to catch the eye of shopping consumers.

Just think about it. When was the last time you were in a grocery store and looked at your paper catalog for the best box of cookies to buy? Most likely you pulled out your phone, entered “what is the best tasting cookie brand” on Google through the Safari app, and read customer reviews instead.

To keep up, most brands are using internet marketing, or “inbound marketing” to behave as a hub to attract these technology adapted consumers.Instead of spreading a generic message to thousands of people, it’s been found more effective to pull in potential customers with interesting content that provides them valuable information.

As a result, using inbound marketing involves writing exciting blog posts, posting engaging videos and pictures on social media, sending out encouraging email newsletters, and other content to people who are already interested in your product.

Another popular method that falls under inbound marketing is using search engine optimization to boost the visits to a website through seamless software design, keyword placement, and professional content.

In a nutshell, if you are providing information that is engaging enough and calls for action, customers are more likely to interact with it, share it with their network online, and build a positive impression of your brand that influences purchasing decisions in the long run. Placing the relationship with customers at the forefront is the key to keeping your business at the top of their list.

Value your customers through inbound marketing.

Successful Inbound Campaigns

It’s definitely confusing to think about how inbound marketing works without a solid example to go off from. In the past few years, social media marketing has boosted the idea of inbound marketing to new levels as it has the power to make or break up and coming brands.

As a fitness nerd, I’ve been closely following the growth of the activewear brand Gymshark over the past few years. Compared to powerhouse brands like Nike or Adidas, their brand has a full grasp of using calls to action for its customers and building a genuine relationship with its followers through social media influencers.

Instead of airing commercials to millions of people who may or may not be interested in fitness, Gymshark has used the power of popular content creators and organically promoted coupon codes to promote its clothes. As a result, any customer can visit its fitness blogs, official website, or Instagram accounts and see how it’s spearheading a positive moment involving millions of people to get active in the gym.

Another great example of inbound marketing is by looking at the efforts of one of my entrepreneurs, Gary Vaynerchuk. As a social media guruand overall marketing genius, he constantly is pushing out free content to his followers with free ebooks, marketing based podcasts, and Youtube videos for people interested in the idea of marketing itself to consume.

From there, he asks for email addresses and Youtube subscriptions in return which eventually lead to people buying his books and other online products. With the leverage of acting as a genuine resource to his network, people are constantly sharing his content and allowed him to catapult to extreme fame in the past few years.

Be Your Own Consultant

You don’t have to have a PhD in marketing or have millions of dollars to design an effective marketing campaign for your business. The point is that you can use inbound marketing and outbound marketing wisely to push your brand’s messages with different media platforms. The smart thing to do is to take time to double down on what your customer niche is and where they are consuming content every day.

After doing that research, choose what aspects of outbound marketing you can invest a bit in. Then, look at what inbound strategies will give you the most cost effective results and reach your desired customers directly. The power isleveraging traditional marketingtechniques with the internet and social media to achieve amazing growth!

 

 

Business Website Design

Tips for Creating Successful Business Website Designs

Websites are critical for a business in any type of industry for creating strong brand reputation, online presence, and reach to customers who now spend most of their time online. A successful business website design must truly speak to and engage its target market.

Yet, several aspects of a website play a role into determining what content will immediately stand out and resonate in the thoughts of people, convincing them to choose your brand over the competition. Many designers tend to forget that a website needs to build a strong foundation before tailoring the more decorative details. This includes planning content carefully so it’s cohesive with your goal of the website, regularly asking for feedback from customers, and remaining patient throughout the entire process.

Any smart digital marketing specialist understands that their campaigns will lead to visits on their website, so taking the time and effort to perfect it will reap lasting rewards for brand reputation.

To set yourself apart, make sure that your website is showcasing high quality visuals, easy to read text, and a unique story that communicates a personal voice to your business. There’s many crucial pieces of advice to remember before and during the process of designing your business website, even if you just want to edit a check out page or update your social media reel.

Displaying your business in the best light is worth the time if you want to win the race and come out on top!

Man working with his business website design.

Content Creation

Studies within the field of psychology show that people can form an impression about another person within five seconds. The people who come across your website can either have a positive or negative impression within this time as well, so creating an aesthetically pleasing trail of content is important to build the relationship with them on a strong foundation.

Sometimes less is more, as the biggest and brightest designs can often offset the initial interest a customer may have when first visiting your business website. As you are beginning to build your brand’s online reputation and threading the words to communicate a strong brand message, your market’s preferences are always much more important than your personal favorite styles. Build your brand’s website with the consumer in mind, not yourself.

A website design must be to the point, interactive, and interesting enough to maintain a person’s attention. Many online customers reported that they enjoy cohesiveness in regards to business website design when they come across one on their desktop or mobile browser. This means using the same fonts, styles of image editing, and formatting throughout the website to remain cohesive.

Keeping consistency to simplify your information allows the customer to have a better experience and more easily relate to what your business may stand for.

Exciting Media

For a customer to desire to learn about your brand online, your business website must allow them to become fully engaged, taken care of, and feel excited to seek more.

A very strong business website design should include gorgeous media with professionally made pictures and videos that portray product demonstrations, customer insights, and awards from the industry.

Bringing in outside opinions on the business helps to strengthen its reputation and appear less biased as to why its goods or services work so well.

Cohesive visuals and complimentary colors will aid any consumer to start a relationship with your website.

Today, many website builders like Wix.com or Squarespace allow a designer to select a default theme depending on their type of business to streamline this process. Laying out a clear path of information helps your visitors to subconsciously follow the incentives you have left for them to pursuing your product.

From there, more minor details like sizing, pop up reminders, and additionally imagery can be added to reinforce your point. Remain mindful of what your customer will find value in and what type of information they will benefit to see most.

Mobile Markets

According to recent studies in consumer insight, nearly sixty percent of all customers seeking a product or service will look up information and prices using their mobile phones. Retailers need to up their mobile strategy game alongside their website development.

A strong aspect of effective business website design is auditing how all published content pages, related links, and recent media are being displayed on a smartphone.

The reality is that the majority of customers are accessing business advertisements and different marketing campaigns by scrolling through their social media news feeds, sponsored promotions, and/or searching for businesses spontaneously via search engines.

A savvy business should put themselves in the position of their digitally minded consumers and preview every aspect of their website design while it’s still being developed. This will prevent glitches that will harm the experience or inaccurate displayed information that will bring down the brand’s reputation.

Website building software today allows a user to look through different pages in both desktop and mobile mode. Make sure to proofread your headers, short term offer descriptions, related content, and test each social media link to guard your content. It’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to building the potential of success for your business’s website!

Mobile compatibility is crucial for business website design.

Search Engine Savvy

Once you have created a bulletproof business website design, you’ll need to ensure your customers can actually find it. Many business owners come to marketing consultants today with the problem of having great content, visuals, and a brand message, but no target market reach over the months to show for it.

This problem is rooted in having a poorly designed strategy for search engine optimization where their site could be perfectly designed and engaging, but not showing up within the top of search results list with several search engines. Even the AI embedded in many mobile and desktop devices now default to using search engines, so maintaining your place among competition is significant. Many businesses now are utilizing online tools to promote their company and products more effectively when their customers reach for Google or ask for Alexa to search for answers. Gaining substantial page visibility during these customer journeys are key to driving more revenue and fueling growth for your brand overall.

Your website’s frequently used keywords and internal page code must first be compatible with all popular search engines that your customers use. Any bugs in the text will be flagged by search engines and will prevent customers from seeing your page at all. Other aspects like inserting title tags with relevant keywords and linking to related content also boosts the “rating” of your website in the eyes of your search engine as it boasts more presence.

Make sure to also keep your formatting simple and minimize the loading speed of your web page so your content loads right away. Any lag will lead to impatience and frustration that detracts from the benefits your business actually provides.

In order to drastically improve your web page design and accessibility, one should consider the services of web design agencies that offer substantial consulting for establishing an online reputation to reach meaningful customers. Many in the industry today supplement this service with full-service marketing campaigns to promote your business and to improve your business website design.

When it comes to improving your business with aspects that seem challenging, it’s encouraged to seek someone in the field who knows how to execute it well. They understand the importance of having a strong cohesive, consistent, and engaging websites and are always pushing for the best way to make your webpage dream come true!

 

 

 

Black Hat SEO and Buying Followers

In the social media world today, having a large user following and engagement is what makes or breaks the success of an account. Popular influencers and businesses across several industries are partnering up to create niche products, campaigns, and advertising videos to elevate both players. Several retail brands and Internet personalities have found success within the past few years by tapping into this method like Saboskirt, Gymshark, Puma, and Pacsun to name a few. This is due in part by brands being willing to pay or sponsor highly popular “faces” to the world to share their products with their loyal community of social media users. Creating awareness with big celebrities like Kylie and Kendall Jenner, models like Gigi Hadid, musicians like Kanye West, and fitness gurus like Nikki Blackletter has drastically improved their marketing effectiveness. From having special collaboration lines to seasonal promotions, each brand is now extremely recognizable across Instagram and are growing exponentially.

While this digital marketing plan is ingenuous for growing organically, some businesses take the alternative route to find the short cut of gaining views, likes, and followers to seem more promoted on the app. To seek short cuts, some social media managers have been using “black-hat SEO” tactics, or online ways to boost their accounts without doing the work. This consists of purchasing fake engagement from mostly idle accounts to look more popular on the surface level in the platform. To take a stand against this tactic, Instagram is taking drastic measures on their software to temporarily and permanently block users who do this, so be sure to do your job as a marketer to avoid it.

How Does Buying Followers Work?

Several black hat SEO services exist on the web and the app store to allow someone to increase their likes, views, and followers on Instagram. These can be referred to as “bots” ask for a specific payment in advance to gain hundreds to tens of thousands of followers at a single time. They also repeatedly follow and unfollow the same accounts in hopes of getting the reciprocated follow in return. While it sounds effective in the short term, doing this repeatedly throughout time is against terms of service of Instagram and can cause turmoil with organic followers on your account. Another major way to get a large following is to connect to zombie social media accounts by paying a third party business to get 10, 100, or even as much as 10,000 likes on a single picture post. These zombie accounts are usually inactive, have very few followers, and contain either zero personal posts or solely spam content. A few Instagram influencers, Hollywood celebrities, and musicians out there have been caught with this tactic and have struggled with covering up the negative headlines it caused.

The Black Hat Impact

The reality with black hat SEO is that many social media users don’t realize that they are tarnishing their online reputation for the future. A more effective and realistic way to assess if your Instagram marketing campaign is actually working is by measuring the amount of people you’re engaging with, the amount of site visits and sales conversions trailed from your posts and the growth in organic comments you receive. By simply buying thousands of fake followers from an app, you will inevitably cause a growing number of uninterested customers, spread a highly negative and unprofessional name for your business, and anger your competitors and followers who are being more mindful to post only genuine content for true growth. Though online, the reality of social media still places honesty on a pedestal, and your integrity can take a hit as your real followers discover the scam like methods being used for your marketing.

Genuine Growth and Engagement

If you rather decide to grow your following on social media in an honest manner, avoid using black hat bots and applications. Instead of aiming to cheat the digital marketing system, wasting your time and energy, and ultimately risking your own online image, switch to aiming for active engagement with other businesses and perhaps gaining advice from a marketing consultant. Experts knowledgeable in social media can listen to your business aspirations and forma step by step plan to boost your engagement across your various social media platforms. Don’t wait to achieve a higher level of digital marketing and reap the rewards.