How To Use Keywords Effectively

Keywords in a blog do not just show the reader that you have an impressive vocabulary, it is the reason the reader is, most likely, reading your blog in the first place. When you are thinking of writing a blog or designing a new landing page for your company, make sure you implement the right keywords. Some companies have taken this concept to a whole new level. For example, YouTube and Twitter have created ways to find different topics and videos by searching keywords. When a video blogger creates a new video they will tag all of the categories that are in the video so that you, the viewer, can find the video with ease. The same keyword search goes for Twitter but on a more conversational level; Twitter uses the #hashtag to categorize each time you tweet a certain topic. While on your homepage you can #hashtag search any trending topic to see what is being said about it.

When creating new content for the world to see, do not assume that the keyword of the blog has to be one, BIG, bold, word to catch the reader’s eye. The best keywords are phrases that can be placed within a paragraph that would come across on different search engines more often. Think about it; have you ever searched Google by only using one word? No, most likely the search bar is filled with a question or an adjective to describe the rest of the search (i.e. new, big, or crazy).

The Gameplan: While preparing to write your blog, think about how your competitors will be using their own keywords to benefit them. It may take some research of your own, but you can start using similar phrases or keywords that your competition uses to increase your visibility with their potential customers.

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How to use Calls-To-Action and Landing Pages

A lot of websites use different types of tactics to attract customers. Some ways are obvious such as ads or offering special discounts, but others are much more subtle. One of the ways to intrigue customers without shoving it in their face is a Call-to-Action button. Though the name might not be familiar, it’s something you see on many pages. The Calls-to-Action, or CTA’s for short, are buttons on a site that link the visitor to another webpage called a landing page. The landing page is the final page you want your customer to see before they commit to some part of your company.

For example, let’s say you are trying to get a potential customer to subscribe to your email list. Here are the proper steps to take to add an effective CTA:

1) Create a page that has content to interest the visitor to continue reading on and subscribe to your email list.

2) Have a CTA on the page that is a clickable link to the email sign up landing page.

3) Make the CTA appealing, but not too distracting. When in doubt use a shade of green, it gives the feeling to go.

4) Test! Test! Test! Make sure you test the CTA so that it links to your final landing page.

The Gameplan: When it comes down to making a game-time decision; the attractiveness of the Calls-to-Action are important, but what you say is vital as well. Make sure you stay away from using phrases like: Click here, Check it out, or Submit. These CTA’s can come across as boring or pushy. Instead, use phrases like: Learn More, Sign Up Today, Look Inside, or Continue Reading.

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Let Your Company Be Human: Why Blogging is Important For Your Company’s Personality.

There are a million businesses out in the world that offer the same services or sell the same product and they are all looking for people to buy and use their product /service. With that said, people like doing business with companies they enjoy working with. That goes down to the people in the company’s personalities, morals, and values. So how do you show your company’s characteristics and people within the company personalities publicly?

Well, one answer is Blogging. Blogging is one of the greatest tools you can use to broadcast your company’s values and morals and have a chance to let the company’s employees show some personality.

So who should blog for your company? The answer is everyone and anyone in the company. This can be the new intern you just hired all the way up to the CEO (which I highly recommended). It all comes down to letting your company have voice and personality, which will lead into building trust with the new people that come along to your company’s website.

There are a lot more important reasons why your company should blog and I will explain that to you later on, but the moral of this blog is don’t be afraid to show personality in your company, and a great tool to do that with is blogging.

Think more about this when you are asking yourself why blogging is important?

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FOMO is Attributed to Social Media Addiction

Consumers in America are so addicted to their social media networks that they would rather get a root canal than surrender their social network profiles.  Their main reason? FOMO: fear of missing out.

Social media marketing is growing in importance for small businesses. Seventy-three percent of small businesses are using social media to get their messages out because it enables instant connections with clients, customers and potential employees

How strong is that compulsion?  Nearly 40 percent of the respondents agreed they would rather do any of the following than give up their social networking profiles:

  • Wait in line at the DMV
  • Read “War and Peace”
  • Do their taxes
  • Give up an hour of sleep each night for a year
  • Run a marathon
  • Sit in traffic for four hours while listening to polka music
  • Get a root canal
  • Spend a night in jail
  • Clean the drains in the showers at the local gym
  • Give up their air conditioner/heater

Shocked?  Millennial social media users (between 18 and 34 years old) have an even worse case of FOMO. More than half of them – 54 percent – would undertake one of these onerous activities rather than give up their social media profiles.

Go ahead, read between the lines.  That means your customers are constantly using social media to interact with each other.  If you are not using social media to interact with your customers, you are missing out.

“Consumers are bombarded with so much information online—from status updates and photos to tweets and check-ins—that our anxiety around ‘missing out’ has shifted to our digital lives,” said Jeff Tinsley, CEO of MyLife. “The fact that many people would rather run a marathon or spend a night in jail than give up their Facebook or Twitter account is proof positive.”

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Why Inbound Marketing? Smart Marketing

In my last post I talked about the difference between inbound marketing and outbound marketing. In this post I am going to tell you why I am a big believer of inbound marketing. To recap on what inbound marketing is: inbound marketing is an internal way to make you and/ or your company be found while earning the attention of prospects on the Internet. The cool thing is you can do this will little or no money at all (sorry for the sales pitch) and it can save you the money on newspaper ads and billboards. Inbound marketing is smart marketing.
Now, the point of using inbound marketing is to get yourself/your business recognized on the Internet and you can do this with a variety of different tools. Tools like, blogging, uploading YouTube videos, creating eBooks that relate to your business, Twitter and Facebook. It is smart marketing. I say it is smart marketing because it gives you a chance to gain trust with your potential clients. It gives a chance for people like Bob the Custom Cake Maker to show he is not some baker just after your money and going scam you in some way. No, he is Bob the Custom Cake Maker that has a passion for making fun and exciting cakes for your unique enjoyment and he won your trust by putting YouTube videos on some of his secrets on making his fun and delicious cakes.
It gives you a chance to show some personality and to show the kind of character you have, and again it gains the clients trust.
That is why I am pro inbound marketing and you should be too. Give yourself a chance to standout from rest of the pack.
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The Insider Scoop on Inbound Marketing

In 2011, Google had over 2 billion searches per day, making it the biggest powerhouse for search engines in the world. With numbers as glaring as that, marketers needed to find out how to harness the search engine giant. As the saying goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them”, innovative marketers began to see a trend in Google’s analytics; that activity on websites generated the biggest amount of top related search results.

The best way that you can gain Google’s recognition for your company is to create a daily blog, podcast, or webinars. While it is debated that this does not produce as much short-term, tangible results as traditional marketing (cold calls, advertising, trade shows, radio, spam, and direct paper mail) and is more of a long-term approach, a busy blog or podcast can have ample amounts of feedback and reblogs.

According to IMU, Inbound Marketing University, a training program provided by Hubspot.com to educate about inbound marketing, the best way to blog and promote your company is to indirectly talk about it. For example, Best Western uses an outsourced blogger who blogs about traveling.  Attached to the blog are links, packages deals, and different travel sites that promote Best Western as well as the entire travel industry.

Another way to build your credibility through Inbound Marketing is to utilize forums about your industry. Instead of posting ads in the comment boxes, answer questions or give advice to others. Even if the customer is asking about a different company or product, you can still give them helpful advice for the best way to solve the problem. Remember, building trust is the first step in any relationship.

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Inbound Marketing Compared to Outbound Marketing

Since the Internet boom and the creation of social media the word marketing has grown some new branches in the last past decade. One of these new growths is call Inbound Marketing. So, what is inbound marketing? Inbound Marketing is an internal way to make you and/ or your company be found and earning the attention of prospects on the World Wide Web. Compare to the traditional outbound marketing like billboards and newspaper advertisements, inbound marketing is a chance for you to be in control and way for to spend little to no money at all to get your company recognize.

Lets say you own a pool service company in Phoenix Arizona. One thing about Phoenix is that it is home to a lot of nice weather through out the year and very hot summers, so that means there is a lot of potential clients with pools that need to be service. With that said, there are a lot of people with the same business as you out there trying to find clients.  So, inbound marketing is a way for you to stand out from the other pool guys/gals to gain trust in your potential clients. You can do this by creating blogs, videos, and eBooks on your website and use social media like Facebook and Twitter to broadcast your services and your companies values.

Now, how is all this website publicizing going to help your business get more recognized? All of those blogs, YouTube videos and Twitter tweets will help gain attention to your website and it will improve your “SEO” which stands for Search Engine Optimization. So, the more traffic and hits you get on your website the higher your SEO goes, which means when someone goes on Google and types in “Pool Services” the pool guy/gal with the most activity on their website will be on the top of the search list.

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