Have you ever thought of leveraging Brand Ambassadors to market your business?

If not – now might be the perfect time!

Brand Ambassadors can be beneficial to all businesses, whether small, large, retail, online only, etc.

What is a Brand Ambassador?

A Brand Ambassador most often:

• Believes in your company whole-heartedly, and thinks of themselves as your biggest fan club.
• Is always blogging or posting online about your product (or service).
• Writes online reviews that include positive messages about your product (or service).

Your business might:

• Offer the perfect product or the perfect service.

• Provide great value to customers.

• Extend perfect customer service.

• Always ship out orders on time.

But … does it seem your businesses just can’t seem to grow a following on Social Media?

Any idea as to why that might be?

The reality is - no matter how engaging your content, products or services are, they won’t resonate if you’re not reaching the appropriate social media audience.

Why optimize your business Facebook Page?
Optimization helps make sure your Facebook business page gets the attention it deserves.

Optimizing your business Facebook page will:

• Improve overall search engine ranking results.
• Allow posted content and ad campaigns to perform better.
• Allow more exposure bringing an increase in followers.
• Allow for products and services to better reach target groups.
• Increase clicks and conversions, leading to more sales.

Check out these tips for optimizing your business Facebook page.

Potential customers can decide in an instant not to make an online purchase.

Customers can drop your company in a snap and buy from a different business.

Why?

People are listening, watching, and reading everything online. More and more, buyers are doing their due diligence prior to making online purchases.

If they see one little thing that casts doubt about your business, they’ll click away and never give you a second thought. They’ll also jump-in to tell others their opinion of you – good or bad.

Back in the day, a business’s trust and reputation was built on word-of-mouth, the best advertising a business couldn’t buy.

Today, buying is shaped and motivated by online social media, brand and product influencers, past customer reviews, communities, blog posts, rival websites, news and review websites.

Businesses are using Instagram more and more to extend their reach and bring awareness to their Brand with local, regional and national audiences.

Local businesses have learned that Instagram is all about bringing people and communities together that share mutual interests, and they’ve discovered that Giveaways work especially well for them.

When launching a new product or service, a Giveaway is the perfect way to draw attention!

A little perk from Google for your business to use on your GMB (Google My Business) listing.

What is a GMB Short Name?
Per Google, a short name is a unique identifier used to “represent your business name, brand, location or other description”.

Who is a Short Name Available To?
After you’ve verified your business, you can create a short name for your Business Profile to make it easier for customers to find you. This feature is available for most merchants and business categories.

Have you been on the fence about setting up a Facebook Shop because you thought it’s too confusing or it would take too long?

Good news! It’s not.

Facebook has refined their shop setup process, so it’s straightforward, quick and easy.

If you’re using a website to sell products, people can be sent to the website from a Facebook or Instagram shop to complete the purchase. There are also options to setup a shop with checkout.

Shops set up from a Facebook Business page, can be customized in their Commerce Manager. 

Local and small businesses have found using the Instagram stories feature helps to boost engagement, and sales.

Why?

Instagram is a platform that people spend time on – they watch things they weren’t specifically looking for, and find themselves clicking on stories where their interest is piqued. Quite often - they’ll see a story, or click on an ad, then go on to buy the product.

Instagram data shows their stories feature now has over 500 million daily active users, so it’s a feature businesses shouldn’t overlook utilizing.

Managing a Facebook page for local business is far different than running a non-business Facebook page.

The challenge for local business pages is twofold:

• Create compelling content that resonates with both customers and community.
• Create a balance of product/service promotion with entertaining content.

Whether you're just starting out on Facebook or have been working your business page for quite some time - take note of our tips on how to leverage Facebook for more business awareness and sales.

What’s your experience been the past few months with Social Media?

• Are people still reading your Social Media posts?

• Are people not engaging with your account the way they used to?

• Are you wondering how to up your game and grow a larger audience?

The one thing that many Social Media account owners overlook, is how important it is to know their audience.

It’s the right time to set up a Facebook Shop for your business.

Why?

More and more businesses are using Facebook shops to increase sales and extend their Brand reach.

Facebook has become the global social network leader boasting over 2.7 Billion users each month.
(resource: Released results for second quarter, 2020, Facebook)

Did You Know?

Service-related companies identified with the Google Guaranteed badge, are more apt to be selected for a job by people browsing local search results.

What Is a Google Guarantee?

‘Google Guaranteed’ is Google’s way of suppressing fraudulent service companies and those who provide sub-standard work.

Google Guaranteed companies must successfully pass the Google screening process for identity verification, insurance and licensing.

Per Google:
“If you’re backed by the Google Guarantee, and your customers (that came to your business through Local Services Ads) aren’t satisfied with the quality of your work, Google may, in its absolute and sole discretion, reimburse the customer up to the amount paid for the initial service, subject to a lifetime limit.”

Visual marketing has become an important bridge to connect with those seeking what you’re offering.

Why Has Visual Search Become So Popular?

• Has become essential in most digital shopping experiences, and is especially important for e-commerce Brands.

• Many people don’t know what they want but “will know” when they see it. Some know what they want, but don’t know what it’s called.

• Is a growing opportunity with the potential to push significant organic traffic and conversions.

More and more businesses are learning the value of using Facebook to connect with potential and repeat buyers.

If you’re already hosting events or classes on Facebook, or would like to start - now’s the time to take advantage of their new Paid Online Events offering.

New Product on Facebook:

Virtual gatherings are in-demand more than ever before. Facebook is reaching out and helping SMBs (small to mid-sized business) with their new offering called “Paid Online Events”.

When day-to-day business is affected by events we can't control - people are searching for ways to generate more exposure, increase revenue, and gain more of a market presence for their small businesses.

Increasing Your Digital Marketing Efforts Will:

• Expand Online Sales.
• Promote New Buyer Connection.
• Resonate with Existing Customers.

When people search for your business by Name or Something Related to your business - can they find you?

If people perform an online search, and can't find your business - the first thing that pops into their head is: Does this business even exist?

Everyone conducting online business should have a marketing plan – but many don’t.

Why?

Usually it’s because they don’t have time, or they don’t know how to start the process.

These are usually the same people who whine about not making any sales, not getting visitors to their website, not getting Social media followers, not getting List Subscribers, etc, etc.

These are also usually the people without strategies in place and go day-to-day without a clue as to why their business isn’t moving forward.

Your Social Media Metrics are what tell you if you’re on-track or if you’re just posting in the wind.

Your Social Media Goals are directly related to your Social Metrics.

Determine What Your Specific Social Media Goals Are

Goals may include:

• Increase Followers.
• Move Traffic to your website.
• Secure Leads and Make Sales.
• Create Excitement about your Brand, Product or Service.

How much time have You spent on Keyword Research?

Do You Know How to Research Keywords to optimize SEO and Paid Search?

If you’re not sure how Keyword Research affects your SEO and Paid Search results, we have some tips for you!

Most seasoned shoppers have their own mental list of go-to places they buy from.

Where and why we repeat shop from a particular company usually falls under a handful of reasons:

• Quality
• Price
• Convenience
• Customer Service

Facebook recently announced new receptiveness tools for live streaming, an updated Messenger interface, an updated Download Data Tool and a Quiet Time feature that will enhance both business usage, and enrich the overall experience for regular users.

For those who rely on screen readers due to hearing challenges, an “audio only” live mode will be also become available for automatic captions.

To help strengthen their Brand, businesses will want to leverage these new tools and test them out to reach more viewers.

Touchless or Contactless payments are a progressive method of collecting payment at your place of business.

This new technology is gaining popularity due to:

• Security

• Speed of Service

• Customer Satisfaction

Depending on resources and budget, many businesses don’t commit to systematic market research to determine what current and potential customers need, want, and are actually buying.

A good portion of business owners operate on a “if I like it, everyone will buy it” mentality - and that’s just not how to turn profits or grow a business.

Smart business owners will stay on top of what people are looking for, then diversify to meet current demand.

We’ve got a few proven tips that help to increase website sales.

Let’s see how many you already use!

TIP: Display Trust Icons on the Checkout Webpage

With so many questionable vendors online, it’s more important than ever to build trust with potential buyers with their first visit to your website. On your checkout page, briefly describe your site’s security measures. Include a link to the full Security disclosure.

Display a Certified Trust badge (sometimes referred to as a Seal). Trust badges most often indicate security features are in place to keep credit card information and personal information safe.  When you’ve shopped online you’ve seen icons for SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) which indicates encryption of certain information sent over the web.

More and more people are making use of mobile personal assistants (voice technology) such as Bixby, Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, etc.

Voice Search is becoming more prevalent because a voice query is much faster than typing words, and the results are returned rapidly.

Businesses need to focus on Voice Search to make sure they’re not left out of search results.

If you do business on a local level - Local Marketing can become a top sales generating tool for you.

Smart Local Marketing can:

• Increase in-store customers with long-term loyalty.
• Boost visitors to your website.
• Heighten awareness of your Brand.
• Improve SEO efforts resulting in higher search engine rankings.
• Deepen community connections.

One challenge for small businesses is being found online. Another challenge is developing marketing strategies to acquire new customers and retain existing customers.

How much time do you spend working your online marketing strategy?

Is it working for you? Or is it hit-and-miss because you find it takes so much time bouncing between different tools and platforms? Do you feel you’re making as much progress as you’d like?

Let’s look at several online tools your business should be using, how easy these tools are to use, and how to access all of these tools from one place.

When prospective clients and customers browse LinkedIn for people they want to do business with, the first section they look at is your Profile.

Is yours fully optimized?

If you’re not sure what “fully optimized” means in relation to your LinkedIn Profile, here are a few tips you can do to bring more attention to your Business and your Profile.

You want your website to rank well in Google. But how can you improve yours Google Ranking? From Keyword Research and Page Optimization to Paid Search Ads and Social Media. Check these five ways to improve your website and improve your Google Ranking.

A little bit of planning goes a long way when it comes to marketing your business or organization online. But we know it can be tough to find time to look ahead when you’re busy dealing with your day-to-day.

Let us make your 2020 planning a little easier with our free 2020 online marketing calendar!

Our printable PDF calendar includes all the major holidays you should be thinking about when planning your marketing campaigns. You’ll find the big ones in there for sure, but you’ll also see some days you might not have thought about, like Book Lovers Day, National Hot Dog Day, and National Mom & Pop Business Owners Day.

We’re here to help you better understand this new law and how it may apply to your Business.

The CCPA, which  is short for the California Consumer Privacy Act, is a law designed to enhance privacy rights for consumers in California and to encourage transparency regarding how businesses collect and use personal information. Businesses subject to the CCPA are expected to be in compliance with the law by January 1, 2020.

As an Internet Marketer, you see the terms SEO and SEM all over the internet. Many of you may not be sure  exactly what these terms mean, let alone what the difference is between the two.

Let’s Delve Deeper:

What is SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing)?

SEO is referred to as Organic search results.

SEM is referred to as Paid search results.

Historically SEO has been regarded as an integral piece of SEM enveloping both Organic and Paid strategies.

However today - the term SEM is used when speaking exclusively about Paid search. The term SEO is regarded as the process of capturing website traffic from natural search results which are free and Organic.

While it isn't anything new for Businesses to optimize for Local Search - now more than ever it's crucial.

Most Business owners assume it's enough to focus on Google when it comes to Local Search efforts because they're “command central” in the Local Search game ... but statistics show it's just as important to develop a versatile Local Search strategy that includes all search outlets across the Internet.

According to a recent study consumers do use other channels besides Google Maps for Local search. Is your business listed on these other local search options?

With the new year almost upon us, now's the time for a fresh start and a chance to make a change.

Do you have a “grow” plan in place to keep your Business focused and on track to progress throughout the new year?

People Will Click for that First Bite!!!

While the term "Landing Page" gets thrown around a lot in online Marketing, not all that many people really understand what it means - much less how it differs from a website or homepage, or even why Landing Pages are necessary.

Many website owners have no idea what a Landing Page is, so if you’re not familiar with the term, don’t feel alone. At the very least - everyone needs a custom Landing Page for list Sign-ups, Social media posts and product/service campaigns.

Get Organized
Organize your database before the holiday season arrives.  Put your loyal, new, and potential customers into different lists.  This will allow you to target each of these audiences with relevant offers during the holidays.

Create a Stand-Out Holiday Offer
With so much competition from the ‘big guys’ and other local businesses - coming up with a compelling offer could be the secret to this year’s holiday success.

Leverage the Channels that Matter
The holidays are a busy time for your customers. That’s why it’s important to use the right channels, like Email and Social media,  to get in front of the right people.

Plan to Stay Connected
Encouraging new customers to join your Email list will allow you to deliver results beyond the holiday season.

Attend a Free Webinar to learn quick and easy ideas to help you reach new people and communicate with existing followers and customers.

When:   Thursday, November 14, 2019
Reserve Your Spot Now

Note: If you’re unable to attend, please register anyway. You’ll receive a link to the free recording of the Webinar which you can watch on your own time.

If you don’t know the answers to all of the questions below - you may need to refine your Business online marketing strategy.

#1:  How Do New Customers Find Your Business Online?

#2:  How Do You Build Relationships with New and Existing Customers?

#3:  How Do You Get Customers to Come Back and Make Repeat Purchases Again and Again?

#4:  How Do You Encourage Existing Customers to Share Your Business with Friends and Connections?

#5:  How Do You Evaluate Your Business Success and Make Smarter Choices?

Now more than ever it’s so important to make sure your Brand is leveraging online Local Search and awareness of your business.

These ‘Local Marketing Musts’ are "must haves" to have in place for your Business!

Google My Business messaging via SMS (text messaging) will no longer be available, and will transition to the Google My Business app. After November 15th you'll no longer receive a text when customers reach out to you.

To keep messaging active for your business and continue using messaging with Google My Business, you'll need to download the GMB mobile app.

Messaging in the Google My Business app lets you receive and reply to messages free of charge. You can keep a record of your conversations and easily access reviews, bookings, insights, and other Google My Business app features.

If you're currently using Google My Business messaging via text (SMS), you'll need to download the latest version of the Google My Business app. Once the app is installed, you can turn on messaging. You’ll then receive and respond to messages in the app only - not via text.

Lead Magnets can be used on Social Media and on a website.

How creative are you in using Lead Magnets?

What are Lead Magnets?

A lead magnet is a marketing term for a free item or service that is given away for the purpose of gathering contact details. Marketers use lead magnets to create sales leads.

Businesses can't take the "head in the sand" approach - you have to take the watchdog approach and remain proactive about what's going on in your industry, and what's being said about your Brand.

Which alert tools do you use?

You may find one here you can try out!

Online tools can help you track so many things … just set keywords, names and/or search phrases, then check the data. Helpful information includes:

• Mentions and Comments made about your Brand. Post a response as soon as you see posts, whether it be to ask an unsatisfied customer to contact you privately, or to say Thank You for the kind words.

• Competitor activity. If a competitor is running a Sale on a product you sell or a service you offer, you can jump in and run a better price or add-on a perk. Learn what others are saying about a competitor online.

Here are a few Listening and Monitoring tools Brands use to stay aware. When configuring alerts or reporting, include your business name, products/services you sell, competitor name, search keywords specific to your niche, etc.

If you’ve ever shopped online, ordered food for delivery or used a customer support live service (those little icons that ask if you need assistance), then you’ve most likely had interaction with a “bot”.

Some “bots” are bad, such as spam bots – but Chatbots are the good guys.

Chatbots are becoming more prolific in Social Media and on Websites because they’ve proven to be an effective tool for businesses to increase sales, save time and money, and build a stronger bond with their customers.

How strategic have you been in defining your online Brand identity?

If you're a company without competitors - then everyone will buy from you because there’s no other choices. However, a company without competitors is virtually non-existent.

There are so many businesses competing for the same customers, it's imperative to make your Brand unique, relatable and trustworthy.

Many times small businesses overlook the important factor of separating themselves from the crowd. Strengthen and separate your Brand from the crowd by kicking up your Brand identity a notch with these helpful tips.

Many people think if they just create a Google My Business listing, they’ll miraculously start receiving hundreds of people calling them … not so.

According to Google, the three top ranking factors they use for rating Local results are:

• Relevance
• Proximity
• Prominence

To reach potential customers, a Service Business needs to up their game on a few levels in order to become well placed in results amongst companies offering like-services.

Think of Google My Business as the “hub” … information you enter there is also used on Google Maps.

Sometimes we receive connection requests from people we already thought we had a connection with. If we in fact already do have a connection with that person, and they’re sending another request – it’s because they have more than one LinkedIn account.

How Might a Duplicate LinkedIn Account Happen?

The most common reason a duplicate LinkedIn account occurs is when a person receives an Email invitation to join LinkedIn, and sets up another account using an Email address not associated with the already established profile.

WahLa! Another LinkedIn account is in the system for the same person.

Is your Business one of the over 500 million active users on Instagram Stories each day?

If not - maybe it’s time to get on board. Stories offers ridiculous potential for companies to extend their reach and invigorate engagement amongst their fan base as well as those unfamiliar with their Brand.

Sliding through Instagram Stories can be riveting for many people, and it's difficult for them to exit rather than continue watching. Business owners are taking advantage of the Stories feature to reach large audiences with timely content, while boosting Brand awareness.

A website is your primary business marketing tool, yet some people don't develop their site to it's fullest potential - and then wonder why their bounce rate is so high, why they aren't making sales, etc, etc.

Often times, business website owners spend their time focusing on areas that ultimately won't pay off if their website is lacking. Social Media, Instagram, YouTube and other platforms can drive visitors to your site, but once people get there, if they feel let down - they won't explore the site long enough to make a purchase.

While there are the rudimentary webpages and elements all sites should have such as good navigation, quality content, great photos, purposeful logo and tagline, etc, - there are ways to enhance basic pages so the website performs better overall.

Many business owners feel registering one domain name is sufficient. However, there are many reasons why multiple Domain Names using several different extensions should be registered for one business.

The primary reason is to Protect Your Brand!

Whether you're creating a Headline introducing a new product, running a sales or Adwords campaign, posting to social media, writing an article or organizing a newsletter - the Headline is the magnet that initiates the click.

People will not take the time to read anything you've written/posted unless the Headline is intriguing to them. You want people to feel they have no choice but to satisfy their curiosity and read further.

Are you just getting your feet wet with social media?

Are you a seasoned social media maven?

Either way – here’s a list of helpful and free social media strategies to help build your business.

Over 800+ million people visit Facebook each month to buy and sell things. If you’re an online business selling products and/or services, the FB Marketplace may be a good fit for you to extend your Brand on a Local level.

The Facebook Marketplace is a free option that allows businesses to sell products and services. If you're selling products online, you can sell in the Facebook Marketplace. If you run a home business, you can also sell on the MarketPlace. If you’re a local business providing a Service, you can sell on the Marketplace. The Marketplace is a combination of Craigslist, OfferUp and LetGo, all in one place.

What Are Google Posts?

Google Posts is a feature where Google My Business profile owners can insert direct message posts to reach their customer audience. Google Posts are visible from the Google Search Local panel, Search results Knowledge Panel, and on Google Maps.

Posts remain visible for seven days unless manually removed. Posted Events will run until the event end date.

A business may have up to ten posts running at the same time. Continual posting optimizes visibility, so make new posts to replace those approaching their expiration date.

Social Media content that’s proven to increase your audience is the use of Questions in the form of a Quiz.

A Quiz almost always draws in a diverse base of viewers based on the Quiz content. Besides being entertaining, Quizzes give you - the marketer - an insight into your reader base. Depending on how unique the Quiz is - it can go viral, increase followers and ultimately revenue.

A few things businesses and Brands shouldn’t be doing on Social Media:

#1: Offering Up Sub-Par Customer Service

Social Media translates to immediate engagement. People often post questions, complaints and concerns online - rather than calling and sitting on hold waiting for a sales representative. When online inquiries and audience concerns are ignored or you take days to answer, they'll likely just move on to another Brand to do business with.

What Is Google Maps Marketing?

Google Maps marketing is utilizing Google Map functions to allow your business to be found easily by those performing a search.

Big businesses are expected to be found immediately on Google Maps, but small businesses can leverage Google Maps to their benefit with strategic optimization for both search result positioning and visibility.

As a small to mid size business owner – your goal is to push for the highest placement possible within local business Google Map results, as well as on related search engine result pages.

A Blog that’s regularly updated with new content will compliment your business website and also:

• Give insight into your business and what your expertise is.

• Encourage people to visit every day to see what’s new.

• Attract New Buying Customers.

• Increase more traffic to your website.

Engagement Defined

Engagement is more about the level of involvement with your Brand content rather than about the size of your cumulative audience.

Engagement rates on any social media channel is basically the measure of how loyal your followers are to you and your business.

Engagement Parameters

Key elements for tracking Engagement are:

• Followers
• Comments
• Share and Reposts

How Important is Engagement?

Instagram uses Engagement as a metric to calculate where your content appears in a followers feed. The Engagement metric reflects follower activity and interaction. Instagram translates Engagement as a sign that followers want to see more of your content, resulting in a higher placement level in their feeds.

As a Local or Online business, spreading Brand awareness is one of the top elements of your marketing strategy – with the end goal being to bring in new customers, readers, users, followers, subscribers, etc.

Extending your reach through as many online platforms as possible provides additional visibility for your Brand, while increasing your business profile in search engine results when mobile and local queries are performed.

Registering your Profile with consistent information across all platforms and listing sites allows search engines to display your business in their search results based upon specific keyword searches related to your services/products.

What Is Google Optimize?

Google Optimize is a free A/B testing and personalization Google tool that allows website owners to set up experiments and discover what works best on their sites. Google Optimize offers a free version, and a paid version named 360 Optimize.

Per the Google Blog:

"People want compelling and relevant digital content that's delivered at just the right moment. That's why Google Optimize is making changes to help businesses deliver better, more personalized experiences to your customers. Now, in addition to running short-term website experiments with Optimize, you can create custom website experiences that deliver the right message to your customers—every time they visit your site.

Optimize has always helped you test which version of your site works best for your customers. Now it’s even easier for you to immediately launch the winning version of your site with just a few clicks.

Say you’ve run an A/B test on your site and Optimize has determined the winning version. You can now simply click “DEPLOY LEADER,” and Optimize will re-create the winning version of your site as a new personalization that you can launch to any segment of your customers.

You can also create personalized experiences without running a test first. For instance, you might want to offer a special like free shipping to all customers in San Francisco.

Launching a personalization from scratch is now simple in Optimize. First, click the “Create Experience” button and select “Personalization” as the experience type. Using the Optimize Visual Editor, you can add the free shipping offer to your site. Then, select “users located in San Francisco” and launch the personalization."

Everyone’s jumped on the “Brand Reputation” bandwagon the past few years … and with good reason.

It’s important to know what people are saying about your business, products and services.

• Is someone using unauthorized images of your products on their website?
• Is someone bad-mouthing you and your company?
• Is someone using your photo on social media without your knowledge?
• Has someone left a negative review?
• Has a Blogger mentioned you in their post?

Wouldn’t it be nice to receive alerts each time your Brand name is being searched or mentioned?

Fee based subscription Reputation monitoring tools are useful and sometimes absolutely necessary to protect your Brand. If you don’t subscribe to a monitoring service yet – you may want to try out these Free monitoring tools.

What are Backlinks?

Backlinks are any link on or in a website page pointing (linking) to your website.

Back in the day, link exchanges were a common way to build backlinks to and from websites. People started building site highways and interconnecting them with hundreds, and in some cases – thousands - of reciprocal links that lead to Google dropping the proverbial hammer.

Check out these 7 Tips for Growing Your Business Facebook Organic Reach. Here is the first:

#1 – Post and Schedule Consistent Content

Facebook can become a direct line of communication between you and your audience. When people begin to view you as an authority in your niche, the information you post will begin forming a connection your viewers will count on. They’ll share and like your posts more frequently.

Create a weekly schedule for your Facebook posts and stick to it. Include images, and video when possible. Take advantage of holidays and events to post personal and business related content.

Definition : Search Operator

A Search Operator (or search parameter) is a character or string of commands and characters used in a search engine query to narrow the focus of the search.

Using Search Operators help you search quickly for information plus can find information to assist with SEO, identify errors that may exist on your site, and may also reveal information about competitor websites and activity.

What is Snapchat?

Snap, Inc states they are “a camera company”.

“We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. We contribute to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together”.

Snapchat allows users to capture and send “Snaps” which are only viewable for a set duration between 1 to 10 seconds before they automatically delete, or with no time limitation until they are closed by the recipient.

Snapchat users have an option to save specific snaps on a private storage area with the “Memories” feature. Users can see locations on a map where other people make their snaps.

You may or may not be familiar with the Google Keyword Planner tool, formerly known as the Google Keyword Tool. There was a time the Google Keyword Tool was accessible under its own URL and free to use for everyone, however in June of 2016 – Google rolled the Google Keyword Tool under the umbrella of Google Adwords, restricting use only to those logged into an AdWords account.

If you’re already registered with Google Ads (Adwords), then you most likely are familiar with how to use the Google Keyword Planner to research keywords, search volume trends, platforms, competitors, locations, etc.

Here we’ll cover Tips for How to use the Google Keyword Planner tool for researching Keywords, and building Keyword Lists, without having to sign up for a funded Ads (Adwords) account.

In theory, you have to Spend $$ to Make $$. Most often it’s easier to say than do.

The challenge of small business owners is knowing how best to invest funds in a manner that actually generates a return on their investment – rather than just spending for the sake of spending.

Google is trying to make sure that the web sites you visit are secure. That’s why in July, their Chrome browser (version 68) will start marking sites without an SSL (security certificate) as Not Secure. To make sure the 75% of web users who use Chrome don’t see your site as Not Secure, you need to buy and install a security certificate. Just email support@hostingct.com for assistance.

A LinkedIn Business page serves several purposes:

• Allows a Business to tell their story.

• Allows a Business to Educate others on their Services and Products.

• Allows a Business to Individualize themselves against their Competitors.

• Allows for Engagement with prospects, customers and employee candidates.

• Allows a Business to Network and build Referral relationships for Sales Leads.

• Allows a Business to Create a Public Image on an International scale.

What is a Conversion Rate?

Most commonly, the conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors.

Example:
An e-commerce website logs 400 visitors per month and has 100 sales – the Conversion Rate would be 25%.
(100 divided by 400 = 25).

A conversion can refer to any specific action you want the visitor to take, and can include clicking a button, making a purchase or becoming a repeat customer.

What is Conversion Rate Optimization?

In internet marketing, conversion optimization, or conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a system for increasing the percentage of visitors to a website that convert into customers, or more generally, take any desired action on a webpage. It is commonly referred to as CRO. (Wikipedia definition)

Increasing your conversion rate increases overall profits for a business, so it’s crucial to optimize.

Branding is the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product or service in the mind of the consumer.

Marketing is the promotion and sale of services and products, and a natural extension of your Brand.

Online Marketing allows far more opportunities than conventional business marketing because of additional channels and marketing platforms available on the Internet.

Your goal is to reinforce your Brand with marketing through Email, SEO, and Social Media to reach undiscovered customers where they spend time searching, reading, socializing and shopping.

Email Marketing is one of the best ways to reach your audience because it allows you to carve out a unique personal relationship with people that actually look forward to reading your newsletter each week. Websites and Social Media aren’t as good in cultivating this intangible connection.

What Are Google Posts?

Rolled out to all businesses mid - 2017, Google My Business Posts are a feature within Google My Business that allows businesses to publish content directly to Google’s search results.

Launching in 2008 as a powerful Twitter social media tool, Social oomph has expanded to a fully featured posting and scheduling app that easily lets you manage one or multiple social media profiles, posts and post scheduling.

Social oomph currently supports Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, App.net and Plurk, plus any Blog platform that has an XML-RPC remote publishing API. You can also automatically create social updates from RSS feed entries.

Local Search has definitely evolved, and now plays a key role in mobile searches in relation to sales. Statistics shows that 72% of consumers that performed a Local search, ultimately visited a place of business with five miles of their location. (Wordstream)

78% of people who performed Local searches on mobile resulted in making an offline purchase. (Search Engine Land)

Local search indexing and first page results vary between Google and Bing, but each is important to pay attention to for SEO long-term plans. Google holds the larger market share, but Bing has a lasting foothold.

This dynamic marketing calendar makes it easy for you to plan out your message, timing and media, all in one place, and we're offering it to you free!  Download this super useful tool today and get planning!

Buffer is a posting and scheduling app to manage one or multiple social media profiles, posts and post scheduling. Just add posts and Buffer will auto-process to your selected social accounts. With this app, you can add content to Buffer from any website without signing in. Extensions are available to work within Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

Go to our Facebook page today February 15th and comment on today's anniversary post with one word that describes HostingCT to you, and you'll be entered to win a MapleCraftFoods maple syrup gift pack!

Enter now!

Most marketers find it's a never ending challenge to keep their brand relevant while capturing the attention of their audience. With Video more prevalent now in social media than ever before - it's extremely important to use the correct social media video specifications and advertising video sizes. To avoid technical difficulties, and promote a positive user experience – note that each platform has it’s own set of video criteria.

What is ORM – Online Reputation Management?
Quite simply, Online Reputation Management (ORM) is about influencing, controlling or restoring the good standing of an individual, group, business and/or Brand.

A Good Defense is a Great Offense
From the minute your website hits the internet - that’s the time to commit to a consistent schedule for online monitoring and building your brand deep and wide. Brand reputation management takes time and diligence.

If you don’t have time to do it yourself, then contract with a reputable source to perform the tedious tracking and monitoring steps involved. Identifying and nipping negative reviews / online comments in the bud is essential.

Awful images vs great images can be the difference between getting viewer attention, and being totally ignored.

Bringing attention to you and/or your brand is why you post on social media - so make your images work for you by making sure they're optimized using correct dimension and resolution criteria for each platform.

Awful images vs great images can be the difference between getting viewer attention, and being totally ignored.

Bringing attention to you and/or your brand is why you post on social media - so make your images work for you by making sure they're optimized using correct dimension and resolution criteria for each platform.

A Sitemap is a file containing a list of all your website's pages.

The Sitemap provides search engines with information about your site's pages, and can improve the ease for search engines to crawl and index. A Sitemap should be submitted each time you publish new changes to any page on your site you want indexed.

What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google to help you monitor and optimize your site's presence in Google Search results.

The Search Console helps you:

• Make sure that Google can access your content.
• Submit new content for crawling and remove content you don't want shown in search results.
• Create and monitor content that delivers visually engaging search results.
• Maintain your site with minimal disruption to search performance.
• Monitor and resolve malware or spam issues so your site stays clean.

What is Google Analytics?

Launched in 2005, Google Analytics is a free service offered by Google providing website statistics and basic analytical tools for search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing purposes.

Google Analytics helps you understand your site and app user patterns to evaluate content and product performance.

With Facebook frequently adding new options, you may want to evaluate your page and see if you’re utilizing Facebook to its fullest potential for your business.

Think back to when you first set up your Facebook Business page.

Did you build your Business page to evolve into a unique community?
Or did you build your Business page just because everyone said you had to have one for Social Media reach?
Do you add Valuable Content for your fan base?
Do you Start meaningful Conversations?
Do you Respond to fan Comments?

Most companies setting up a Facebook business page have the following goals in mind: Reach Targeted Audience, Build Brand Awareness, Create Brand Loyalty, Increase Traffic to Website, and Generate Leads that Convert to Sales

These goals can be realized by attending to your page with the attitude of building a Community. Adding value applicable to different segments of your audience, starting conversations, and posting a variety of content relevant to your business and brand, both on a professional and personal level - will all help to build a loyal Community.

If you’ve been using Instagram for a while, you may not have used “Stories” before. It’s a nice element that comes with Instagram and allows you to add custom photos and short videos to share with your followers.

The Instagram Story function was released mid 2016 and is only visible on mobile devices. There’s a 24 hour availability window for Stories to run on Instagram, then they drop off, with a new 24 hour cycle of Stories appearing.

Enhance your Facebook Business Page with a Call-To-Action button and make it easy for clients / customers to start food orders, make a reservation, shop your products, book a hair appointment and so much more! Not sure how to configure your Facebook Call-To-Action Button? Check out our step by step directions.

A Podcast is a series of audio or video recordings. 

A Podcast episode is one audio or video file from that series. The word 'Podcast' refers to a series of audio or video files, while a 'podcast episode' is one audio file from that series. 

Podcasts are similar to Radio shows and each Podcast series will have a specific theme. Each Podcast episode will talk about a particular subject in that theme. 

SEO is not a one time quick fix.

SEO starts when a website is being created.

SEO is a forever task of consistent monitoring.

Effective SEO is strategy refinement using proven best practices.

Check out our SEO task schedule for websites displaying lackluster search result performance. All may not be applicable to your situation, but utilize as many tasks as necessary to ensure the foundation of your site is SEO ready.

Using the Disavow Tool in Google and Bing

It’s recommended that website owners periodically perform a backlink audit of their site, because there are Good Backlinks and Bad Backlinks … if you don’t know who’s linking “to” your website – then you may be setting up your website for low search results. If you’re inexperienced with a deep, manual link audit, then it’s best to have a professional perform one every six months, or at the least – annually.

Since Google announced they’ll be indexing mobile friendly sites first in their search results, here are a few tips of how to move your Blog or website nearer the top results. 

Here are a few online tools to assist with content promotion that you may or may not be familiar with, and can be used in conjunction with your Social Media promotion efforts.

As website owners, we need to alter our mindset from being “mobile compatible” to being mobile optimized”.

The process of Mobile Optimizing is making sure visitors accessing a site from their mobile devices and mobile platforms, experience both a visual and technical positive experience.

By all accounts, with Google being the kingfish of Search - as they historically hold the largest search-share market - we have to spend more time on making sure we “get it right” according to Google-specific criteria. Once that groundwork is seeded, the other search engine results will fall in place.

In 2013 Google announced it would be adjusting search rankings appearing on Smartphones and Mobile platforms based on how well a site managed the user experience.

In 2015 Google officially confirmed more Google searches took place on Mobile devices than on desktop computers and tablets in ten countries including the USA and Japan.

Negative SEO is defined as a person or entity can easily unleash a slew of below-the-belt tactics with the intent to decrease a website’s ranking in search engine results, and/or to ruin their online reputation. Learn more about the types of negative SEO that may affect your online presence and learn how to fix any issues that affect you.

A major challenge for small businesses selling their products and/or services to localized target markets is getting their name on the first page of Google using organic methods. For those of you wanting to optimize your website for maximum exposure within Local Search results in the Google search engine, we have a few suggestions for you.

In the first 3 steps in this series, we’ve discussed how to create a website that people actually want to spend time on, what actions you want them to do while they are there, and how to get them there in the first place. In our final step, let’s talk about what to do with those conversions, once you have them, to actually increase your sales.

So far in this series, we have discussed how to build a website visitors will want to stay on and how to drive those visitors to your CTAs. But how do you get people to visit your website in the first place?

In step 3 of this 4 part series, we will go over how you can drive more visitors to your website using Search Engine Optimization.

Regardless of whether your company is an online business or a brick & mortar local shop, having a website that converts is a key piece of your successful business plan.

In step 1 of this 4 part series, we discussed how to build out a website users would actually enjoy visiting. In step 2, let’s discuss how to put that website to work converting visitors into leads and buyers.

A website that converts plays an important role in every savvy business. Your company’s website could be your best source for potential clients. Many consumers will visit a company’s website before deciding whether to buy from them, even if the company is a brick and mortar business. For those websites that belong to online businesses, having an attractive website that converts visitors into leads is even more vital.

When visiting a website, consumers are looking for one of a few key things. They want to know more about the company, learn about the products they offer, and check if they are offering any promotions that can only be found on the website.

Some of you might think it’s a thing of the past, but believe us when we say that writing and distributing an alluring press release can do wonders for your business. However, it’s not as easy as one, two, three; you need to put some work into it to make sure that your release is focused and captivating.

It’s surprising how many brand-new companies that are just starting out on their entrepreneurial venture have so little knowledge of what a marketing plan really is. Dozens of questions seem to surface whenever discussing a marketing plan. What is it? Do you have to make one? What needs to be put in it? Before we can answer the first question, a dozen more will be asked.

While the number of subscribers you have signed up for your newsletter can directly translate into more earnings for you, the harsh reality is that your subscriber list works best with quality subscribers rather than a huge quantity of unqualified subscribers. A few hundred good quality subscribers are worth infinitely more than even a thousand people who signed up for your newsletter just for the free stuff you have to offer.

So how do you get those quality subscribers? That’s exactly what we are here to help you with. Read on to see which of our ideas you can use to increase your newsletter subscriber list with some quality subs.

Communicating and gaining attention can be a bit harder for nonprofit organizations than it is for regular businesses. The reason is pretty simple: money. Generally, the marketing budget for nonprofit organizations is significantly lower than that of higher up brand names and businesses. This presents a conundrum for nonprofits, because in order to generate more attention you need to dedicate a decent amount of your budget, which will in turn increase your budget overall. But how do you do this when your customer base isn’t gaining anything out of giving your organization money?

The first and foremost thing you have to do is create a voice or a tone for your organization. Determine how you will approach your audience and what your key statement is. Depending on the primary focus of your nonprofit, you will determine if your tone needs to be serious and direct or more relaxed and laidback. Each category will generate a different tone, and you need to determine which tone you will use.

Once you have determined your voice, everything in your organization that has anything to do with marketing or communication has to have that specific tone. If it doesn’t, then your organization will seem lackluster and disjointed, which will result in catastrophic failure. Anyone who communicates on behalf of your brand needs to speak with your brand’s voice and message. Here are a few ways you can deliver that message and inspire your donors.

Google Analytics is a fantastic source of information that can help you reach the levels of interaction you desire with your potential customers. However, reading and understanding data can sometimes be a headache, especially when we are talking about a rather complex system. While it can be slightly discouraging learning how to interpret the data which is presented by Google Analytics, we strongly suggest you take a few minutes and learn a bit about how Google Analytics works.

There are four major components when working with Google Analytics: data collection, configuration, processing, and reporting. All of these components work together to deliver the data you need in the most accurate and comprehensible way. Let’s take a look at each of these Google Analytics aspects separately.

Using social media to grow your business has become a standard in the marketing world. Any business can benefit from reaching out to their customers on social media platforms. However, some of us have an odd tendency to only focus on one platform at a time. While it might be slightly more cost effective to dedicate those budget dollars towards one specific platform and focus on perfecting it, the reality is that ignoring other social media networks is a really bad idea.

Some social media sites offer a much bigger audience than others, but ignoring additional potential growth from other sites is a big mistake, especially when similar content can be utilized for nearly all platforms.

One such site to look out for is Snapchat. This social media platform has grown rapidly over the past few years. It is estimated that out of all social media users out there, about 23% of them are using Snapchat or at least have a valid Snapchat account.

When we need to look something up online, most of us turn straight to Google. This isn’t a random occurrence, and everyone knows it’s the established norm for searching for anything online. As of March 2016, Google is responsible for 67.7% of all global online searches. What does this mean for you? This means you have to carefully monitor everything that Google does regarding their search engine infrastructure and modify your SEO accordingly.

One such major change that Google introduced in April of 2015 was the implementation of a new algorithm which determined a website’s mobile “friendliness” and influenced its ranking amongst search results. This meant that if your website was mobile friendly, it got better scores and was more likely to show up higher in search results for people using a mobile device. Google recognized that the mobile revolution was underway and more users were starting to search and look things up with the use of their mobile devices like phones and tablets. So the response was simple, reward the sites which are optimized for mobile use with better rankings.

If your marketing checklist for 2017 looks identical to last year’s checklist, then I’m afraid I have to break some bad news to you…you are doing it wrong. The marketing world is a dynamic environment and it changes from year to year.

Your marketing plan should be unique in its own way every year. The reason is simple: people change and you should change how you approach your customers or clientele accordingly. Instead of having a list of things that you must get done, you need to gather a set of goals which you want to attain. Try the non-linear approach. Brainstorm, write your goals down, and connect the dots from your audience perspective.