On top of website copy, blog posts, and everything in between, small business owners trying to maintain an online presence face an uphill battle with such a crowded marketplace. Technology changes so quickly that keeping your name at the top of the search engine queue feels like a full-time job. And, it can be (we would know). 

One factor that many entrepreneurs miss is the power of online reviews to benefit search engine optimization (SEO). You may not be surprised to know that 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. And, of those consumers, 88% treat online reviews like personal recommendations.

If you’re having trouble understanding the role Google reviews play in your business, follow along for how they can help (or hurt) businesses like yours.

Ready to team up with an experienced digital marketing agency? Contact Exults to get a quote.

10 Ways Real Google Reviews Help Add Value To Your Business

Google reviews affect your presence on Google’s search engine, which makes sense. But not everyone understands why. 

For search engines like Google, customer reviews have less to do with what your customers are saying, focusing instead on how they’re saying it. Entrepreneurs typically care tremendously about Google reviews because they want to know what their target audience thinks in real time. This means addressing anything from inconvenient parking to poor customer service. 

Ironing out the details of your business using reviews is important. But depending on what your customers experience, their ideas can also translate into data you can use to improve your SEO in the following 10 ways…

1. Less Time Spent Marketing

Time is huge for entrepreneurs. Whether you feel as though you don’t have enough of it or have ideas about maximizing it, time is a fickle friend for business owners. Regarding your bottom line, saving as much time as possible is a priority. 

However, simply saving time is easier said than done. This is where many business owners feel stuck when it comes to their SEO strategies. In fact, according to Forbes, SEO teams say their biggest challenges are a lack of resources and strategy issues. 

One way to push past strategy challenges is by making your Google reviews a part of your digital marketing strategy to support your SEO team’s efforts. This gives your SEO team access to a ton of content they can track and filter through to boost your online presence. 

2. Money-Saving Hack

Before you decide to invest your entire marketing budget into paid advertisements, think about using Google reviews to attract your audience. 

In case you haven’t seen this suggestion so far, you don’t (and shouldn’t) use your time as a business owner to write your own Google reviews. But when a legitimate customer takes their time to write a positive review of your business, you should use it for your…

• Website’s testimonials
• Social media content
• Blogs
• Landing page copy
• Advertising

Their honest insight translates into free creative content you can use to market your business. Using Google reviews throughout your digital marketing saves you the typical time and costs needed to otherwise create unique content for your business. This brings us to the next big benefit of using Google reviews to help SEO…

3. Creates Fresh User-Generated Content (UGC)

In addition to time and money-saving perks, Google reviews serve a particular purpose for a user’s entire experience online.

Google’s algorithm weighs connected and linked content, focusing on content’s…

• Uniqueness
• Device friendliness
• Social sharing capabilities

When a customer or client writes a genuine review of your business, that’s a piece of fresh, new content for your site. The author’s voice is likely more genuine than anything you could draft yourself. Especially when changes are constantly being made to Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP), you can never have too much original and unique information. 

For example, ever since Google enabled its continuous scroll results, zero-click searches have increased. This sounds like a disappointment but offers an opportunity to explore digital marketing strategies you haven’t tried before. Who knows? You may be surprised by how effective a refreshed digital marketing strategy can be.

4. Effective Local SEO Tools

Unsure about the power of organic engagement? In 2022, organic clicks accounted for 45.1% of all search result clicks. This is huge news for businesses as they can use their Google reviews to increase their visibility in local search results. 

The best way to use reviews is by using those with trending search terms and keywords. These are the reviews that will attract consumers to your business by optimizing terms like “near me” to bring in local, organic traffic. But that’s not all you can do to improve your search rankings…

5. Increases Online Search Engine Ranking

Did you know that over 90% of searches online happen on Google? The #1 search engine in the world knows this as well. Google uses customer reviews shared on social media platforms, takes notes, and accounts for the information given in its search ranking algorithms. 

The more links and websites associated with your website and brand, the more valuable Google deems your website. If Google sees that you are rated favorably and have relevant content to what people are searching for, your website ranks higher. Having a high rank in search results improves your brand’s overall visibility.

Organic results that initially appear on a search results page have an average click-through rate of 27.6%. But to achieve this, you must add Google review monitoring to your digital marketing strategy. Most people won’t scroll for too long before either adjusting their search or starting a new one when they can’t find what they’re looking for quickly. 

Partner with Exults and start implementing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy for your business.

6. Builds Business Credibility

Consumers prefer to buy a product or service from a business they feel as though they can trust. Keep this in mind when thinking about the words your consumers might use when Googling your business. When they search for your products or services, what do they see?

The reviews your customers leave should describe a business that presents itself as a professional and informed authority figure. The more (especially positive) reviews, the more credible and trustworthy your business appears online.

7. Boosts Long-Tail Keyword Traffic

According to Hubspot, Google has about 8.5 billion searches per day worldwide. This increases your chance to be seen as your audience most likely uses the same or similar words to describe your business. You can take advantage of this by refining your long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords usually have 3 or more words and are much more detailed than general search terms. 

Examples include phrases like…

Men’s extra large flamingo shirt with short sleeves

Best gluten-free sugar cookie recipe for kids

Antique gold silverware set for wedding gift

Honing in on your long-tail keywords won’t assist too much with improving organic traffic. But it will attract more of the traffic you’d like to target moving forward. Read Learn the Difference Between Long Tail and Short Tail Keywords. 

8. Answers Questions Without Lifting A Finger

Googling is an everyday activity for many. Just like taking a shower and brushing your teeth, an increasing number of people now use Google as an “answer” engine rather than simply browsing. 

The average internet user inputs about 3 to 4 searches per day on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. As part of its process, Google crawls through billions of sites daily to retrieve the answers to your questions in a matter of moments. Doing so allows it to bring answers directly to users with rich snippets at the top of SERPs.

Remember, Google does this type of work all the time, so it’s up to you and your marketing team to ensure your business FAQs are answered and easy to find on your website. You should also have a section for FAQs anywhere else that might be appropriate like on separate landing pages, blogs, social media accounts, etc. You can avoid repeating yourself multiple times a day AND still offer the answers your customer base is searching for. It’s a win-win!

9. Increased Social Hype

Impressive reviews can trend, ignite a viral conversation, or simply boost the sales conversation you’re having by offering real customer feedback. Share that awesome feedback on your social media channels and watch what happens. Showcasing client testimonials proves they love your offer and subsequently trust in your brand, which Google tracks and values in SERPs. Adding unique content in the form of genuine reviews increases your social reach and has the potential to boost lead conversion rates.

Advertising via customer reviews is nothing new. While it was once in-person, word-of-mouth interaction, now your clients can share their views with the whole world rather than just the neighbor next door. Most likely, online reviews of your business are going to happen. 

Why not take advantage of them to raise your online profile within the Google search engine? Contact Exults today, and we’ll show you how.

10. Enhanced Relevance Online

Google rewards businesses with more reviews (especially good ones). This is largely because they favor bringing “relevant” content to their users. It might sound complicated, but it’s a way for Google to help filter through results that use questionable SEO methods. 

Keyword stuffing and publishing duplicate content are 2 outdated digital marketing strategies that produce questionable results. Keyword stuffing is plugging in as many keywords as possible into any online content to boost its ranking. Publishing duplicate content is also done to achieve the same results. 

However, a major problem linked to these strategies includes promoted search results that have nothing to do with the search term or topic at all. This type of content is not only irrelevant but also negatively impacts Google’s user experience. This is why Google makes frequent updates to its operations to discourage the use of these SEO strategies. Engaging in these poor digital marketing practices allows Google to remove your website from its search engine results entirely, leaving you buried under your competitors.

How do I use Google reviews to improve my business’s SEO? Explore digital marketing solutions with Exults today.

General Best SEO Practices For Businesses

Tap into the following digital marketing tips for your business:

Use popular keywords. About 95% of keywords have a volume of 10 or less searches per month. Even with the help of an online keyword planner, they aren’t always accurate and can offer skewed results. It’s best to team up with an experienced digital marketing expert like Exults to find the right formula for your business.

Regularly dedicate time to SEO. Many online searches are brand new and equate to ample opportunity for your digital marketing strategies. You can target new searches by researching and updating SEO yourself or by hiring a digital marketing agency like Exults to dedicate time to your SEO strategies. 

Know what to track. Pay attention to your organic traffic, search volume, keyword rankings, click-through rates, bounce rates, engagement time, and conversion rates when reviewing SEO data.

Ask questions. Start by asking questions to find relevant keywords or phrases your potential and current customers are searching for. Simply asking a question can spark plenty of ideas for other questions, hot content topics, and beyond.

Use backlinks. Also known as an inbound link, you should add links to other relevant companies and resources in the content you create and publish to your website. These links act as a tool to build your business’s credibility and improve your search engine ranking.

Don’t leave meta descriptions blank. Meta descriptions exist for a reason so avoid leaving them blank. It only takes a few extra minutes to fill out and provides a summary of what users can expect before they click.

Google Review FAQs

Continue scrolling for answers to the most commonly asked SEO questions.

Should I Respond To Negative Reviews On Google?

Yes. You should respond to every review you get on Google, whether positive reviews or negative. Not only will this help with your SEO ranking, but it will also help your brand’s image to potential customers.

How Many Google Reviews Do I Need To Increase My Rating?

Generally, having at least 20 reviews on your Google Business Profile (previously Google My Business) is enough to get you a good and reliable rating and help your SEO strategy.

Does Google Remove Reviews?

Though it is not common, Google will sometimes remove reviews under the appropriate circumstances.

How Often Should I Update My Website For SEO Purposes?

Not spending enough time thinking about your business’s Google reviews? Think again and get to transforming your SEO strategy. Unfortunately, high search engine rankings don’t happen overnight. With patience and hard work, you can slowly but surely watch your pages jump up in rankings.

Have questions? We thought you might. Support your digital marketing strategies with a team of digital marketing experts. Contact Exults today to get started.

The post Do Google Reviews Help SEO? Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

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.

Memes have taken over the internet, but their awesome power isn’t exclusive to just getting a good laugh. Many entrepreneurs have found success by using memes to reach their audience and leave a lasting impression. Here’s how to use and not use memes for online marketing.

Go With What Fits Your Brand, Not Always Just With What’s Trending

Using or adapting the newest meme so that it’s relevant to your business might seem like a good idea, but this must be done with care. If done right, it is extremely powerful, but if it’s irrelevant to your brand then you may just be posting a meme about a donut when you are trying to sell skin products… You want to avoid coming across as insincere and just trying to ride the coattails of the trendiest images on the internet. On the contrary, if the meme can be used or applied in a way that relates to your brand or puts a funny spin on something, then using a trending meme can actually bring more visibility to your page if you hashtag it.

For example, the trending ‘Tide Pod’ memes where people were posting photos and videos of them eating Tide Pods (It’s unbeknownst to us WHY, but it happened so we are just going with it…). A dessert company or restaurant trying to highlight their dessert menu, may jump on the bandwagon and say “Why eat tidepods when you can eat the ‘XYZ’ cheesecake from ‘Yada Yada Bakery’?”

This puts your product (mouthwatering cheesecake) in the front of the consumers mind while ‘making a funny’ and showing your customers your brand has personality and is personable! It’s becoming more and more prevalent that consumers are more willing to spend money with a brand they can relate to – USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!

Memes Are Dessert, Not the Main Course

A meme is no substitute for quality, original content. They should only be used to enhance your content or clarify a point you’re trying to make. They’re a great way to get attention, but make sure you’re providing substance beyond a quick laugh. Otherwise, your content will just get ignored along with the thousands of other people using memes every day.

Know That Memes Appeal to an Internet Subculture

Will your current audience like memes? Or will using them make readers feel isolated or that you’re just trying to be trendy? If you want to use memes, decide whether it’s to appeal to current users or attract a new audience. Also think carefully about how this will affect current or new users or take your brand in a different direction.

Used with care, memes are a powerful tool to keep in your marketing arsenal. If you want to tap into their potential while maintaining authenticity and staying true to your brand, reach out to digital marketing professionals. Specialists can go over your business goals with you and help you decide whether memes are an untapped marketing resource for your enterprise.

Memes and Big Businesses: Do They Mix?

When corporations try to piggyback off of viral social media movements, the outcomes are usually unoriginal and/or overly promotional. The latter is the worst offense because it showcases a brand’s lack of understanding about social media.

For the most part, users don’t log onto social media to see brand posts. They log on to see what their friends are up to, and if they happen to see a brand’s post, it better be damn interesting. There’s a reason why social media marketing is nicknamed “interruption marketing”– you are interrupting a person’s news feed to talk about your product.

Rule of thumb: Keep your organic posts light, fun, and interesting. Make your key promotional posts into social media ads. 

I mention all this because, social media is an art form. It takes a clever and creative person / team (hint, hint, nudge, nudge) to make brand posts interesting — to make them SO interesting that a consumer will willingly share your company’s post on their own profile (your mom, friends, and employees don’t count).

All this leads me to the inspiration for this post…

Memes

These occasionally funny images with sans serif text overlays have been around for a while, and brands have tried to incorporate them into their social media strategy since the beginning. Most brands either overuse memes, share other people’s memes, can’t come up with anything funny, or all of the above.

Here’s an example a brand failing with a meme. Student loan company got killed on Twitter after tweeting (and eventually deleting) this tweet.

Looks like @FAFSA deleted its tweet. Screenshot: pic.twitter.com/ucFOTbLAvq

— Jacob Fischler (@ItsFischy) June 25, 2014

When used sparingly and intelligently, memes can be a good way to connect with their audience. Typically, if the meme is a winner, you’ll get increased engagement and viral reach.

Zoom-in memes

The latest meme craze is the zoom-in memes. These memes are like pinch-and-zoom scavenger hunts. You get directed to zoom in on a certain part of the image (ex: bottom right corner), only to get re-directed to another part of the photo (ex: upper right corner), only to be re-directed to another part of the image, and then redirected to another part of the image (ex: the subject’s ear) that contains a final message.

Here’s an example of a good zoom-in meme by Denny’s (works best if you’re on mobile)…

zoom in on the syrup pic.twitter.com/omRBupjrXq

— Denny’s (@DennysDiner) March 1, 2017

This simple tweet with this zoom-in meme became a viral hit. Why? They opted to come up with an entertaining message rather than a “Come eat at Dennys”-type message.

Our attempt at a zoom-in meme

I’ve now spent 300+ words bashing brands for coming up with unoriginal memes. The pressure is on. Here’s what I came up with:

ZOOM IN ON TOP LEFT

Kop (the office dog) approves this message

Need social media marketing help?

If you’re looking to boost your business’ social media presence and/or brand awareness, you should probably have a conversation with one of our experts. Reach out at (866) 999-4736 or head to our contact page.

The post How To (And How Not To) Use Memes For Online Marketing appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

5 Benefits of Content Marketing Your Business Can’t Ignore

1. Content Helps People and Google Find You

What are the chances that you’ll find your site at the top of the results page when you look it up on Google?

One of the reasons why a site comes up at the top of the results page is because of content marketing. Search engines like Google look for quality content. The more you put up content that’s related to your product, the higher your chances of being one of the results that Google shows to your customer.

For example, you write a blog on the beautiful beaches in the Caribbean and use long-tailed keywords your customers would look for.  Now, your travel and tours business is a step closer to being the top result.

2. Communication with Your Audience

Other than customer reviews and inquiries, blog posts are a great way to connect with your customers.

Creating blogs can be a little tiresome if you’re not the type of person to sit down and write. Although, it is great content marketing for small business owners.

Your blog posts don’t always have to revolve around your products, but they must be in some way connected. Your initial goal here is to get attention. In time, that attention will gravitate to your products and services.

Your blog posts can be about the make and mold of your unique products, or how your customers can use your products in other unusual but effective ways. Your ultimate goal here is to humanize your brand and approachability.

3. Better Brand Awareness

If you want higher brand awareness, create as much content as you can.

In any case, the more you put blog posts, pictures, videos, and such out there, the more people are aware of your brand. Use social media to your advantage. Create relevant and informative posts on Facebook or Twitter.

4. Makes Your Brand Trustworthy

Content like the ones we’re about to share with you will help you build authority and credibility.

Infographics are great tells of a dependable site. Short articles, checklists, and graphs are more creative examples as well.

If you are a person who enjoys writing, you may want to try long-form writing. If you are the type who likes to talk about things but would rather not show your face, start a podcast.  If you are a people person, host a live interview or circulate a poll.

5. Economic Benefits of Content Marketing

Good marketing strategies provide more sales. Thus, great content marketing strategies give you more profit and decreased marketing costs.

With as many as 1.92 billion digital buyers expected in 2019, you’ll want to invest in a few content marketing strategies soon.

The wonderful thing about content marketing is that it is inexpensive and available to anyone. With enough effort, you can do everything without paying a penny. Write your own blogs, record your own podcasts, or shoot your product photos.

How Resharing Your Content Impacts SEO

SEO strategists agree that search engine web crawlers often prefer fresh, changing content. However, your search rankings will also remain strong if your content is frequently reshared. In addition, reshared evergreen content will be viewed over and over, unlike content that will only be relevant for a short time. It’s often both easier and more effective to choose this type of content.

Media Evolution

Remember MySpace? If you’re in your 20s, the answer will probably be no. New channels of media are constantly in development, creating audiences that are both younger and older than the previous ones. Folks all over the world are being connected to the internet for the first time. There will always be new people to see your content, and if it’s evergreen and withstands the test of time, it will resound with new viewers year after year.

Social Evolution

As we all know, history repeats itself. Evergreen content is crafted to endure the changing whims of trends and society. Once one fad fizzles out and the next one replaces it, your content will still be valid and applicable. It’s vital to create greater social engagement and always have something valid to say. Resharing content can help you achieve your goals.

Networking Evolution

Just as the world is constantly changing, so are the companies and individuals with whom you connect. Sites all over the internet will link back to your content, and the web of places that funnel traffic to that site is always expanding. When visitors finally end up reading your content, it should still be applicable. The internet is a circle, not a line, so resharing does — and always will — be a factor. Your content should be ready for it.

How to Ensure Your Content is Long Enough for Google

Quality content is key for ranking well in Google search results, but length also plays a factor. Years ago, the ideal word count for a blog article was between 500 and 700 words. These days, that number has grown to 2,500 because readers want well-researched, in-depth content.

Produce Higher Quality Content

Studies have anticipated this trend of long-form content for quite some time because length tends to characterize higher-quality content. Producing better content means researching, vetting data sources, and considering analytics. A 2,500-word post takes hours, even days to research, draft, format, and edit, but it communicates ideas more effectively than a tighter word limit. Whether you’re writing the content yourself or enlisting the help of a digital marketing agency, don’t be afraid of making a bigger investment.

Aim for 1,000 Words in General Posts

Writing 2,500-word posts for every publication seems daunting, but the good news is you can reserve that number for high-competition posts. In general, your regular content strategy should involve 1,000-word weekly blog posts and even the occasional 300- to 700-word post when the subject matter doesn’t require longer content.

Throw in the heavy-hitting, 2,250- to 2,500-word articles whenever you can, but make sure they’re easily scannable with subheadings and images to break up the text.

Spend More Time Promoting

The ideal blog post in 2017 takes longer to write, which means marketers and bloggers are posting them less frequently. When you create longer, more in-depth pieces, you can spend extra time promoting them instead of churning out frequent mini posts. You should still post at least once a week, but don’t sweat it if you can’t produce more content than that.

Is Anyone Even Reading Your Content?

Creating interesting content is crucial to your website’s success, but even posting the most informative articles doesn’t ensure your pieces will attract an audience. That’s because there’s an overwhelming amount of content on the web, and yours needs to stand out. If your page analytics aren’t matching your expectations, here are some things to consider.

Start With the Important Stuff

Studies have shown that readers are more likely to be engaged if you start your content with the important stuff first. As such, you may want to include facts or definitions about the article’s subject right off the bat, and then follow up with specific details.

Write Content People Want to Read

Maintaining a conversational tone throughout your content allows people to connect on a more personal level. People love to read stories, so consider how you can create captivating content the average reader will want to explore in full. Even as a business, sharing stories can boost your conversion rates and build better business-client relationships.

Craft Creative Subheadings

It’s essential to break up your text in a way that makes it easier on the eyes. The best way of doing this is to use subheadings. Creative subheadings attract attention and inform the reader what sort of information lies ahead. They also make the content easier to scan, which encourages readers to move on to the next section.

Include Images

Failing to use images in your content doesn’t encourage your audience to keep reading. Rather than bombard readers with an overwhelming amount of text, break up the content with suitable images. You can start with a primary article image and use carefully chosen images throughout the post, especially if your post is long. Images can also work similarly to subheadings because they create a visual break in the text that make the content easier to scan.

4 Article Writing Tips to Use When Writing Long-form Content

Gaining organic traffic sets you higher than your competitors, costs less than sponsored search, and can gain your brand more credibility over time.

One of the best strategies to gain organic traffic is posting great long-form content on your website. But, it can’t only be good quality content. It has to follow the SEO fundamentals to gain organic traffic.

We’re going to tell you 4 article writing tips you should follow to write great long-form content to grow your organic traffic. Ready to learn more?

Putting out great content on a website is a feat for any company. You want to sell your products and services without sounding like an advertisement. Your company website is a great opportunity to provide value to your customer in a personable way.

How can your business achieve this? One of the best ways is by sharing great relevant content. Yet, you must ensure it follows SEO best practice.

After all, you want your content to help your current customers in addition to bringing new customers through your door. Here are 4 long-form website content writing tips to grow your organic traffic:

Write Content for Your Target Audience

All your website content must be relevant to your customer. Sometimes businesses miss the mark in their content because they want to cater to a larger audience. Your content can be diverse but, it must be about your industry.

Great relevant content should aim to appeal to the audience’s interests and answer their questions – Not all your posts should be about selling your products. You should tell the audience about your expertise and why they should choose your company over your competitors.

Write Comprehensive Long-Form Content

Your long-form content should be comprehensive and lengthy. It can’t just be a quick overview with a hundred words – You should choose some important points about a topic and discuss them in detail, which will provide value to your customer that they can’t find anywhere else.

Use SEO Headlines and Subheadings

Many content writers underestimate the power of headlines and subheadings. Your headlines and headings have to be powerful. The best way to do this is by optimizing them for SEO.

Your content headlines and subheadings should include rich keywords. They should be able to catch the readers attention but include words that will help Google read the “skeleton” of your content. Each heading and subheading Google reads as a “chapter name” and will help Google categorize and read your content easier. In turn, your website will rank higher and your have more long-term standings in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Include Your Focus Keyword and Keyword Phrases in the Body of Your Content

We can’t deny that organic traffic depends a lot on your ranking. To rank well on search engines, you must use your focus keyword and keyword phrases in the body of your content. When Google spiders your website, it’ll look for relevant content that matches what the user searched.

Although, you should be careful not to overdo it. In the past, it was best practice to jam pack as many keywords into your website’s content as you could with no requirements of readability and sensibility. Times have changed and Google has become smarter. Now, although keywords are important, Google algorithms look for readability and natural.

Additionally, keyword research can help you assess what keywords will rank better in your industry.

Can High-Quality Long-Form Content Grow Your Organic Traffic?

Yes, high-quality long-form content can grow your organic traffic. Remember that good content is part of the equation.

What’s Missing From Your Content Marketing Strategy?

No matter your industry, your content marketing can’t achieve its objectives without a well-developed strategy. Find out what your content marketing strategy is missing and discover how to get it back on track.

A Voice — or Two

When you’re developing a content marketing strategy, one of the first things you’ll need to settle on is a voice. One isn’t usually enough, though, which is why most brands develop buyer personas. Take the time to chart your typical customers, their problems, their needs, and the type of voice that speaks to them. Then design each blog post around one of these buyer personas to ensure you’re speaking to the right type of customer at the right time.

Eye-Catching Visuals

Even if you think your existing customers won’t mind reading blocks of text without images, you’ll struggle to attract a larger pool of interested buyers without eye-catching visuals. While still images can go a long way, consider taking your visual strategy to the next level, too. Consider incorporating great infographics and high-quality video content into your strategy to reach a wider audience. Experts say brands that use video marketing grow their year-over-year revenue 49% faster than brands that don’t.

Lead Generation

No matter how much fun it is to read your content, it won’t help you achieve your goals if it doesn’t prioritize lead generation. Whether you’re encouraging readers to sign up for a list, download a free product, or consider a purchase, your content needs to generate leads with the appropriate calls-to-action. From there, it’s up to you to help guide your customers through your sales funnel and toward purchases they’ll love.

Accurate Metrics

You’ll never know how effective your content marketing strategy is without the appropriate metrics. Before you launch your next campaign, be sure you know what to measure, how to monitor, and when to respond for optimal effect. If you don’t understand how to accurately measure the success of your campaigns or the best marketing strategy, Exults can guide you in this process.

Not sure how to incorporate these components into your content marketing strategy? Contact Exults for all your digital marketing needs.

The post 9 Essential Content Marketing Tips For A Winning Content Strategy appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Simply put, programmatic direct advertising works like this: if you’re an advertiser (a buyer), you need ads. You buy them from a publisher (the seller) who creates the kind of content your consumers would find attractive. The system worked well in the early days of the Internet, but then there was more demand than supply, and more publishers than advertisers. To ramp up and meet publishers’ needs, ad networks formed and increased the number of available ad placements and formats.

After ad networks formed and began selling premium ads in batches, real-time bidding started. RTBs can be effective because they target a specific audience, such as only Gen Z students who are enrolled in college or moms with at least two children under the age of five. A publisher can set a predetermined price and bid on ads being auctioned off.

Programmatic advertising has become an integral part of the advertising landscape. After all, what publisher wants to pay for ads that aren’t relevant to consumers? The challenge with programmatic is that with so many sources, it has become difficult to assign value to the ads-until now.

Google Ad Manager changes the game

Google Ad Manager will offer a unified first price auction. The auction is intended to level the playing field for buyers and advertisers. Google Ads will not share bids or reset prices until an auction is won. At that time, the buyers pay the price bid for the ads. Ad Manager’s goal is to make the impression process simpler while offering more value.

According to Google Ad Manager, you can count on:

• First price auctions in simplified programmatics. Simplicity rules in selling and purchasing ads.
• Custom creatives. You still have creative control over your ads. In fact, management tools and formats can be customized more than ever.
• Native style suggestions. No advertiser wants ad copy that looks out of place. Google will recommend styles that complement websites. This feature is now live.
• What the change means

The first auction simplification of the digital advertising market will have deep ramifications for buy-side players who have relied on second auction pricing bids and sales. The good news is Google’s newest position in programmatic landscape means that ads will have an assigned value and cannot be overvalued or lowballed.

As a result, many sellers will have to put pencils to paper as they recalculate their pricing structures and strategies for selling digital ads in a fluid market. It will take a while for the dust to settle as players learn the new rules for engagement. Google Ad Manager will continue to send out updates, and the transition will be completed by the end of the year.

Until then, digital marketing agencies will be helping buyers and sellers regain a position of advantage on the playing field.

The post Google’s Ad Manager Moves to First-Price Auction appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Instagram launched in 2010 and now boasts over 1 billion monthly users. They know what they’re doing when it comes to attracting and keeping an audience. Constant improvement and new updated features are partly responsible for that growth.

Keep reading to find out more about the Instagram update, “recommended posts.” We’ll also talk about what Instagram can do for your business brand and why you should include it in your marketing plan.

Instagram: Recommended Posts Update

Have you heard about the recommended posts update? After Instagram tested the feature on select accounts, they secretly released it on a full-scale basis. Here’s what has changed.

In the past, recommended posts were separate from the user feed. They were still there, but only accessible from a dedicated tab. This option let the user choose whether to view them.

With the new Instagram update, recommended posts now show up right in the user feed. They come after unseen posts from people you follow. This new feature increases the likelihood that the recommended posts are getting exposure.

The “Recommended for You” section suggests three to five posts which the accounts you follow have liked. Beside each post is a follow button, making it easy to get new followers if they want your content. The only choice users have at getting rid of the recommendations is to hide them temporarily.

Recommended Posts and Social Media Marketing

While some individuals on Instagram are complaining about the new update, chalk it up as an advantage for business social media marketing. It offers more significant exposure to content.

It also provides a potential increase in followers since the follow button is right there. Users don’t have to click through to your profile to follow you.

These types of updates contribute to Instagram becoming a more valuable platform for marketing purposes. In fact, Instagram also recently introduced the ability to follow hashtags as well. Both are effective features for business use.

Why Use Instagram in Your Marketing?

With the enormous active global user base and business-friendly features, it’s vital that you don’t skip this social media platform in your marketing plan. Besides having a large number of diverse users, Instagrammers spend lots of time in the app too. 60% visit daily and 35% visit many times per day.

Without using hardcore selling techniques, Instagram allows businesses to:

• Showcase Products
• Humanize Their Brand
• Recruit Talent
• Gain Exposure
• Inspire Users

Did you know that 70% of the platform’s users have already used Instagram to look up a brand? And that 70% of the most popular hashtags are brand names? Another interesting Instagram fact, brand engagement is ten times higher than on Facebook.

Instagram is great at turning passive lookers into buyers; you just need followers and quality content.

What’s the Bottom Line?

With updates such as the recommended posts feature, Instagram is becoming a must-have platform for business. If your company isn’t currently using Instagram in its marketing, why not?

Need help formulating and executing an e-marketing strategy for Instagram? Contact us; we’d love to help.

The post The Latest Social Media Marketing Tool: Instagram’s ‘Recommended Posts’ appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Don’t let how it sounds scare you; An API simply means an Application Programming Interface. So, a Google Map API is an already programmed app software that allows you to display maps on your website, and that’s all there is to it. Let’s take a brief look at the four primary functions a Google API does;

1. It causes maps to crop up for the user.
2. It provides data about a latitudinal or a longitudinal location.
3. It allows us demand maps from Google.
4. It permits us to request an address from Google.

Google launched its Google Map to our delight thirteen years ago. Ever since then, Google has undergone various transformations and also changed multiple policies. They recently announced an update to their Google Map API, calling it the Google Map Platform- their next generation Google map business. It encompasses API products and new solutions to boost innovation.

So what does the Google Map API update change?

In May this year, Google updated their Google maps API platform where they streamlined eighteen individual APIs into three core products; Maps, Places, and Routes. Google also announced a new pricing scheme for firms making use of the Google Maps APIs to convey customized maps, places and routes exposure for their users. These announcements ended confusing the public the more, so here’s a rundown through the most significant changes and what they connote for prolific users of Google Maps Platform.

1. The new pay as you go model: Google maps API platform will move to a pay as you go arrangement from June 2018. Google gave developers an extra month lead. So while the product’s updates began on the 11th of June 2018, the new pricing took effect from 16th July 2018.

2. First $200 worth of API calls are free: Google’s new pricing policy for their map platform is “freemium” in all shades as every user is entitled to make $200 worth of API calls for no charge each month. In more precise terms, this implies that;

Users can get up to 28,000 worth of free loads of Dynamic maps.

• Users can get up to 40,000 free directions calls.
• Users can get up to 40,000 free Geolocation calls.
• Users can get up to 100,000 free loads of static maps.

3. All projects will need to have an official API key linked to a Credit or Billing card: The scary part for many developers will be the credit card policy. Their cards will be billed if users exceed the number of free API requests.
This change may make many software application developers to seek other alternatives to the Google Map Platform. Users can, however, find solace in the fact that the new map platform offers simplified pricing, scalable solutions, and streamlined products.

If you have any questions regarding web design or digital marketing strategies for your business, call Exults today at 866-999-4736!

The post All you need to know about the updated Google Map API appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

It’s currently an opt-in service but the search engine titan is going to be making it a requirement for all pages on October 30th, 2018.

If your advertising knowledge isn’t expert than you’re probably wondering what this means for your business.

Read on and we’ll show you what you need to understand this change.

What is Parallel Tracking?

Currently, Google Ads tracking relies on a redirected URL.

The process goes like this: the user clicks on the link from Google. From there the user passes briefly to a Google Ads tracking URL and they end up on the final landing page.

For most users, this results in a delay that can be measured in literally the blink of an eye. The problem is that on slower networks, particularly 4G networks without a strong signal there can be a delay of several seconds.

Parallel tracking allows your customer to go straight through to the landing page. The tracking will run in the background.

Since mobile networks are slower than broadband WiFi it should result in a much quicker loading time for the end user while maintaining the Google Ads tracking you’re used to.

More of your customers are using mobile devices than ever before and loading time can have a big effect on your conversion rate.

End Results for Google Ads Customers

Currently, parallel tracking is an opt-in service. You’ll need to activate it in order to use it.

That will change as of October 30th of this year. If you’re using a third-party tracker make sure you contact them and ask if they’ll be upgrading. Google estimates the infrastructure change required could take up to several months.

The biggest impact for those using Google Ads to advertise their landing pages is this: studies have shown that a one-second delay on a mobile site can cause a loss of interest in the site.

No interest, no conversion.

Parallel tracking speeds up Google. Remember that most of your customers may not be super online savvy. Instead, most of them rely on split-second decisions to make purchases and that extra few seconds can result in them hitting back and trying something else.

We’d recommend opting in as soon as possible. While the end effect is still a bit uncertain, case studies have shown a clear relationship.

Faster pages sell more.

Staying on Track

If you’re not a PPC guru then this all might sound like a little bit much to take in.

It boils down to this: Google is actively working to make your Google Ads campaigns convert better by offering parallel tracking.

Google Ads forms the backbone of most PPC campaigns. Improving an essential marketing service will only make things even better for their customers.

If you’re looking for more information on how PPC advertising can help to make your landing pages bring in more customers then it’s time to contact us.

The post Google Adwords Parallel Tracking: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

If you haven’t done a website upgrade in a few years, it could mean that your website could use a refreshment to better represent your product or service.

Your website needs to be user-friendly, content-driven and relevant to draw in potential customers. If it’s none of these things, then the big question is:

Are You in Need of a Website Upgrade?

There are many ways to determine if your website is doing more harm than good.

So ask yourself the following questions:

Is It Mobile-Friendly?

With so many people working remotely, the days of accessing the internet exclusively from a PC or desktop are dwindling.

So your customers – and potential customers – need to be able to switch between devices with different screen sizes. That means your website must be able to adapt to these various screen sizes. If you fail to comply to converting to a mobile responsive site, it could mean that users will lose interest. Today’s generation loses interest within seconds – often because there are a million other options and why waste your time on an ancient site that you can’t read anything on?

Is It Easy to Navigate?

Your website has about four seconds to make an impression.

So if your navigation is a confusing maze that’s hard to follow, users are not going to stick around.

Your website should do the following:

• Sum up your core services
• Make information simple to find
• Clarify where the viewer is on the site and where to go next
• Provide a clear call-to-action (CTA)on the service or product page
• Be mobile-friendly

Even if your site is not severely disorganized, your viewer should never get lost or have trouble finding info.

Does It Have a Blog?

If not, get one.

Blogging is the best way for you to connect with your readers and customers on a personal level.

You can use it to share tips, advice, articles or whatever else interests your readers. And it puts you in a position of authority.

Another plus?

Since Google favors sites with fresh content, having a blog is an amazing way to boost your SEO.

Can You Control Necessary Changes?

Back in the old days – i.e. a few years ago – some designers made a habit of coding in languages that made changes virtually impossible. After all, making those changes was a part of their bread and butter.

But times have changed.

You should be able to get into the backend of your website to make any needed changes. Without that internal control of your website, you’re losing out on a lot of opportunities to sell.

Is it SSL Certified?

SSL certificates are no longer an option or added bonus – they are a must if you want your website to be up to par with best practice. Not sure what it does? SSL Certificates

• Protect your website’s sensitive information
• Increase Google rankings
• Enhances customer trust
• Keeps data secure between servers
• Improves conversion rates

Is Your Website a Relic?

If you answered any of the above five questions with a “no,” then a website upgrade is definitely in order.

But don’t worry. You don’t have to go at it alone.

Feel free to contact us to find out how our custom website designers can help you make the most of your website. And start getting that traffic you deserve.

The post 5 Reasons Why You Need a Website Upgrade appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Make Your Sites Look Great on Mobile Devices

AMPs are designed specifically to make pages load as fast as possible and appear as nicely as possible on mobile devices. Users on smartphones and tablets have the best performances when interacting with these pages.

Improve User Engagement

Compared to other pages, AMPs offer far faster load times. They take about half as long to pull up on mobile devices, meaning users are free to engage with your company much faster. This is vital in a mobile-driven world where users are often pulling out their phones to find the information they need in an instant. When users land on a page and it loads quickly, they won’t leave in search of a solution from someone else.

Rank Better

Pages that use AMP protocol can be placed above other search engine results. This gives these pages a boost in visibility since users tend not to scroll very far down through search engine results. Also, since ranking is improved, AMPs often experience far greater mobile traffic compared to other unoptimized pages.

Stay Competitive

Note that many companies are already using AMPs. Failing to follow trends like this can mean that an opposing enterprise is providing potential customers a better service than you are.

In a mobile world where seconds are the difference between users landing on your page or a competitor’s, you must do all you can to get your website to rank well and perform flawlessly. Work with Exults to implement AMPs and other web design best practices to drive traffic to your pages.

The post Why You Should Be Using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.