You’ll be surprised to know that 80% of purchasing decisions are made online with the influence of search engine platforms. Nearly one in six people use Google to search & research products or services. What does this mean for emerging businesses? A great opportunity to grow massively.
Local Search Engine Optimization is a set of marketing tools that focuses on optimizing a website to be found in local search results. If optimized correctly, local SEO can lead to brand exposure, leads, and increased sales for your small business.
If your website or business name appears on the first page of a search engine’s results, then you are more likely to get noticed and visited. The first page of search engine results might seem hard to attain at first, but it is not impossible. With the right local SEO strategy, you can beat the competition and get your business ranked at the best possible position.
Would your business benefit from Local SEO Services? If your business is operating in a fixed location and you are serving customers in person, then you would benefit from improved visibility, and you need a local SEO strategy for prominent growth. Investing in local SEO is your opportunity to get found by local consumers who are ready to do business with you.
What if I’m operating in more than one location? If you are operating in more than one location, then you should optimize your website pages accordingly. Google wants to know where exactly you are operating – so that it can prioritize consumers that are in closer proximity. Optimizing your site to include your town or city name and zip code in the content will minimize confusion and help in connecting with local search results and online reviews.
1. Google My Business
The first and most important part of local SEO optimization is claiming and creating your Google My Business page. It is one of the easiest ways to rank your business name on Google Maps with local search results. When setting up your GMB, make sure that you fill it out as completely as possible and is consistent with the information on your site.
Many people search with terms like places to eat near me, nearby salon, or anything particular. Whenever they search, Google returns a list of the most suitable options based on the user’s current location. Google will populate the search results with information from your GMB page as well as your own site.
GMB listing keeps you one step closer to attracting your nearby customers. It can be a huge benefit to any business. But for a positive response, you need to add core details about your business such as – Business Name, business category, location, phone number, areas you cover, website, opening & closing hours, products, price, services, description, and link for appointments.
2. Create Location-Specific Pages
According to Google, 46% of searches have a local intent, meaning they are people that are in need of a specific product or service. Think of location-based pages as part of your SEO strategy. If pages are optimized with relevant local keywords, it will eventually boost your website’s visibility and more consumers will see your brand on search engine result pages. The importance of location-based pages is that they act as a digital signpost that shows any search engine where your business is so that it surfaces in nearby searches.
Businesses with several locations benefit from having separate pages that contain individual content. Beyond the opportunity to clearly post individual information like address and phone number, you can also include local community events and customer reviews. This type of content will help in showing Google that your site should be a higher ranking result in your area.
3. Keyword Research
Keyword research is all about trying to understand user search intent. It is one of the most important foundational things you can do for your local SEO. Your knowledge as a business owner will be very useful in this regard. What are the products and services that you offer? What do your clients ask for or need? Understanding this will help to understand what search terms you want to rank for before you begin optimizing your business. Local keyword research will continue to focus on identifying target search queries based on these key terms, your keyword modifiers, and your location.
Seeking professional help with Local SEO strategies? Contact us today for the best fitting SEO plans and packages.
When it comes to digital marketing, everybody needs to employ a certified, experienced company capable enough to run and manage online ad campaigns. The Google Partner badge signifies that the company you are planning to associate with is an expert in Google Ads and has met criteria and performance requirements to stay up to date with the latest product information.
So, how is a Google partner helpful to budding entrepreneurs?
Today millions of users search and research their options before coming to any purchase decision. Google happens to be the best platform to find relevant information on products, services, and just about anything. It also provides you with an opportunity to promote your brand.
Google AdWords enables you to reach millions of customers in a day. But if you want to get the most out of the program and measure your performance consistently, you’ve got to associate with a person/agency who understands the ins and outs of Google AdWords marketing. This is precisely where Google’s certified partner program becomes very useful.
Google partners are verified experts.
Google partners are required to go through training and pass Google Ads product certification exams. Google-certified partners have the knowledge and experience in PPC (pay per click) marketing to help you produce the best campaign and get the most out of your money. A Google-certified agency is required to know the ins and outs of negative keywords, site links inside of ads, phrase match keywords, split testing, and so much more. You can rest assured that your project is in good hands and will be up optimized for both desktop and mobile.
Google partners provide reliable services.
The digital realm is continuously changing and evolving. It is imperative to be agile and be open to the latest innovations. Your Google partners enjoy access to Google’s beta features, which are features or applications that have been developed to help businesses succeed. Google Partners can use the beta features for a year or more before they become available to the public. This is a great competitive advantage to have against your competitors.
Google partners contribute to business growth.
From online exposure to leads & sales, Google-certified partners can help you achieve a vast number of business and marketing goals. When you partner with a Google certified partner agency, you can rest assured that they will provide your business with the best campaigns. Google places an emphasis on innovation and the use of different keywords to figure out the best PPC campaigns for the client.
Google partners offer swift assistance
Google partner agency is perfect for those who are just beginning. When running your first campaigns, issues can and will come up. Google Partners not only enjoy a vast source of knowledge and experience, they also have access to dedicated Google support to save your business time and money.
Google partner ensures incredible Ad Targeting.
Ad targeting helps businesses reach the specific audience that is most likely to buy your products or services. They ensure that the amount you are spending on ad campaigns will bring a positive response. With the help of Google partner agency, you can quickly pinpoint the company’s target market and ultimately help you position your brand effectively in the customer’s eyes.
Isn’t Google Partners always your best option? Now that you have reasons to promote via Google AdWords, let’s get started. Call our Google certified professionals today for more information.
With all of the changes of 2020 due to the pandemic, many marketers are wondering if email marketing is still an effective strategy? Additionally, social media and other channels have made email marketing seem archaic and unnecessary. But the truth is email marketing still is an effective strategy if you do it correctly.
If done correctly, email marketing can generate $38 for every $1 spent, getting you an amazing 3,800% ROI. But, if you’re not seeing results with your email marketing you may be falling into one of these common email marketing pitfalls.
Common Email Marketing Pitfalls
Here are a few of the common mistakes email marketers make.
Many email marketers fail to correctly segment their audiences to provide relevant information for them. This is determinantal because if you are not providing relevant, timely content then users will just hit delete, and eventually, unsubscribe.
Additionally, all too often organizations think they need to be in constant communication with their email recipients. 78 percent of email users will cancel email subscriptions because they receive too many messages from that company, according to HubSpot.
Finally, if you do not have a clearly defined email marketing strategy with objectives of what you want to accomplish, then your email marketing will be like shooting in the dark – most likely to miss the mark.
Success in Email Marketing
Success in email marketing is typically due to understanding your audience and providing relevant and timely communication that meets their needs. You should segment your audiences by location, loyalty, or according to their place in the marketing funnel. As you segment audiences, you can provide relevant and timely content to get them to engage with your brand.
Don’t send emails too often. Try sending emails twice a month, and if that is successful then you can try increasing to weekly emails. But, always monitor your performance to see what emails are engaging your audiences.
Additionally, try A/B testing, or sending different emails to two halves of your list to test what kind of messaging, layouts, and length works for you. Just try testing one thing at a time so you can correlate the results. For instance, try testing the length of your emails for one month, and the next month try testing different layouts to see which gets higher engagement.
Email marketing still is an effective strategy for your brand to communicate with customers and keep them engaged. However, many marketers make the mistake of sending too many emails, or not planning content targeted at their audiences. Try segmenting your subscribers and testing content for them to get the most success with your email marketing.
The pandemic has forced many people to stay at home, in quarantine or isolation, which leaves the general public feeling pretty lonely. In this environment, many are turning to social media to connect with friends and stay in touch with the world. 2020 also saw the rise of TikTok, which is a given social media trend for 2021. In a socially-distanced world, social media is more important than ever.
Here are some of the top social media trends for 2021 you can take advantage of now.
Put People First
If people have learned anything during the pandemic, it’s what they can do without in their lives and what really matters. Consumers expect brands to show compassion and community during this challenging time. They want to see you put people first. People like to see other people—not photoshopped, but real, authentic people.
“Revealing the human side of the brand: Smart businesses will understand that being transparent, authentic, and even vulnerable is smart marketing in 2021,” said Michael A. Stelzner, CEO, and founder of Social Media Examiner.
Appeal to Nostalgia
As people remember ‘the good old days’ of 2019 when you didn’t have to wear a mask in public, could travel, and everything was open, appealing to nostalgia is a big trend in social media right now. You can use nostalgia to create fun, engaging content. But tread carefully here because you do not want to appear negative. Insert positivity into the conversation through nostalgia.
Use User-Generated Content
User-generated content is anything organically created by users. You can share their content, remixed with your brand or as a compilation of user-generated content, to lift your brand engagement on social media in 2021. In the coming years, you won’t have to create content but will be able to facilitate great content from your users. As already mentioned, people want to connect with people, not brands, so utilizing user-generated content is a great way to put a human face to your brand.
Tap Into Social Gaming
Since people cannot connect with their friends and family in person, many are turning to online games as a solution. The popular game Among Us rose to fame during the lockdown and had nearly 75 million app downloads in October 2020 alone. But less mainstream games are also breaking the gaming stigmatism as they provide a way to connect with others, making gaming almost another form of social media. You should create content designed for these gamers as the line between what is defined as ‘gaming’ and ‘social media’ blurs.
Conclusion
Besides putting your brand on TikTok, you should also think about ways to put people first, tap into user-generated content, and appeal to nostalgia and the gaming community. These are some of the top social media trends for 2021, but overall we expect to see more people connecting online during the pandemic. As such, your brand has an incredible opportunity to grow with social media going forward.
SEO requires constant diligence to stay up to speed on the latest trends and algorithm preferences. What worked in 2015 will not work in 2021. Even trends from 2020 may completely shift in 2021. In fact, Google reportedly changes its algorithm 200 to 300 times a year! Keep up with the latest SEO trends: here are the top five SEO trends to look out for in 2021.
Concentrate on Content
Content is still king when it comes to SEO. Create engaging, high-quality content that your site visitors will love. The better content you create, the more visitors will spend time on your site and not bounce, which will improve your SEO ranking.
Plus, Google prioritizes the user, so generally, any SEO trend that prioritizes site visitors will work in your favor for SEO.
Localize SEO
More commonly, people are searching for solutions in their geographic location. Ranking on searches like “accountants near me” or “restaurants near me” can bring in a ton of traffic to your site that actually end up using your product or service. You should use Google My Business to claim your local business online and start increasing your SEO ranking in a geo-location.
Think Mobile-First
Historically, most websites have been designed primarily for a desktop and adapted for mobile. However, the data shows that over 50 percent of web users use a mobile device and in 2019 Google implemented mobile-first indexing which looks first at the mobile site before ranking the desktop version. Going forward, you need to think mobile-first with your site design and content to continually rank for SEO.
Prioritize UX
Since Google prioritizes the user when it comes to SEO rankings, it logically makes sense that Google also cares about your site’s user experience (UX). Plus, UX can increase your traffic and sales. According to Ledgeview Partners, 89 percent of consumers will go to a competitor if they have a poor website user experience.
UX design will become even more important in 2021 and going forward for SEO. Especially since more people are accessing your site on mobile, you need to consider their experience and find ways to make your site interactive.
Secure Personal User Data
In 2020, we saw more online scams taking advantage of the uptick of online shopping. Consumers shopping online want indicators that they can trust your website with their data, especially if they are going to complete a transaction on your site. According to a leading web security firm, 85% of online shoppers avoid unsecured websites. You need to build security into your site from the get-go with an SSL certificate.
Google also prioritizes secure sites and will display a “Not Secure” warning on any site without encryption.
Conclusion
You have to constantly improve your SEO tactics to stay up with the latest trends and continue ranking online. These trends are just a few of the ways SEO is adapting in the future. So, which SEO trend will you start with in 2021?
