Category Archives: SEO

Use Video to Increase Website Traffic-315

Use Video to Increase Website Traffic

Use Video to Increase Website Traffic-315You’re not alone if you’ve wondered about the power of online video. It’s working!  Now the challenge quickly becomes one of getting the most out of your video efforts. Experts in the digital marketing space have shared many video strategies. Here are some of the best ones we’ve come across.

Use website embeds for maximized Google power.

Are you aware of the fact that search engines look at the time on page as a primary metric for determining the search ranking of your web site? If you weren’t familiar with this important variable in the past, you’ll quickly get to know it.

Time on page is simply the amount of time a visitor spends on any given web page. The idea is to optimize so that this number increases. Do this is by providing useful content for your visitor to consume and make it visually pleasing and easy to navigate.

Video lends itself well to the purpose of slowing your visitors down and getting them to engage with your content. It raises the average time on site metrics above text-only pages or pages with only text and images.

YouTube support has a quick and easy reference for beginner webmasters who’ve never embedded videos before. You’ll find it to be an easy and straightforward process.

Make the video stand out.

It’s not enough to have a great video and embed it on your page. You also have to make sure your guests know there’s a video there in the first place. Often, an embedded video can be mistaken for a still image when a visitor is quickly scrolling down the page.

The popular business website The Sales Lion published a killer strategy detailing a genius way to get your videos to really stand out. Their clever hack netted a client a massive spike in video engagement rates; rising from 11% to 94% video playback rates after the design hack was put into use.

Dig into YouTube Analytics.

Google is known for giving away powerful tools for free. Here is another one, The YouTube Video Analytics tool. With this, you’ll be able to see a bevy of valuable data about your YouTube videos as well as data about people viewing your videos.

Some of the insights are:

  • Knowing which videos hold your audience’s attention the longest.
  • How long your videos are played on average and where people tend to exit or close out of your content.
  • Understanding which videos are more popular with men and which ones are popular with women.
  • You’ll know the average age of a viewer for each video you upload.

Leverage data.

Now that you’re able to slow down your web visitors, provide them with incredible value. As a result, you’re also ready to see an SEO bump. Google loves you for helping their search users find the information they need. Keep the attention of incoming search engine traffic and expect Google to keep sending people your way.

Want a consultation on using video for your site and social media efforts?  Contact us today!

SEO Before You Launch Your Website

SEO Before You Launch Your Website

SEO Before You Launch Your WebsiteBuilding a website is a lot like building a house. There’s a lot of planning involved, and even more nuts and bolts, behind the scenes, work, followed by a lot of cosmetic work. But just like a new home, you need to make sure people find your little place on the web, which is why your SEO work should start before you officially launch your site.

Here are a few of the steps to take before your site goes live, to give your SEO the kick start it deserves:

Analyze your web host’s uptime stats

Anything less than 99% is a red flag, and if you’re seeing major outages, consider upgrading your plan or changing hosts.

Check the reputation of your domain

Even if it’s new to you, it might not be entirely new, and it’s worth knowing if there are any negative marks on your home on the web.

Get an SSL certificate

Most search engines, including Google, use this as a ranking factor. It only costs a little, but it goes a long way!  This makes your site secure (https) and ensure data transfer is encrypted.

Build a responsive site

Mobile friendly websites are not optional: they’re another ranking factor for search engines.

While keywords aren’t as important as they used to be, keyword research is still a valuable tool. Both to make sure you’re using the right words and phrases in your site and give you inspiration for content!

Internal and external links

Links are another area that has changed a bit. While lots of meaningless incoming links will only get you in trouble, high-quality outgoing links, internal links, and a few very high-quality incoming links can give your new site a boost in the rankings.

Use an SEO plugin

SEO plugins on your site can make optimizing content a lot easier. Depending on the platform you plan to use, there are a variety of SEO plugins that can keep you on track, and many of them have free versions.  You want a tool to help you edit the page title, URL, keywords, and the meta description at minimum.  It’s better yet if you can evaluate the keyword phrase density.

Have a plan

Make sure that you have a content plan, and a few months worth of high-quality content written and scheduled to publish. Launching a new website is a busy time, but you don’t want to forget to keep your site fresh and interesting!

Site caching

Make sure your site is caching and that you’re using Gzip compression. Look for other speed enhancing plugins to make your site as light and fast as possible.

Install and activate Google Analytics on all of the pages on your site.

Use a Favicon

Make your site instantly recognizable on tabs.

Optimize your images

Make sure that they’re resized to a web-friendly, fast loading size before uploading them. Resizing in the browser can slow down your site dramatically.

Use a social sharing plugin

Find a great social sharing plugin, and place it in a prominent position on every page. Your website should grow your social following and vice versa!

There are many other tweaks you can make before your website launch so you hit the ground running. But the good news is that SEO is an ongoing process, and as long as you get the basics right from the start, you can add and improve elements all the time.

Save

Local Content Marketing to Grow Your Search Engine Rank

Local Content Marketing to Grow Your Search Engine Rank

Local Content Marketing to Grow Your Search Engine Rank

The proliferation of mobile devices has made people more dependent on the internet for local searches. According to Google, more than 76% of people who perform local searches on their phones end up visiting a physical store within 24 hours.

If your business has a local presence, it’s important you apply local SEO best practices to do well on local searches. Here are some tips to try:

1. Hunt for local keywords

People use keywords to look for what they need online and they localize! That’s why search engine optimization (SEO) exists in the first place. Your content needs to be optimized with relevant keywords so it can rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs). The same principle works for local SEO. To rank high on local SERPs, your content needs to be optimized with relevant keywords for the location you want to target. Google Adwords’ Keyword Planner is a good tool to use to look for high-volume keywords within a given niche and location.  Example: “Eye Doctor Lancaster PA” is a localized search term that is common for users to enter in a search engine.

2. Produce local content for your site

After identifying the keywords to use for your local SEO, the next step is creating location-specific content. For a smarter strategy, don’t just insert the keywords in an otherwise generic article. Instead, customize it according to location. For example, let’s say you’re running an HVAC company, and you want to write about ways to save energy during the winter for a location. The best approach you can take is to write the suggestions to fit the kind of winter that location gets. After all, winters in Los Angeles are different from winters in Boulder.

3. Write for local websites

Guest posting has always been a proven way to improve SEO. But since you’re focusing on a location, publish content on local websites. The backlinks you get will improve your business’ standing on local SERPs. At the same time, if you produce high-quality content, you’ll quickly establish yourself as a local expert, which will give a boost to your brand. Of course, finding sites that will accept guest posts can be challenging. A good rule is to search for them using keywords like write for us + location or guest post + location.

4. Engage with local audiences

You can use social media to reach local audiences, especially now that most of them offer geotagging. This means you can assign a location to a post so that only people in that location can see it. The great thing about geotagging is you can share the same post multiple times. Geotag each post to a different location. Customize the accompanying text for each post, so one post can say “Heya, Atlanta” while the other can say “Howdy Dallas!”

5. Get involved in local activities

When you join a local activity – whether as a participant or a sponsor – get a backlink to your site from the organization facilitating the event. This improves your local SEO, especially if the organization’s site has a higher authority than your own. Also, taking part in local activities gives you writing material for content that appeals to the people in the location you want to target. You’re giving back to the community when you take an active role, and that earns trust and respect among its members.

These tips, when taken together, are guaranteed to be effective. But remember, whether you’re going for global or local SEO, quality content is still the most important element of content marketing. There’s no shortcut for that.

How to Get More Conversions on your Website-315

How to Get More Conversions on your Website

How to Get More Conversions on your Website-315

Many online marketers believe that more leads result in more conversions, so they concentrate on generating leads and not on anything else. But this doesn’t mean you don’t need to drive conversions — not if you want to keep ahead of the game. After all, every step in the marketing funnel is just as significant as the others.  Each step has it’s place of importance in ultimately generating more sales.

What is CRO?

For leads, there’s search engine optimization (SEO) to get more targeted traffic to your website. For conversions, there’s conversion rate optimization (CRO). After attracting traffic through optimized content, your next priority is to get the most out of that traffic. This is where CRO kicks in.

CRO is the practice of improving your site’s performance, so visitors take the action you want them to do. When you don’t have a carefully planned CRO strategy, people will look around your site for a bit out of curiosity then leave without subscribing to your newsletter, providing their contact details for a free download, or doing anything that will keep you connected to them.

But with a CRO plan in place, your website will be designed to foster engagement from visitors and eventually, turn these leads into conversions.

How do you apply CRO?

Now that you know what CRO is, it’s time to get to the how part. CRO can be implemented in many ways, and here are a few practical examples:

Enhance high-performing post

  • If you’ve been creating content for some time, you’ll know that some posts fare better than others in terms of attracting traffic. It’s either they’re ranked higher on search engine result pages or shared more on social media — or even both.
  • Next, check their conversion rates. If these are too low for the traffic they get, it means some components aren’t working. Maybe your call to action (CTA) isn’t exciting enough to be engaging. For example, pick which looks better for a high street fashion brand: “Subscribe to our newsletter” or “Never miss a surprise sale again — sign up now!” Chances are, you’ll go for the latter.
  • But if your CTA isn’t the problem, the offer associated with a specific post can be the issue. Let’s go along with the high street fashion brand again in the next example. If a blog post is about finding the best swimsuits for different body types but the offer at the end is for a weak 5% off, don’t be surprised if you don’t get a lot of conversions for that page. But if you always align a relevant and meaningful offer with the content, you’ll get better conversion rates.

Promote high-converting posts

  • Some posts don’t get a lot of hits, but they still yield a good number of conversions in relation to the traffic they receive. In this case, the pages already work well enough for your purpose, so you should pay attention to promoting them instead.
  • You can share them on all your brand’s social media pages, produce guest posts with a link back to them, or offer influencers an exchange deal they can’t resist. There’s nothing like an authority figure or a celebrity for boosting hits of a post.
  • You can also go back to basics and check the pages if they’re optimized for search engines. If they happen to be old content dating a few years back, consider updating them to make them fresh and relevant once again.

With SEO at the start and CRO at the end, your whole marketing process will improve.

Need a strategy consult and setup of your funnel?  Contact us to discuss the options.

Keyword Research for Website SEO-315

Keyword Research for Website SEO

Keyword Research for Website SEO-315Keyword research for SEO is where you research the terms people type into search engines when looking for resources similar to your site. Once you know what these keywords are, you can incorporate them into your website content. Do this consistently, and your site will rank for the keywords and keyword phrases on search engine result pages.

But if you’re using the wrong keywords, no matter how much you stuff your content you’ll still not reach your intended audience. This is why it’s necessary to do keyword research. All your subsequent efforts are useless if your keywords aren’t targeted enough.

Specific vs. General

General terms are more popular, which makes them more competitive and expensive. Let’s say you have a law firm in Newport, RI specializing in divorce, and you want its site rank better in the search engine results.

Type in divorce lawyer on Google and you’ll get almost 90 million hits. To get on the first page for that term will take considerable time, money, and effort. And even if you have the resources to get on the first page, how much good will it do? People looking for divorce lawyers in cities other than Newport will leave your site as soon as they realize it’s not what they need. And your site will have a higher bounce rate.

But type in divorce lawyers Newport RI free consultation and you’ll get less than 120,000 search results. With fewer competitors, you can focus on that specific term and get good results in shorter time on a smaller budget. Also, people who visit your site are part of your target market.

In SEO, these specific terms are called long tail keywords. These are targeted to people who are about to make a purchase, or who know more exactly what they want. When someone uses a very specific term, they’re no longer just looking around. There’s a huge chance they already know what they want and are ready to buy or are motivated to learn more.

Tools at Your Disposal

Luckily, you don’t have to guess which long tail keywords perform well. There are several tools I suggest, BuzzSumo, Übersuggest, Ahrefs, and Blog About by Impact.

On Buzzsumo, you can enter any topic, and the tool will analyze what content performs best for that. It displays links to content containing the keyword you supplied, then lists statistics on its Facebook engagement, and also LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ shares.

For Übersuggest, you can type in a term and choose categories (web, images, etc.) and country. It then gives you an extensive list of longtail keyword based on the term you supplied.

If you’re looking for articles ideas based on the keywords you gathered from the first two tools, there’s Blog About, a blog title generator. Input any keyword, and the tool will display some suggested titles and email you the rest.

Put yourself in your targeted audience’s shoes. If you were in their place, what keywords would you use to find what you’re looking for? That’s a very good place to start.

 

Save

What are Image Alt Tags and Why You Need to Use Them-315

What are Image Alt Tags and Why You Need to Use Them

What are Image Alt Tags and Why You Need to Use Them-315Chances are, when someone lands on your website, they’ll never see your alt image tags at all. However, that doesn’t mean they’re not important.

What Are Alt Tags?

Alt tags describe an image, in a piece of HTML code, much like a header tag or any other piece of HTML code on your site.

Like all the other code on your site, if everything is going well, and under normal circumstances, no one will ever know they exist.

Alt tags will typically look something like this when viewed in HTML:

<img src=”image.jpg” alt=”image alt description” title=”image tooltip”>

But don’t worry if you don’t know HTML. If you’re using a CMS like WordPress or Digital Hill’s, you can add these attributes in your articles, in the publishing and advanced options, so you won’t need a crash course in programming to create them!

Why Use Alt Tags?

If alt tags are never going to be seen, then what is the point of having them at all? There are several reasons why you must have alt tags on all your images:

  • If a user is using a browser or computer that for some reason cannot render the image in question, they will see the tag instead of a completely blank space. At least it gives them an idea of what’s meant to be there.
  • Alt tags also help search engines when they crawl your site. The search engine sees images as a big black hole. But they can see tags. Use keywords in your image alt tags and get a bit more keyword influence for your post.
  • Alt tags also help search engines categorize images in their image search, which can help you to show up in more results.

Alt Tag Best Practices

To get the most bang for your buck (so to speak) when creating alt tags, there are a few rules you can follow:

  • Keep the tag short and relevant.
  • Describe the image as clearly as possible.
  • Make sure that you include a keyword. Remember that search engines do scan image alt tags, and they will count towards your overall site ranking.

Most importantly, remember if you can’t figure out what the alt tag should say, then you should question your use of the image at all. Images on websites should always serve a purpose, and if yours don’t, they shouldn’t be there.

New Website Checklist_ Make Sure Your SEO is Done Before You Launch - 315

New Website Checklist: Make Sure Your SEO is Done Before You Launch

New Website Checklist_ Make Sure Your SEO is Done Before You Launch - 315
You want to make sure your new website looks good and works well. That means no dead links, no blank pages, and no overlooked bugs. But beyond the form and function, there’s another element you need to look at, and that’s SEO.

And in light of Google’s move to prioritize mobile websites, it’s all the more reason for you to assess your website’s SEO-readiness against this checklist:

  • Domain and host

    Does your host web host have a record of major downtimes? A web hosting server with a negative history will hurt your website’s future reputation.

    An unreliable host will affect your website’s availability. It’s advisable to use a unique and never-used by someone else domain name, along with a dependable web host known for excellent uptime.

  • Keyword list

    Good copy will make your site rank well on search engines, but it’ll perform much better if you incorporate the right keywords relevant to your industry or niche.

    For a new website, it’s wise to go after long-tail keywords because they’re less competitive. In addition, these keywords will help you target specific audiences who are looking for exactly what you’re offering.  A great source to look at keywords is www.buzzsumo.com.

  • Design Theme

    Themes are not just about aesthetics. Some design themes are SEO-friendly, some aren’t. To ensure your design is SEO-friendly, it should have clean code on the developer’s side and a modern flow on the user’s side. It should also be responsive for mobile and tablet devices, and quick to load; otherwise, your bounce rate will go up.

    Most importantly overall, it should work well on mobile devices. Many people prefer to use their tablets and smartphones as their primary computing tool. Make the browsing experience on smaller screens pleasant and easy.  Google cares, so you need to as well!

  • SEO Tools and Plugins

    SEO plugins are simple to add and use, so take advantage of their power in your site. Different SEO tools have different functions, such as LinkPatrol to track and clean up links, and Keyword Tool to find out what keywords your target audience is using to find you. If your site is WordPress add Yoast SEO because it handles both technical and content optimization.

  • Content

    Content is still king, but only if it’s presented right. Gone are the days when you can post short, fluffy content and expect your website to rank. Now, long-form content is a better option because it leads to higher conversions and better page rank. Of course, you don’t have to fill every page with detailed content. Just focus on pages you want to rank and don’t exhaust all your efforts. Some pages aren’t designed to rank anyway, like landing pages.

  • Photos

    You can help your photos appear in the image search results by filling in the metadata fields with relevant alt text. If you already have a focus keyword, add that as well as long as it ties in with the photos. Then set a suitable featured image for every page so that if someone shares it on social media, the thumbnail on the preview will look engaging enough to warrant a click.

These are just some of the things on your SEO checklist, but they’re enough to get you started on the right path. And remember, SEO is an ongoing process. You have to continue working on it long after your website has launched.

Save

Save

Save

Affordable Small Business Website - ApplianceTech-inc.com-315

Affordable Small Business Website – ApplianceTech-Inc

Affordable Small Business Website - ApplianceTech-inc.com-315
In the modern world, virtually all businesses need an online web presence. When searching for information regarding a company or product, the first place many people will look is via a Google Search. Websites, however, can seem like a big hurdle, especially for a small business.

Designed by Digital Hill, Appliance Tech Inc.’s new one-page website is simple, affordable, professional and manageable.  It takes helps you overcome the website hurdle with a website that meets all your small business needs.

Small Business Website Features

  • SEO tools – SEO is a determining factor on where a site ranks in Google. SEO also affects the amount of site traffic. The SEO tools (accessible through the CMS system) allows content creators and admins on the site to customize site metadata, domain names, keywords, H tags, and page titles according to the best SEO practices.
  • Responsive design – As a mobile responsive site, ApplianceTech-Inc.com offers a great user experience on any device, mobile or desktop.
  • Simple CMS System – There is no need to know how to code with this back-end system. Digital Hill’s CMS system puts control of practically the entire site into the hands of the page’s admins. Editing of the image gallery and contact form are easily performed. If the business wishes to add an about page, for example, it can be accomplished in a matter of minutes with site-appropriate templates.
  • Contact Form –  Visitors can get more information, purchase services, or leave a comment, can use the contact form.

A Good Example of Starter Site

The website design is simple and straightforward, providing visitors with an attractive and easy-to-navigate layout. The image gallery takes up much of the page and is effective in showing potential clients technicians in action. Thus serving as a preview of the services provided while immediately providing a link to a contact number. The footer and navigation bar give the site more branding power with the logo, social media profiles, phone number and to-the-point copy present.

ApplianceTech-Inc.com is a good example of a starter site. Featuring ease-of-use for both the customer and the business managing it. Digital Hill’s CMS system provides the tools to expand a site as needed. The one-page site serves as Appliance Tech Inc.’s portal to a much wider audience and customer base. Small businesses looking to get on the internet quickly and cost-effectively can look to Appliance Tech Inc’s example. This website offers all a small business needs in an online presence without the high costs.

's New Pixel Phone will do for Mobile SEO - 315

What Google’s New Pixel Phone will do for Mobile SEO

's New Pixel Phone will do for Mobile SEO - 315

Google’s new voice search platform, Google assistant, is an integral part of the new Google Pixel. Learn how voice search is leading the evolution in mobile SEO.

Google made a big splash recently with their new smartphone announcement, the Google Pixel. It’s Google’s first foray into the smartphone market since the introduction of their Nexus mobile line, and it looks like things are going well for the search giant.

Apple’s smartphone market share is stagnating, and initial reviews of the Pixel are positive.

Journalists seem especially impressed with the introduction of Google’s new voice-assisted search platform, Google assistant. Google assistant is set to take over for Google Now on Google’s newly released Android 7.0, Nougat. It grabbed our attention, mainly because Google Now was no slouch.

Voice-Assisted Search Platform

Google looks to be going all in on voice search, and rightly so. Google’s own data shows 55 percent of teens and 41 percent of adults use voice search more than once a day.

With Apple pushing their Siri assistant, and Amazon always improving their Alexa, Google is capitalizing on a thriving market.

We for one, are looking forward to the move towards voice search, but we do have our reservations. Voice search is undoubtedly going to change the face of mobile SEO. How exactly, isn’t understood yet. Though, we can speculate. Let’s break down what we know so far about Google assistant’s effect on mobile SEO.

Voice Search ≠ Text Search

Voice assistants will change the way Internet searches are conducted. The nature of a voice search is often local and phrased differently than a text search. For example, the phrase, “I’m looking for some food” will return positive results in a voice search.

In a text search, however, location data isn’t included, and the same phrase returns general results that aren’t even related to restaurants.

Tailoring your keywords to speech phrasing and pinpointed location is likely to become an important part of mobile SEO in the near future.

Google has already revealed through their Possum update, that location data is going to become more and more important in search results. We expect Google used the update in part to give SEO marketers the nod towards location-based keywords to cater towards voice search.

Keeping it Simple

SEO comes down to identifying what users are searching for. If you can appear in those results, you can sell your product or service. Voice search users are searching local.

Bing data found that close to half of voice searches have local intent. While these results don’t include Google, it’s safe to assume consumer search intent doesn’t vary much across platforms.

The answer to targeting voice assistant users is obvious, stay local.

Google maintains a database called Google My Business that allows local businesses to provide Google with basic information. Google assistant pulls information from the database, combines it with GPS information, and uses the results to answer search queries.

Adding your information to Google My Business makes sure Google assistant has the information it needs to recommend your business.

What’s good for Google is good for your SEO.

's New Pixel Phone will do for Mobile SEO - 1

Are Paid Search Results Finally Dying?

Everyone knows about the paid results that appear at the top of every Google search. But will this concept translate to voice? We hope not.

Google assistant aims to act like a human being. It wants to answer our questions in a conversational tone, giving us an answer, rather than a list. This means one answer per search query.

If paid search results appear in Google voice searches, we wonder, what’s to stop companies from buying their way into search results? Paid voice search results are something to keep a keen eye on. They hold the power to completely shift mobile SEO away from organic traffic.

Voice search is here to stay. The next few years are going to have a significant impact on mobile SEO, as marketers gain more first-hand experience with Google assistant. Mobile SEO never sleeps, and it’s up marketers and their clients to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Save

Why You Need a Resource Center on your Website

Why You Need a Resource Center on your Website

Why You Need a Resource Center on your Website

So you have a website. It’s got a shiny new design, a few products and pages, a gallery and a few other bells and whistles. You can move on now, right?

Actually, if you want your website to be a real marketing tool, that’s dead wrong. There are many reasons your website should be more than a “brochure” taking up space on the web, and why you should have a dynamic business blog or resource center on your website.

It Gives You Something to Talk About

You already know that social media is important to your business marketing, right? But if you don’t have anything new on your website to talk about, all you’ll say is the same old sales pitch. Sales pitches turn followers off, and fans into lost visitors.

Keep adding more resources and information to your site, and you’ll have endless conversation starters on your social channels!

Search Engines Love Active Sites

One of the key metrics Google looks at when evaluating a website for search rank is the freshness of the content. If your site hasn’t been updated since 2011, and it’s sitting sad and forgotten in some dusty corner of the web, search engines assume you don’t have anything worthwhile to say, and the move on to fresher, livelier sites.

Updating your site, even a blog post a month shows the search engines your site is alive, and worth indexing. That means more traffic, and traffic is good. It’s that simple.

Potential Customers Love It

The number one thing people look online for is good information. Sites that give the information they need become valued resources. The next time they look for a product or service, they’ll head over to the resource they know and trust. It’s why Yelp became so big, and why Amazon allows and encourages reviews.

Being a valuable information archive and resource for current and prospective customers almost guarantees your site will be shared, talked about, and visited more than once, and that’s how sales happen.

So Many Options

The good news is that when it comes to resources and information on your site, it’s not just about blogging or text. Infographics, case studies, videos, even forums where users can ask questions all count, and there are many ways you can turn your website into an information treasure trove, and a marketing powerhouse.

Save

Save