Why SEO Is The Driving Force For Your Business

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |SEO|Why SEO Is The Driving Force For Your BusinessIf you have to ask if your business should be investing in SEO, then you haven’t been paying attention. SEO is just one of many digital marketing strategies that you should have implemented into everything you do. Not every company will have the know-how or the time to fully integrate an SEO strategy, which is why working with an SEO agency is one of the most important things you can do for your business.

Ideally, you should choose a marketing agency that is well versed in your sector. Like digital marketing only for dental offices or an agency that specializes in the beauty industry. Their insight is unparalleled.
So if you are looking to increase your conversions, reach more customers, and boost your brand awareness, then SEO is the way to go. And, here are just a few reasons why.

Driving Traffic

Good SEO will help you gain high-quality traffic to your website. While traditional marketing can be fairly slow, digital marketing is lightning fast with incredible targeting tools. You can, of course, use things like billboards and newspaper articles to gain attention SEO delivers the content to them in the form of search results.

When people search online, they are looking for something specific already, which means your website is shown to people who already need your services or are ready to buy your product. People are looking for you and what you do. And, as they are already interested, they are more likely to click your call-to-action.

Non-Stop

You work hard, but your SEO works harder. There is no off button, it doesn’t take breaks, SEO will be your 24/7 golden ticket. 60,000+ searches a second is what Google alone processes. The right SEO agency will help you capitalize on your slice of the search traffic pie.

You can reach commuters who are using their mobile, or CEO’s who are kicking back after work – your information is delivered to their device no matter the time.

Lead Gen

A huge benefit of having the right SEO strategy will be having continuous lead generation and increased sales. You’ll notice this improvement in your day-to-day running of the business.

This increase happens due to the strategy implemented by your SEO services provider, they will improve your search ranking, and put you in competition with market leaders. Once you are appearing on the front page of searches, due to the use of high-ticket keywords, you’ll see a higher amount of clicks and visits from the people who want your services or goods.

If you are someone who still underestimates the value of ranking on the first pages, then you might like to know that according to it has been reported that the first position search appearance receives 31% of the search traffic (taking only organic search into the equation).

Local Marketing

According to HubSpot, 34% of ‘near me’ searches will result in in-store visits. Which means that SEO isn’t just about your global reach. It can be incredibly powerful when it comes to your local area. So if you have a brick and mortar store, you can still see a marked increase in both sales and brand awareness by doubling down on your local SEO efforts.

Put plainly, if you leave local SEO out of your strategy, you are taking yourself out of the running for keen shoppers who are ready to buy.

Digital Marketing Strategy Strength

SEO will strengthen your overall digital marketing strategy, which should already include content marketing, social media marketing, and video marketing. All of these components will give you a bigger online presence, which will increase your competitiveness in the online marketplace.

Always consider that a strong digital marketing strategy is the key to a bigger ROI.

And that bigger ROI can then be reinvested into your company, and drive you forward in other areas, or increase your SEO efforts.

Decreasing Costs

This one might seem like an impossible dream, but when you have an SEO expert on board, you are going to see a decreased spend on your advertising costs. Why? Well, because with a well thought out SEO strategy, you are going to be ranking higher for those high-value keywords.

This means you can take a portion of your advertising budget and reinvest it somewhere else. When you have an SEO expert, they will be able to trim the fat on what you are currently spending, and streamline your strategies so that you are ranking where it really matters.

Investing in SEO is more cost-effective than traditional advertising and marketing, so it is no wonder that businesses will (and should) reduce spending in those areas and invest more in the right SEO strategy.

Brand Awareness

Shoppers can’t be aware of what they aren’t seeing. So when looking at how you can increase your brand awareness, SEO makes the most sense. Consumers will move through a buying funnel when they are looking for a specific item. What you should be looking to do is appear in those searches repeatedly, and over time they will begin to recognize your brand. Once that recognition is in full effect, they will switch from random searches to direct – and when this happens, they are more likely to make a purchase.

PPC Boost

It is highly likely you are already investing in PCC, or have at least toyed with the idea of multiple times. SEO is the key to great PPC. PPC is, of course, a paid strategy, and SEO is non-paid (the cost will be in the company you hire to manage this for you), they work together incredibly.

Which both SEO and PPC, you are going to be reinforcing your search appearance, you will be showing up in both paid and organic searches. This provides more opportunities for consumers to visit your website. Again this helps with brand recognition.

And, we all know that data matters. You can apply your SEO data to the PPC campaigns that you are running. Say you have a web page that leads on conversions; when incorporated into your PPC campaign, it will likely rise in value.

The bottom line is that when you work with the right SEO consultant, you are going to see an increase in both traffic and conversions. And the speed in which online shopping and research grow years-on-years means you need a robust strategy in place to capitalize on the potential traffic.

Going Digital in Real Estate: How to Do It Right

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Going Digital in Real Estate: How to Do It Right

The real estate industry is experiencing massive changes in the digital era. With new online technologies, businesses are improving the overall customer experience while also being more competitive. This means that it is increasingly important to stay up to date and find out things like what a title company does in Florida. In this article, we’ll talk about some of the ways real estate businesses can go digital and reap large rewards!

1. A New Education Landscape

Anyone interested in venturing into the real estate industry needs to be educated. This does not mean that you have to go to school and take a series of courses and get a degree. In this digital era, education is more affordable and accessible. For instance, you can take a commercial real estate course online to become more knowledgeable. Through online modules, you can learn at your pace while completing assignments on deadline.

2. Build a Website

Being digital in real estate is also possible by creating a website, which will help establish your online presence. This is an opportunity to promote the properties that you are selling and to build brand awareness. To build a great business website, start by having a simple, catchy, and easy-to-remember domain name. Make the website intuitive, user-friendly, and relevant. Offer something valuable to the visitors.

3. Use Search Engine Optimization Techniques

It is not enough that your business has a website. Many real estate agents probably have their websites as well. To stand out, pay attention to your search engine optimization strategies. For instance, you need to conduct keyword research to know the search queries your target market is using. This will make it easier to conquer the top Google search results.

4. Start an Email Campaign

Your online marketing strategies will not be complete without tapping the power of email. It is a valuable tool to connect with new leads and to nurture a relationship with your existing client pool. The open rate can be low, which is one of the biggest challenges for real estate companies. Find a way to make emails more interesting and engaging. One of the best ways to do this is through personalization.

5. Tap Social Media

Social media marketing is another good way to use digital trends to promote your real estate business. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are some of the best platforms that you can use. Consider the target audience to decide which channel is most effective in getting your message across. It is also crucial to ensure that you have engaging content for your social media strategies to be effective.

6. Host a Virtual Tour

Gone are the days when giving prospects a tour of the property you are selling could be done personally. Nowadays, you can do it virtually. By using digital technologies, it is easier to give your clients an idea of the property that you are selling. Using 360-degree cameras and 3D rendering are some of the best things that can help.

Digital technologies are changing the real estate industry. As mentioned above, from training and education to hosting a virtual tour, there are plenty of ways you can use the power of digital platforms to succeed in the real estate world.

6 SEO Trends You Can’t Ignore This Year (and Beyond!)

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, 6 SEO Trends You Can't Ignore This Year (and Beyond!)

Whether you’re a business owner or a marketing manager, you’ve probably heard about the importance of SEO for your company on more than one occasion. Maybe you’ve even already put in the leg work toward kickstarting your SEO and creating a solid plan to grow your online presence.

But, having an SEO plan in place isn’t enough. It needs to constantly be looked at, tweaked, and changed in order to fit with trends and algorithm changes. Google made headlines in 2019 with its BERT algorithm update, and the search engine shows no signs of slowing down on changing the way it promotes pages and content.

That’s just one example of how quickly things can change and how fast technology moves. If your company isn’t keeping up with it by allowing for an adaptable SEO strategy and by using quality SEO services, it won’t take long for you to fall behind in your marketing efforts.

So, what are some of the trends you need to keep up with in the world of SEO, in order to stay relevant?

1.  User-Focused Content

For years, you’ve likely focused on keyword strategy and link-building. While those things aren’t just going to disappear overnight, it’s important to start shifting the way you create content. For example, with Google’s ever-changing algorithms and people’s desire to form more relationships with businesses, rather than just be target demographics, content is going to have to focus more on user intent.

It’s not going to be enough to piece together words and phrases people might search for. Even keyword research tools may become less useful as time goes on.

So, what can your business do to keep up with the change in where content is going? Listen to your customers, clients, and followers. Focus on their questions, concerns, and comments through every aspect of their journey with your company, whether they use your product/service or not. By really listening to what people are saying about your business, you can hone in on what they’re looking for, and develop your content accordingly.

2. High-Quality Content

It’s no coincidence that the top two spots on this list focus solely on the content of your website. Content is king for a reason, after all.

Not only is it important to shift your content more toward the reader, but it’s equally important to make sure that content is readable.

What does that mean?

Simply put, if the content you’re pushing out on a regular basis isn’t easy to understand, it’s going to start to rank poorly. Google might not be advanced enough to play the role of editor yet, but there’s no doubt that day is coming, soon.

In the past, releasing new content regularly was a good tactic for boosting your rankings. While updating your content regularly is still a must-do, it’s not enough to put together poorly-written pieces just for the sake of a ranking. Instead, your mindset should be to have the best content on the web, consistently. If you don’t feel that someone on your team has the writing skills that will continue to get you noticed, it’s worth it to hire professional writers, even on a freelance basis.

3. Managing Your Reputation

As more businesses and websites compete for high-ranking spots, your reputation will start to play a big part in where you’re found on that list. Google will look at the E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) of a business based on its digital impression.

You should only be publishing content about things you know. With words like “fake news” trending in today’s society, it’s easy for people to be skeptical about things they read online, so you have to prove yourself as a trustworthy source of information. Always double-check what’s being published to make sure it’s accurate and true. One false statistic or exaggerated claim can end up causing a lot of damage.

Your reputation will also be scrutinized when it comes to negative comments and reviews posted about your business online. Negative comments may have deterred potential customers away before. But, now? They could turn Google off from giving your site a high ranking.

If you have other people writing for you or contributing pieces of information to your website, it’s just as important to make sure they have a solid reputation, too. Quoting someone who has been proven to be a fraud or someone with no authority in a particular subject could make your content (and business) seem just as ill-informed.

So, do your research, write what you know, and work hard to preserve positive customer experiences.

4. Focus Your Attention on Mobile

Did you know that 60% of Google searches are done on a mobile device? Or, that over 2 billion people use their smartphone exclusively to access the Internet?

If you’ve been ignoring optimizing your website for mobile, it’s time to make it a priority. Mobile search is only going to become more popular over time thanks to a society on the go, and consumers are growing used to instant gratification. If your website doesn’t load quickly on a phone or is impossible to navigate, they’re going to turn away in a matter of seconds and look elsewhere.

It’s worth it to higher graphic designers or web designers who specialize in mobile web development to make sure your site is easy to work through, even on a smartphone. It used to be the norm to create a site on a desktop and later optimize it for mobile. Now, the trends are showing us that it may be time to start flip-flopping that old rule of thumb.

5. Building Your Brand

More companies are starting to focus on paid advertising, especially on social media. There was a time where spending very little on social media could get your business heavily-noticed. Now that the practice is becoming more saturated, the ROI is reduced. It’s also likely that the cost will go up, so you’ll have to spend more to get less.

Chances are, you’re going to have to continue to spend something on social advertising, just to stay relevant. But, it shouldn’t be where you focus all of your attention. Instead, shift your goals toward building your brand and promoting brand awareness.

Both Google and Bing have made it known that linkless mentions of your business are used as ranking signals. So, the more people that are talking about your company online, the better.

When you utilize social media listening, you can pay attention to how often your brand is being talked about and what people are saying. It also gives you a great opportunity to interact directly with customers and followers of your business. When you give your business a personality by talking directly with your audience, you’re developing trust. That can help you to stand out among competitors who are simply following the normal trends with canned responses and limited social interaction.

6. Voice Search Optimization (VSEO)

By 2022, voice-based shopping is expected to reach up to $40 billion. That’s just one of the staggering stats associated with this phenomenon that continues to grow in importance. VSEO is huge among teenagers and young adults, so it’s undoubtedly going to take over the next generation of searchers.

What does that mean for your business? Since people are asking more direct questions via voice (and typically doing so using full sentences), you’re going to have to consider exactly how those questions will be asked.

What makes VSEO different from traditional search is that when someone is typing, they’re more likely to use snippets of a phrase, or just one to two words in order to get the information they want. Since searching via voice tends to feel more conversational, they’re going to use longer questions and phrases. Those same questions and phrases need to be brought up in your content in order to be seen. Think about how most questions start, with the same few words:

  • How?
  • Why?
  • What?
  • When?

If your content isn’t including those key terms or the answers to the questions people are asking, you’re going to become less relevant when it comes to your overall ranking.

So Many Changes, So Little Time

With technology changing so quickly and Google coming out with new algorithms all the time, it can feel as though it’s hard to keep up with the latest SEO trends. But, there’s one major theme that you can probably see through all of these trends: The user should be your focus.

When it comes to the content you produce, the trustworthiness of what you say, the ease of which people can view your site via mobile, and how well your brand connects with consumers, it all comes back to user experience (UX).

So, while keeping these trends at the forefront of your marketing/SEO plan will help to keep you from becoming stagnant in your efforts, the most important thing to keep in mind is how those efforts are targeted toward the people searching for you, and those who have already discovered you. That’s a “trend” that will only continue to become more important each year.

How to Develop a Successful SEO Strategy for Your Business

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, How to Develop a Successful SEO Strategy for your Business

The importance of SEO has surged in recent years, and if you’re looking to attract more customers to your website, you simply can’t afford to ignore it. When it comes to achieving the coveted first page positions in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), having a solid SEO strategy in place is essential. These days search engine results are more crowded than ever before, and winning your place in the rankings will require patience, hard work, and an understanding of how to properly optimize your website. With that in mind, below you will discover how to develop your very own successful SEO strategy.

Conduct a Full SEO Audit for your Website

When it comes to getting started with SEO, having solid foundations in place is an important first step to take. Without a strong platform, all other SEO efforts will essentially be wasted, and getting your website to rank highly in search results will be difficult. If you’re looking after a website with thousands of pages, then it might be worth considering an investment in website auditing software such as the industry-standard Screaming Frog or Deepcrawl to speed up this process. If you’re in any way unsure about how to carry out this process, it might be best to get in touch with professionals who are adept at creating and tailoring an SEO strategy to your business.

Start building links as soon as you can

One of the most important elements of any successful SEO strategy is link building, and this needs to be taken into account when trying to get more clicks from Google. Google’s ranking algorithms are complex and multi-faceted, but time and time again links have been proven to play a huge part in determining the position of a page in search results. There are, of course, many other factors to consider, but incorporating link building into your SEO strategy is a must.

Invest wisely in keyword research software

Taking the time to understand your user needs and learning what people are actually searching for is the bedrock of a good SEO strategy. Without in-depth knowledge and data on your customers, how else are you going to create valuable content that they can relate to? The Google search console provides an insight into which keywords are used to drive people to your site, and it’s completely free. Alternatively, sign up to SEMrush or Ahrefs for a more detailed picture of the search landscape.

Top tip: Be on the lookout for question keywords, as this can inform the content strategy of your blog pages.

Keep up to date with industry news and announcements

SEO changes faster than the weather, and in an industry as dynamic as SEO, it’s important to stay as up to date as possible. In 2019 alone, there were thousands of updates to Google’s ranking factors. Subscribe to newsletters, read blogs and be on the lookout for important news from Google about updates so you can ensure your SEO strategy is on-trend.

Is Your Web Designer Turning Viewers Into Customers?

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Is Your Web Designer Turning Viewers Into Customers?

Is your website attracting traffic but failing to draw in customers? If so, then this is likely to do with the design of your website. There are so many companies who are failing to reach their online potential because of their website. You may think your site looks impressive visually, but a good design incorporates so much more than this.

Too many companies offering website design services are doing their customers an injustice. They try and wow them with the likes of flashy graphics but they don’t take the time to deal with what really matters; generating money. After all, isn’t higher profit what every business wants to achieve? The flashy graphics may look fantastic, but it may also take ages to load, and by this time your potential customer has gone elsewhere and bought off of your competitor.

When you are looking for website design, find a company that will deal with the hard facts. Is your bounce rate too high? Are you generating enough page views? Are people only visiting your site for a short period of time? How many viewers are you turning into customers? They need to tackle these issues and work tirelessly until the resolution is one you can be satisfied with.

This is not to say that they will not generate innovative and creative website designs. They should have an undeniable talent for their field, which is matched with the training, qualifications, and experience required. Designs must always visually delightful and every decision is made whilst thinking about your brand image and the corporate identity you assign yourself with.

A goal-orientated approach and innovative design ideas must be coupled with a focus on user experience and a powerful functionality in order to give you the complete package. The internet is all about convenience; that’s why people love it so much. When you look at your website now, can you honestly say it is easy to use? Can customers easily navigate to the returns page? Is a method of contact easily accessible?

Apart from a thorough approach, another area to look for is a thorough process. The company should begin with a consultation whereby they are able to soak up as much as possible about your business as well as provide you with a creative brief. They will identify the key conversion factors for your business i.e. how they are going to turn those viewers into customers! Then the web design process begins followed by website development. This is where the design is turned into the complete finished package. They will then provide you with in-depth CMS training to ensure you can use your new website without any difficulty.

They should not just design a website and leave you to it; they should provide ongoing support and quarterly reports to ensure your website is performing to the optimum level. After all, the internet is ever progressing and developing and thus you simply cannot remain stagnant.