Enter the New Year with a new set of objectives that will ensure your website helps you reach your business goals over the next 12 months.

Are you ready for SEO changes in 2021?

A well-defined SEO strategy and objectives for your e-commerce brand is essential to generate organic site traffic, quality leads, and brand exposure.

Choosing the right goals and objectives is the first vital step in your digital marketing plan. According to stats, SEO can drive 1000% higher traffic than social media (AHREFS). But this can only be achieved when you have a good plan and realistic objectives in place.

With any planned efforts, knowing your goals and working directly towards them saves you time and money, and makes it that much easier to start on track to increase website traffic, build your brand, and improve your revenue and sales.

Five fundamental steps to building solid SEO objectives for 2021

Here are five important steps that every business owner must understand before developing objectives for the next year. Work these into your marketing strategy and you’ll give yourself the best shot at achieving success!

1Knowing your audience

A common SEO objective is to create content and make it discoverable.

But who are you trying to reach?

Search engine success begins with reaching out to the right people. By definition, the target audience consists of a group of people who you are trying to reach. You can provide true value to them only when you study them deeply – their pain points, unmet needs, interests, and preferences.

I have listed down a few ideas that can help you with this.

1. Use analytics

Start by researching what content they are engaging with the most. Check analytics platforms such as Google Analytics, as they will tell you a lot about your visitors, including which pages and blog posts generate the most traffic.

2. Social listening

Social listening is the act of scouring social media platforms for the chatter around your brand. The beauty of this tactic lies beneath the fact that you get the opportunity to uncover natural conversations that usually go unnoticed.

The social listening process encompasses two steps:

• Step 1: Monitor all of your social profiles for mentions of your brand, products/services, rivals, and relevant keywords.
• Step 2: Evaluate the information so you can put it into action. For instance, respond to a happy customer, answer a question, or meet an unmet need.

Social listening allows brands to engage with followers that lead to real connections. For example, customers might tweet about how much they like your product or ask you to resolve a query. See below how Nike has set up a separate Twitter account for responding to customer support issues.

3. Study your rivals

A search evaluation for your direct competitors via search engine results pages is always a good idea because it tells you what your audience is searching for, what competitors are doing, and what Google thinks are the most relevant answers.

4. Gather demographic data

Third-party applications can help you track visitor site behavior and help you build audience segments.

5. Use chatbots for market research

If you want a more straightforward solution, then send out a survey but make sure it is short and sweet so that they don’t even realize that they are taking a survey. Check out the following example:

2Relevant content is quality content

Once you’ve identified your target audience, focus on curating quality content.

But how do you define quality content?

By quality content, I mean content that is relevant, useful, and adds value for the reader. If you can use your content to make a user think that it is produced especially for him, you nailed it. Good content also breeds loyalty and engagement as subscribers look forward to your content.

For example, a site looking to promote their essay buying services in the UK would create Blog Posts and other relevant guides on essay writing including how to make a strong opening statement, the best way to write a conclusion, or how to format your references.

Check this tweet by Doug Kessler, co-founder of B2B marketing agency Velocity. I totally agree with this guy. No matter how much funny, smart, or technical content you produce, if it doesn’t resonate with your audience, it isn’t quality.

Here are some tips every marketer can use to produce valuable content:

• The preferred format: Know the dominant content format of social media platforms. Instagram is predominantly about images and videos, while Twitter uses 280 characters of text.
• Set up a blog: It is an incredible way to build industry authority. For example, there is a 131% chance for consumers to buy your product after reading instructional blogs.

• Link building: Quality content automatically gets the attention of high authority websites. It means you can earn links, rank high on Google, and drive more traffic to your site.
• Make content shareable: Quality and viral content comes with high shareability, but word-of-mouth is quite different today. If you want to amplify content distribution, add social sharing buttons.
• Add plentiful internal links: Add links to service pages on your website so that users are able to navigate the site with ease and get focused information about the product, services, and information they’re looking for. Here is an example:

3Taking care of your readers with ultimate UI/UX

UI = User interface

UX = User experience

Both are important for SEO in their own ways. Here’s how:

1. First impression matters

Good SEO practices help drive high traffic, but UI/UX lets you create a great first impression. You can’t expect high traffic without serving user intent. Try to ensure that search engine and end-user interests are aligned.

2. Importance of web design

Quality content serves the goal of attracting traffic to the site; it is the aesthetics that keeps them on the site for a longer period. This is what a graphically appealing site can do for you:

• Professional website design instantly captures visitor attention.
• Improves readability.
• Instill strong emotions (e.g. picking colors based on their meanings). For example, a lot of fast-food brands use red and yellow colors for their logos and website design, as both colors stimulate mental activity and encourage people to take action.

• Web design affects SEO as it is a starting port of your customer journey. Mobile optimized sites increase responsiveness which facilitates a superior user experience.
• Use SEO friendly URLs, Meta tags, and Alt tags to enhance SEO results.
• A great website hack for high leads is adding testimonials on your page as it garners trust.

4Leverage video marketing for better engagement

Without a doubt, videos and images increase user engagement. They are known for increasing user experience and time spent on site. Here are some compelling video marketing stats that may motivate you to produce more video content.

• Every day, people watch more than 1 billion hours of video.
• Almost 72% of customers like to learn about a product/service via a video. Brands can appear on Google’s first page and increase conversion rate by 80% by adding a video on their landing page.
• By 2022, 82% of internet traffic will come from online videos.
• Users retain 95% of a message when viewing it in a video compared to only 10% when reading it in text format.
• 65% of people watch YouTube tutorials to solve their problems.
• Social media videos are likely to be shared 1200% more often than image and text content.

Here are some rules for video marketing to amplify SEO success:

1. Tailor your video content

Create video content by keeping in mind the people searching for it. Add SEO relevant keywords in your title and description. There are multiple online tools that can help you with keyword research. A few examples include:

• Keywords FX
• Keyword Tool
• Keywords Everywhere

2. Go live on social platforms

If you want to announce a special discount deal or launch a new product, go live on video streaming platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat.

Take some inspiration from Benefit, a cosmetic brand running a weekly Facebook live session ‘Tipsy Tricks with Benefit’. The guest and a host choose a beauty topic and share tips and suggestions while answering questions.

Live videos can let you show the authentic human side of your brand. It lets you communicate directly to your audience, answer their questions, and discuss your products and services.

5Talk with influencers & industry leaders for amazing content

If you are intent on tapping a wider market by creating a credible image, then leverage influencer marketing. This is when brands partner with influencers (individuals with the power to affect consumer behavior and buying decisions) to co-create content and support a brand.

Numerous studies highlight that the quality of traffic and customers you get from influencer marketing is exceptional. The reason is straightforward: ‘People trust people more than brands’.

This is what marketers think about influencer marketing:

The content produced by influencers and industry experts is believed to be authentic and trustworthy. So, this is your opportunity to borrow their influence and improve your brand exposure and SEO results.

The most effective content marketing platform for influencers is Instagram (89%), followed closely by YouTube (70%), Facebook (45%), and Twitter (33%).

How to get the most out of influencer marketing

• Identify the right influencers: Not every social media star will work for you. You need to identify the right influencers in your niche with high engagement rates. For instance, check if they have more retweets, shares, and comments.
  
  Are you thinking “Is it worth your time and effort?”
  
  Kylie Jenner is an American media personality and highest-paid influencer on Instagram right now. She posted this selfie for this hair health company and helped the company reach 96.7M followers.

• Co-create the content: Whenever possible, try to co-create the content. This means that influencers will have more active participation in your brand-specific content. You can invite them to contribute to your blog or just share your ads and content on their profile.
• Run contests with them: User-generated content serves as social proof and improves brand reputation. It is a great content strategy that enables influencers to promote an environment of engagement.

The take-home message

Now is the perfect time to define your SEO objectives. I understand that developing a robust SEO plan isn’t easy. If it were, brands wouldn’t need digital marketing experts to figure out the objectives.

But the thing is, there is no cookie-cutter approach to the SEO marketing field. This means that you have ample opportunity and freedom to create objectives considering your customers, products/services, competitive environment, and other business needs.

Author Bio

Claudia Jeffrey is working as a Sr. Research Analyst & Digital Evangelist at Crowd Writer, a website that offers essay writing services in the UK. She has worked for many renowned websites and shares marketing tips on her social profile. Her keen interest in writing allows her to create content that people actually want to read.

The post How To Strategically Design Your SEO Objectives For 2021 appeared first on Found SEO - Tauranga, NZ.

Dust off the world wide cobwebs and start driving traffic, leads, and sales through your website with our quick-start guide to getting (re)started online.

It’s safe to say recent events continue to drive more people online.

In fact, global web traffic has grown by 10.2% since January.

A lot of businesses have followed suit, only…

…many have been shocked at what they’ve found.

Whether you’re a medium-to-large business that developed a website a few years back because you felt you ‘had to’, or a small business that hasn’t had the time to keep up, countless websites have been left to gather dust.

So whether your website’s stagnated, outdated, or just showing its age, today we’re taking a look at some quick and easy ways to transform it into an effective sales tool at a time when you need it the most!

Let’s get started.

Digital is the way forward, and you’ve got to move with it

It’s a difficult time for businesses right now.

You want to get the most out of every dollar spent. You want to see measurable results from the money you forked out on marketing. Digital remains one of the best marketing channels thanks to its:

• A higher return on investment
• The ability to track and measure results
• You can easily benchmark the exact results of every dollar spent

So, what does this mean in practical terms?

As digital continues to be the primary channel between businesses and consumers outside of the odd supermarket visit, it just further highlights a trend that’s been happening in this space for years:

Traditional channels are declining…

…but digital is growing.

In the wake of recent events, businesses that had already embraced digital channels were able to adapt. Even if they couldn’t make immediate sales. They could connect with consumers, remain relevant, as well as keep cash flow up with ingenious ideas such as ship later sales and vouchers.

A website isn’t just a bonus, it’s fast becoming vital for long-term survivability.

Why not all websites are created equal

The story I’m about to share happened a few years ago…

…but it’s indicative of how most businesses still treat their websites.

While I was at a local business event, I asked someone what their website was.

You’ll never guess the reply:

They handed me a business card.

These days websites are more than just a digital brochure, a point of contact, or a ‘nice to have’. They’re a powerful marketing tool for driving traffic, leads, and sales!…

…that for many businesses has been left to gather dust for far too long.

1Fix tech issues with a professional technical audit

First things first…

…how well does your website work?

Technical issues are frustrating. The last thing you want is for your website to be turning potential customers away and over to your competitors due to easily avoidable issues.

Your website performance, speed, and functionality relies on its technical ability. Think of a technical audit as an evaluation of issues that need to be resolved to boost your site up the ranks of SERP (Search Engine Results Page).

2Revisit your keywords

Use free keyword research tools to search popular key phrases relating to your services that your audience is searching for right now. Research key phrases as though you are the customer.

What does your audience intend to find in search?

Your audience wants to find a business that will provide the best service. Do your keywords and on-site optimisations reflect that you’re the one they’re looking for?

3Add online sales facilities to increase your website’s functionality

Online shopping and sales are on the rise…

…in fact online reservations, gift cards, and even ‘Buy Now, Use Later’ vouchers became a great way for even traditional, brick-and-mortar stores to maintain cash-flow in recent months.

So look into adding an online payment facility if you want to sell online. Add a booking facility to make it easy for your customers to schedule time with you if your service requires appointments.

Oh, and add a contact form so customers can connect with you quickly!

4Offer promotions and incentives

Promotions and incentives will show that you’re in touch with the current economic environment and ensure your customers can still enjoy your services.

Discounted rates and other promotional deals will bring you closer to your audience and show that you understand what’s going on out there.

5Refresh your website’s content

Take this opportunity to optimise your content. Think of how you can use your website to promote your business as the credible, flexible, and helpful service your audience needs right now.

Here’s a few ideas:

• Promote services unique to the current environment – i.e. contactless delivery, phone consultations.
• Check your messaging – ensure images and content tone are on-point with what your audience wants to see and hear right now.
• Make sure any call to actions (CTAs) and FAQs reflect your audience’s pain points and how you can resolve them.

6Get busy on social media

A quick and easy way to send people to your website (once it’s worth promoting, of course) is to get active on social media. We know social media isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for businesses that want to remain relevant, it’s necessary.

Welcome to the digital world

Don’t miss the opportunities that a good website can bring to your business. If you’re struggling to imagine business growth in the current climate, it’s possible. Your website is the perfect place to start!

The post Health Check: Revitalise Your Business Website In 6 Steps appeared first on Found SEO - Tauranga, NZ.

…plus the 11 strategies and techniques you need to do the same!

Over the last six months…

…several of our clients have seen *an average increase in sales of 87%.

As well as an average increase in revenue of 136%.

While an increase in online sales was expected during lockdown…

…our results show those with a well-optimised online presence were – and are – in a unique position to capitalise on this increase in digital traffic, enquiries, and sales now and into the future.

We saw these results again:

Actual Client Results

And again:

Actual Client Results

And again:

Actual Client Results

Today we’re going to share the exact strategies and techniques we used to achieve these results…

…so that you can achieve them too!

Let’s get started.

Wait, why is eCommerce SEO so important?

Recent events have highlighted one very important thing:

Kiwis haven’t stopped spending…

…they’re just spending in different ways via a different channel: Digital.

This is nothing new! Digital channels have been growing exponentially for years.

A 2018 IAB / PWC Report found that digital is now the leader in the New Zealand ad spend market. Recent events have simply fast-tracked the already increasing adoption of these digital channels!

So whether you’re already selling online or a brick and mortar store finally looking to get started, keep reading to learn how you can optimise your eCommerce store for sales success.

First up, it’s Keywords.

The 11 point checklist for optimising your online shop

1Research product keywords

Keywords are…

…well, the key to placing your online store in front of potential customers.

How so? It’s simple! Just consider the ways you browse and purchase online.

You rarely have a store in mind…

…instead, you go looking for the best deals and prices on a given product.

Say you’re wanting to purchase a television, for example. You probably won’t type ‘Harvey Norman’ or ‘Noel Leeming’ into the search bar. Instead you’ll type something like ‘4k tv nz’ or ‘oled tv deals’.

Your customers do the same thing! This is why finding the right keywords is vital. If you aren’t using the terms your customers are searching for, you won’t be found. It’s as simple as that.

Find your major terms

Searching for your Keywords couldn’t be easier.

You just need to:

1. Load up Keyword Tool.
2. Throw in a term that relates to a Product, Category, or Collection.
3. Change the region to match where you will be selling your products.
4. Hit Search!

The Keyword Tool will return a long list of potential terms, so:

1. Check the box next to Keywords to select all results.
2. Click on the Copy / Export button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Now that you have a list of terms, it’s time to see if anyone’s using them!

1. Open KWFinder (or your preferred Keyword Research tool).
2. Click on Import.
3. Paste your list of terms.
4. Select the relevant Location.
5. Click on Process Keywords.

Look for niche terms with commercial intent

So, you now have a long list of keywords.

How do you know which ones are relevant?

Search volume is one way, but…

…not all keywords with high search volume are worth optimising for.

What you’re looking for are keywords with commercial intent.

Not sure what I mean? Consider this example:

Say someone enters ‘hd television’ into Google. How do you know if they’re searching for a user manual, review, or product? Truth is, you don’t!

If that same person enters ‘hd television auckland’ or ‘buy hd tv nz’, it’s safe to assume they’re looking to make a purchase. By finding local and commercial versions of your keywords you’ll ensure you’re directly targeting purchase-ready customers.

1. Open Kombinator.
2. Paste your list of keywords into the middle column.
3. Add a list of relevant location terms to the final column e.g. ‘nz‘, ‘new zealand‘.
4. Click Kombinate!
5. Repeat for other locations or commercial intent terms such as ‘buy’ and ‘shop’.
6. Run these terms through your preferred Keyword Research Tool.

2Optimise on-page elements

Keywords are great…

…but only when they’re used effectively.

Your site needs to be shouting these like every oddly-dressed store mascot!

On-Page Optimisation is the process by which we do this. This process involves applying keywords to vital areas of your store’s pages in order to maximise their relevance for these terms and, in turn, increase your chances of ranking highly within search engine results.

Unsure of how to optimise your site? Keep reading!

On-Page Optimisation Examples

These examples will ensure you’re using the right terms in the right places.

Simply swap out our terms for yours, and you’ll be on your way.

URLS

PRODUCT PAGES
Template
website. co. nz/KEYWORD/KEYWORD-KEYWORD-KEYWORD
Example
techtv. co. nz/samsung-televisions/samsung-1080-hd-television

CATEGORY & COLLECTION PAGES
Template
website. co. nz/KEYWORD
Example
Tech. co. nz/samsung-televisions

TITLE TAGS

HOME PAGE
Template
Business Name | Keyword, Location-Based Keyword
Example
TechTV | The Best Televisions In New Zealand

PRODUCT PAGES
Template
Keyword | Incentive | Business Name, Location
Example
Samsung 1080P HD Television | *Free Delivery! | TechTV, New Zealand

CATEGORY & COLLECTION PAGES
Template
Keyword | Incentive | Business Name, Location
Example
Samsung Televisions | *Free Delivery! | TechTV, New Zealand

HEADINGS

PRODUCT CATEGORY
Template
H1: Primary Keyword H2: Descriptive Heading Using Keyword
Example
H1: Samsung Televisions H2: Enjoy the best viewing experience with our range of 1080P, 4K, and OLED Samsung televisions

PRODUCT PAGE
Template
H1: Keyword Product Heading
Example
H1: Samsung 1080p HD Television

IMAGE ALT TAGS & FILE NAMES

PRODUCT IMAGE FILE NAME
Template
keyword-keyword-keyword.jpg
Example
Samsung-1080-high-definition-television.jpg

PRODUCT IMAGE ALT TAG
Template
Keyword
Example
Samsung 1080P HD Television

META DESCRIPTIONS

HOME PAGE
Example
TechTV is New Zealand's #1 provider of televisions from leading brands like Samsung and Sony. *Free delivery across the country on orders over $800!

3Add unique content to Collection & Category pages

Lengthy content ranks higher in Google.

That’s a fact!

So it makes sense that product Category and Collections pages need content.

It’s ok! You don’t have to write 2,000 words per page. Save that for your blog! Instead, you should write unique, keyword-rich content of a modest length for each Collection and Category pages you’re wanting to rank highly.

As some online stores can have tens if not hundreds of Category and Collection pages, prioritise the pages you write content for first by adding up the total search volume per each page’s set of Keywords. The higher the search volume? The higher the priority.

4Avoid duplicate content

Content is a great way to boost your site’s relevancy and rankings…

…but just any old content won’t cut it.

How so? Well, here’s the thing:

Google hates duplicate content.

That is, content that already exists elsewhere on the web.

Cutting corners and simply copying or lightly re-wording content for your Collections, Categories, or Blog may be an easy way to quickly fill your site with content but it will harm your site’s chances of ranking.

Writing unique content may be a little time-consuming, but it’s worth the effort.

5Encourage user reviews

Creating unique content isn’t always easy.

By embracing the power of user reviews, you can make your life that much easier.

Adding review functionality to your site allows users to leave reviews of products they’ve bought, and provides product pages with an injection of unique content. And you didn’t have to lift a finger!

6Add internal links

Internal links are great for two reasons:

They help harder to rank product and category pages appear in Google.
They help to guide users around your site.

Whether it’s a mention of a product type on your home page, a complimentary product in a product description, or mention of a brand in one of your other collection pages, add internal links to your content to help guide Google – and users – around your site.

7Add rich snippets

Rich Snippets are another way Google provides added value in search.

So what are they, exactly?

Rich Snippets are extra pieces of information displayed alongside individual search results. This includes anything from an author image for a store, the price of an item, the star rating of a movie or the time it takes to cook a recipe.

By adding rich snippets to your store, you’ll provide users with extra information that could mean the difference between a user clicking on a search result, and continuing to scroll.

8Implement HTTPS

HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP that keeps your customers’ data safe.

While this is already active on Account and Checkout pages, Google favours sites that use HTTPS site-wide. So it pays – pun intended! – to fully embrace HTTPs.

You’ll give customers peace of mind and keep Google happy in the process.

For more information on HTTPs and SSL, check out this resource.

9Optimise site speed

65% of customers aren’t willing to wait more than 3 seconds for a page to load.

So what happens if a user is waiting as long, if not longer, for your pages to load?

You guessed it: they shop elsewhere.

Google now favours fast-loading sites in search, so optimising your site – especially your product images – can help to alleviate issues and improve your rankings, too.

10Use a responsive, mobile-friendly design

Online stores without a responsive site should take notice: Google isn’t happy!

Google has started to penalise sites that don’t support mobile devices. When you consider the majority of users browse the internet on mobile, it only makes sense. A responsive, mobile-friendly site is no longer optional. It’s a requirement.

11Promote your online store

On-site optimisation is a powerful tool…

…but it can’t do all the heavy lifting on its own.

To achieve true rankings – and sales – success, you need to combine keyword research and optimisation with the power of content marketing, promotion, and link building. It isn’t a case of one or the other. Combining these strategies gives you a site worth linking back to, and an opportunity to link back to it!

Search Engine Optimisation offers sustainable, cost-effective online sales

Whether you’re selling locally, nationally, or internationally, an online store is one of the most sustainable, cost-effective ways to connect with your customers.

With the help of search engine optimisation and the strategies we’ve outlined today, you’ll be able to place your store in front of the purchase-ready customers who are looking for it and the products you sell.

The post eCommerce SEO: How We Grew Client Sales By 87%* In 6 Months (Case Study) appeared first on Found SEO - Tauranga, NZ.

…and what these stats can teach you about maximising your return on marketing investment.

It’s 2020.

There’s a smartphone in (almost) every pocket.

Digital ad revenue skyrocketed 14.9% in 2019 alone.

And users carry out 3.5 billion Google searches every day.

It’s clear digital is fast becoming the best way to connect with customers…

…yet many businesses just like yours still rely on traditional marketing channels like radio and television in order to reach an increasingly digital audience.

Why? Because it feels safe, comfortable, and familiar. It’s also holding your business back. So now’s the perfect time to take a closer look at the digital stats, facts, and figures such as those we’re exploring today.

In today’s climate it’s clear that now more than ever your audience exists online.

The question is…do you?

1 52% of marketers don’t believe you need to use television to reach the masses

Source: Glasshouse / NZ On Air

Every year, Adobe and Econsultancy take a look at trends in digital marketing.

One recent survey highlighted the change in thinking of marketers worldwide.

The Digital Trends Report found that 52% of marketers feel you don’t need to use television to reach a mass audience. Skip television? It’s madness, right? Yet the more you break down the stats, the more sense it makes.

In fact, recent surveys have shown:

• Subscription Video on Demand viewership in New Zealand will soon overtake regular television, having skyrocketed from 6% in 2014 to 37% in 2018 for services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Lightbox (Source).
• Close to 60% of viewers have time-shifted some of their programming and watched advert-free via online services such as Netflix, Neon, or by recording shows directly to their DVRs (Source).

Now more than ever your audience is online

Once upon a time, audiences had to sit through every over-acted infomercial.

Nowadays? The stats show that they’re moving online, skipping the ads, and tuning out of regular television broadcasts. That’s a lot of television advertising that’s being skipped with the press of a button.

That’s also a lot of marketing dollars wasted at the hands of impatient audiences.

So how do you adapt to this fast-changing landscape?

That brings us nicely to our next stat…

2 New Zealand’s digital ad-spend outdoes TV $1.06bn to $566m

Source: IAB NZ

Kiwi businesses aren’t resting on their laurels in the face of an impatient audience.

In fact, they’re already pivoting to meet this demand…

…and so should you!

A 2018 IAB / PWC Report found that digital is now the leader in the New Zealand ad spend market. Total digital ad spend grew 14.7% in 2018, to a total of $1.06bn. This compares to just $566M for television, which fell $68M during the same period.

It doesn’t end there:

• Search continues to dominate with 62% of the total digital spend, recording revenue in 2018 of $659.5m. That’s a 21.9% year-on-year increase (Source).
• Classifieds and directories grew 10.4% to $19.8m (Source).
• Display grew by 5.2%, to $157.8m (Source).

Marketers recognise online is the place to be

Businesses are shifting budgets away from traditional media.

Instead, they’re opting to back digital and search marketing channels. Why? As the numbers show, it’s where purchase-ready customers are most likely to be found. As we’ll discuss shortly, it’s also the most cost effective way to generate leads, enquiries, and sales.

With global TV advertising sales falling almost 4% in 2019 – the steepest drop since the global recession – the shift to digital is showing no signs of slowing down.

So if you aren’t considering your digital options…

…you’re losing your competitive edge to those who are.

3 84% of Millennials don’t trust traditional advertising

Source: Ascend2

Here’s a stat that might surprise you!

The stat? A 2014 survey by The McCarthy Group found that 84% of millennials don’t trust traditional advertising. Nowadays people are more likely to jump online to research their next purchase via blogs, videos, and reviews.

They’re far more likely to trust your online advert instead:

• 29% of users said they trust search engine ads, while 33% trust online banner ads (Source).
• Research & case studies are the most trusted content at 60% (Source).
• Blog posts, articles, and newsletters follow closely behind at 31% and 30% respectively (Source).

Digital channels are the trusted source of the new generation

In the advertising world, the smallest % can make a big difference.

That’s why it’s vital to invest in channels your audience use and trust.

It’s also an indicator that you need to be creating the right kind of content in order to maximise these benefits. The true power of digital marketing is found in creating content that people trust and then sharing it via the channels they use most.

4 The cost of TV advertising will grow by 6.1% in 2020

Television advertising can be expensive.

Sure, you might not be paying $5m a minute for an Ad during the Super Bowl…

…but even short TV spots between lesser-known shows can hit your marketing budget pretty hard.

The Global Advertising Expenditure Report from Zenith found that the cost of TV advertising will grow by 6.1% in 2020. This is off the back of similar increases in previous years. Variety’s annual analysis of the American advertising market in 2016, for example, found that the cost of a 30 second Ad grew by 15%.

Returns on digital marketing are traceable and measurable

Digital advertising isn’t just cheaper, it’s also far easier to predict.

For a fraction of the cost of other channels, your business is able to utilise all the features of online marketing – from SEO through to content marketing and AdWords – to attain a much higher return on investment.

Advertising channels like AdWords for example are pay-per-click, meaning you only ever pay when someone actually sees – and interacts with – your ad. More than that, they only see it when they’ve searched using a relevant term.

They aren’t just anybody watching their television.

They’re someone – a potential customer.

Which brings us to…

5 Online video & digital advertising can achieve 4 times more ROI than TV

Video is a powerful marketing tool.

All at once it’s eye-catching, attention-grabbing, and communicates not just any story but your story in a way few other forms of marketing can. It’s why so many businesses still pursue television advertising.

Would it surprise you to learn that online advertising campaigns do it better?

In fact, they’ve achieved a 4 times higher ROI than their TV counterparts.

Digital is proven to make you more, for less

It’s true!

Here’s how:

A case study by Gfk NOP showcases not just the power of online and digital marketing, but how fast it’s growing. And how important a part it can play in your business’s marketing campaign!

The campaign in question is Cadbury’s “Chocolate Charmer”.

Check it out below:

Cadbury ran a cross-media campaign to promote its Dairy Milk brand, which covered TV, online ads, and YouTube promoted videos. Of these, Cadbury saw its online sector generate 20% of the sales and recorded an additional reach of 19%.

Here’s the kicker – Cadbury only invested 7% of its budget into online advertising.

That’s right, just 7%.

Digital is taking on radio, print, and other traditional marketing too

The stats above are impressive…

…but digital isn’t just winning out against television.

In fact, it tends to outperform traditional marketing in all its forms.

Here’s a glimpse:

• Digital, inbound, and content marketing generates leads that cost 61% less than cold calling or direct mail (Source).
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) leads boast a 14.6% close rate compared to 1.7% for outbound leads generated via print (Source).

People are going digital, is your marketing following them?

From Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) through to content marketing…

…the stats we’ve explored today highlight that digital marketing as a whole is fast becoming one of the most cost-effective, reliable, measurable ways to reach your target audience.

The post Digital Marketing vs Television: 5 Stats That’ll REALLY Surprise You appeared first on Found SEO - Tauranga, NZ.

Putting your business on the world (wide web) stage doesn’t have to be difficult or costly. Here’s how…

It’s true…

…going global isn’t easy.

In fact, tackling the local market is difficult enough.

Let alone the scale, scope, and the sheer cost of stepping outside of your comfort – and time – zone, without any guarantees of a return on your initial investment.

Have you considered…

• Language and translation requirements?
• International market considerations, changes, or legal issues?
• A whole new range of competitors?

And the list goes on…and on…and on…

But whether you’ve got the local market cornered, are looking to grow, or think there’s opportunity to be found in greener foreign grasses, there’s a multitude of reasons to be looking to expand your business.

The question then, is…how?

SEO is the smart, sustainable choice for marketing internationally

There’s one form of marketing that’s uniquely placed to address these issues.

A form of marketing that could hold the key to unlocking a worldwide audience…

…even better? It’s at your fingertips!

That’s right, it’s Search Engine Optimisation.

You see, traditional marketing sees you doing all the heavy lifting.

But why build new bridges when the internet has already bridged those vast physical distances so your international audience is just a Google search away?

Only if you’re using Search Engine Optimisation effectively, that is!

Here’s how…

1An international audience, right at your fingertips

Technology often gets a bad wrap…

…but it also gives you the ability to connect with your audience.

That doesn’t change when you’re looking to step outside of your local area.

In fact, it only becomes that much more worthwhile. There’s no need for flashy advertising campaigns or expensive marketing gimmicks. With an online presence that’s well optimised for your international audience’s search terms, you can start accessing a global customer base in next to no time.

It also ensures you’re investing in the right terms, products, and services. Just because your local audience prefers a particular product or service, doesn’t mean an international audience will follow suit.

Everyone’s tastes are different!

Validating your market like this could save you time, effort, and a lot of money!

2Easily identify international competitors

Success in business relies a lot on what you’re doing…

…but it also has a lot to do with what your competitors are up to, as well.

• How do your products or services stack up?
• What about the pricing?
• Are you standing out from the crowd, or just one of many sheep?

When you’re marketing locally, your competitors are all too familiar.

But when you decide to dip your toe into international waters?

You’re facing a much larger range of, well, much larger competitors!

Traditionally this requires a lot of boots-on-the-ground work compiling information on just what they’re up to, and where your business fits in the grand scheme of things.

But these days?

They’re a search away!

So use your target terms in international searches, and track down the names you’ll be going up against. In seconds you’ll be able to sift through a bunch of market research and find out just what you need to do to outrank and outperform your competitors.

3Establish brand recognition outside of your home country

Brands spend years building name recognition.

It’s why the big names are…well, the big names.

Doing the same can be difficult. Building trust is hard. Boosting your reputation, even more difficult. Especially when you’re operating outside of your local comfort zone.

Digital marketing strategies like SEO and content marketing may be focused on boosting your search rankings, but a major way they do this is by building your brand.

Talking about a potential customer’s pain points, offering solutions, and providing insider knowledge is a great way to build your reputation among your audience.

The more reputable you are, the more traffic you receive, and more sales you’ll make!

4A more reliable return on your investment

Imagine for a second there was no digital marketing…

…scary, right?

How would you get your product or service in front of customers?

You probably wouldn’t.

Digital marketing is your fast track to an international audience. It’s also a more cost-effective one, too. In fact, Search Engine Optimisation leads any other form of online marketing in terms of return on investment.

It’s the smart, cost-effective way to reach a global audience.

5Translating content for international audiences is that much easier

There are some 6,000+ languages in the world.

Depending on your target market, going international might involve a few of those!

The trouble is, traditional marketing can prove costly in this regard. Billboards? TV Advertisements? Radio Spots? They all need to be translated, re-printed, or re-recorded. The costs can quickly skyrocket.

Digital and search marketing makes this that much easier. Text is far easier to translate, multiple, country-specific websites are simple to set up, and targeting the right region is easy if you know how with location-specific domain names and language tags.

Expanding overseas is easy with SEO

When it comes to growing your business, digital marketing and SEO provides invaluable opportunities and insights into foreign competitors, markets, and customers without the hefty investment or potential risks. So when you’re thinking of going global, think SEO.

The post Exports made easy: How SEO overcomes the challenges of International Marketing appeared first on Found SEO - Tauranga, NZ.

Achieving sales success doesn’t always require a flashy advertising campaign…

Let’s imagine this scenario for a second:

You have a regular stream of customers visiting your website.

What’s more, they’re ready to buy your products or sign up for your services.

Now here comes the plot twist…

…you haven’t spent a single cent on advertising.

Does this scenario sound too good to be true?

Before you all raise your hands at once, today I’m here to share the reasons why all it takes is a little search magic to make these dreams a reality.

That magic? It’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

While SEO may have been around for a while now, it’s still just as relevant today as it’s ever been. More so, in fact! So while it can be tempting to dabble in all sorts of other advertising, harnessing the true potential of SEO is a great way to invest in long-term, sustainable results.

Here’s how…

So…what is SEO exactly?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, which is a process used to improve your website in the short-, medium-, and long-term so that it appears in the top positions within search engines like Google or Bing.

This includes improvements such as:

• Ensuring meta titles, keywords, headings and images allow search engines to understand the context and theme of your website.
• Configuring settings to ensure search engines can crawl your site easily.
• Website promotion to boost the number of quality backlinks to your site.
• Ensuring the website is mobile friendly, easy to navigate, quick to load and contains useful information.

Long story short…

…you’re wanting to make your website accessible for search engines and users alike.

With this in mind, here’s why SEO should be part of your digital strategy!

1It delivers a consistently high Return on Investment (ROI)

Here’s a question for you:

Why spend time and money advertising your business to window shoppers?

If you’re not currently harnessing the power of Search Engine Optimisation, you’re doing exactly this. You’re also draining your marketing budget as a result.

In fact, SEO has been found to lead any other form of online marketing in terms of the return on investment. That’s because you’re able to target potential customers that are actively searching for the products or services your business – and website – is offering.

What follows?

It’s simple!

These visitors simply click through to your site, where they find the information, products, and services they were actively seeking out. Even better, you haven’t spent a single cent on advertising to an uninterested audience.

Instead?…

…you’ve simply positioned your site in front of customers when they’re actively looking to buy.

2It keeps you ahead of the competition

Not all websites are created equal.

Those that have been optimised well will appear higher in search results.

While those that haven’t will continue to linger on the second, third, or even tenth page!

Let’s face it, we’re not all patient enough to go looking beyond that first page of results. In fact, some 95% of people don’t look past the first page of results, and over half only look at the top four results on that first page!

If your site doesn’t rank well, then it may as well not even exist.

It’s harsh, but it’s that simple!

By following tried, true, and tested techniques for optimising your website for search, you’ll immediately outstrip a lot of your competitors who just haven’t found or taken the time to…well, get with the times.

3It helps you compete with bigger businesses

It’s a fact:

Big businesses have deep pockets.

Especially when it comes to print, TV, and even paid online advertising.

You’ve all seen the banners, right?

This makes it almost impossible for businesses with even slightly smaller marketing budgets – like yours! – to compete on these channels. You’re simply throwing your money away!

The solution?

…don’t compete.

At least, not in these channels!

Let the goliaths spend up large with impressive campaigns that persuade people to buy, and instead target the customers you know you can convert. That is, people typing in the product or service you offer into their search bars.

Search Engine Optimisation levels the playing field, making it possible for businesses with an optimised site to outrank, or rank highly alongside, a bigger competitor.

If your site is ranking highly?

You’ll be the first to make a sale!

4It helps demonstrate your authority

Search rankings are based on a set of complex algorithms.

These consider a variety of factors to determine which page appears first in search.

And then from there, in the first, second, and even 34th place!

At the end of the day, Google’s goal is to offer its users a timely, relevant, and interesting search experience. Consequently, it rewards web pages that support their goals with higher rankings in search engine result pages.

Achieving those top ranking results doesn’t just keep your website at the top of peoples’ minds. It’s also a great way to demonstrate your authority within your industry, build trust, and show customers that you’re the expert that they need.

After all, Google thinks it!

So it must be true.

Now’s the time to start getting found online

To this day, SEO remains one of the most sustainable, wise investments most any business can make in their long-term future, and the results – and the stats – seem to agree.

If you’d like to stay ahead of your competition and need some help optimising your site, book a strategy session today.

The post 4 Reasons why optimising for organic search is crucial for marketing ROI appeared first on Found SEO - Tauranga, NZ.

Transform your website into a hive of leads, enquiries, and sales-generating activity with these top tips…

Believe it or not…

…your leads aren’t going to magically convert themselves into sales.

It’s true!

Unfortunately, not everyone understands the importance of nurturing and following up on leads. In fact, some businesses make the mistake of only giving leads attention when it’s convenient for them or, even worse, not at all.

When you consider that these users have shown an interest in your business for a reason…

…and converting existing leads is more cost-effective than marketing to new customers.

Well, giving these leads a little extra attention is a no-brainer.

Here’s how…

1Don’t make leads wait

If you learn anything in business, it’s that people are impatient.

That’s why the level of interest shown by a potential lead can drop dramatically within just a few hours, let alone a few days, by which time they’ve likely already moved on to a competitor.

That’s why it’s crucial that you set up an efficient system for handling incoming leads.

Don’t make them wait. Instead, be direct and point them to a company inbox, phone number, or social media account where your team is on-call to handle their questions or enquiries.

Hot leads don’t stay hot for long, so be ready to handle them!

2Be upfront and ask for the sale

A lot of marketing time is devoted to building up to the sale.

But when it comes time to close the deal?

You’d be surprised how many businesses forget to actually ask for the sale.

Instead of expecting the customer to hand over their hard earned money, ask for it. Politely, of course! Do this by including relevant Calls to Action at the bottom of Blog Posts and other pieces of content, directing them to relevant products where applicable, and make a big song and dance about sales and special offers.

How does the saying go again?

…ask, and you shall receive!

3Develop a great FAQ page

Here’s the thing:

Many leads don’t convert because they still have unanswered questions.

While you should be at-the-ready to answer them, you do have to sleep at some point.

So be proactive and ensure all the burning questions your leads are dying to ask are answered on your website by creating a FAQ page full of common questions, concerns, and enquiries.

This will save both you – and your leads – precious time and energy.

4Give them an offer they can’t refuse

Who doesn’t love a good incentive?

In fact, offering a discount coupon, code, or voucher could be the perfect way to turn a potential customer into a paying one. What’s more? The discount doesn’t even need to be anything outrageous.

It just needs to be enough to make the customer feel valued.

5Set a time limit

No one likes to miss a bargain.

Or, for that matter, the next bus, train, or plane!

What do I mean by this?

It’s simple:

Give leads an ulterior motive to act quickly by adding a little time pressure.

Limited-time offers tagged with “Don’t miss out, this offer ends tonight!”, free extras if they get in touch within a given time-frame, or the opportunity to jump to the front of the queue are all great ways to create a feeling of urgency that could lead your…well, lead to making a quick or spontaneous decision so that they don’t miss out.

6Make sure your email marketing stands out

Chances are your leads receive hundreds of emails every day.

It’s even more likely some of these are from your competitors.

Whether it’s been a while since you’ve looked at your email campaigns, or you don’t have one at all, it’s likely time to reexamine your email strategies and give them a bit of a refresher. Improve your content, add effective imagery, and most of all? Keep it snappy.

No one has the time to read a wall of text.

Throw in a striking subject line and a call to action, and you’ll keep yourself front-of-mind as customers move through the all-important decision making process.

7Use social proof and develop trust

According to Invesp, 99 percent of customers read online reviews before visiting a business, 88 percent trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 72 percent say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more.

So start gaining the trust of your customers by adding testimonials to your website, as well as review functionality. It’s a great way to garner the trust of a lead and tip them over to a paying customer.

8Keep your leads warm

Here’s the thing:

Not all leads are ready to make a decision within the first ten minutes…

…but that doesn’t mean they’re a lost cause.

If they’ve filled out an online form, signed up to your newsletter, or otherwise handed over their contact details, a quick follow-up in the future takes all of a few minutes and is a crucial step in nurturing the relationship.

We’re not suggesting you call them at all hours of the night. That’ll likely have the opposite effect! But following up and finding out if they have any additional questions, enquiries, or concerns will further nurture these warm leads and take them one step closer to converting into a customer.

9Monitor your sales pipeline

Your sales pipeline is all the steps a lead takes to convert into a customer.

If you’re wondering where you can easily find your leads, you can start looking in the lead generation form of your website analytics, while leads also appear in the sales funnel of your website data if you’re using services such as Shopify.

This information provides a unique insight as to when and where potential customers are falling off in the sales pipeline. Perhaps a contact form has stopped working? Or maybe they’re adding items to cart, but not checking out?

With this data, you can identify these areas and then work to address them to ensure your website is doing everything it can to provide a smooth, seamless sales process and start converting those leads into sales.

10Dangle the ROI carrot

That’s right!

If you’re offering a service based product that boasts a potential ROI for your customer, put that on a string and dangle it right out in front of them. In doing so you’re effectively asking them “Can you afford to wait?”.

Encouraging them to take that step will net them – and your business – a healthy profit.

That’s a win-win in our books!

Leads need TLC, too…

When you break it down, nurturing leads doesn’t sound too different from any other relationship. With the right amount of trust, patience, and compromise, you’ll nurture an effective, worthwhile relationship for the both of you!

The post Struggling to convert? Super effective website hacks for turning leads into sales appeared first on Found SEO - Tauranga, NZ.

Get more of the traffic your business needs and less of the kind it doesn’t with these tips.

Ask any business what the top goal for their website is…

…chances are they’ll reply with a “Converting more customers!” or “Increasing revenue!”.

Only without targeted website traffic, you won’t be doing either of those.

That’s because not all web traffic is created equal.

Focussing on pure volume can, quite literally, prove costly.

So how do you get more of the traffic that really matters? You know, the kind that you can convert into leads, enquiries, and ultimately sales? Keep reading as we bring you some proven ways to entice more customers and less tire kickers to your website.

1Check the relevance and popularity of your keywords

It’s true, keywords are…well, the key to unlocking more traffic.

But the kind of keywords you’re using are just as important!

It can be all too easy to optimise your website for terms that are far too general and broad. While this might leave you with some impressive looking traffic stats, it’s unlikely to do much for sales.

When it comes to sale-focused terms?

The more targeted, the better!

So ditch broad terms in favour of niche variations and combinations, such as:

• Location-specific e.g. KEYWORD + ‘New Zealand’ or ‘NZ’
• Sales focussed e.g. KEYWORD + ‘Buy Online’ or ‘For Sale’
• Service related e.g. KEYWORD + ‘Services’ or ‘Provider’

Which brings us to…

2Target long tail keywords

Ranking well in search for your major terms might take a while.

This is particularly true if you’re in a competitive industry.

In the meantime? Consider targeting long-tail keywords. These are the keywords that consist of at least three words and account for a majority of web searches targeting niche demographics. Such as those we outlined above.

If you’re not targeting them as part of your SEO?

You’re missing out!

There are many tools out there that will help you find them, but Google Keyword Planner is a good place to start. As is Keyword Tool and KWFinder. Simply enter a handful of terms related to your product or service, and it’ll spit out related phrases that might be your key to attracting more customers.

3Optimise your pages effectively

So, you’ve used these terms to write a primo piece of content…

…only, you’re not sure if your keywords and content align.

Targeted web traffic often comes from pages that deliberately zero in on a given topic. So when you’re optimising these pages, sprinkling these terms throughout your content really is the icing on the cake.

For example, add a ‘New Zealand’ to the end of your title tags if you’re a local supplier. Offer free shipping with online orders? Add that to your Meta Description to entice more paying customers.

As for your major terms?

Be specific!

If you’re an accountant, you’re not an ‘Auckland Accounting NZ’…

…that doesn’t sound all that interesting, does it?

No, you’re ‘Auckland’s Leading Accounting Service Providers’.

Now that’s more like it.

4Create valuable content

The reason successful companies gain a large amount of targeted web traffic is because they know how to create content based on exactly what their audience wants.

Sounds pretty simple, right?

So instead of another cookie-cutter piece of content, really dig into your customers’ pain points and start answering pressing questions, providing solutions to problems, and showing that you’re the expert.

With a relevant content strategy, you’ll attract the right visitors to your site.

5Write irresistible headlines and Title Tags

Headlines present the crucial moment where a user decides whether or not they are going to click on your link and follow it through to your content. Did you know that only 20% of users ever read past the headline?

So that heading had better be show stopping.

Without a compelling headline you are just another site among millions that will go unread.

6Contribute content to other sites

Here’s the thing…

…potential customers can’t visit your site if they don’t know it exists.

It’s really that simple.

Boosting your brand recognition within your niche and ranking well for your most lucrative terms are both great ways to increase your online visibility. And what better way to achieve both of these goals than with Guest Blogging!

You can benefit significantly from publishing high-quality content that reaches out to users and creates value. So long as you stick to a few guidelines regarding who you write for, contributing worthwhile content to other sites within your niche is a great way to tap into the traffic you need.

7Make sure your site is fast

Slow page speed not only negatively affects your ability to rank well in Google, it also greatly impacts your bounce rate. That is, the number of people who visit your site and then leave without digging in any further.

So while you may be attracting the right traffic…

…there’s a chance your website could be turning them away!

Thanks to the new Florida 2 algorithm update, your website is now more than ever ranked on page load speed to ensure a better user experience. The snappier your website? The higher the chance both Google – and your potential customers – will give it a chance.

8Ensure your site is responsive

Mobile devices are now the top choice for users browsing for content, products and services. So if users are forced to pinch and zoom their screen to be able to read your website…

…well, you just lost a customer.

Ensure your website is performing well, is accessible and provides comfortable viewing across all devices.

Google’s Mobile Friendly Test is a great way to check your site!

Keep your foot on the gas

So, do you know what the difference is?

Between sites with a lot of traffic, and those that actually convert?

It’s simple:

Relevance and rankings!

Yes, increasing your targeting website traffic can be a slow process, but with a few simple tweaks to your current online strategy you could be gaining the traction you need to draw in more customers in no time!

The post Less tire kickers, more customers: Gain more targeted web traffic, easily! appeared first on Found SEO - Tauranga, NZ.

Avoid some of these easy-to-make mistakes and you’ll be well on your way to improving your website’s search ranking, organically.

Are you struggling to rank in Google?

If the answer is yes, you’re not alone!

Considering the sheer volume of content being published each and every second, competition to capture your audience’s attention is growing increasingly fierce.

In fact, it can feel almost impossible!

Worse still, there’s a chance you’re making the already difficult task that much harder for yourself with a few mistakes or missteps that most businesses make when they’re attempting to bring in increased leads, sales, and revenue.

So, what are they?

We’re glad you asked!

Keep reading to see if there are any on the list that might look familiar.

Remove these roadblocks and you’ll make the path to growth that much easier:

1You’re choosing the wrong keywords

Optimising for the right keywords is the key (pardon the pun) to ranking well.

It follows that if you’re not using the right keywords, you’re going to struggle!

Keywords are the terms entered into search engines like Google by users looking for the products or services your business offers. In order to effectively optimise for these terms, you need to understand what your customers are looking for, thinking of, and ultimately typing into their search bars.

Because here’s the thing:

The terms you use may be completely different from the terms other people are using.

If so?

You’re optimising for all the wrong terms.

Keyword research provides the perfect solution for this problem, helping you to find relevant keywords that relate to your exact concept, product, industry, or niche. So conduct some background research before you start optimising – it’ll ensure you’re putting your finger straight on the pulse with appropriate keywords.

2You’re missing quality linking opportunities

To get the most out of SEO, you need links.

But it’s the quantity, quality, and relevance of these links that really matters.

Building links internally within blog articles and content is a great way to keep a captive audience engaged in your content. After all, they did click on your website for a reason.

It pays to always be on the lookout for opportunities to add in internal links to keep users on your site and venturing through your content.

The same goes for external and inbound links. By linking out to – and gaining links from – external, relevant, well-ranking sites with a solid reputation within your niche you’ll supercharge your search visibility and lead generation.

3You’re guilty of keyword stuffing

Have you heard about Keyword Stuffing?

If you’ve ever attempted to optimise your site in the past, you might be familiar with the concept.

Keyword Stuffing (also known as over optimisation) is the process of loading content with keywords and terms in a way that looks unnatural and compromises the user experience.

And here’s the thing…

…it doesn’t work.

In fact, it could be doing more harm than good!

What do I mean by this?

Let me explain:

Going overboard with keywords is seen as spammy by the search engines, which places a mark against your site. Not only that, it’s difficult to read, often hard to parse, and nonsensical for your potential customers.

Instead?

Aim to subtly use keywords within content that’s readable, interesting, and natural.

4You’ve forgotten about analytics

So you’ve optimised your site, written content, and started promoting it, but…

…how do you know if it’s having any effect?

If you’re not checking your analytics every now and then, you’re living in the dark.

Regularly reviewing your analytics is a great way to track your progress, see what’s working, and more importantly which optimisations, keywords, or promotional efforts are leaving more than a little to be desired.

Google’s Analytics and Search Console are two of the main methods for measuring and tracking your website’s performance. This will help you see how your site is performing for certain terms both pre- and -post optimisation.

Neglecting analytics reports and not using the right metrics to measure success can be costly!

So make use of the data available to you and make informed decisions.

5You don’t have enough unique content

Unique content is what makes your site…well, unique.

If you’re copying content, the original creators won’t be the only ones judging you.

So will the search engines!

Thin, spammy, or duplicate content adds no value to your site, and Google knows it. Today’s search engines STILL demote and may even penalise duplicate content, so it is worthwhile taking the time required to create original, meaningful, worthwhile content.

6You keep forgetting about mobile users

More and more people are searching the internet on mobile devices.

In fact, chances are you’re reading this post on your mobile right now.

This is why it’s crucial that your business realises that SEO optimisations isn’t only about content and keywords, but also about optimising for a range of different platforms from desktops through to smart phones.

Is your site mobile friendly? Is it responsive? Does it load quickly? If you haven’t considered a user-friendly mobile experience, your rankings within search engines could take a hit as search engines start to prioritise user experience when deciding which results to display on that all important first page.

7You’re not taking advantage of local SEO

When it comes to optimising your site?

It’s all too easy to forget to think local.

You see, Google is placing more and more importance on ‘Near Me’ searches, which is giving businesses like yours an opportunity to take advantage of free visibility within local search engines results.

That is, if you’re managing your Google My Business listing!

Local searchers are users who search using local, location-based phrases and keywords. They’re some of the most valuable traffic your website can gain, but many businesses miss out on this search traffic through oversight alone.

Increasing your visibility within local searches can be a lucrative source of traffic for your business and quickly boost your visibility within those all-important local search engine results.

Why wouldn’t you take advantage of that?

Improve your SEO the easy way

Removing any Search Engine Optimisation mistakes your business may be making is not hard to do, and is a cost-effective way to improve your leads, sales, and revenue. With these hurdles out of your way, the path to better visibility within search engine results is far more straightforward.

Need a hand with your SEO? Check out our FREE guide here. Or book a strategy call with FOUND and see if you qualify to become one of our valued clients.

The post 7 Common SEO mistakes that’ll kill your leads, sales & revenue appeared first on Found SEO - Tauranga, NZ.

Good marketing is no accident.

To create a demand for a product or service, you need to tap into your target consumer and keep in mind that, at any stage, they are in the sales funnel.

With a web-fueled environment as a backdrop, the battle between marketers takes good marketing to a whole new level. Today, building a strong market and a loyal customer base is contingent on digital content—its depth, breadth, and relevance.

Power up your content marketing efforts and convert browsers into loyal customers with these tips:

1 Depth

To capture valuable leads, establish depth in your content. In the context of content marketing, depth involves creating a solid groundwork for the type of market you wish to target.

Once you’ve identified the right market, further classify them into segments to better understand their needs, wants and expectations.

To begin? Start mapping out your business’ customer personas.

What are Customer Personas?

• Customer personas are fictional representations of your target customers.
• You can segment target markets further through demographic information such as age, gender, income, marital status, location.
• Crafting a detailed customer persona provides a more unobstructed view of the potential profitability of each segment. From there, you can select a target and incur less cost in putting up an actual marketing campaign.

How does it help to Optimise Marketing Content?

• Mapping out personas helps your business better understand the behaviors and preferences of potential and existing customers.
• It helps you efficiently produce compelling content as well as product and service developments.
  • For example, if your business caters to travel enthusiasts, you can use personas to narrow it down to specific traveler categories. Which groups prefer budget trips? Which travelers prefer first-class accommodations?

TIP # 1: Segment Customer Personas through Digital Platforms

• Use a pop quiz to generate quality leads. To create a lead-capturing pop quiz, choose a quiz topic that best represents your business.
  • If you run a makeup website, for example, you can design a quiz that helps visitors identify their skin’s undertone. Stick to five short questions and three easy-to-understand options.
• Create a strong handle and a link to your quiz by setting an intro that points out how the quiz will help a visitor’s need.
  • For example, ‘Take the quiz to uncover more about yourself,’ while wrapping up the results with a statement like ‘You don’t need to worry about getting the wrong foundation shade anymore.’
• After a visitor completes the quiz and identifies a ‘need,’ you can further tailor your marketing pitch by offering product brands that your store carries. For example, foundation brands that offer shades for warm-toned visitors.
• Influence purchasing intent by directing consumers to personalised options.
  • For example, offer foundation brands that sell ‘pink and yellow undertone’ shades.
• Ultimately, use the wealth of data you gather to familiarise yourself with a customer’s pain points, target further market offerings to the right customer, and increase their recall of your website.

2 Breadth

Lead Capture Pages or Landing Pages are separate pages from your website, yet are equally crucial in generating quality leads. Any action that your visitor does on this page determines the rate of conversion for your marketing campaign.

The breadth of your landing page is vital to successfully ‘warm up’ potential customers and guide them further into your sales funnel. Given this, such pages should provide the proper amount of emphasis on your marketing campaign, focusing only on a single call-to-action.

TIP # 2: Build a Landing Page That Converts

Keep it Simple

• An effective landing page gets rid of extra links and other navigational points to clarify what a visitor should do, and that is to click your call-to-action.
• Craft a call-to-action that clearly communicates what your visitors will get in exchange for the information they will hand over.
• Forms must be designed just right—not too long scaring away potential leads and not short enough whereby it’s difficult for you to gather the right amount of information.
• Your forms should only have around 3 to 5 fields. Conversion rates begin to drop off significantly when fields in a landing page form go beyond 7.
• Limit content on your landing page by giving it enough breathing space.
• Use forms that are easy to navigate and uses only simple steps to get users signed up.
• Make your landing page mobile friendly.

Use Attractive Visuals That Mirror Your Business

• Highlight unique attributes of a marketing campaign by making user benefits clear and concrete.
• Make an eye-catching headline that explains your message in a split-second.
• Use headlines that are strong, big and clear.
• Do not confuse your visitors with a wall of text. Use bullet points and images to further explain the benefits you offer.
• Talk like a real human—use simple terms, be specific and witty.

Create a Call-to-Action (CTA) that Persuades

• Use the formula ‘verb + time‘ in writing a call to action that will guide leads wherever they are in the sales funnel.
  • Examples are: “Download today”; “Get Your Free EBook Today.”
• Specify the value your visitors will get for taking action.
  • Examples are: ‘Get a Free Consultation’; ‘Get Exclusive Membership’.
• Tailor fit your call to action to your business type.
  • If you run a sales page, CTA such as ‘Buy Now’; ‘Shop Now’ are standard keywords.
  • If your call to action is designed for content marketing, common examples are ‘Watch the Video Now,’ ‘Find Out How’ and ‘Learn More.‘
• Place your CTA in a button that stands out. This will make it easy for your visitors to navigate your CTA and propel an action.
• If possible, use only a single CTA button with enough space around it to avoid distracting your visitors.

3 Relevance

Surviving in a content-saturated marketing economy can be difficult, yet not impossible. To carve out a unique selling point, you must be able to establish relevance in your content and make visitors stick to your website.

TIP # 3: Educate Your Consumers

Empower Them To Be Smart Buyers

• Helping leads make an informed purchase is an excellent way to improve your conversions.
• Remember, apart from price, product features are vital factors that convince customers to subscribe to a service or buy an actual product.
• Humans have very low attention spans online. Right off the bat, your marketing pitch must answer the question, ‘So what?’ by highlighting solutions, you can offer to them.
• Provide content that helps consumers learn and grow by publishing ‘How-To’s’ through fun and engaging video tutorials. For blogs, you can present tips through ‘Listicles.‘
• Work your brands into your content by demonstrating how a particular benefit or solution is best offered by a concrete product or service.
  • For example, if you run a beauty website, talk about how acne can be minimised by using PH-balanced cleansers, citing brands that are proven to work.
  • If you run a travel site, share a list of hotels that are best for backpackers.
• Capitalise on thought leadership by showing customers you understand their plight. Prove your expertise by inviting key authorities in your industry to talk more about your products or service.

Optimise Error-Free Content

• Search, analyse and select keywords that you can incorporate into your content as naturally as possible.
• Use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) plugins to help you evaluate whether your keywords are distributed evenly to your heading, page title and meta descriptions.
• Proofread content before publishing. Simple grammatical errors could weaken the trust your viewers have towards your website.

Make Content Shareable

• Ensure content is shareable on social media—Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
• Add a human touch by talking to your viewers through Facebook Live videos and Instagram Stories.
• Acknowledge them by answering comments nicely.
• Bank on word of mouth marketing by inviting viewers to share their experiences.

Be Genuine

• Showcase User-Generated Testimonials that are genuine. A product or service will always have a positive and a negative side—don’t sugarcoat things and uphold transparency in your content.

Key Takeaways

Generating useful and compelling content takes a keen eye and a well-crafted marketing plan. Don’t bank on what you think your target market wants to see–ask them.

With the tips we’ve shared above, we hope you’ll be able to publish and promote content that will drive traffic to your website and turn that into quality leads that bring cash.

About Bill Sheikh

I am the founder of Oklahoma’s premier online marketing and website design company, U-Thrive Marketing.

We have helped hundreds of businesses across the US put their business on the map online & offline.

We specialise in generating customers for the businesses we work with by using proven online marketing tactics such as Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click & Social Media marketing.

I have also been personally featured on many national and local publications with content related to online marketing.

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