If your law firm hasn’t updated its website in a while, only posts on social media, and doesn’t provide valuable content leading your audience back to your website, it’s time to think of another digital marketing solution. 

Maximize your marketing budget with digital marketing experts. Contact Exults today.

What Are The Risks Of Not Investing In Digital Marketing For Your Law Firm?

Here are 4 major downsides for law firms that don’t invest in digital marketing for their businesses.

1. Your Digital Marketing Strategy Goes Stale

When you think about digital marketing for law firms, what comes to mind? Many law firms think having a social media page and/or a website is more than enough to make an impact. 

However, digital marketing means more than producing a few social media captions and having a running website. Not investing in digital marketing for your law firm leaves your overall strategy at the risk of going stale. This is because many aspects of your digital marketing experience ebb and flow, similar to your law firm. 

To clarify – what’s working today to bring in new business or retain existing business won’t necessarily work tomorrow, next month, or even a year later.

What Does A Solid Digital Marketing Strategy Include For Law Firms?

Between case studies, research, legal processes, and everything in between, your firm and its attorneys probably don’t have any spare time for digital marketing. This is exactly why 65% of firms spend their marketing budget on online marketing for law firms.

Having a digital marketing team like Exults on your side takes the extra load off of you and your firm’s to-do list. You can expect your digital marketing professionals to strategize an online marketing plan that includes your firm’s:

• Website efficiency
• Search engine optimization (SEO) ranking
• Blog performance
• Social media following 
• Social media content
• Paid advertising
• Email marketing

You can think of every aspect of your digital marketing strategy as multiple moving parts of a machine. The entire machine only works well when every moving part is maintained, allowing your digital marketing agency to answer questions behind the scenes like:

What blog topics performed best last quarter?

What is the click-through rate (CTR) of last month’s email newsletters?

Are there enough call-to-action buttons on the website?

Where is your traffic coming from and is it the right traffic for your business?

Is anyone using the contact form?

These questions are only a handful of what many digital marketers work through daily to remain competitive online.

2. Your Law Firm Blends In Or Is Buried By The Competition

If you feel as though your law firm is getting lost online, it’s typically because of the following:

No one knows who you are. Do a quick review of your law firm’s website. Your website should be attractive in its design and easy to digest regarding its content. Your website should tell a story about your law firm, team, services, specialties, and most importantly – how to get started. Your contact information including your law firm’s name, address, and phone number should be visible on every page. Remember, your website may seem like it’s all about you, but your messaging should speak to your target audience.

Your digital marketing efforts are not being measured. Measuring your content’s progress is where fine-tuning your messaging fits in. For example, if results repeatedly show that your audience responds better when reading certain words or phrases, it’s time to use this information to align your content with what your audience wants to see. But that’s not all. You also need to consider your SEO goals and include various keywords throughout your copy to peak engagement through different search engines.

You are not producing unique content regularly. Having a blog, newsletter, and lead magnets available for download has a huge impact on your online presence. It’s this type of content that boosts your Google ranking, brings more traffic to your website, and places your law firm as a known expert in your industry. 

Teaming up with a digital marketing agency allows you to use the expertise of professional copywriters, graphic designers, SEO specialists, and more to create intentional copy for your target audience.

Don’t have time to produce or rewrite content? Refresh your digital marketing strategy with Exults.

3. Social Media Is Not Enough

Social media can be an incredible platform to offer updates and advertise your law firm’s services. However, using only social media is an extremely slow growth plan compared to other options. 

1 in 5 law firms have a professional handle their website maintenance. This is vital for a law firm’s growth as measured results allow you to adjust, tweak, and ensure optimal performance on both desktop and mobile devices. In fact, 47% of users won’t wait longer than 2 seconds for a website to load before abandoning it, which makes mobile compatibility a must.

4. Not Taking Advantage Of Your Marketing Budget’s Full Potential

You may have one or several people in-house managing your digital marketing, which is an asset to your team. But if they wear many hats on top of this responsibility, you could be missing out on additional opportunities. Because, without the time or expertise to begin with, where do you start?

Digital marketing professionals have a myriad of tools and strategies on hand to deliver the results you expect. More importantly, they have the time needed to dedicate their attention to your online progress. This means that hiring a digital marketing expert offers potential cost savings compared to purchasing the same online tools yourself. 

Digital Marketing Results Are The Real Deal

Equipping your law firm with a digital marketing team frees up you and your team to do the work that matters to you most. This way, all attorneys in your firm have more bandwidth to focus on acquiring and winning cases. 

Whether you’re in the courtroom or the office, your digital marketing team is…

• Regularly measuring your results
• Producing valuable content
• Managing your social media accounts
• Tracking your potential clients
• Reengaging former clients

…And so much more.

Start Seeing Results With The Top Digital Marketing Agency For Law Firms

The risk of not investing in digital marketing for your law firm is too high. Especially as online usage continues to increase, it’s more important than ever to have a bold online presence and maintain it as your goals advance. 

Take your law firm to the next level of digital progress. Start online marketing for your law firm today.

The post What Are The Risks Of Not Investing In Digital Marketing For Your Law Firm? appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

You’re here because you want to know about how to pivot your digital marketing for a natural disaster or pandemic.

So, let’s get started!

If your target audience happens to be in an affected area, here are helpful tips you should follow!

Pandemic Tips for Team Success

Make the Switch to Work Remotely

In the case of a natural disaster or pandemic, it may be difficult or even unsafe to keep your employees working on site, which means you’ll have to shift to working remotely.

Fortunately, with the help of technology, this can be an easy move! There are team integration tools that enable you to have virtual meetings or consultations through including:

• Facetime and Zoom
• Meetings through Zoom or GoToMeeting which can include audio, video and screen shares
• Platforms to promote group or direct communication through messaging like Slack or Microsoft Teams
• Remote desktop access programs like GoToMyPC, so your staff can access their work computers right from their current location

There are also lots of other free tools you should take advantage of, too, like the Google Suite of office products like Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Drive.  Microsoft does have their own version of sharing and collaboration for the Microsoft Office Suite, but we have found the Google Suite offering to be a lot more efficient for collaboration efficiency and purposes. This will allow your team to continue to collaborate on the same projects together even though they’re physically separated.

Encourage Team Engagement

Worried about team engagement falling behind? Channel your creativity. You can encourage and foster team engagement by offering fun incentives like contests for cash or gift cards, such as a funny picture or best joke contests or hold conference video or audio calls. Some are even having virtual Happy Hours to keep the vibe alive amongst the team.  Staying indoors isolated from the rest of the world can be stressful and boring. Scheduling contests or sending funny memes to the group chat can help brighten up the day.

Virtual Transactions

Then there’s the question of how you’ll continue to process payments and orders and how long this pandemic will last. You can always switch to online transactions through online merchant processing with your current merchant processing vendor. If that may not be available to your business, there are simpler solutions like PayPal and Square to gain access to getting immediate payments efficiently.

It’s important to remember, this pandemic isn’t going to last forever. It may feel like it while in the thick of a situation such as this pandemic situation as a result of COVID-19, but this crisis will pass. Make sure to remind yourself and your coworkers that normalcy is on the horizon. While these types of things seem to have a lasting impact on how consumers engage, adjusting your digital marketing for now will help shape your business’s image and can also make a huge impact on consumers now, and in the future.

Pandemic Tips for Your Digital Marketing Strategies

Find Ways to Help the Relief Efforts

Consider giving back toward disaster relief and develop empathy with your audience. Here are some simple (but positive) things you can do:

• Donate to a non-profit organization that helps with disaster relief
• Get your staff to volunteer with relief efforts
• Donate your products (if it makes sense) to relief efforts
• Utilize your extra space or equipment to relief efforts

Audience Engagement 

Make sure your consumers and audience know what is happening at your company:

• Add a website pop-up or banner at top of page letting them know how you are operating
  • Website pop-up or banner onsite to alert your clients. For example, “COVID-19 Update: We remain fully operational. For more information about store hours and services, please contact info@assitance.com.”
• Blog about operations
• Pin a post on Facebook letting them know updates
• Share the services you’re offering to the community to help
• Social media allows us all to have constant communication, utilize this to your advance
• Update your Google My Business store hours and services

Create Useful Content

Need an example of (hopefully) useful content related to a difficult time? Well, you’re reading one right now.

We’re pretty good at digital marketing and are very familiar with the best marketing strategies to use before, during, and after a crisis. Our target audience (you) is interested in digital marketing resources.

At Exults, our mission is simple. We want to help and thought these strategies could be useful to share with our clients and potential clients.

Finally, Be Safe

Your safety comes first! So, please always be safe! Whether you’re prepping for a hurricane or currently struggling with the economic devastation caused by COVID-19, which is sweeping our nation, just know that we’ll all get through this together. Remember, while COVID-19 is temporary, it will forever change our marketing mindset and consumer engagement, so you must adjust your current digital marketing now to stay well positioned for the post-event consumer behavior.

Have questions about altering your digital marketing during this pandemic caused by COVID-19? Please reach out to the Exults team, just as you are there for your customers, we are here for YOU!

The post How to Adapt Your Business and Digital Marketing Presence During a Disaster or Pandemic appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Different Ways to Target Audience with Facebook Ads

Identifying a target audience and actually having your ads appear in front of them are two unique challenges. But with powerful tools like Facebook Ads available for any business owner to use, it’s never been easier to create a target audience of real users and have them see your content. Check out some strategies you can use to create target audiences with Facebook Ads.

Exclude Customers From Your Target Audience

If you want to move customers through your sales funnel and avoid wasting advertising revenue on people who’ve already made a purchase, exclude paying customers from your target audience. Instead, prioritize people who have either visited your site or added items to their shopping carts and not checked out. Use website retargeting to display ads on Facebook for visitors who have been to your site without making a purchase.

Use Facebook’s “Saved Audience” Feature

Once you know your ideal customer demographic, you can use Facebook’s “Create a Saved Audience Button” to build an audience to use in your ad campaign. The button to do this can be found on the Audiences page. You can then define your audience based on factors such as age, gender, and location.

Narrow Your Audience Further, Based on Their Likes and Interests

You can further target an audience by narrowing your search criteria — either for a Saved Audience or a Lookalike Audience — by including specific likes, interests, and even life events to create an audience. For example, an author can limit a target audience to those who like a genre or a certain book, and a jewelry company can target individuals in relationships who have an upcoming anniversary. You would never imagine the ways you can actually target people on Facebook, things can get weirdly specific!

How to Get Your Ads to Convert on Facebook

Developing strong ad campaigns on Facebook can help you drive traffic to your website, boost brand awareness, and generate conversions. Find out how to get your ads to convert on Facebook and learn how to meet your objectives.

Know Your Target Audience

No matter which type of Facebook ad campaign you’re planning to run, creating the right target audience is essential for social advertising. You can create a lookalike audience that’s similar to your existing followers, build one using relevant interests, or select one based on device usage. The specificity of options is exponential. You can target any group ranging from single mothers to home gardeners, to people in specific neighborhoods. Choose the combination of targeting that works best for you to make sure you’re targeting the right users.

Utilize Photos and Videos

Photos and videos offer a great platform for expanding brand awareness, building your audience, and even driving conversions. People scroll through timelines and newsfeeds so quickly, using a photo or video can be one of the only ways to grab the attention of people with crowded social media platforms. To get the most video views, start by choosing an eye-catching thumbnail and ensuring your video file uses the optimal aspect ratio. Try to use photos that convey your message or an emotional connection to attract attention. Because people lose interest easily, aim for a video between 15 and 30 seconds to maximize views.

Optimize Ads for Landing Page Views

Pushing traffic off Facebook and to your website is ideal if you have a high-performing landing page that creates conversions. To make the most of Facebook’s landing page views option, use a strong creative and an effective call to action (CTA) to get the high-quality traffic you want. Try out a few different versions of your landing page to make sure it gets the results you’re targeting. You can do this by creating different ad sets that include different pictures, carousel ads, and different CTA or ad copy content.

Drive Specific Actions With Website Conversions

To attract users who are primed to make a purchase, download content, or complete another type of conversion, you’ll need to tweak your audience to make it as specific as possible. Use copy with a specific CTA and test your landing page to make sure it converts effectively. Identify what your ultimate goal is and gear your ads from there.

Facebook Gets Rid of Accidental Ad Clicks

Creating and monitoring Facebook ads isn’t as easy as it might look, especially when you have to account for users accidentally clicking your ads. Find out why Facebook has taken steps to eliminate accidental ad clicks and learn what this means for advertisers.

Facebook Establishes a Two-Second Threshold for Ads

It’s happened to even the most frequent social media users. When scrolling through an article or your news feed, sometimes you accidentally click on an advertisement. In the past, Facebook levied charges for every single click-thru, even those generated by users who unintentionally clicked on the ad before returning to the original page immediately.

As of August 2017, however, that’s no longer the case. Facebook has established a two-second threshold for its Audience Network ads, which appear in non-Facebook applications. Essentially, a user clicking on one of these ads and returning back to the original page within two seconds will no longer count as a click. In the future, Facebook may shorten this length of time or even extend it to other aspects of its advertising platform.

Advertisers Can Expect More Accurate Metrics

This two-second threshold is good news for advertisers, as Facebook will no longer charge for these unintentional clicks. The benefits extend beyond budget alone, though.

Since advertisers will no longer see these accidental clicks in their reports, they can look forward to more accurate metrics. This change could help businesses improve their ad targeting, increase lead generation, and spend their budgets more wisely.

Facebook Discontinues 5,000 Ad Targeting Terms to Prevent Ad Discrimination

Facebook announced it is removing 5,000 ad targeting terms that could potentially allow for bias against different religions, races, and cultures.

If you’re not sure what ad targeting is, it is a strategy for advertisers to reach certain customers based on demographics, psychographics, behavior, and interests. Simply put, when advertising using Facebook paid ads, you have a plethora of options to create campaigns that target your most valuable customers ranging from zip codes and marital status to interests such as “Latin America” or “Medicare”.

While Facebook does not categorize people by their race or ethnicity, advertisers could target people “interested in” certain cultures. For example, a person interested in “Passover” could be Jewish. Under bad practice, a person could use these targeting options to discriminate against Jewish people by not showing them ads for housing, jobs, or educational opportunities.

So why would this happen?

Advertisers must have some sort of strategy to get their ads to the most valuable customers whom will end with a conversion. Businesses are paying to get their ads to the right people, so typically they exclude certain segments from seeing their campaigns to avoid serving ads to unnecessary or redundant audiences.

Although excluding certain audiences can be a very useful tactic, Facebook has received scrutiny due to the tool’s ability to discriminate. By excluding someone interested in “mobility scooters” or “child care”, advertisers could potentially prevent disabled renters or working parents from seeing their ads.

This isn’t a subject that has been tread on lightly either. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) filed an official complaint against Facebook for violating the Fair Housing Act by allowing landlords and home sellers to use its advertising platform to engage in housing discrimination.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing transactions including print and online advertisements on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or familial status.

According to the press release HUD distributed, Facebook’s platform violates this act by enabling advertisers to:

• Display housing ads either only to men or women.
• Not show ads to Facebook users interested in an “assistance dog,” “mobility scooter,” “accessibility” or “deaf culture.”
• Not show ads to users whom Facebook categorizes as interested in “child care” or “parenting,” or show ads only to users with children above a specified age.
• To display/not display ads to users whom Facebook categorizes as interested in a particular place of worship, religion or tenet, such as the “Christian Church,” “Sikhism,” “Hinduism,” or the “Bible.”
• Not show ads to users whom Facebook categorizes as interested in “Latin America,” “Canada,” “Southeast Asia,” “China,” “Honduras,” or “Somalia.”
• Draw a red line around zip codes and then not display ads to Facebook users who live in specific zip codes.

This isn’t the first time either. The discriminatory misuse of its advertising product has been on Facebook’s radar since at least 2016, when ProPublica published an investigation on how the tech giant enabled advertisers to exclude specific groups based on race and gender, according to Gizmodo. Facebook was again found guilty of enabling this troubling practice at the end of last year—another ProPublica investigation found it was still letting housing ads on the service effectively exclude black, Jewish, and disabled users—after the company said it would no longer allow it.

Facebook has reportedly denied that the removal was in response to the HUD complaint. In Facebook’s blog post about the removal of potentially discriminatory ad targeting options,  “While these options have been used in legitimate ways to reach people interested in a certain product or service, we think minimizing the risk of abuse is more important.”

Facebook is constantly updating its platform to better cater to users and improve user experience. They plan to share more targeting updates in the coming months as they continue to refine they tools for people and businesses.

In an effort to underscore the difference between acceptable ad targeting and ad discrimination, Facebook is requiring a continuing education certification for all advertisers. In order to continue advertising on Facebook, all advertisers will be required to complete the certification.

From Facebook to Google, all advertising platforms are always evolving and as a digital marketing agency, we always strive to communicate and apply these industry updates to all our clients to ensure we are strategizing effectively.

If you have any questions about increasing your leads, ROI, and valuable customer base through social media marketing or Google Ads, give us a call for a free consultation!

The post Facebook Ads: Tools, Tricks, Updates and More! appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Don’t Discount The Power Of Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most important business strategies to reaching a wide audience. In addition to social media and web marketing, email marketing reaches a huge audience of potential customers. To learn how important email marketing is to your business, read these 8 reasons below:

1. Email Gets Attention

While social media is important, don’t discount the attention that emails receive. Email marketing allows you to reach each individual’s personal inbox and stay there until they choose an action. The next important step is making sure that the action includes reading what you have to say with engaging material.

2. Massive Audience Numbers

There are around 3 billion email user accounts. That number shadows both Facebook and Twitter users three times over and also topples personal connections by thousands. There is a time and place for every kind of marketing, so keep in mind that the largest audience may be reachable via email campaign.

3. Email Is Personal

While face-to-face interactions and social media may feel more personal with pictures and opinions floating around free in cyberspace, email marketing can actually create a personal connection between your business and the consumer. Drawing a direct line from your website to their inbox creates a personal business relationship that can’t be attained via other mediums.

4. Deals And Information Are Expected

Email marketing is just playing into the scheme that’s already been created. When individual’s sign up for marketing emails and listservs, there is an expectation of sale offers and marketing info. Your audience literally opens up the platform expecting to receive sales pitches and to be entertained, informed and persuaded to buy what you’re selling.

5. It’s Cost-Effective

If you’re trying to stretch a small advertising budget as far as possible, some methods won’t get you very far at all. In contrast, email marketing is incredibly cost-effective, as you can connect directly with your target audience for just a few cents per message.

6. Customization Is a Breeze

The days of personalizing email marketing messages with a first name may not be long gone, but today, email marketers have many more options for customization. Many platforms offer marketing automation, which enables you to segment your audience for better targeting and more leads.

7. It’s Easy to Share

Email marketing messages may originate in the inbox, but they don’t have to stay there. Most platforms make it easy for subscribers to share messages with friends and family, and they’re also easy to reshare on social media. Both routes offer ample opportunities for your business to get its message out there.

8. Email and Mobile Are a Winning Combination

If your business is like most, you’ve probably noticed that an increasing percentage of your audience uses a mobile device to interact with your brand. Email marketing pairs seamlessly with mobile, as it enables businesses to get subscribers’ attention almost instantly. Since conversions from marketing emails opened on mobile devices appear to be on the upswing, this is a trend most brands can’t afford to ignore.

3 Common Email Marketing Mistakes

Email marketing is an extremely important element in small business campaigns. When sending emails from your business, make sure to avoid these common email marketing mistakes.

1. Using Poor Subject Lines

In today’s society, so many emails are sent and received that it is easy to click ignore if the subject line is blank or has a poor catch phrase. Utilize the subject line to target your audience and get them excited about what you have to say in your email.

2. Spamming

Emailing individuals who didn’t sign up for your newsletter or email listserv can feel like an invasion of privacy and can sever your potential relationship with that client permanently. Use an opt-in form on your website or attract them to the sign-up sheet via social media links to avoid spamming individuals.

3. Overusing Email For Irrelevant Messaging

Sending multiple emails a day can get tedious and annoying to customers, no matter how good the deals are or how interesting the material. It is important to limit email blasts and newsletters to an appropriate timeline depending on the number of followers and brand loyalty of your customers. Also, making the emails worth reading is extremely important. If the material is boring or irrelevant, you will find that many people unsubscribe or fail to read the content.

To learn more about email marketing, call Exults today at 866-999-4736.

The post Email Marketing 101 appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Millennials have the strongest buying power of any demographic – and they also use their phone 150 times a day.

That should be all you need to know to realize that a mobile-optimized website is beneficial for your business.

Think about how often you browse on your cell phone while you’re out and about, or when you’re chilling at home but your laptop is in the other room. That’s how everyone is now surfing the web, too.

It’s becoming increasingly important to have a website that is optimized for mobile. Not convinced? Keep reading to find out exactly why you need to optimize your website for mobile.

4 Reasons You Need a Mobile-Optimized Site

People aren’t just using their smartphones to browse Facebook anymore. New technology, easier browsing experiences, and mobile advertising have all impacted on how, when, and why mobile browsing is more popular than ever.

1. More People Than Ever Use Mobile Browsing

Mobile browsing has overtaken desktop in the past two years. More and more people are using their smartphones and tablets while they’re on the move, thanks to more mobile-friendly websites and ever-cheaper data tariffs.

At some point in the buying cycle, users will use their mobile to make a decision. People who always complete a purchase on their desktop are still likely to consult a mobile website while they are on-the-go or in the research stage.

Think about it: how often have you sat on your couch and seen something cool on the TV that you want to know more about? You swipe open your smartphone and give it a quick Google.

You’ll think about the product, then the next day when you’re at your laptop will open the same website again to have another look. This is a classic example of how users are switching screens to influence their purchasing decisions.

2. People Use Mobile Browsing Differently

It isn’t just the frequency of mobile browsing that is of note: people use different search terms between mobile and desktop use.

That means you need to pull a few SEO tricks to cover both desktop and mobile search queries if you want to boost traffic from mobile sources.

The increase in mobile search is also related to voice search. People are using voice search on their smartphones or devices such as Alexa and Google Home to find the answer to their on-the-go questions.

The words used in voice search will be different to those typed into a search bar, so optimizing your website for mobile will need to include more speech-related search terms if you want to rank well.

3. You’ll Benefit From Local Search Conversions

The rise in on-the-go browsing allows users to find businesses in their area to satisfy an immediate need. For example, if you have a strong desire for takeout you will probably search “pizza in my town” or something similar.

Google’s search results will pick up on your location or search term and provide the most relevant and local results.

Without a mobile-optimized website, you’re missing out on tons of potential custom as search engines push other local businesses ahead of yours in search results.

A shift in how Google looks at your website content means you could be missing out on high rankings in search results just because you don’t have a mobile-friendly site.

The search engine has started to shift towards a ‘mobile-first’ preference. That means website with mobile-optimized content will rank higher in searches than those without. This can apply even to searches on desktops.

3 Tips for a Mobile-Friendly Website Design

Optimize Your Images

While a giant photograph of some of your top-selling products or smiling clients might be eye-catching on a desktop site, oversized images can slow loading speed to a crawl — and seriously mess with the formatting — on a mobile device.

Instead, make sure the images you use on a mobile version of the website are as light as possible. Switch to JavaScript, choose one central image as opposed to a slideshow, and post lower resolution photos.

Don’t forget to crop and study up on the aspect ratio to seriously save on bandwidth and ensure images load quickly and completely.

Stop the Autoplay

We know that video marketing is on the rise, and it’s true that it can be an excellent addition to your overall digital marketing plan.

However, stop to consider if it really belongs on a mobile-friendly website.

Eliminate the autoplay features of a video, and instead allow mobile users to click on a link to be redirected to a video instead.

When it comes to choosing the right mobile video player for a mobile site? We suggest going with an HTML5 player, which is compatible with most mobile devices.

While we’re on the subject of automatic features — skip the pop-ups and automatic redirects to an app store or another site. Not only will it slow things down, but it’s also off-putting to consumers.

Consider Site Design

The final step in learning how to make your website mobile friendly.

Make sure that you’ve optimized your overall site design.

First off, make sure to include follow buttons to your social media profiles, and always ensure your contact information is visible.

When you look at your website, search for things that can be cut. This includes excess plugins, large images, slow-loading graphics, and especially giant walls of text.

Remember that the mobile screen is much smaller than a desktop, so aim to de-clutter your mobile website as much as you can.

Above all, if you include appointment request forms, question and answer forms, or contact forms on your mobile site, ensure they’re mobile friendly.

Need Help Moving to Mobile?

Now you’ve seen just why a mobile-optimized site is essential for boosting your online business, it’s time to revamp your website with this in mind.

If you’re not confident with web development and want to leave it to the experts, get in touch to chat about how we can help.

The post Why A Mobile-Friendly Website Will Boost Your SEO and Grow Your Business appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

In today’s digital landscape, nearly anyone can design and run a website, but not everyone succeeds at making their website truly effective. A website is much more than just pretty pictures and text—it requires strategic planning, well-crafted content, and seamless functionality to stand out from the competition, especially for industries like law firms where professionalism and clarity are paramount.

Ultimately, the success of a website hinges on how user-friendly it is. This guide will walk you through the key elements of a user-friendly website and how to win over your audience with a website homepage that excels in law firm website design and beyond.

What Should Be on the Home Page of a Website?

The homepage is often the first interaction users have with your website, making it the most crucial page to get right. Whether you’re focusing on law firm website design or another industry, your homepage should immediately communicate who you are, what you do, and how users can benefit from your services. Here are the essential components that every website homepage should include:

• Clear Value Proposition: Your homepage should clearly state what your business offers within seconds of landing on your page. This is especially important in law firm website design, where clarity and professionalism are key.

• Easy-to-Find Navigation: The main navigation menu should be intuitive and accessible, guiding users effortlessly to the information they seek. User-friendly website navigation is critical to keeping visitors engaged.

• Engaging Visuals: Use high-quality images and graphics that align with your brand’s message. Avoid clutter, but ensure the page is visually appealing.

• Call to Action (CTA): Encourage users to take the next step with prominent, strategically placed CTAs. This could be scheduling a consultation for a law firm or exploring services.

• Social Proof: Include testimonials, reviews, or client logos to build trust and credibility with new visitors. Social proof is an important element of a good website, particularly in industries that rely on reputation.

5 Important Elements of a User-Friendly Website

Many businesses, including law firms, make the mistake of prioritizing aesthetics or content over usability. However, user-friendly websites prioritize the user experience, making it easy for visitors to find what they need and take action. Below are the elements of a good website that are critical to user-friendly design.

1. Simple Website Navigation

A well-planned and easy-to-navigate website is crucial for user-friendliness. Clear, concise page titles and a logically organized menu bar are essential. Overcrowding the menu or burying important information can frustrate users and increase bounce rates. For law firm website design, it’s important to ensure that key information like practice areas, attorney profiles, and contact information are easy to find.

2. Aesthetic Appeal

While aesthetic appeal isn’t everything, it plays a significant role in user experience. A visually appealing website with professional, high-quality images and a clean layout can enhance usability. Consistent branding across your website strengthens your brand identity and makes your website more recognizable and trustworthy. This is particularly true in law firm website design, where a professional appearance can set the tone for client trust.

3. Responsive / Mobile Compatibility

With the majority of users accessing websites from mobile devices, mobile compatibility is non-negotiable. A responsive website adjusts seamlessly to different screen sizes, ensuring a smooth user experience regardless of the device. Test your site with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to ensure it meets mobile usability standards. Designing user-friendly web design that works well on mobile devices is crucial, especially for industries like law, where clients may be searching for legal services on the go.

4. Simple, Scannable Content

In today’s fast-paced world, users don’t have the time or patience for long blocks of text. Most users skim content, looking for key information. Make your content easy to scan by using clear, bold headings, subheadings, and bullet points. This approach helps users quickly find the information they need, improving the overall user experience. This is a critical aspect of creating a user-friendly website.

5. Quick Loading Time

A slow website can deter visitors and harm your search engine rankings. In fact, if your page takes longer than 6 seconds to load, you risk losing potential customers. Optimize your website’s speed by compressing images, minimizing the use of heavy scripts, and utilizing fast hosting solutions. A faster website not only enhances user experience but also boosts SEO performance. This is a key aspect of user-friendly website design.

Additional Resources for Creating a User-Friendly Website

Creating a user-friendly website involves understanding both your audience and the technical aspects of web design. Below are some additional resources that can help you refine your website:

• Google PageSpeed Insights: Analyze and optimize your website’s speed to ensure a user-friendly experience.

• Mobile-Friendly Test by Google: Ensure your website performs well on mobile devices.

• Yoast SEO: Improve your on-page SEO, making your site more accessible to search engines.

• Hotjar: Gain insights into user behavior on your website to make data-driven improvements.

Indicators of Website Success

Success in web design isn’t just about aesthetics or content; it’s about how well your site performs with its intended audience. Key indicators of a successful, user-friendly website include:

• Low Bounce Rate: Users engage with your content and explore multiple pages.

• High Conversion Rate: Visitors are taking the desired actions, whether it’s scheduling a consultation, filling out a contact form, or subscribing to a newsletter.

• Positive User Feedback: Consistent, positive feedback from users suggests that your website is meeting their needs.

• Search Engine Ranking: A user-friendly website often ranks higher on search engines due to better usability and optimized content.

The Importance of Social Proof

Incorporating social proof into your website design is a powerful way to build credibility. Whether through client testimonials, case studies, or user reviews, showing that others trust your services can significantly influence new visitors. This is especially important in law firm website design, where trust is a crucial factor in converting visitors into clients.

The Benefits of a User-Friendly Website

Investing in a user-friendly website offers numerous benefits:

• Improved User Experience: Easier navigation and faster load times create a more enjoyable experience for your visitors.

• Higher Search Engine Rankings: Search engines favor websites that provide a good user experience, which can boost your rankings.

• Increased Conversions: A well-designed website that’s easy to use encourages more visitors to convert into clients.

• Enhanced Brand Reputation: A professional, user-friendly website strengthens your brand’s reputation, making it more appealing to potential customers.

Looking For Professional Website Design?

If you’re in need of a user-friendly website that stands out in today’s competitive digital landscape, Exults is your go-to partner for internet success. Whether you need a website overhaul or a completely new design, our team has the expertise to take your project from concept to completion.

Ready to Elevate Your Online Presence?

Learn more about our mobile compatibility web design services and how we can help you create a user-friendly website that not only looks great but also drives results. Contact Exults today for a consultation.

The post Key Elements Every User-Friendly Website Should Have appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

You’re on a mission. You’ve even imagined your campaign’s gone viral. If only that could come true.

Having the right plan in place is going to help. So, let’s get organized. Follow our top four tips and you’ll be well on the way to giving your social media campaign strategy your best shot.

It’s time to get connected. Let’s get the show on the road.

1. Set Clear Objectives

You need a plan. That means giving yourself clear goals. These could be anything from direct sales to a boost in awareness of your product. You’ll also need a mechanism to measure the success of these goals.

Decide who your target market so you are sure to attract the audience you want. Think about the age, location, income, and type of work of your ideal client.

Give some thought about where you are right now in terms of social media. Where are you most active? Are all your networks up to date with great photos and copy? Who are your main competitors?

Have a short mission statement which focuses on what you want to achieve. It’ll help you decide on what to share and the type of content you’re going to create.

2. Understand the Rules

Make sure you are familiar with any guidelines for running a promotion on your chosen sites. Facebook, for example, has strict rules you must follow.

There are many apps that may give you assistance with running your campaign. Many are even free and can help you reach another level with competitions, coupons, and other offers.

Think about SEO. Every social media outlet has its own search engine. So, before you even begin your campaign, make sure you come up with keywords you want to rank for socially. You can then incorporate these into your posts.

3. Let the Fun Begin

You have your mission statement and you know who your audience is. Now is the fun part. You can begin to create engaging content for your social media channels. Think pictures, videos, blogs, and soundbites.

Make sure your content forms match your mission statement, and that you have the necessary skills to create them.  You may also need to create a landing page so that visitors know they’ve come to the right place.

Make a schedule on your calendar. Decide which days and at what times you are going to post content. Establish the type of message you’re going to send out and when.

4. Adapt Your Social Media Campaign Strategy

Engage with any social media influencers you have already approached. Their help could be vital. Be prepared to adapt your campaign if that’s what their advice is.

Make sure you use social media management tools available. Failure to do so is going to cost you a lot of man-hours.

Follow up regularly with all your new contacts.

Putting In the Work

A successful social media campaign strategy requires a lot of effort. No pain, no gain.

We are the experts. If you need help with your campaign, contact the team at Exults for a quote today.

The post 4 Tips for Creating an Effective Social Media Campaign appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

As huge year over year sales from Cyber Monday show, the online market continues to dominate the holiday shopping season.

While it hasn’t quite clearly taken over the brick-and-mortar shopping experience, that future doesn’t seem too far off. Online sales during the holiday season have seen an average rise of about ten percent annually over the last decade.

What’s causing this speedy trend towards the digitization of the holiday shopping season? Read on and we’ll walk you through everything you need to know.

Mobile Is Booming

According to Forrester’s extensive study published earlier this year, nearly a third of all American retail sales this year will be done via mobile devices. Mobile devices are even replacing laptop and desktop browsers as the main source of online shopping for many Americans.

Brands are jumping to cater more towards mobile users, dropping apps and E-Commerce friendly sites intended to cash in on this new trend.

The investment seems to be working too. In the holiday season thus far, mobile users are showing a greater increase in conversion rate than desktop users.

The Internet Has The Answers

Another big reason more Americans are turning to the web for holiday shopping? Research and answers.

A whopping 85% of surveyed people turn to Google for answers when it comes to researching products they’re considering buying for family or friends. 72% of individuals also turn to Amazon’s customer reviews.

Amazon and other big web retailers are taking full advantage of this opportunity, which incentivizes potential buyers to click the “add to cart” button every step of the way.

Black Friday is Now Every Day

The internet has also made more shrewd buyers out of most Americans. They are able to compare prices and find bargains easier than before. Holiday shopping is also easier and quicker online, dispelling the need for one day off from work to rush to the stores.

Most major retailers have responded to this change, issuing a number of deals across the holiday season as opposed to deploying everything on a single day.

Many major retail sales available on Black Friday were also available online and were available beyond the limited 24-hour window. More and more shoppers make plans to purchase their gifts online instead of having to deal with the rush of in-store bargain shopping.

The Future Of Holiday Shopping Is Mobile

The increased ease and access to mobile phones is changing the way most Americans go about their holiday shopping. It’s impossible to predict the changes this shift could cause in the future.

But for now, businesses need to be looking at the mobile world if they want to stay in the game during the season of giving.

How Your Business Can Capitalize on the Digital Holiday Shopping Trend

If you’re counting on the holiday season to give your business’ sales that extra push they need, you’re not alone. There are lots of companies that rely on the holiday season to provide a huge chunk of their revenue.

Holiday marketing is a great way to capitalize on the gift-giving season and track down those extra sales. If you change up your digital marketing strategy for the holiday season, you’ll have plenty of Christmas cheer by the end of the month!

Here are the best ways you can utilize digital tools to jump on the holiday shopping craze:

Use Social Media

The holidays are all about coming together as a community. Get in the holiday spirit by creating a social media strategy that’s equally festive.

It’s a good idea to write and schedule all of your social media posts before the season hits. That way, you won’t have to worry about it once you’re in the thick of things.

If you haven’t gotten that far yet, try creating a fun holiday message to share with your followers. Use the holiday hashtag for more visibility and make sure you include a link back to your website.

Spruce Up Your SEO

When was the last time you reviewed your website’s SEO strategy? If it’s been awhile, now is the perfect time to make sure it’s working for you like it’s supposed to.

If you have a holiday promotion happening, market it using your meta description. People will be able to discover your promotion from Google search results.

You should also look at which keywords you want to rank for. There may be seasonal keywords that you can incorporate into your content that will help more customers discover you.

Run a Holiday Sale

Who doesn’t love a good holiday sale? Everyone is looking for a good deal this time of year — make sure your business is offering one of them.

Holiday sales are a great way to get people onto your website. Make sure you connect it to the holiday in a way that makes sense for your brand. A cosmetics company, for example, might want to offer “30% Off Gifts For Her” to inspire people to look for gifts for the special woman in their lives.

Plus, once they’re drawn to your site, people spend more when items are on sale.

Plan Ahead

No matter which campaign ideas you choose, make sure you’re planning ahead for the holidays. The last thing you want to do is try to throw something together last minute.

Whether it’s putting together a content calendar ahead of time or creating a holiday-themed landing page, you’ll want to have as much as possible ready to go. The holiday sales season is stressful enough without trying to change your marketing strategy in the middle of it!

Start Your Holiday Marketing Now

The holidays are practically here, so get started on your holiday marketing today! Make sure you take advantage of the extra spending that takes place around the holidays.

If you’re not sure how to get started, don’t worry. Work with our engagement team to create a successful campaign that’s unique, fun, and perfect for the holidays.

Need help in breaking into the E-commerce world? Reach out to us anytime for a free quote.

Cheers and happy holidays!

The post How Holiday Shopping Has Become More Digital with eCommerce and Mobile Shopping appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Back in 2016, companies spent over $65 billion on SEO alone. That should give you an idea of how important search engine optimization is for an online business to prosper.

But what kind of SEO should you focus on? There’s on-page SEO and off-page SEO. Both are different in style and format, but they both work towards the same goal: driving traffic to your site to gain conversions and profits.

Regardless of whether you choose on-page SEO or off-page SEO, you need to look at the current trends. After all, you might need to improve your website speed to improve your SEO ratings. But what’s the difference between the two?

If you’re ready to learn more, read on.

What is Off-Page SEO?

This type of SEO’s focus is increasing your domain authority with the use of other website links. The biggest factor affecting this SEO type is the quantity and quality of backlinks to your website. In recent years, people now realize that it’s more important to focus on the latter instead.

What this means is that off-site SEO should make shareable content. This improves your chances of earning those valuable links and improving your entire campaign. After all, your competitors’ domain authority can dictate the number of good links you need to surpass them.

Don’t believe some of the things you heard–buying links is never beneficial. There was once a time where it was, but now Google penalizes this practice. After all, this type of rank manipulation technique doesn’t give any value to anyone searching using the keywords you use.

It’s important to avoid companies that offer link directories that only aim to increase their clients’ domain authority. Always remember that quality will always win out on the end.

What is On-Page SEO?

This type of SEO focuses on optimizing your website’s components. These factors affect your search engine rankings. With Google getting around 90% of the search engine market, most people optimize using this company’s algorithms in mind.

The biggest factors include fast-loading pages or general website speed. The search engine aims to help their users to find answers as fast as they can. Optimizing for load speed ensures that your customers get a good experience–resulting in higher search rankings.

Another thing you need to pay attention to is your content. Your pages should contain useful information for your potential audience. If they use specific search words, your page should give them what they’re looking for.

Your content should give value to your end users while making it easy to read. Google’s algorithm measures your pages’ usefulness and relevance. Invest and reap the benefits.

On-Page SEO or Off-Page SEO: What’s the Better Choice?

It’s not about choosing which is better among off-page SEO and on-page SEO.

It’s always great to use these two types together to ensure that your search engine rankings improve. But if you need to focus on something first, go for on-site SEO before your off-site SEO.

On-site SEO helps set the foundation to ensure that you gain more visibility. If you need more help with your SEO campaign, contact us today. We’re a full-service agency that specializes in SEO and other disciplines that will help make your website flourish.

The post On-Page SEO vs. Off-Page SEO: What You Need to Know appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Does your business currently have sponsored search ads as part of your advertising budget? If so, your ads might not be showing ad impressions as frequent as before. Your ads haven’t gone away or changed, but the algorithm might have.

Let’s take a look at why you need to update your ads, and how updating them could impact how often they are served to your audience.

Impact of Ad Impressions

AdWords expanded text ads were just released recently. If you’re not using them, you’re missing out. Google doesn’t plan on getting rid of the old, smaller ad format but you likely beat out your competition by upgrading to the new ad format.

Why does this matter to you? People who have already upgraded to the new ad format are receiving up to 15% more clicks on their ads. The average change advertisers are seeing is between 15-20% more. This puts them far ahead of the competition that is not using these new formats.

A/B Testing

The best thing to do if you’re thinking about migrating over is to A/B test the new ad format. It doesn’t work for every advertiser. If your ads are already clear and straight to the point, the new format might be detrimental.

If you choose to migrate over, using A/B testing of any new ads to compare analytics is the way to go. Keep your old ads running and start your new ads for a timeframe of 30 days or more. If they perform better than your current ads, pause your old ones and move to the new format!

The New Ad Format

Expanded text ads have text limits that are double standard text ads. They display on all devices, from desktop to mobile. They are formatted on mobile to display a long description with a large headline. One of the main differences is that they are optimized for mobile display as search results show mobile view is increasing.

Reasons You Need to Switch Over

1. Almost 70% of Google AdWords accounts have at least one expanded text ad. With increased text space in ads, you’re able to stand out from your competition and say more about your brand.
2. Expanded text ads are difficult to write, but once you’ve found your language, they put you a step above your competition. Many people are backing out of using them because of their difficulty.
3. Click-through rates are increasing by 28% with expanded text ads. This increase happened over a 30-day period.
4. Expanded text ads aren’t limited to just Google. Bing ads also released them, meaning the click-through rate increased on more than one platform.
5. There’s 30% of advertisers in all industries that haven’t adopted the new ad format yet. This gives you leverage over those who aren’t using expanded text ads.

Switch Today

If you’re looking for an increase in ad impressions, switching over to the new ad format will provide a great return. Click-through rates are growing, and you’ll have a special advantage in advertising over those who have yet to adopt the new ads.

If you’re interested in more industry trends and news, check out this post today!

The post 5 Reasons You Need to Update Your Sponsored Search Ads appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.