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Innovative Ideas To Build Better Business Connections

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StrategyDriven Customer Relationship Management Article |Business Connections|Innovative Ideas To Build Better Business ConnectionsThe business connections that your company has can influence its success massively, as you need to be in the right circles to access the best opportunities and platforms to attract and maintain a wide audience. Failing to form strong relationships with other businesses, manufacturers and supplies can no doubt cause your company to experience more difficulties than you might have ever previously imagined, but fortunately it doesn’t have to be this way. There are many simple steps that you can follow to start building better business connections, and there’s truly no time like the present to get started. So, if you’re interested in finding out more, then keep on reading!

Always Offer The Best Service Possible

Providing your professional clients with a low level service will no doubt impact negatively upon your relationship, as you need to take your service as seriously as possible if you’re going to stand any chance of building the best business connections. If you’re continually disappointing your clients or failing to meet their expectations in general whether this means communications or quality, then they will simply begin their search for a more suitable provider that can take their business more seriously. Thankfully, offering the best service possible doesn’t have to be as tricky as you might initially expect, as you can improve your operations dramatically by just taking more time to listen to your audience – if your business clients have specific wants or needs, then you need to make yourself aware of them so that they can leave feeling satisfied. Whether you decide to upgrade your B2B logistics to promote efficiency and productivity or choose to maximize your customer services department to handle complaints and questions at any time of day or night, always make an effort to offer the best service possible.

Offer Rewards For Their Loyalty

Another excellent idea that you can pursue to build better business relationships is to offer rewards for clients who show particular loyalty. If your audience gets no benefits by staying with your company, then they have no reason whatsoever to stay with you rather than seeking out other providers or businesses. Instead, if you take the time to set up a range of top quality loyalty schemes that can reward your business clients the longer they work with your team, then they are far more likely to continue their relationship for several years to come. Rewarding loyalty schemes can be so easy to form, as you can start by offering something like a 10% discount on your 2nd transaction for brands using you as a supplier. It all depends on your unique organization and the type of businesses that you would like to attract and build connections with, so do some research beforehand so that you can appeal to clients in the most effective way so that they can begin to appreciate you and your team like never before.

Building better business connections has never been such a simple task when you can take the time to utilize the innovative ideas above.

7 Tips to Build a Scalable Enterprise SEO Content Juggernaut that Yields Lasting Results

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |enterprise SEO|7 Tips to Build a Scalable Enterprise SEO Content Juggernaut that Yields Lasting ResultsWhether you are B2B, eCommerce, manufacturing, SaaS, a university, or any other large enterprise, one of the main benefits of SEO is its ability to build a self-sustaining flywheel of traffic by using more and more evergreen content.

Once you reach the point where more of your content ranks on page 1 of Google, you can start celebrating, especially since it will be easier to rank future pages. But that doesn’t mean that you can just coast – your competitors are always nipping at your heels.

Enterprise SEO efforts need to be consistently applied in order to exponentially grow traffic, leads, and sales.

That’s why I’ve put together 7 tips for creating enterprise SEO rockstar content that educates, converts, and scales.

1. SEO Quick Wins (Striking Distance Keywords)

It’s no secret that SEO takes some time to gain traction. It’s common to break even on your investment around 12 months. While it takes time, it’s worth sticking with it due to all the long-term benefits it provides.

SEO will yield results for you well into the future, and you’ll depend less on paid ads. It will also boost your other marketing channels by generating more email subscriptions.

The good news is that you don’t have to wait an entire year to start seeing some results.

That’s where SEO ‘Quick Wins’ come into play. These are some quick tweaks you do to your existing content for speedy boosts in traffic.

My favorite quick win is to identify ‘striking distance’ keywords.

The chances are high that you have a lot of your content ranking on pages 2 and 3 of Google. That’s quite common for my new clients, and they often see little to no traffic from those pages.

I view these pages as within striking distance of SEO traffic.

You’ll need to identify the 1 keyword that each page can use to gain more traction to rise to page 1 (or higher on page 1). Use a keyword research tool to find these striking distance keywords. Next, you’ll need to hit your content with what I call the SEO ‘one-two punch’:

1. First, inject the exact top keyword into five content fields:

  • Meta title
  • Meta description
  • H1 tag
  • The copy below your H1
  • The URL slug

2. Next, boost your page’s authority by linking high-authority internal pages to it

NOTE: Don’t forget to 301 redirect the old url to the new one (since you changed it).

Implementing this one-two punch can provide a quick boost to your rankings on Google. Within a couple of months, you’ll start generating higher ranking and additional traffic from content that was hiding from searchers.

2. Competitor Research (Direct + Indirect)

Next, you’ll need to look at what your competitors are doing with their SEO. If you never pay attention to the competition, you won’t know how you compare to them.

Also, analyzing competitors can give you valuable insights to incorporate into your strategy. For example, you may find that competitors are doing certain things that you aren’t. Here are a few things to pay attention to when looking at your competitors:

  • Their UI & UX since this is becoming more of an SEO focus
  1. Url folder/directory structure
  2. Main and footer menu links
  • From what sites are they getting quality links (where you aren’t)
  1. Highlights relevant sites you could reach out to get a quality link
  2. Highlights relevant sites you could build industry relationships with
  • From what keywords they are successfully getting SEO traffic (where you aren’t)
  1. Informs new content article creation
  2. Informs different keyword targets for existing pages

A lot of clients make the mistake of only analyzing their direct competitors. If you want to cover all your bases, you should look at your indirect competitors, too.

A direct competitor sells a product similar to yours. An indirect competitor doesn’t sell what you do, but they’re in the same industry. Many indirect competitors are media sites and publications. It’s essential to pay attention to them because they may rank for similar keywords.

3. Site Organization Recommendations

You’ll want to make sure that Google has visibility of all your web pages – or it’s all for naught. That’s why you’ll need to organize your site in a way that makes sense to Google. Otherwise, you’ll confuse the algorithm and won’t show up in search results.

That’s the last thing that you want, so here’s how to organize your website:

  • Sitemap.XML File. Your sitemap lets search engines know about all the pages on your website. It lets Google know the order of importance of your pages, recent updates, and more. To ensure Google has visibility of you, upload your sitemap to Google Search Console. Bonus points for creating an HTML version as well.
  • URL Directories/Folders. You’ll need to have your URL structure immaculate so that Google can crawl your site with ease. Order everything hierarchically to keep everything in place. Also, use crucial SEO keywords in your URL folders. Also, it’s best not to split your site into subdomains – as that can spread your authority too thin (rather than aggregating it on one site: better for SEO).
  • Site Navigation. It should be effortless to navigate your site for users but also for Google. Ensure that your main navigation bar has a nice layout with About and Contact pages. Also, use linked breadcrumbs to improve navigation. Breadcrumbs keep track of each page a user visits. It looks like this: Home > About Us > Our Mission.
  • Internal Linking. You’ll want to find areas where you can link to your other blog articles. That creates a spider web of interrelated content on your website. That’s great for SEO and encourages readers to click on related articles.

If you have all your ducks in a row here, you won’t run into issues with confusing search engine algorithms.

4. “Local” Landing Page Keyword Strategy

If you have multiple physical locations, you’ll want to use some “local SEO” techniques in your strategy for quality traffic. Local SEO refers to targeting local search queries in your area.

For enterprise-level companies, you’ll want to separately target each of your locations. That will increase your chances of being locally relevant and gaining more traffic. For local SEO keywords, you’ll want to include the location. An example would be, “car rental Green Bay WI.”

In that query, it’s evident that the user needs to rent a car in the Green Bay area. What’s great about local SEO is keywords often have more purchase intent than others. The fact that they include the location in their search shows that they are likely lower in the sales funnel.

5. Technical SEO Site Audit

Next on the list is a thorough technical SEO audit of your website. It’s where you take a look at key technical aspects that affect your search engine visibility.

Here are some of the factors that you need to audit:

  • Fixing broken links, images, and JavaScript. “Broken anything” means bad news for your SEO. Broken links and lines of code confuse the algorithm, so you need to fix them ASAP. If you find any broken links, know that broken internal links hurt more than external ones. Strive to fix your internal links first for this reason.
  • Images that are missing alt tags. Every image needs an ‘alt tag’ describing the image’s content. Google can’t see pictures, so it needs a description of what you’re trying to show.
  • Page speed issues. Your page needs to load quicker than it takes you to blink. Not only will slow websites frustrate customers, but Google ignores them. If you don’t pass the Core Web Vitals test, you’ll get overlooked.
  • 404 Pages and 302 redirects. Every time you see a 404 Not Found or 302 (temporary) redirect, use a 301 (permanent) redirect. Google prefers 301 redirects because they pass the domain/page authority test.
    Among others…

Fixing crucial technical errors can provide a quick boost to your SEO.

6. Article Keyword Research + Editorial Calendar

Playing the SEO game is all about releasing stellar content. You also need to remain consistent with your release schedule. That’s why you’ll need to develop an editorial calendar to keep you on track.

Regularly releasing blogs is a great way to see continuous boosts in traffic. Just make sure that you base these articles on solid keyword research (popular, relevant keywords that aren’t too hard to rank for).

Use your competitor keyword research, and supplement with others you think of along the way. Also, don’t neglect your content from the past; updating old articles (that are already getting some SEO traffic) can give you a new boost.

7. Backlink Outreach Strategy

Lastly, you’ll want to include link-building as a core part of your strategy. In addition to finding spots for internal links, you’ll need external links (other sites linking to you), too.

Adding links from high authority sites is a great way to give your content a power boost. If your content is linked from pages that Google views as trustworthy, it will boost your authority too.

For me, the first place to start link-building is with email outreach. I use the ‘skyscraper’ technique for email outreach. That’s where you find high-ranking pages in your niche with desirable backlinks.

Your goal is to acquire these backlinks for yourself. How do you do that?

To outdo their content, provide more value. Dive into more detail, offer new insights, and include images and videos. Once it’s evident that your content is superior, it’s time to email the owner of the website you want to link. Politely let them know that your content adds more value and that you’d like to link to their page.

Enterprise SEO That Scales

Those are the 7 core components of a successful enterprise SEO strategy. Remember, it’s about quality over quantity. A few solid backlinks will do more good for you than 1,000 poor ones.

The same is valid with your content. Focus on releasing SEO optimized articles that aim to educate and convert above all else. You want to be intentional and consistent with your SEO tactics to achieve the best results.

Bio/byline: Miles Anthony Smith, a tech keynote speaker and SEO consultant, delights in delivering invaluable content to people hungry for answers to their most vexing questions or challenges.

Why Information Is Important When You Are Injured

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article | Why Information Is Important When You Are InjuredWhat should you do if you find yourself involved in an accident that is not your fault? This is not a question that many people prepare themselves to answer in advance, but it is one that is wise to have considered in order to protect yourself from being, not only the victim of an injury but also from being the victim of the financial consequences that arise from the accident. Unfortunately, often these types of accidents might prohibit you from initially gathering the information needed to further protect yourself, but, if possible, there are several pieces of information you can gather or have another person gather in order to avoid having the financial responsibility fall solely on you.

What You Need to Know

If you find yourself involved in an accident caused by another individual, especially if a personal injury is sustained, it is important to gather as much detailed information as possible. If you are unable to gather this information, seek out someone else willing to help. This may be a police officer working the accident, an emergency medical professional (EMTs, firefighters, etc.), or a willing bystander. If you turn to professional personal injury lawyers to handle the case, they’ll also look for any kind of useful evidence that will be beneficial for you. They have experience in a vast variety of personal injury cases and know exactly what type of evidence you need. Besides, they are so skilled and trained that they won’t let insurance companies mislead you on some minor facts which could be of use for your case. No matter what type of accident you’ve been involved in, an experienced attorney will strive for any single evidence and the maximum compensation for you. If the accident involves a vehicle, it is important to gather such information as the make and model of the vehicle, whether the other individual has insurance and, if so, with whom they are insured. If some other motor vehicle or piece of equipment is involved be sure to gather the details related to that vehicle.  Documenting the time, date and location of the accident is important information to have as well.

Who You Need to Know

Additionally, obtaining the names of the emergency professionals on the scene is information that is needed as it might be necessary to gather additional information later or some of the previously mentioned information should you be unable to gather it at the time of the accident due to injuries sustained in the accident. The names and phone numbers of any witnesses may prove necessary as well.

You cannot rely on the other individual or the insurance companies, yours or theirs (if they have it) to make sure that you are properly compensated for any personal injury or property damage Knowing as much as possible will make the task of getting compensated easier. It is, unfortunately, the case that many people find themselves navigating a situation that requires them to jump through a number of hoops to receive the compensation they are owed because of an accident. If you find yourself in this sort of situation, then you can seek help with receiving financial compensation. Finding an attorney who is an expert in personal injury and is adept at managing these sorts of challenges may be necessary.

What You Need to Do

If you find yourself in need of an attorney to manage the situation, then it is also important to protect yourself and your settlement whether a trial is necessary or settlement is reached out of court. It may be wise to have a settlement plan which is meant to protect you and your finances upon receiving a financial payout.

An accident may be a circumstance you find yourself in, but it does not be one that you have to come out of without being made whole. But you must be your own advocate first.

3 Tips To Stay Motivated As An Entrepreneur

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Stay motivated as an entrepreneur|3 Tips To Stay Motivated As An EntrepreneurBeing an entrepreneur means you’ll need to manage multiple things to varying degrees of success. At a certain point, you could feel as though things aren’t going as smoothly as you’d want; you mightn’t have as many customers or as much revenue as you expected.

It’s natural to feel deflated and unmotivated if this happens. Persistence is key to overcoming this and achieving success. That’s much easier said than done. You’ll need to know how to stay motivated as an entrepreneur to do this.

That doesn’t need to be as difficult as you’d think, provided you keep a few particular tips in mind.

How To Stay Motivated As An Entrepreneur: 3 Top Tips

1. Have An Inspiration

Many people feel unmotivated because they believe they won’t get to where they want to go. They’ve no idea about how they can get there. You can get around this by having an inspiration; someone that’s been in a similar position and that you can base your entrepreneurial path on.

That could be the likes of award winning business women Krissy Jones or someone more specific to your industry. The important part of picking an inspiration is that you use their career as a guide to yours.
With that, you could feel more motivated to get things done.

2. Set Goals

Goals are vital to everything. You need something to work toward to keep you motivated. You should set growth goals and then set a plan in place to achieve them. When you’re doing so, make sure to keep them achievable and realistic.

Failing to do so could have the opposite effect on you; not being able to achieve certain targets can make you feel like you never will. Start with something small and build up to a larger goal. If you plan on doubling your revenue, for example, start with a 10% increase and make a new target once you’ve reached that.

These will feed into your overall goal and help you keep motivated.

3. Expand Your Network

No business exists in a bubble. The same can be said for entrepreneurs. You’ll need to have a network to support you and keep you motivated. That motivation can come in the form of inspiration, as mentioned above, or people telling you how well you’re doing.

Coupled with this is the professional help that having a well-rounded network can have. These connections can help you overcome the hurdle that’s making you feel overwhelmed and unmotivated. By getting help with this, you could find yourself more motivated than you previously were.

That’s one of the main reasons you should expand your network. When you do, don’t be afraid to rely on it when you need it.

How To Stay Motivated As An Entrepreneur: Wrapping Up

Figuring out how to stay motivated as an entrepreneur can be a stressful process, especially with everything else you’ll need to juggle. It doesn’t need to be, however. Instead, following a few particular tips will help you get over the hump.

Remember that success is on the horizon, as long as you’re persistent and passionate enough to get there. With the above tips, achieving this should become easier.

What Is Social Listening, and Should You Use It?

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Social Listening|What Is Social Listening, and Should You Use It?Customers always have something to say. As a business owner, you better start listening!

Half of the marketers all around the world have leveraged social listening to understand customer preferences. If you’re not part of that half, you’re likely not reaching your brand’s full potential.

By now, social media marketing is no new strategy. With most businesses having an online presence, customer-to-brand engagement has never been easier. Of course, all this traffic generates significant online footprints.
These footprints range from posts and casual mentions to written or video reviews. To a competent business owner, all of this adds up to valuable marketing information. Information you can use to grow your audience and improve your products and services.

Want to reap these benefits? Then, keep reading to start your social listening strategy!

What is Social Listening?

Social listening is the tracking and analyzing of online conversations relevant to your brand. This lets you know what people say about your brand. It also lets you follow topics that are important in understanding your customers’ demands.

This is being done by monitoring:

  • Direct mentions of your brand
  • Chosen keywords and topics
  • Your competitors
  • Your industry

All the information gathered from these sources gets completely analyzed. They are then turned to action in your brand’s creative process.

Why Is It Important?

Listening is part of creating any meaningful relationship. So, naturally, you want to cultivate an environment that inspires trust and loyalty.

By listening to your customers, you also get both negative and positive insights. Responding to these helps guide your day-to-day actions.

1. Boosting Public Engagement

Following the conversations around your brand also helps you participate in them. You can answer questions, give clarifications, appreciate positive reviews, and even join trends.
They not only make customers more comfortable trusting your brand but also increases your visibility. Social listening doesn’t just allow you to grow your audience. It also makes sure that your audience stays with you.

2. Improving Brand Popularity

There’s one thing high school might’ve taught you that’s applicable in the “real world.” It’s that popularity pays off.

On every platform, you can have stellar content, but you won’t get far without visibility. Social media listening helps you stay on top of trends and has-beens. This lets you know what appeals to your target audience and what to avoid.

3. Enhancing Content Development

In internet culture, there’s no singular code of conduct you can refer to. Learning ever-changing dos and don’ts online comes from experience. The experience you get from social listening is very valuable when creating content.

You become more aware of marketing strategies that work for your target audience. You can also participate in trends that just might make your brand go viral.

4. Increasing Audience

The added online engagement also helps you connect with more people. If done right, you can create a positive feedback loop by increasing your following. This makes your brand more trustworthy, therefore continuously increasing your audience.

Check out this link if you want to see more ways to boost your following!

5. Monitoring Competition

Social listening is your virtual way of eavesdropping on your competitors. Monitoring your competitors’ activities helps you stay ahead of the game. By knowing the content they produce, you can create content that sets you apart.

It’s also helpful in cases where your competition might come under fire. Instances like these leave customers needing products and services elsewhere. After all, there’s nothing wrong with helping out disappointed customers.

How Should You Use It?

The whole process sounds daunting and technical, especially when it involves monitoring keywords and data. No worries, here are tips to guide you through the process!

1. Find Relevant Topics and Keywords

Make sure the topics you follow lead you to your target audience. If you already have an online presence, focus on your established niche.
When tracking your information, follow the name of your product or service. Also, check out related handles and hashtags. And, of course, pay attention to news about your industry in general.
When choosing keywords, always focus on your customers’ search intent. It’s best to find keywords highly searched by the audience. This is where marketing services like Google Keyword Planner become useful social listening tools.

2. Monitor Mentions of Your Brand

Social monitoring is an important part of social listening. Social monitoring is more concerned with collecting data and metrics. This entails monitoring direct mentions of your brand across the web.
It’s important when gauging your brand’s popularity between platforms.

3. Focus on Popular Social Listening Platforms

Content and conversations are being churned out everywhere online. Surely, you’ve set up your brand’s socials. So, you’re already aware of social listening platforms to leverage.
These could be Twitter threads, Instagram and Facebook posts, or YouTube and TikTok reviews. So, make sure you have an established presence on all these platforms.

4. Look for Key Influencers

A brand needs ambassadors. Social listening guides you towards relevant influencers with the right audience.
Find influencers with significant followings that overlap with your target customers. If their content works with yours, consider reaching out.

5. Limit Your Scope

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. When choosing relevant keywords and topics to follow, it’s easy to want to aim high. However, when your scope is too general, you risk overwhelming your capacity.
Specificity focuses your attention on topics that actually lead to customers. It also makes it easier for you to find direct mentions of your brand.

Should You Use Social Listening?

If you got this far, you know the answer is a resounding “Yes!”

Social Listening isn’t just some marketing tool invented by business owners. It’s a natural—albeit strategical—course of action. As a producer, if your consumers talk, you listen.

Start Listening!

Social media makes it easier than ever for customers to talk. Their opinions are important ingredients in your brand’s success. Without it, you risk messing up the flavor of your brand or ruining the recipe altogether.
By using effective social listening, you can show your customers that you care. You connect with the audience you already have and reach those you don’t.
Need more help with growing your brand? Check out our other guides!