It was called Final Piece (credit where credit’s due: my wife Carrie came up with the name, which is also how you know she’s the smart one). I didn’t know exactly what it would look like back then, but I knew this: I wanted to help people and businesses grow by being that missing piece in their digital marketing puzzle.

It turns out, a lot of people had puzzles that needed pieces.

From “Sure, I Can Build a Website” to “We’ve Got You Covered”

Over the years, Final Piece has evolved from a scrappy, one-man shop working out of coffee shops and corners of three different homes to a full-service digital marketing and consulting business that’s worked with some amazing people in equally amazing industries.

We’ve built websites for small businesses that wanted to look big and coached bigger businesses who wanted to act more human again. We’ve worked in SEO to help businesses be found, navigated the crazy, ever-evolving world of social media, written thousands of words, and launched branding strategies that helped showcase brands the right way.

We’ve helped companies find their voice—and sometimes their customers – and I’m proud of that.

Thank You To My Clients

This business only exists because of people.

To every client who’s taken a chance on Final Piece—whether it was for a new logo, a full website rebuild, a marketing audit, or just “can you this logo bigger”—thank you. Thank you for trusting me with your vision, your business, and your passwords.

To the folks who hired me more than once, referred friends, or even just followed along quietly and said, “I like what you’re doing”—I noticed, and it mattered. A lot.

To the many different industries I’ve been lucky enough to serve—you’ve kept things interesting. I’ve worked with psychiatrists, builders, real estate agents, hospitality leaders, lawyers, blue collar business owners, doctors, banks, industry leading construction minds, nonprofits, and far too many others to name here. I’ve learned a lot about a ton of different, super cool things, and I’m grateful for every bit of it.

Thank You to My Family

To Carrie, who not only named this business but pushed me to start it when I wasn’t sure if i could—I owe you more than a blog post. You believed in this thing (and in me) long before it made sense to. And for that, I’m forever grateful.

To Brooks and Charlie—you’ve grown up alongside Final Piece, and while you probably just think of it as “Dad’s work,” you’ve shaped how I work and why I work. You’ve given me perspective, motivation, and a have interrupted a ton of Zoom calls.

What’s Next?

We’re not stopping here. We’re still helping small businesses punch above their weight with smart, affordable digital marketing that works. We’re still offering no-BS advice, clean design, meaningful strategy—and yes, still finding that Final Piece that brings it all together.

To everyone who’s been part of this journey—from the first brave client to the most recent consult call—thank you. You’ve helped build something real, and I don’t take that lightly.

Here’s to 15 years and to whatever comes next.

With gratitude,
Matt Vaughan
Founder, Final Piece Consulting

The post 15 Years of Final Piece: I’m Grateful – Thank You appeared first on Final Piece Consulting.

Focus on Keywords

Keywords are the words or phrases that people type into search engines to find information. It’s important to choose keywords that are relevant to your business and what your customers are searching for. Think about what words your customers would use to describe your products or services, and use those keywords naturally throughout your website.

Create High-Quality Content

Content is king when it comes to SEO. Focus on creating content that is valuable and informative for your audience. This could be blog posts, articles, videos, or even infographics. Make sure your content answers common questions, provides helpful tips, or solves problems for your customers. The more useful and relevant your content is, the more likely it is to rank well in search engine results.

Optimize Your Website for Mobile

More people than ever are using their smartphones and tablets to browse the internet. Having a mobile-friendly website is essential for SEO success. Make sure your website is easy to navigate on mobile devices, loads quickly, and looks great on smaller screens. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its search results, so optimizing for mobile can help improve your rankings.

Focus on Local

If your business serves a specific geographic area, optimizing for local search is crucial. Make sure your business is listed on Google My Business and other local directories. Use local keywords in your content and meta tags, and don’t forget to encourage customers to leave reviews. This will help improve your visibility in local search results and attract customers in your area.

Build Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites to yours, and they are an important factor in SEO. Focus on building high-quality backlinks from reputable websites in your industry. This could include guest blogging, participating in industry forums, or reaching out to influencers for collaborations. Quality backlinks can help improve your website’s authority and boost its rankings in search engine results.

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By following these simple steps and staying updated on SEO trends, you can improve your website’s visibility, attract more visitors, and grow your business online. Partnering with a capable SEO firm can also help you navigate these strategies effectively and achieve long-term search engine success. Contact Final Piece Consulting today.

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This finding was confusing for several reasons. For one, TikTok is best known as a viral video platform, particularly for dance crazes and memes. The idea of finding actual information on TikTok is a hard concept to get your head around for non-users.

But the truth is that TikTok offers so much more: DIY, recipe videos, reviews, political content, and everything else. Its enormous popularity has created a paradigm shift in the entertainment industry and sent veteran companies like Instagram and Facebook scrambling to compete. But what does this mean for a small business owner?

How is TikTok Different?

TikTok differs from conventional social media in two critical ways. For one, it is entirely based on videos ranging from 10 seconds to 10 minutes (though most are on the shorter side.) For another, users can completely ignore the site’s search function thanks to its seemingly magical algorithm that serves a constant stream of new content. If you don’t like a video, simply swipe it away and it’s on to the next one. This low-effort, endless approach to content is the app’s addictive secret.

That endless content is bolstered by TikTok’s remixing abilities, where users can “duet” with others or use popular audio clips in their videos. Musicians have used this to launch their careers: a single viral song on TikTok can be the next big radio hit.

Creating Content for TikTok

You’ll find creating content for TikTok isn’t much different than you’re used to: users want content that’s informative, authentic, and interesting. With TikTok it’s extra important to grab people’s attention quickly (since they can just scroll away) and to be concise. The site’s userbase also skews younger, and they’re very sensitive to inauthentic attempts to connect with them. So if they’re your target, just be real; it’ll get you further than misunderstanding a meme.

For targeting your content, you want to use keywords based on your goals. Going after niche communities you’ll want low search volume but high relevance. For maximum exposure, you’ll want max search volume and minimum difficulty. TikTok’s algorithm picks out keywords in both video descriptions and audio so make sure to include them in both. If you’re remixing audio, be careful as trends go fast on TikTok and you don’t want to force people to listen to “Astronaut in the Ocean” again.

Your keyword and hashtag choices also depend on what phase of customer you’re targeting. A longer phrase (takeout Chinese food in North Raleigh) is better suited for a customer about to buy, whereas a shorter phrase (Chinese food) is for exposure or gaining new followers.

Are you a small business looking to grow your social media presence? Final Piece can help – contact us today. 

The post An Overview of TikTok for Small Businesses appeared first on Final Piece Consulting.

If you’ve discussed PPC ads before, you’ve likely heard about the Google Quality Score. As a trusted Google Partner, we’re here to help you better understand the uses and limits of your ad campaign’s score. So let’s dive in.

What the Quality Score Measures

Google analyzes ads to determine how useful that ad campaign would be to a user searching for a specific keyword (or long-form keyword phrase). Ranked from 1 to 10, the score is a way for Google to estimate how well your ad campaign stands to do. As such, it’s a prediction of your ad’s viability.

To arrive at the quality score, Google uses three criteria:

• Ad relevance: This is an estimate of how well your ad relates to a user’s intent when searching for your chosen keyword.
• Expected click-through rate (CTR): This provides a prediction for how often your ad will likely be clicked when it is displayed to users.
• Landing page experience: This metric determines how relevant Google thinks your website’s landing page is to the user’s intent when searching for your chosen keyword.

In this sense, quality score is a measure of how well your ad campaign matches users’ search intent, how likely it is that someone will click on that ad, and how well your website actually matches the users’ search intent once they’ve clicked through to your page.

The Limits of Quality Score

These are all important metrics, but it’s important to remember that quality score is essentially a prediction of how well your ad will do. Google itself says that your ad’s quality score does not affect its ad auction values and is “not a key performance indicator.”

Instead, a good Google Partner like Final Piece Consulting uses an ad’s quality score to diagnose issues if an ad is not performing. For example, we might see that a struggling ad has a low relevance score. This indicates that more keyword optimization needs to be performed.

Let a Google Partner Help You Fix Your Ad Campaign

If you’re just starting out and need help creating and managing a pay-per-click ad campaign, Final Piece Consulting has the tools you need to be successful. We can also help you adjust a struggling PPC campaign by analyzing its quality score, among other diagnostic tools.

Contact Final Piece today to start seeing a better ROI for your ad campaigns.

The post Understanding Google Quality Score appeared first on Final Piece Consulting.

At Final Piece, we take into account content as part of our overall strategy to increase your company’s ROI. Here’s a brief peek into how we create compelling content that converts clicks into true engagements (and sales!).

1.   Format Content for Your Users

Gone are the days of internet users accessing the web from their desktops. For the vast majority of us, we peruse websites on mobile devices. This has huge implications for content.

When formatting your pages, blog posts, and other forms of content, keep mobile users at the forefront of your mind with a few handy tips:

• space out paragraphs (more white space is better)
• use lists or bullet points when possible
• create meaningful headings that drive your narrative

2.   Retain the Human Touch

With the advent of search engine optimization (SEO), it’s easy to get tricked into thinking that the key to ranking higher is to focus on Google’s algorithms. In fact, this is the exact opposite of what the search engines want.

When writing content, make sure you’ve got human readers in mind. Yes, you’ll need to sprinkle in keywords you want Google to notice, but search engine algorithms are increasingly designed to rank pages higher if the writing is deemed more useful for potential readers.

Consider these methods:

• Pyramid-style writing (answer user questions quickly, then expand into more detailed breakdowns)
• Reader intent assessment (anticipate the next question your reader may have, and make that the subject of your next header)
• Natural language (get rid of jargon in favor of more accessible language while maintaining a professional tone)

3.   Keep Your Content “Evergreen”

The best content can be accessed with equal relevance at virtually all times. In the content writing sphere, this is known as “evergreen” content. It’s always fine to include an important, relevant update that’s meant for a specific time (e.g. a blog post about COVID-19), but most of your website’s content should be meaningful now, next year, and a few years on.

If you do have an appropriate, engaging topic that has a limited shelf-life, state its timestamp as clearly as possible to avoid ambiguity. “These new regulations are effective as of January 2022” is much better than “Recent regulations say…”.

For a more comprehensive strategy tuned to your business, contact Final Piece.

The post Quick Tips for Website Content appeared first on Final Piece Consulting.

Cost-Effective

Let’s get the major one off the bat. Anyone can download WordPress and start building a website for free. Of course, as a business, you’ll need to upgrade and expand, which costs money. But the price levels are excellent for small to mid-sized businesses.

Open Source

WordPress is also an open source platform, which means there’s a huge community of website designers and developers who have spent literal decades honing the software. It’s polished, easy to use, and has a wide user base that can help troubleshoot any problems that arise.

Adaptability

Building a website can feel daunting because you want to ensure that you make the best possible decision and present the best possible site to your clientele. With WordPress, a lot of the stress is mitigated by just how adaptable the platform is. It supports lots of media file types, has customizable templates, and has specially designed site themes based on your purposes. Your site can be changed easily and quickly, so you don’t have to worry about costly errors.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Search Engine Optimization is a crucial part of your company’s marketing strategy. A huge chunk of your revenue will depend on how easily customers can find your website through Google (and, on a much smaller scale, alternative search engines like Bing). WordPress as a platform has recognized this and integrated SEO into its inner workings. The platform has auto-generated meta descriptions, which are important for getting your site indexed and for ranking on results pages. It also has a selection of SEO plugins.

With WordPress, you can go as deep into SEO and site design as you want. New developers can use mostly templatized layouts, while seasoned pros (like those of us at Final Piece) can customize those themes to take your site to the next level. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you get your business on the map.

The post Why WordPress Is a Great Platform for Your Business appeared first on Final Piece Consulting.

New to the concept of a Google Partner? No worries. Read on to see all the ways that partners like Final Piece can help you cultivate a truly successful pay-per-click (PPC) campaign and crank up that ROI.

What Being a Google Partner Means

Becoming a Google Partner is essentially getting the seal of approval from Google itself. It means that a company has several experts who have been certified in Google Ads, engage in ongoing training seminars for new updates, and grow their clients’ businesses in demonstrable ways.

It also means that you can trust your digital marketing agency. As a Google Partner, the company’s employees must pass Google’s certification exams. These change annually to reflect industry best practices and keep up with the search engine’s many yearly updates. In order to retain Google Partner status, the company’s employees must score at least an 80%.

Working with a Google Partner

Now comes the fun part: what you get out of working with a certified Google Partner. The most important and obvious benefit is expertise. As partners, our employees are well-versed in the inner workings of Google Ads, have experience creating and managing effective campaigns, and bringing in a return on investment that keeps our clients happy.

Google Ads has tons of features that the layperson may not be familiar with, but Partners have taken the certification test to ensure that they know what they’re doing. Ad bidding, conversion tracking, A/B testing… all of these are vital to the success of your ad campaign, and Google Partners know how to interpret those results.

Oh, and one other thing. As Google Partners, agencies often get access to beta versions of new updates and algorithms that Google is running. By working with a certified Partner, you can give your company an edge by staying ahead of the competition’s digital marketing strategy.

Start Seeing Results in Your Ad Campaign

Ready to see the results your ad campaigns have lacked? It’s time to seek the services of a Google Partner agency. Contact Final Piece to learn more about how we can help you reach more clients and convert ad clicks to paying customers.

The post The Importance of Working with a Google Partner appeared first on Final Piece Consulting.

AI Becomes More Important Than Ever

Nearly everyone in the SEO world is predicting a massive increase in artificial intelligence use for SEO. Whether that’s through content creation, strategy development, or something unforeseen, AI seems to be the way of the future. With Google unveiling RankBrain, a new AI algorithm designed to improve the SERP ranking systems, AI is playing a larger role than ever.

Voice Search Skyrockets

We are already seeing an increase in voice-to-text searching. Speaking is much faster than typing, and many internet users are joining the trend. For SEO, this means developing a strategy that takes into account the way actual humans speak, targeting keywords that match things people actually say rather than the infamous “robo-speak” of yore. On Google’s end, they have been working on natural language processing algorithms like BERT to assist in matching users to websites that meet their intent.

Mobile-First Design Is Paramount

CNBC recently released a prediction that, by 2025, nearly 75% of internet users will be accessing the internet solely by their smartphones. SEOs like Final Piece will need to adjust our strategies, web design, and focus toward a more mobile-friendly outlook. That means things like larger font sizes, an awareness of important content being “above the fold,” easy-access CTA buttons (think “buy now” or “learn more,” etc.), and faster load times.

You Gotta EAT

Google uses a principle called EAT when determining site rankings on its SERPs. EAT stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It’s the way that Google assesses the quality of a website’s content. SEOs like Final Piece can help your business rank by backlinking, improving your SEO strategy by developing an audience profile, and featuring guest blog writers with expertise in related fields.

As a veteran in SEO, Final Piece can help take your business to the next level in 2022 and beyond. We’ve got our ear to the ground for the trends that will affect site rankings. If you’re ready to get a quote on how we can help you, contact us today.

The post 4 SEO Trends for 2022 appeared first on Final Piece Consulting.

Before you dive into design, know this: as of 2017, 48.2% of all web traffic was from mobile devices. Your site needs to look great on mobile! For a DIYer, there are a few things you need to know when crafting your mobile site.

Think Small

Your desktop site can take advantage of all kinds of new web features: parallax scrolling, moving backgrounds, embedded video. Unfortunately, those elements come at a price: size. Not literal size, mind you, but data size. For the uninitiated, all data that appears on your computer screen takes up digital storage space. For mobile, that’s usually expressed in megabytes.

When designing your mobile site, crank down the visual amenities in favor of keeping things streamlined. Many consumers still use older mobile devices, and small sites load faster and are easier to use for them.

Think Vertically

Desktop computer monitors are wide; mobile devices are tall. As a result, you need to design your site with a new form factor in mind. Put your most important information at the top: links to your menu, store hours, how to contact you.

Most mobile sites use something called a “hamburger menu.” It sounds silly, but you’ve almost certainly seen it: three horizontal bars, typically on the left or right side of a page. The hamburger menu easily consolidates non-essential information in a place viewers can turn on or off at will. It’s a great way to save space.

Think With Touch

Mouse pointers are small. Fingers come in all manner of sizes, as do touch screens. As a result, you need to design your mobile site around accessibility. Buttons should be larger in size, links should be large enough to click without the tip of a fingernail.

Another thing to keep in mind: if you have PDF menus or brochures for your desktop site, consider redesigning them for mobile. No one likes having to constantly zoom in and out just to get the information they need.

If you need help designing your businesses’ website – contact Final Piece today!

The post Mobile Website Design: A DIYer’s Guide appeared first on Final Piece Consulting.

Font Choices

There are two primary kinds of fonts: serif and sans serif. The serif in both of those is the small, often curly line at the end of line strokes. This distinction is small, but very important.

The original purpose of serifs is unclear, but many designers believe they help guide the eye down a line of text. As a result, they’re frequently used for body text and in newspapers. They also convey a stately, refined appearance that makes them popular with newspapers, banks, and the federal government.

Sans serifs are just that: without serifs. Their clean, minimal appearance is ideal for large formats, which is why all American highway signage uses them. They convey modernity and sleekness, which is why the iPhone, Facebook, and PayPal logos all use Sans Serif fonts.

As a general rule, stay away from novelty fonts like Curlz MT or Papyrus; they convey both a lack of design knowledge and an element of cheese that’s hard to escape. The same applies to Comic Sans.

Art Choices

If you’re choosing art for your web site, menu, sign, or anything else, it pays to do it custom. A local artist or graphic designer will almost always get you better art than the clip art available in your word processor, or from an image search on Google. But if you must pinch pennies, keep a few key things in mind:

• Overly cartoony clip art often looks childish, old-school, and out of touch. Stick to geometric shapes or very realistic art, and try to avoid clip art of people.
• When doing an image search, set the filters to “Allow for reuse.” You can find lots of great stock photos that only require credit, with no fee!
• Bright colors might light up your life, but they can dim your customer’s impression of you. Proceed with caution.

Writing

If you do nothing else with your writing, do this: proofread. Many a small business is easily embarrassed by confusing “there” and “their,” using quotation marks “for emphasis” instead of “for a quote,” and other common missteps.

For writing content – like blogs, Facebook updates, and the like – avoid things like ALL CAPS and excessive exclamation points!!!!!! unless something is very important. Used too casually, such a tone can appear overenthusiastic at best, and clueless at worst. All caps, in particular, is commonly associated with novice internet users.

And you’re not a novice. You’re a professional.

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