Why content volume matters

by with No Comment Digital Marketing

When it comes to marketing on social media, relevance gets you an audience, volume keeps them. The challenge is that marketers overemphasize relevance and deemphasize volume. The consequence is that marketers are missing moments to connect, and it’s the moments that matter on social media.


Quality is one of the three top ranking factors in Google.

Having high-quality content helps your site rank better in search, which makes it easier for your potential customers to find your business. When compared to other marketing channels, organic search is better at delivering relevant traffic to your website. Compared to paid search, organic also has a higher return on investment when compared to paid search, especially since results can compound over time.

Now you want to know, How much your search engine ranking matter?
According to Google, the top listing in a Google search gets about 33% of search traffic, while the second gets 18% and the third gets 11%. If your result is on the first page of Google search results, you will see
about 92% of the traffic, while the second page only sees around 5% of search traffic. So you ask
yourself how many times have you gotten to the second page of search results when you are doing research online? This is the reason why you need quality content among other tools to help you rank on Google’s first page.


In an effort to better satisfy user intent, search engines, including Google, crawl your content to try to better understand it, organize it, and prioritize it. These spiders look for signals that your content is high-quality to assign a spot for your content in search rankings. The higher the ranking, the more your hard work can result in ongoing revenue to your business.

Although ad campaigns end, good content increases in value over time. One in ten blog posts is compounding, which means that organic search traffic from the post increases over time. Although these posts only make up 10% of your total content on your blog, they can generate up to 38% of your overall site traffic. The content should have comprehensive coverage, Comprehensiveness refers to the variety of related topics that the article discusses. So, for example, while deep content strives for plentiful mentions of relevant topics, comprehensive content is targeting more mentions of related topics.


Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of content marketing is that it helps your company drive more conversions over time. Research shows that companies who create consistent marketing content experience conversion rates that are nearly 6 times higher than their competitors who don’t focus on content marketing. This shows that tough content marketing often requires a significant investment of time, money, and resources, it eventually pays off by leading to more conversions.

Effective content will bring more traffic to your site. Publishing consistent blog posts that are engaging and effective can help you bring more traffic to your site over time. In fact, according to HubSpot, companies that published more than 16 blog posts per month got almost 3.5 times more traffic than
those that only published 4 or fewer posts. If you want to improve site traffic, publish quality blog content more often on a more consistent schedule.

These are some of the reasons why content volume and quality are important.

How to build a Brand People Love

by with No Comment Branding

In the world of marketing, building a recognizable and loved brand is one of the most valuable assets a company owns.

According to a Nielson survey, 59% of consumers prefer to buy new products from brands that they are familiar with or have used previously. As a small business, you will be competing against big brands with loyal customers and unlimited marketing budgets. For this reason, you must find ways to stand out with a solid brand building process of your own.

What is a brand?

Simply put, your brand is defined by a customer’s overall perception of your business. In today’s market, a successful brand has to be consistent in communication and experience, across many applications such as:

  • Environment (storefront or office)
  • Print material, signs, and packaging
  • Website & online advertising
  • Content publishing
  • Sales & customer service

The reality is that branding doesn’t happen overnight…or even in a few months. Building a brand is a process that will result in establishing long-term relationships with your customers, This can lead to a steady increase in sales, more projects, word-of-mouth referrals, and advocacy for your products or services.

What is brand building?

The definition of brand building is to generate awareness about your business using marketing strategies and campaigns with the goal of creating a unique and lasting image in the marketplace. Creating a Positive impression and standing out results in brand success.

Expansion of your brand image can be done effectively through various digital marketing activities such as:

  • User Experience (i.e. your website)
  • SEO & Content Marketing
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Email Marketing
  • Paid Advertising (PPC)

Below are some of the steps on how to build a Brand People Love:

1. Discover the purpose of your brand.

Every successful brand has a powerful purpose behind it and so should your brand.

There are four questions you should ask yourself when defining a brand purpose:

  • Why do you exist?
  • What differentiates you?
  • What problem do you solve?
  • Why should people care

Studies show that 50% of consumers worldwide say they now buy based on a company’s brand values and impact. So dig deep and find those nuggets of truth which can distinguish your brand from others.

2. Research competitor brands within your industry.

You should never imitate exactly what the big brands are doing in your industry. But, you should be aware of what they do well (or where they fail).

The goal is to stand out from the competition. Convince a customer to purchase from you and not your competitors. Research your main competitors or benchmark brands. For instance, study how well they have gone about building a brand name.

For a brand name to be effective, it needs to be easy for consumers to recognize and remember.

3. Determine your brand’s target audience.

When building your brand your main focus is to determine the target audience that you’ll be focusing on.

When brand building keep in mind who exactly you are trying to reach. You’ll shape your mission and message to meet their exact needs. The key is to get specific. Figure out detailed behaviors and lifestyles of your consumers.

When branding, targeting a niche requires committing to something very focused to start. You’ll come to realize that the competitive advantage when branding your business is to narrow your target audience focus. This can help ensure that your brand message comes across crystal clear to the intended recipient.

4. Establish a brand mission statement.

Have you thought about your brand mission? In essence, you’ll have to craft a clear expression of what your company is most passionate about.

Before you can build a brand that your target audience trusts, you need to know what value your business provides.

The mission statement basically defines a purpose for existing. It will inform every other aspect of your brand building strategies.

Everything from your logo to your tagline, voice, message, and personality should reflect that mission. When branding your business, start small and remember to focus on your target niche audience first. With time, your brand loyalty may grow enough to expand your reach.

Start small when branding your business, and remember to focus on your target niche audience first.

5. Outline the key qualities & benefits your brand offers.

There will always be brands with bigger budgets and more resources to command their industry. Your products, services, and benefits belong solely to you. Starting a brand that is memorable means you dig deep to figure out what you offer that no one else is offering.

Focus on the qualities and benefits that make your company branding unique. Think about how you provide value that improves consumers’ lives (outcomes or results that are experienced).

6. Form your unique brand voice.

Your voice is dependent on your company’s mission, audience, and industry. It’s how you communicate with your customers, and how they respond to you.

A brand voice could be:

  • Professional
  • Friendly
  • Service-oriented
  • Authoritative
  • Technical
  • Promotional
  • Conversational
  • Informative

You’ll see that if you find and use the correct brand voice, you have the strongest chance of connecting with consumers.

This is particularly important when publishing blog articles or social media posts. Maintaining a consistent voice will help your brand image become recognized on multiple channels in the same way. A community of followers, readers, or subscribers will come to expect a certain brand voice and brand personality when they consume your content.

7. Let your brand personality shine.

Customers are not looking for another startup company that offers the same thing as everyone else. They are looking for an experience suited to their needs, backed by genuine personal interaction.

If you are wondering how to brand your business in a unique way, Make your personality stand out in every aspect of your brand building process. Be consistent with this brand personality across all points of contact.

8. Create a brand logo & tagline.

When you think about how to build a brand, visuals probably come to mind first. We haven’t even talked about these until this deep into the brand-building process.

The most exciting (and arguably the most important piece) of the brand-building process, is to create a brand logo and tagline for your company. This logo will appear on everything that relates to your business. It will become your identity, calling card, and the visual recognition of your promise.

So be willing to invest the time and money by creating something exceptional to reinforce the visual identity for your business.

If you need help branding your business, Hire a professional designer or branding agency with logo and identity design experience, to help make your brand stand out. Their expertise will ensure that you get a unique and timeless mark for your business.

A designer can also develop brand guidelines, to ensure consistency for any future application of the logo and associated brand color palette or fonts.

A strong brand style guide will include the following things:

  • Logo size and placement
  • Color palette
  • Typography and fonts
  • Iconography
  • Photography/image style
  • Web elements

9. Integrate your brand into every aspect of your business.

The brand-building process never stops. Your brand should be visible and reflected in everything that your customer can see, read, and hear.

If a client walks into your office, or a customer walks into your store your brand image should be on display both in the environment and with personal interactions. Anything tangible from business cards to advertisements, to packaging and product, needs the stamp of your logo.

On any digital platform, ensure that your brand looks the same everywhere. Use your brand style guide to create consistency with visuals such as color and logo use, fonts, photography, etc.

Your website is the most important tool for marketing your brand. When you design your website: incorporate your voice, message, and personality into the content.

Profile pages for social media networks should be branded visually, and with your chosen voice for engagement.

10. Stay true to your brand building.

Unless you decide to change your brand into something that is more effective based on measured consumer response, consistency is key. Once you establish a brand voice, use it for every piece of content you create.

Your brand building will be worthless if it is not consistent so don’t constantly change your branding. The inconsistency will confuse your customers, and make long-term brand building more difficult.

Thank you for going through this article I hope you learned all you need about brand building, its importance, steps, and process.

11 BENEFITS OF A WEBSITE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. NO 6 IS IMPORTANT.

by with No Comment Branding

In this day and age where digital technology and the Internet have influenced how we live and work, the benefits of a website for small businesses should be amplified. This is because a lot of people spend time online searching for the products these small businesses provide, a website goes a long way to help you stand out and make more profit with an online presence.

Sadly, it is hard to believe that only 46% of small businesses have a website. This statistic is confounding when you realize people spend 6 hours a day on the Internet.

Below I have listed the benefits of a website for small businesses:

credibility

  • Improve Business Credibility

A simple way to view a website is that it is your online business address. This is where your customers, clients, and associates go to find you on the Internet.

The Home page identifies your branded value proposition, the About Us page tells visitors all about your business and the Contact Us page informs everyone how to get in touch with you.

It legitimizes your business and improves your credibility. It gives your business identity and is virtual proof that it exists.

 

  • Build Your Business

Before broadband technology became widespread, websites were used primarily for marketing and informational purposes. A website functioned more like a brochure; you put one up to stay ahead of the competition. But there wasn’t much thought and purpose behind the content.

With the growth of the Internet, the influence of social media, and the popularity of mobile devices, the website has become a crucial tool to build your business.

A website is a great way to share your story; tell your audience why you started this business, your goals, and what you hope to accomplish with it.

A website gives you the platform to highlight your experience and expertise.

promote

  • Efficient Way to Promote Your Business

If you are still using traditional forms of marketing, you are wasting valuable resources, time, and money. Traditional forms include press releases, print ads, flyers, and distribution Point- of- Purchase materials.

While still popular, traditional methods cost more money and cover less ground. It is also unsustainable; flyers, posters, print ads, and press releases usually end up in the trash can.

Online marketing is faster, more efficient, and inexpensive. There are many tools and techniques that you can use for online marketing but without a website, these strategies will fall short.

 

Among the most popular online marketing tools that you can use to create inbound traffic to your website:

Social Media – Of the 3.5 Billion people online every day, 2.34 Billion, or 67% are on social media.

Blogging – Companies that blogged 16 times a month received 4.5 times more leads than those that blogged 0-4 posts per month.

E-mail Marketing – E-mail marketing is 40 times more effective in acquiring customers than Facebook.

Use Videos – Embed a video on your Home page. A video can deliver your messaging content faster and more efficiently than text. Video on a landing page can increase conversion rates by 80%.

Finally, online marketing is a sustainable process. Your content will not go to waste. You can easily update it and reuse it after a few months.

  • Professionalize Your Brand

Many small business owners make the mistake of not working on their brand until they gain traction.

You have to start working on your brand before launching your business. The brand gives your business its identity and makes it easier for customers and clients to understand what it is all about.

The website is the most effective and efficient way to build and professionalize your brand:

It places your branded value proposition front and center on the Home page.

Website optimization techniques can help Internet users find your brand.

It can be distributed seamlessly through various online channels.

A professionally made website shows you are serious about your business.

 

  • Expand Market Reach And Coverage

 

If you have a school, having a website will expand your market reach and coverage. You can offer online courses in specialized subjects to people outside your jurisdiction.

For example, you are planning to introduce a school for Business Leadership training. You can create modules that can be uploaded to your website. People who sign up for your courses will be able to access the modules and undergo online learning.

  • Keep Your Business Open 24/7

Unlike a commercial establishment, the Internet doesn’t have operating hours. Your customers can find you 24/7. There are no holidays and you can “work overtime” without incurring extra costs.

Thus, a website can be an effective way to improve your customer service.

If you have chat support available, all you need is to hire customer service agents who can manage incoming inquiries and concerns, and have them addressed immediately to the right person or department of your company.

You may want to outsource customer service to another region where time zone differentials exist.

finf new clients

  • Find Clients

More accurately, your clients will find you.

Some well-intentioned people may advise you that you can run a business with only social media – no website needed.

That’s not true. Social media marketing is not that effective for converting sales.

Only 12.5% of consumers are enticed to purchase by a “Buy Button” on a social media page. In contrast, 60% of consumers reported that they were encouraged to purchase by email.

Thus, email marketing is a better strategy than social media marketing for converting interest into sales.

 

  • Generate Leads

Lead generation is an important component of email marketing and your website is the best tool for capturing email addresses.

When someone gives you his email address, he is giving you permission to send content to his inbox. If you ask your friends, family, and network of contacts, they will gladly give you their email addresses.

What about a complete stranger? A person who just visited your website?

He will not surrender his email address to anyone without getting something of value in exchange.

 

With a website, you can offer a free monthly subscription to a newsletter, an e-book, or limited access to premium content.

By doing so, you add value to your business, enhance your reputation, and most importantly, gain the trust of a potential customer.

 

  • Manage Your Business Reputation

The website is your platform on the Internet. This is the place where you will be heard and have 100% full control over your content.

If you want an effective website or one that can help you take your business to another level, you have to be prepared to invest in one. In a survey of small business owners, 19% identified cost as another reason for foregoing a website.

A website is not an expense. It is an investment because you should expect a return on your money within a period of time.

 

  • You Can Share Your Address and Contact Information with Customers

Imagine that someone knows your business exists, but they’re not sure how to get there. Ideally, your website should include your full address, instructions on how to find you, and (if you’re looking for extra points) a map of the area. Armed with that information, it’s almost impossible for anyone to get lost along the way.

It’s also useful to have a place for your business phone number, email address, and other contact details. That way people can call in if they have any quick questions.

 

  • It Enables You to Receive Online Queries

A lot of small business owners these days prefer online queries over phone calls. It’s easy to understand why. After all, you can answer emails on your own time, and it doesn’t matter if 20 people contact you at once online you can still get to all of them.

Ideally, your website will provide visitors with multiple ways to contact you. We already mentioned that it should include your phone number and email address, but a contact form is also an excellent addition that lets customers get in touch without leaving the site. Some businesses even go as far as to set up a live chat.

 

You have to make sure your website is professionally designed, fully functioning with fast download speed, and packed with great content.

These days, the first thing a lot of people do when they hear about a business is to look it up online. If you don’t have a website set up or at least some social media profiles you might as well not exist for all those potential clients.

You get the Importance of having a website. We suggest you get one for your business. However, if you don’t know how to go about it, send across an inquiry so we can help you grow and scale your business online with a functional and responsive website.

 

10 Importance of SEO

by with No Comment Digital Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the most effective tool for website owners to get more traffic to their website. Optimization of a website is important to get traffic and maintain top rankings on the search engine. The main aim of search engine optimization is to get more traffic from the various sources and to get loyal users.


SEO plays a vital role in online business websites as well as other interactive sites. With regular updates of content, SEO helps to get more traffic to the website.


Using specific keywords, SEO can generate good traffic and ultimately influence the revenue for an e-commerce site. It is crucial to maintain the position on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and others. The SEO ranking can be monitored by Alexa and other ranking sites to monitor the position over the search engine. You can monitor your website by getting the rank to know the status of your website.


A Search Engine Optimizer needs to look for new keywords and work on specific keywords to get new traffic. Many SEO tools are useful to get an article or text submission automatically.
The ultimate goal for the website owner and SEO is to get the traffic and appears in the first five pages of the search engine and maintain the positing online and also to get the repetitive users on their website.
Every business and service websites need SEO to keep their position in the Google or other search engine. It is SEO’s responsibility to keep the website as a front runner in search engines.


SEO work is as much about people as it is about search engines themselves. It’s about understanding what people are searching for online, the answers they are seeking, the words they’re using, and the type of content they wish to consume. Knowing the answers to these questions will allow you to connect to the people who are searching online for the solutions you offer.


You might ask why SEO is so important?
SEO is very important because, While paid advertising, social media, and other online platforms can generate traffic to websites, the majority of online traffic is driven by search engines.
SEO is also one of the only online marketing channels that, when set up correctly, can continue to pay dividends over time. If you provide a solid piece of content that deserves to rank for the right keywords, your traffic can increase heavily over time, whereas paid advertising needs continuous funding to send traffic to your site.
Optimizing your site will help deliver better information to search engines so that your content can be properly indexed and displayed within search results.

Going through this you might be thinking, Should I hire an SEO professional or consultant?
Depending on your coverage, willingness to learn, and how complex your website is, you could perform some basic SEO yourself. Or rather discover that you prefer the help of an expert. Either way is okay!
Knowing how to choose a good SEO company can save you a lot of time and money, as the wrong SEO techniques can harm your site more than they will help.
When performing SEO things to avoid:

  • Automatically generated content
  • Participating in link schemes
  • Creating pages with little or no original content (i.e. copied from somewhere else)
  • Cloaking — the practice of showing the search engine crawlers different content than visitors.
  • Hidden text and links
  • Doorway pages — pages created to rank well for specific searches to funnel traffic to your website.

 

I will give you some reasons why every online business needs SEO.

Organic Search Is the main Source of Website Traffic:

Organic search is a huge part of most businesses ’ website performance, as well as a critical component of branding and ultimately getting users to complete a conversion or engagement. 

 

SEO Builds Trust & Credibility:

The goal of any experienced SEO is to establish a strong foundation for a beautiful website with a clean, effective user experience that is easily discoverable in search with thanks to the trust and credibility of the brand and its digital properties. Establishing a brand as an authority takes patience, effort, and commitment, but also relies on offering a valuable, quality product or service that allows customers to trust a brand.

 

Good SEO Also Means a Better User Experience:

Everyone wants better rankings and maximum visibility. Few realize that optimal user experience is a big part of getting there. Google has learned how to interpret a favorable or unfavorable user experience, and positive user experience has become a pivotal element to a website’s success. Quality SEO incorporates a positive user experience, leveraging it to work in a site’s favor. 

Local SEO generates more Engagement, Traffic & Conversions:

With the rise and growing domination of mobile traffic, local search has become a fundamental part of small- and medium-sized businesses’ success. Local SEO aims at optimizing your digital properties for a specific vicinity, so people can find you quickly and easily, putting them one step closer to a transaction. Local optimizations focus on specific towns, cities, regions, and even states, to establish a viable medium for a brand’s messaging on a local level.

SEO Impacts the Buying Cycle:

Customers do their research. That’s one of the biggest advantages of the internet from a buyer’s perspective. Using SEO tactics to relay your messaging for good deals, groundbreaking products and/or services, and the importance and dependability of what you offer customers will be a game-changer. Brands must be visible in the places people need them for a worthy connection to be made. Local SEO enhances visibility and lets potential customers find the answers, and the businesses providing those answers.

Good knowledge of SEO Helps You Understand the Environment of the Web:

It’s important to have SEO tactics implemented on a brand’s website and across its digital properties, but if it’s a short-term engagement (budget constraints, etc.) and the site isn’t re-evaluated consistently over time, it will reach a threshold where it can no longer improve because of other hindrances. The way the search world evolves, basically at the discretion of Google, requires constant monitoring for changes to stay ahead of the competition and, hopefully, on Page 1. Being proactive and monitoring for major algorithm changes is always going to benefit the brands doing so. We know Google makes thousands of algorithm changes a year. Fall too far behind, and it will be extremely difficult to come back. SEO pros help to ensure that is avoided.

SEO Is Relatively Cheap:

But SEO is relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things, and the payoff will most likely be considered in terms of a brand’s benefit and bottom line. Implementing SEO isn’t a marketing cost; this is a true business investment. Good SEO implementation will hold water for years to come. And, like most things in life, will only be better with more attention (and investment) it gets.

It’s A Long-Term Strategy:

SEO usually has a noticeable impact within the first year of action being taken, and many of those actions will have an impact that lasts more than several years. As the market evolves, yes, it’s best to follow the trends and changes closely. But even a site that hasn’t had continuous SEO recommendations implemented will improve from basic SEO best practices being employed.

SEO Gives a brand more opportunities:

High-quality SEO will always find a means of discovering and leveraging new opportunities for brands to, not just be discovered, but to shine. Offering quality SEO to brands means submersing an SEO team in everything that is that brand. It’s the only way to truly market a brand with the passion and understanding that the brand’s stakeholders have for it: becoming a stakeholder.

Remember If You’re Not on Page 1, You’re Not Winning the Click:

It’s no secret in the world of SEO that if you’re not on Page 1, you’re likely not killing the organic search game. A recent study shows that the first three organic search ranking positions result in nearly 40 percent of all click-throughs, while up to 30 percent of all results on Page 1 and 2 don’t get clicked at all.


Conclusion

Implementing strong, quality SEO on a brand’s website and digital properties is always going to be beneficial to that brand and its marketing efforts.
It’s considered a “new age” marketing technique, but it’s critical to a brand’s web presence in this day and age, especially as available data and rivaling competition continue to increase and grow.

Hope you learned a lot about the importance of SEO from it. Start implementing these tips today. If there’s anything you need our help with, do well to send a message across.