Archive for the ‘Web Marketing’ Category

5 Things You Should Be Doing To Grow Your Business Online

Posted by Christopher Long

The Web is an arena where all businesses are competing for attention. It is a place where you are either winning or losing, and if you are not playing, you are definitely losing. With the millennials now representing a significant portion of the workforce and everyone becoming tech savvy, gone are the days of setting up a website and sha’bam, in comes the clients. If all you do is build it, they will not come.

Worry not though, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 things you should be doing online to grow your business and beat the competition.

Tip#1 – Set-Up Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, and Bing Webmaster Tools

Being set-up with Google Analytics (GA), Google Webmaster Tools (GWMT), and Bing Webmaster Tools (BWMT) is hugely important. If setting up a website is the first thing you do for your business, this should be the immediate second.

Google & Bing have created a platform for you to communicate with them about your website through their webmaster tools. The benefit is it will help keep you aware of any issues Bing or Google detect about your website (404 errors, inaccessible content, etc.) and using their tools will help you rank and be found on their search engines. As we all know, being at the top of Google can be worth big bucks so it is important to get started right away.

All you need to get started is a Gmail account to access GWMT, and GA, and a outlook email address to access Bing.

Tip#2 – Email Market to Your Clients Regularly

Think about this: every client you have knows at least 5 people that would also be excellent potential clients. So, why are you not email marketing to them? You could potentially quintuple your business just by leveraging your existing client base!

Now, DO NOT use your regular old Gmail account to blast a list of 100+ people. That is a huge no-no in email marketing best practices. Moreover, it could get you kicked from your email service provider (ESP) if they even allow the email to go out in the first place. What you should be using is an email marketing platform (EMP). We recommend Mailchimp. They offer a free account with lists under 2K total email addresses, it is easy to use, and integrates well with WordPress sites. Also, if you upgrade to a paid account you can do nifty things like set up drip campaigns or auto-responders that will email a happy birthday to your clients on their birthday, thank them for their business after you complete their project, or offer promotions on holidays.

mailchimp-logo

Tip#3 – Set-Up Google Places for Business

If you have a brick-and-mortar covering a service area, or if you have clients visit your location, being on Google Places for Business is essential. It is how you get on Google’s Map and get on their local 3-pack for local searches.

Google Place for Business Local Listing

It is pretty simple to set up and will have a huge impact on your business. Just search “google places for business” or you can click on this link. From there, you can search for your business. If you find it, you can claim the listing and begin editing and enriching your profile. If you do not find your business then you can set up a brand new profile.

google-business-icon

Once your profile is set up, Google will mail a postcard with a 4-6 digit PIN. They do this to ensure that you actually have a business location and are able to receive mail there. After you have received your post card, go back to your Google Business page and enter the PIN to verify your account. Once that is completed, you are off to the races and will be more easily found for local searches! Be sure to build out your profile, add copy, images, and work with your clients to get reviews on your page to make the most of your Google Business listing!

verification-postcard-google-my-business-listings

Tip#4 – Blog, and Blog Some More

Google wants your site to be more like a newspaper and less like a book. It should not be a static site that you set-up and never touch again. It should be a dynamic source of insights identifying you as an authority in your trade or business. This is best accomplished through regular blogging.

Give your site visitors professional inside tips about your industry, let them know about major milestones in your business (new hires, new offices, new equipment), offer case studies of the great results you achieve for your clients…the list of blogging topics are endless.

When you do this, Google & Bing will gobble up all of that content and will grow to love your site that much more for all the information you have created. Be sure to let Google & Bing know about your new content pages through their webmaster tools (GWMT & BWMT). The final results will be a better experience for your site visitors and better rankings and visibility on search engines.

We recommend at least 1 blog post a month but you should really be shooting for 1 per week.

Tip#5 – Leverage Backlinks

Backlinks are the secret sauce of a successful SEO campaign. Bing & Google pay huge attention to them and they act as a nitro boost to your rankings. So, leverage the hell out of any opportunities you have for getting a legitimate backlink. But, DO NOT, under any circumstances, get spam crap links from free link directories or anything of that ilk. Google & Bing will notice spammy backlinks to your site and will punish your site or even remove it from their index if they detect a bunch of spam links to your site. Instead, work with companies that you have a relationship with that might list you on a preferred vendor page or on a blog article.

We hope that you found the above information interesting, insightful, and highly actionable. If any of this is over your head and you think that you might need a pro to get it done, shoot us an email at team@capiscomarketing.com and we will be happy to help!

Marketing Tip Monday: The Difference Between Image Alt and Title Tag – SEO

Posted by Christopher Long

There are a lot of SEO mark-ups out there and any that you are missing out on can potentially give the competition an edge over your site’s rankings. Today we are going to cover the importance and difference between an image alt and title tag and how they relate to SEO.

Let’s start off with the image alt tag.

alt text blog post image

Image Alt Tags

The image alt tag is a useful tool to give information about an image in case it doesn’t load properly, is blocked from loading, or in case it is on a page being visited by someone with visual disabilities. It should always describe the image. Since Google places importance for SEO on the image alt tag it is important to try to also include keyword information if applicable. Remember, keyword stuffing is keyword stuffing, even on image alt tags so don’t force keywords in there unless they serve a purpose.

Let’s take the image below for example:
SEO manager Christopher Long
That good looking fella happens to be me. A good image alt tag might be “Capisco staff pic of Christopher Long.” Now, since we are an SEO company, I might try to include some of that information to make the alt tag a bit more SEO friendly and go with: SEO manager Christopher Long. Not too shabby. Ok, so we have alt tags covered, lets move onto image title tags.

Image Title Tags

Text for an image title tags often will pop-up on a mouse hover-over. For that reason your title tag should aim to identify an image and give more information or context about it. Since it is not as important of an SEO mark-up, I wouldn’t place as much emphasis on trying to fit in keywords.

Lets take the above picture again as an example. Here I would identify the image and try to add more context to it. For example: Capisco staff pic of Christopher Long taken August 2015.

The Main Takeaways

The main takeaways are this:

(1) Alt tags are important for SEO
(2) Alt tags should focus on describing the image and should include keywords if possible and natural
(3) Do not keyword stuff your alt tags
(4) Image title tags are not as important for SEO.
(5) Title tags should identify the image and provide context or more information about the image that the page visitor might be interested in.
We hope that you found this information to be useful. If you have any questions, you can email them to team@capiscomarketing.com and we will be happy to assist. Thanks for reading!

Web Marketing Trends 2014

Posted by Christopher Long

If you’re looking forward to the changes that will bring the new year, you will also want to know where they are going the new trends and stays on the road in Online Marketing . Here we list the trends in 2014 Web Marketing we consider most important.

Let’s start with that disappears in Web Design:

Sliders – These banners that some time ago were very fashionable, will not be current anymore. New trend will be a single page you can see the content of the Web as you progress down.

Forms with tons of fields – Thank God ! anyone likes it when they make you fill out these forms with so many fields , good news they will disappear !

Logos within circles – Using a circle on your logo is old news , it may resurface at some point but for now bye bye!

Introductions with Flash – I can not believe they still exist but whats there is in danger of extinction!

Use many different fonts – Everyone knows that the font you use is important, the trend is not to use more than two fonts on a Web.

Difficult design – If you thought having many icons and fonts on your Web made it more interactive you were wrong . The next Web design is simple and leaves after complications . We do not want to confuse our visitors just want to show them that our website has a clean design and information they need.

Speaking of information … this means CONTENT ! Content is still king !

Content – Create Web content is valuable for brands today. You have to offer your customers quality content and give them answers.

Social marketing – Social networks become an essential part of the marketing strategy of small and large businesses . Within social networks Google + is making its way , if you have no profile on Google + should start the year making it a profile on this social network that will give much to talk about.

The SEO very attached to Social Networks – The more people share a piece of content , the more likely quality , so increase its position within the search results pages . It is no coincidence that the search results high ranking tend to have a lot of social actions , while the lower positions are less . Besides being used as a social stamp of approval for your visitors , if you read a blog that has plenty of tips or has been tweeted many times it is likely that there is some value in it.

AuthorRank and Google Authorship – AuthorRank becomes a stronger part of the search algorithm of keywords for quality content involved. AuthorRank allows any content creator connect your published articles and other content to your Google+ profile , which also appear in the list of results of search engines . The photo of the writer ‘s name and Google+ profile are present in the search results to help give greater credibility to the piece of content , highlighting its author and how you can continue to follow his work in the future .

Spending on paid advertising in social networks and increase google – Social paid advertising content puts your business directly in front of a target audience so it is more likely that those who see your ad are interested in .

Mobile marketing is booming – Responsive Design was trend for 2013 and continues! Since there are many small and large companies that are not yet updated and still do not have their Web adapted to mobile and tablets ! Do not be left behind! Need a web design that can be seen on all types of devices.

Mobile applications – Applications developed for mobile devices continue to expand its boundaries. Companies are increasingly creating their own applications.

Video – We said before that sliders will no longer be cool, well what is coming is Video . A small video on your website or on social networks like Instagram or Vine is what you will see in 2014.

These are the trends Capisco Marketing thinks will be stronger in 2014 do you think we ‘ve forgotten any?

Improve Your Web Positioning by Improving Your Web Content

Posted by Christopher Long

By improving the quality of your website’s content, you will also improve your website’s positioning.  Google desires active websites, regularly updated with fresh, unique and engaging content.  The larger  your website is, the more updates necessary.

Here are 10 tips to assist you in keeping your website up to date with fresh and relevant content:

Relate to your audience –  Align the content of your website to the tastes and preferences of your customers.   Use content and design that draws in viewers whose interests correspond with what your business has to offer.  Make sure that your message is clear  and attractive.  Appeal to them in a variety of ways,  intellectually through great copy,  visually through striking imagery,  creatively through clever effects or new technology.

FAQs – Create a section on your webpage  for Frequently Asked Questions.  Customers will appreciate this assistance and Google will value the quality of your answers.

Share your knowledge – Create guides, articles, infographics, and other tools that will help the user to better understand your message.

Pictures and videos – Use them!  Adding graphics to a website is an easy way to hold the attention of your audience.   Images and videos are a helpful way to convey your message in a more entertaining way.

Clear expectations – Make it obvious to your audience what they should expect when investing in your product or services.  They should not have to wonder and should never be confused!  Your advertisements should have a straightforward message, showcasing all of the benefits your business has to offer.

Tip lists – List quick and useful information that easily conveys your message.  Share your knowledge and get it out on the Web to increase exposure.

Headline recent news –  Highlight current events developing within the company.  Frequent updates will encourage traffic to your website and keep things interesting for potential customers.

Reflect seasonal changes –  Your webpage should be current with the time of year, this helps make information more relatable.

Advertise your milestones and accomplishments –  Broadcast the successes of your business!  Nothing boosts a potential client’s confidence in you more than stories of your acheivements.

Interaction – In addition to sharing your product and abilities with your audience, give the viewer the opportunity to communicate with you.  Make the information exchange a two-way street.  Create a conversation.  Allow the consumer to ask questions, comment, and connect with you online.

We hope you have enjoyed these tips and can take advantage of the information we have provided. If you need assistance with your website or with online marketing, give us a call and let’s chat.  Always be sure to return for updates.

Google+ Beginners Guide

Posted by Christopher Long

This young social network was born in 2011 and has over come the number of Twitter users. Has over 360 million users, but most of them do not take advantage of this channel to 100%.

This is why below we will give you the necessary guidelines to get out the most of it:

1. Create an account: Just with this you can use all the products of this great social network. Keeping a simple name people can easily find and remember you.

2. Add users to your circle: As in other social networks add people that you know is the basic of creating connections and interest.

3. Make friends: In this network besides adding people you know you canal some inteteresting people looking for them by category or popularity. There are different ways to decide whether to add a stranger or not, as for example, if the user has profile picture or not (if not indicated that is a new user who does not use the account or which may be a spammer), TheNumber of people added to their circles, not necessarily a lot of followers means that he is a good user to follow, becaus eif he does not use the account there is nothing that interest you, but a good sign would be that the user comments and share. If you use Google Chrome you can also know just by mousing over the name of the user how many publications and shares he did.

4. Buttons: These buttons allow you to navigate the social network:

a) Home: Here you will find the updates of people you follow.

b) Profile: You will see your posts and comments.

c) Interesting Topics: The most popular items.

d) Events: You can invite users to events as parties, meetings, conferences.

e) Photos: You will find photo collections that have been published, coming from you and from the other users.

f) Circles: Your circles and those who interact with you.

g) Local: Recommendations for local restaurants, stores, etc.. That are close to you besides scores and opinions.

h) Games: find different games that you can share with your circles.

i) Hangouts: video conference sessions with up to 9 people simultaneously and with the ability to share live on your You tube channel. It also lets youa dd tabs that take you to pages created by you. A must if you use this social network for your company.

5. Browse: You can explore other ways to find users, like keywords that identify your interests, and also Google+ can suggest people to you with similar tastes so you can add them to your circles to follow their publications.

6. Profile photo: This is a very important point because it is the first impression that users will have from you, and the cover photo is large so you can add a photo of high quality and great detail.

We hope this helps you !