Strategy - Digital Engage

Category: Strategy

Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic is among the primary drivers of new developments in digital marketing, mainly because of the sudden increase in online traffic volumes and the notable shift in buying behavior.

Search engine optimization and content marketing are still the cornerstones of digital marketing, but the focus is now on humanization, personal interaction, and experiential marketing.

In 2021, digital marketing strategies are reaching new levels of sophistication, allowing for large-scale but personalized lead engagement on platforms consumers use every day. Learn more about these trends below.

Chatbots

Chatbots are artificial virtual assistants that interact with customers, providing 24/7 support and a pleasant customer experience. These automated messaging bots analyze customers’ queries and respond in real-time with relevant and helpful data.

By saving customers’ time and providing personalized support, chatbots are ideal for lead qualification and nurturing. Chatbots also promote customer engagement, satisfaction, and retention.

Personalized Marketing

Since 2006, most businesses have implemented marketing automation to achieve large-scale outreach while saving time and money. Even though this strategy worked well for the better part of a decade, consumers no longer respond well to generic emails and ads.

In 2021, personalization is the trend to implement across various strategies, including:

Market outreach
Content marketing
Customer experience
The creation and delivery of products and services

Examples of personalized marketing include Netflix’s title recommendations and BBC’s gamified email to promote BBC One.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is the collaboration between a brand and an online influencer. This content marketing strategy aims to build trust and loyalty with the influencer’s audience and improve brand recognition.

An influencer is someone with their own brand identity and organic audience. Influencers can affect the purchasing behavior of their audience by leveraging their leadership skills, special knowledge, authority, or relationship they have with their followers.

Voice Search

Voice search is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to traditional web searching. With voice search, consumers can get information without picking up their devices, and they can get an immediate response without having to wait for web pages to load.

In 2021, ranking for voice searches is the ideal strategy to generate traffic, build trust, and demonstrate commitment to a superior customer experience.

The COVID-19 pandemic is among the primary drivers of new developments in digital marketing, mainly because of the sudden increase in online traffic volumes and the notable shift in buying behavior. Search engine optimization and content marketing are still the cornerstones of digital marketing, but the focus is now on humanization, personal interaction, and experiential marketing. Digital marketing strategies are reaching new levels of sophistication, allowing for large-scale but personalized lead engagement on platforms consumers use every day. It also affects the online reputation of the business. Learn more about these trends below.

Web Push Notifications

Web push notifications are marketing messages that pop up on consumer’s desktop screens. This type of messaging already replaced email newsletters as the preferred means of outreach to a target audience.

Easy opt-in is the most significant advantage of browser push notifications. To sign up for push notifications, users only have to click “Allow” on the opt-in message that appears automatically on the website. With web push notifications, you no longer have to ask for email addresses in exchange for a lead magnet.

Content Marketing

Content marketing remains one of the most effective strategies to generate interest in products and services. This tactic involves creating and posting content such as blog articles, videos, podcasts, and infographics.

Content marketing aims not to promote your brand explicitly but to establish your business as an authority within its niche. Providing your audience with valuable information also builds trust and loyalty.

Shoppable Social Media Posts

Both ecommerce and social media are rapidly becoming mainstream among consumers from all walks of life. By creating social media posts, you capitalize on consumers’ interaction with videos and images while eliminating the steps they have to take to buy from you.

Shoppable media posts have been around since 2018 when Instagram introduced the concept. Since then, other platforms, including Facebook, have allowed shoppable tag posts. This year, shoppable social media posts will likely become more popular among consumers as platforms refine this feature’s robustness.

Personalized Marketing

Since 2006, most businesses have implemented marketing automation to achieve large-scale outreach while saving time and money. Even though this segmentation strategy worked well for the reputation of the business and for the better part of a decade, consumers no longer respond well to generic emails and ads.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Google’s first page remains the primary source of traffic to websites, and optimizing your site for search engines is among the most crucial digital marketing strategies. In 2021, the objective with SEO is to rank in “position zero,” which is Google’s featured snippet and top result.

As always, providing an optimal user experience with high-value, relevant content is integral to SEO success. Traditional SEO strategies, such as maintaining a user-friendly website, keyword research, optimization for mobile, and the focus on topic clusters remain critical to implement.

Building a portfolio of backlinks to demonstrate your site’s authority is also a highly effective SEO tactic and a viable marketing objective for 2021.

Contact Digital Engage

Digital Engage is a digital marketing and web design company based in Tennessee. Our professional team has expertise in services like website design and development Drupal Development Services, Joomla Services, Hubspot, Prestashop and others. You should choose us because we provide professional consultation, value our clients, have a track record of success, and are always available to provide you with the most professional services. Call us today to learn more about our services.

digitaluser May 17, 2021 0 Comments

StrategyBusiness

Important Questions to Ask a Digital Marketing Agency Before Hiring Them

As a marketer, you know the importance of digital marketing. But if you’re like most marketers, you don’t have all the time in the world to manage projects and execute your strategy.

Designing a successful marketing strategy nowadays is not just about creative design but also about knowing and understanding digital technology. It’s vital to hire an agency that specializes in both creativity and technical know-how.

One of the most critical steps in evaluating a digital marketing agency is understanding how they approach your business and what their creative process looks like.

Partnering with a Marketing Agency

You may be struggling to take your business to the next level despite your efforts to start a blog (and updating it regularly), maintain a consistent social presence, and offer excellent customer service.

If your goal is growth and sustainability, it’s time for you to evaluate digital marketing agencies that could provide your organization with expertise in website development, SEO/SEM optimization, content creation, email marketing, and customer relationship management.

Questions to Ask When Evaluating a Digital Marketing Agency

1. What is Your Process for Evaluating a New Client’s Needs and Goals?

Sure, you want to see results, and that’s probably the first question you may ask. But you need to dig a little deeper and ask questions about the process of evaluating your needs and goals.

They’ll probably give you generic answers and avoid offering any specific examples of how they evaluate new clients and their needs. If this is the case, then you might want to look elsewhere.

SEO and reputation management are vital elements of successful digital marketing. They enhance brand visibility and reach. Segmentation ensures targeted marketing strategies, while various types of digital marketing, including social media, reputation management, SEO, and influencer marketing, offer approaches to improving ∫` and achieving branding goals.

2. How Do You Measure Success? What Metrics Should I Be Looking at to See Whether My Campaign Works?

You should be able to measure ROI and achieve your marketing goals. The best way to go about this is through analytics. The digital marketing agency should have key performance indicators (KPIs) in place to measure your success at achieving goals with different tactics.

This will leave a lasting impact through your marketing efforts. Here are some KPIs that should be covered by a marketing agency:

Subscriber rate
Traffic distribution
Leads generated
Average pages per session

3. What Are the Track Records for Businesses Like Mine?

Any reputable digital marketing agency will want to show you that they understand everything from analytics and social media to SEO and email campaigns. Don’t be afraid to ask them whether they’ve worked on any projects that are similar to yours.

If your company mainly revolves around content marketing, for example, make sure that the agency has proven experience generating content that brings results for likeminded clients.

A general rule of thumb is to search for agencies that specialize in a specific industry and see whether they have experience with companies like yours.

You want to make sure the agency has a strong understanding of your business and can execute strategies that are made for you. Another thing you’ll want to consider is an agency that will deliver results in a way that clicks with your audience.

4. What’s the Pricing?

Price is a huge factor to consider when choosing an agency. Different agencies have different tiers of pricing to accommodate different budgets and needs.

One price may be better suited for small businesses while another might work better with enterprise clients, so do your research to find what will best fit your company’s goals and finances.

Also, find out whether there will be any additional costs associated with their services (i.e., monthly retainer fees) or hidden fees (i.e., hourly rates) that you will be required to pay.

5. What Are the Agency’s Credentials?

Accreditation and certificates are a must-have for any agency. Carry due diligence for any company you’re considering working with because this will be your business’s reputation on the line.

Make sure that the agency you choose has been established and in business long enough to stay afloat and is accredited with major industry bodies.

6. How they can help you?

There are different they can help as Logo creation is an essential element that can make or break your business, as it plays an important role in establishing brand identity and reputation. A well-designed logo visually represents your brand and communicates its values. It’s one of the key branding reasons influencing how your target audience and potential customers will perceive your business. It makes it an important element in building a solid and recognizable brand online presence.

Online reputation management emerged as an important aspect of business needs, impacting lead generation and customer trust. Following marketing trends became imperative to stay relevant and competitive in the ever-evolving digital age.

SEO and reputation management are vital elements of successful digital marketing. They enhance brand visibility and trustworthiness. Segmentation ensures targeted marketing strategies, while diverse types of digital marketing, including social media, content, and influencer marketing, offer diverse approaches to improve reputation and achieve branding goals.

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digitaluser May 11, 2021 0 Comments

StrategyBusiness

Online Reputation Management – What Is It and Why Does Your Business Need It?

Did you know that 74% of customers trust a business more if it has favorable online reviews? This stat shows just how important online reputation management is to your business. In this thriving digital age online business reputation is highly significant . This is also recommended by the latest digital marketing trends. But online reputation management should not be confused with public relations. With online reputation management, businesses employ specific strategies to ask for, improve, and respond to customer reviews on popular review sites like Google My Business, Yelp, Trustpilot, and more.
Here, we explore what online reputation management is and how it can help your business.

What Is Online Reputation Management?

Online reputation management is the practice of building and maintaining the public’s or your target segment of audience’s perception of you, brand logo for visibility of your small business. It involves creating and maintaining good standing online and managing any negative opinions to limit damage to the importance of online business reputation.This helps in protecting your brand identity and generation of more leads for your online business. To ensure that your business has a good standing, and is getting the attention of potential clients, you must use online reputation management strategies like:

To ensure that your business has a good standing, you must use SEO for online reputation management strategies like:

Asking for and publishing customer reviews
Being verified and active on social media and review sites
Engaging with your audience and the public by responding to and thanking customers for their positive (and negative) comments
Promoting positive reviews through multiple channels, e.g., banners, social media sharing, and paid ads
Adding a review schema markup to your site

Why Is Online Reputation Management Essential for Businesses?

Digital marketing trends tell us that no matter how small your business is , if its reputation is good online , it will get more customers. One bad review from an angry or dissatisfied customer is enough to influence what others think about your brand, hindering your future revenues and profits. Right branding Right branding also plays a pivotal role in making or breaking the business and enhancing its online reputation. That’s why maintaining a good reputation and standing online is imperative.
An excellent online reputation management strategy:

1. Builds Trust with New and Existing Customers

Online reviews on social media and review sites attract your target audience and have given customers a platform to “tell all” about their experience with a business or brand.
Reviews now have associated star ratings on Google searches. Sites like Trustpilot and Yelp also have star ratings, which can make a difference in how people perceive your business.

Who can forget the case of Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, AZ? Because of the owners’ outrageous behavior toward their customers and the subsequent negative reviews on Yelp, the business eventually folded in September 2015.
You can’t hide from online customer reviews. Managing them well and building trust with your audience is the only way to maintain and improve your bottom line.

2. Ranks a Business Highly on Search Engines Improving Web Traffic

Online reviews are an important ranking factor on search engines. All Digital Marketing trends. Show that there is a clear link between customer reviews, the number of negative reviews, and the responses to the reviews with local SEO ranking.

Customers looking to purchase a product will consider businesses with a 3-5 star rating, and Google will prioritize these businesses over others. The top-rated companies feature on the “Local 3 Pack,” reaching more people and improving traffic.
If your business isn’t achieving a 3-5 star average rating, chances are you are losing out.

3. Solidifies Social Proof

Facebook is now the second most popular reviews platform globally after Google. 1.84 billion users visit the social media site daily. Additionally, in 2015, 52% of online and offline customers made their purchases based on Facebook recommendations.

Facebook and other social media platforms’ reviews act as valuable social proof of your brand and are helpful in enhancing your business growth.

4. Converts Site Visitors and Leads into Paying Customers

80% of customers trust online reviews and will base their purchasing decisions on them. You must be displaying any 5-star reviews prominently on your website to entice potential customers to do business with you. According to the history of digital marketing, this strategy also converts mere visits and leads into paying customers.

How Can You Easily Monitor Your Online Reputation?

You must have a strategy to monitor these reviews to ensure that you maintain a good reputation for your brand or business. Leaving negative reviews unanswered or not engaging with positive reviews at all makes your business look amateur, uncaring, and untrustworthy.

It is suggested that you follow the latest digital marketing trends or consult with a professional digital marketing agency if you have queries regarding reputation management of your business. You can invest in online reputation management software, but you may need to monitor and manage your reviews manually on some sites. According to these digital marketing types there are many other important things to know that can enhance your business online reputation.
Ensure that you have a team that:

Checks social media platforms for notifications and alerts on any new comments and reviews
Conducts “most recent” brand searches across social media and Google to unearth new reviews.
Creates a Google alert to your inbox that shows up whenever people mention your brand or business.
Uses social media management software such as Social Pilot and Hootsuite to monitor what people say about you.

Digital Engage is a digital marketing and web design company based in Tennessee. Our professional team has expertise in services like website design and development, wordpress web design, WooCommerce, shopify web design, wix services and others. You should choose us because we provide professional consultation, value our clients, have a track record of success, and are always available to provide you with the most professional services. Call us today to learn more about our services.

digitaluser April 27, 2021 0 Comments

PPCStrategy

How to Develop an Engaging and Effective PPC Ads Campaign for Higher Clickthrough Rates and Conversions

If you know anything about digital marketing, you may have come across the term PPC.
PPC or pay-per-click advertising is a digital advertising strategy in which advertisers pay each time a potential customer clicks on an online ad.
With this and other digital advertising strategies becoming more complicated, how do you develop an engaging and effective PPC strategy that works? Which platforms should you publish your ads on, and what should you include in your ads to reach and convert your target audience?
Here, we answer these questions and more to help you improve your overall PPC ads marketing strategy.

How to Make Your PPC Ads Strategy More Effective

Whether you are looking to increase your click-through rates and conversions or are simply building awareness for your product or service, the tactics you employ in your PPC ads campaign will directly influence its success.
Some effective PPC strategies to consider include:

1. Research Your Target Audience

Identifying your target audience and their needs and wants is essential to developing a water-tight PPC campaign.
With many ad platforms now restricting keyword targeting, you must invest more into researching what makes your target audience tick to have a higher chance of getting them interested in the products and services you offer.
Segment your customer base to give you a clearer picture of customer intent. Ask questions such as:

What is your customer demographic? (age, income, gender, location, interests)
What are their expectations for your product or service?
What are their pain points? How can you meet them?
What do they currently buy from you? Would they consider alternatives?
Which other brands do they buy from?

With answers to these questions, you’ll make your PPC campaign compelling enough to get potential customers to convert.

2. Undertake Proper Keyword Research

Keyword research is the cornerstone of any effective PPC ad campaign. The keywords you choose can mean the difference between converting a lead into a paying customer and losing out on business.
The keywords available to you are innumerable, so create the perfect keywords or combination of keywords to match various categories.
Keyword research also allows you to know which keywords your competitors are bidding on and decide whether you can take them on.
You might also find that some keywords have a higher CPC (cost-per-click) than your budget allows. You should also avoid negative keywords and apply positive keywords correctly to your PPC campaign to prevent search engine penalization and yield higher click-through rates.
Invest in a good keyword tool like Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, Long Tail Pro, and Answer the Public to ensure you’re using the right keywords in your ad copy and significantly improve conversions from your PPC campaigns.

3. Write Relevant and Compelling Ad Copy

Your ad content should match what the user is searching for and meet their pain points to be effective. Relevant PPC ad content should give the consumer the information they are looking for and not contain clickbait.
Ensure that you:

Use direct, attention-grabbing headlines with the relevant keywords
Use simple, readable, and understandable language that sounds human and includes your unique selling points
Include social proof in your copy
Include a compelling call-to-action that captures the attention of a user with the promise of reward.

4. Formulate an Integrated Campaign

Integrated PPC campaigns can mean the difference between converting one or two customers and blowing up your ROI.
Try to combine strategies, e.g., connected TV and paid search, to get an inflated ROI on multiple channels instead of spending all your money on one platform. For instance, you could leverage Facebook Ads and YouTube on the same campaign to reach different audiences and obtain new customers.

5. Set Clear Campaign Objectives From the Start

For your campaign to be successful, you must begin with the end in mind.
Using a simple three-stage funnel is a perfect way to do this, guiding you on how to tailor your ad to your potential customer from the awareness stage right through to the conversion stage.
Ask yourself the following:

- What’s the reason for your PPC campaign?
- How does your PPC campaign fit into your overall marketing strategy?
- Are you looking to grow brand awareness or increase sales?

This will enable you to know how to customize and tailor your PPC ads content to meet your potential customer at the right stage of their buying journey.
If you’d like to know more about developing an engaging PPC Ads strategy for your business, get in touch with Digital Engage. You can call us at (423) 397-2467 or contact us online to get started.

digitaluser April 16, 2021 0 Comments

BusinessSMMStrategy

Using Social Media Marketing to Grow Your Business During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Today, social media platforms have become the primary information and commerce channel, far outperforming other digital platforms. People are gravitating to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram to get news, search for products and services, and even make purchasing decisions. Since the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated social media adoption. Businesses have had to change their whole operational and marketing models to grapple with the drop in in-person sales and the rise in socially-distanced online shopping. So, how can businesses leverage social media to survive and thrive in this challenging business environment?

Here we look at how to adopt social media marketing on various social media platforms to help you connect with new and existing customers.

What Is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing uses social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn to build brands, engage target audiences, and increase sales. It involves creating tailored content to create more brand awareness, drive engagement, and increase revenues.

According to Statista, in 2019 and 2020, people’s average time on social media per day worldwide was 145 minutes, up from 142 minutes in 2018. So, especially in this pandemic, businesses cannot afford to ignore social media marketing and must adapt to survive.

How Can You Leverage Social Media Marketing to Grow Your Business?

We can all agree that things are changing, and the world is going digital. Statista states that 4.66 billion people were active internet (which includes social media) users in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. That is over 50% of the world’s population!

Here lies an opportunity for your business to flourish. Below we look at the social media strategies you can use to take advantage of this marketing shift.

1. Have a Water-Tight Social Media Strategy

A comprehensive social media strategy for your business can mean the difference between success on various platforms and catastrophic failure.
To have a proper game plan for your brand, start by creating clear goals using the SMART framework. Consider your brand’s needs and strategize on how to meet them.
Ask yourself:

Do you need social media marketing for brand awareness or to drive sales?
Do you have various social media strategies to meet potential customers at the different phases of their buying journey, i.e., Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion?

2. Identify Your Target Audience and Tailor Your Marketing to Them

Who is your ideal customer? If you do not know this yet, it will help if you performed in-depth research to find out.

To understand your target customer, consider their:

Demographics (age, income, gender, location, interests)
Expectations for your product or service
Pain points and how you can meet them
Current purchasing habits
Brand preferences

If your business is getting low or zero engagement on social media, the audience you are engaging with is not your target market.

3. Create Engaging Content

Content is king, but good content is gold. Content that resonates with your audience can set you apart from competitors and make your customers want to engage with you. Ensure your content stands out, tells a story, and adds value by making it compelling, relevant, and to the point.

4.Use Paid Ads

Paid social media campaigns are a sure way to give your brand or business quick visibility. When you pay for an ad, you are guaranteed to appear in your target user’s feeds. To meet your paid ad goals, ensure your ads resonate with the social media platform you use, your target audience, and their behavior pattern. Unlike traditional marketing tactics, you can measure your social media advertising strategy’s effectiveness and track the ROI with ease.

5.Leverage Retargeting and Lead Nurturing

Once you’ve gained leads from paid and organic reach, the next step is lead nurturing of your targets. You’ll need to make your audience receptive to your brand and earn their trust to get them to make a purchase. However, most people don’t buy on the first contact, so you must also use retargeting campaigns such as Google Ads, Facebook Retargeting, or LinkedIn Ads to bring them back to your site and get them to buy from you.

Pro Tips:

Different social platforms have different target audiences, so tailor your marketing to those audiences.
Take advantage of analytic tools such as engagement, reach, hashtag performance, and likes to track your metrics.
Deploy your social media marketing strategy on multiple platforms, using both organic and paid strategies.

The Coronavirus pandemic has forced many businesses to adapt to a purely online operational and marketing model. Most companies struggled at the beginning of the pandemic. One year later, brands and businesses are regaining their footing and using social media marketing to grow and engage with their clients. Have you incorporated social media marketing in your business yet?

Digital Engage is a digital marketing and web design company based in Tennessee. Our professional team has expertise in services like websites design and development, wordpress web design, WooCommerce, shopify web design, wix services, Magento Web Design, Squarespace Design Services, BigCommerce, Drupal Development Services, Joomla Services, Hubspot, OsCommerce, Prestashop and others. You should choose us because we provide professional consultation, value our clients, have a track record of success, and are always available to provide you with the most professional services. Call us today to learn more about our services.

digitaluser March 26, 2021 0 Comments

BusinessSEO TipsStrategy

Responsive Web Design – What is it & Why you need it

These days, almost everyone has a smartphone, tablet, or another mobile device. Plus, the internet is now the most used communication, entertainment, and business platform, making digital marketing necessary for all businesses.
With over 60% of online searches now coming from mobile devices, mobile website traffic has become more critical than desktop traffic. As such, to be successful in today’s highly competitive digital marketplace, you need to adopt a responsive web design.

What is a Responsive Website?

A responsive website allows your website design to adapt to the size of the user’s screen. So, visitors could be viewing your site on any device without noticing any significant differences in your site’s general appearance.

The Importance of Responsive Web Design

You want your end-user to have a superior customer experience when they visit your website, regardless of the device they’re using. Below are some of the benefits of choosing a responsive website design.

Improved User Experience

Whether a visitor is viewing your website on a desktop, tablet, mobile phone, or laptop, a responsive design will ensure an outstanding experience and increase customer reach on all devices.

Search Engine Rankings

Search engines use plenty of information to rank websites, but they consider mobile-friendly design one critical factor. And where your company appears in search rankings can affect your business’s visibility and success.

Easier Management

Instead of building separate websites for mobile devices and desktops, a responsive design makes things easier to manage and cost-effective. For instance, site managers can complete all updates at once rather than update several sites separately.

Competitive Edge

Responsive web design allows you to create exceptional customer experiences and gives you a competitive advantage over your competitors—especially if they don’t have a mobile-friendly website.

Responsive Web Design – What is it & Why you need it

Elements of a great website design include high-quality content writing, responsive design, engaging images, layouts, and many more. A responsive design should automatically adjust without requiring custom-made solutions for each device or screen size. However, responsive design is more than automatically resizable images and adjustable screen resolutions. Here are some ways to make a responsive design website:

Fluid Grid: sizes the elements of your site proportionally, making it easy for your web design elements to respond to the screen’s size
Flexible Text & Images: adjust within a website’s layout automatically
Media Queries: allow for multiple layouts of a web design that uses the same coded webpage
User Testing: whatever form it takes, getting feedback from users is priceless (but some sites will charge a small fee)
The Browser and Device Testing: make sure the layout is compatible with as many physical devices and browsers as possible
Pre-Designed Layouts: all you’ll have to do is update the content, branding, and colors to match your needs—if you need expert help, contact us at Digital Engage.

The Future of Responsive Design for Mobile

Search engines, as well as devices, are changing by the day. Mobile phones are getting larger, and foldable smart devices are starting to gain traction. While Google’s algorithm regarding responsive design doesn’t affect tablets just yet, it’s crucial to stay ahead of the curve and aim for a website structure that can accommodate whatever devices the future holds.

Is My Website Ready for Mobile?

Making your website mobile-friendly is necessary and part of the SEO strategy, as Google already uses mobile-friendliness as a search engine ranking signal and punishes websites that aren’t optimized for mobile. Google drives 96% of mobile search traffic, so having a mobile-friendly website increases visitors to your site. Ultimately, it affects your site traffic, conversions, and overall success.

Responsive Design Best Practices

There is no cookie-cutter approach to designing a mobile-friendly website. However, there are a few tips that will help to make your website more appealing to end-users. Here are a few things to bear in mind:

Optimize for speed
Use a responsive web design framework
Test and improve your site
Simplify interactions and navigation

digitaluser October 13, 2020 0 Comments

BusinessSEOSEO TipsStrategyTrends

8 Tips to Improve SEO for Local Business

According to an estimate in a 2017 Review Trackers’ study, more than 35% of all search traffic is local. That said, optimizing your site for local SEO is the key to driving users to your site. This is a crucial marketing strategy, especially for smaller regional businesses or companies that want to drive traffic to multiple locations.

Optimizing for local SEO helps you compete more effectively against established brands that have been in the industry for ages. Here are eight simple steps on how to improve local SEO for your business.

Optimize for Google My Business

Google My Business is one of the best tools for getting your business in front of local customers searching for your products and services. By creating a Google My Business account and filling your listing, your local business will appear on Google Search local results, Google Maps, and Google Search Knowledge Panel. This makes it easy for customers to find your address, business hours, photos, and other information.

Optimize Website Content for Local Keywords

You want to optimize your website for keywords that are relevant to your local customers. Once you’ve done keyword research and have a list of local keywords you’d like to target, infuse them into your web content, headers, meta descriptions, title tags, and other SEO elements to boost visibility.
If you’re not sure which keywords to target, we at Digital Engage understand the ins and outs of keyword research. We’ll help you target the right keywords to improve your local SEO.

Optimize Your Website for Mobile

Closely connected to the practical importance of local SEO is the rising use of mobile devices. Your local customer could be in the neighborhood and using their smartphone to look for a company like yours. Paying particular attention to mobile-friendly web design, for example, improves your local search rankings.

Create Local Content

Creating local content is a great way to grab a local customer’s attention. Consider setting up location-specific webpages or writing blog posts about local events and activities. Creating local content can help you gain authority for areas you’re targeting. For example, if you own a car dealership in Miami, you can write an article with maintenance tips or other location-specific advice for car owners in Miami.

Optimize for Voice Search

Thanks to the prevalence of voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa, voice search is gaining popularity. Businesses need to leverage this and optimize their content into more conversational tones. The trick is to make information readily available as more people will be seeking answers or solutions to a problem when using voice search.

Get High-Quality Relevant Links

High-quality, relevant links from other websites provide ample opportunities to boost your local SEO. They factor in Google’s local ranking algorithm because they indicate your legitimacy and authority in a particular field. An excellent first step is to get your business listed in online directories.

Leveraging your offline relationships is also another way to go. For example, you can talk to other businesses or partnerships about linking to your website. Publishing high-quality content is also beneficial, as others will want to link to your website.

Get Regular Reviews from Happy Customers

Online reviews are essential in today’s world of stars and ratings. According to various studies, many people value positive third-party opinions as much as personal recommendations. Be sure to encourage your customers to leave positive reviews.

Use Location Pages

If you’re serving customers in different locations, leverage location pages by optimizing them to target those specific areas. Include details specific to each location, such as photos, individualized descriptions, contact information, etc. on each of the respective pages. This will ensure that local search results are relevant to local customers.

The Importance of Local SEO

Some ways to improve your local SEO include optimizing your website for local keywords, building citations, getting reviews, using local directories to list your business, and many more. Following the tips mentioned above will help increase your business’s visibility to local customers and your bottom line. However, optimizing your web presence for local searches can be challenging, especially without technical expertise. Not to mention, you never know when Google will update your algorithm, so it’s crucial to stay up to date on the most recent developments.

digitaluser October 13, 2020 0 Comments

BusinessStrategyTrends

10 Effective Ways to Reduce Bounce Rates in Google Analytics

If you are struggling to convert traffic into sales online, you might have a problem with your bounce rate. In other words, people that are visiting your website are simply bouncing away. Fortunately, there are ways to improve your site, lower your bounce rate, and boost sales.

What Is Bounce Rate?

Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors to your website that leaves before viewing a second page. A high bounce rate can be indicative of many things. Maybe your site didn’t have a persuasive call to action. Perhaps users were unable to find what they needed in a timely and efficient manner.

You can find your bounce rate using Google Analytics. Content that is “good” or “bad” depends on your type of site and your company goals. For instance, a search engine, like Google or Bing, typically has a bounce rate under 30 percent, which is considered excellent.

However, simple landing pages with single calls to action like “add to cart” have bounce rates ranging from 70 to 90 percent. This range is considered substandard. The rule of thumb says that service, retail, and portal sites will have lower bounce rates compared to simple landing pages and content websites.

There is no one sweeping fix to reduce the bounce rate. The figure may be a result of one glaring issue or a combination of several problems. Here are ten practical ways to troubleshoot for high bounce rates.

· Provide a Better User Experience

A user’s personal experience with your website can go a long way towards whether or they purchase your product or service. That is why it is essential to not only have a site that is intuitive to use, but aesthetically pleasing as well. A robust website should feature compelling visuals, easy readability, and a distinctive tone and color scheme.

· Reposition Your Call to Action

A compelling call to action should clearly and explicitly lay out what the purpose of the company, product, or service is. Users should be able to understand everything they need from this simple phrase.

· Tell Your Brand Story

Telling a compelling brand story can capture the hearts and minds of your target audience. Bring your brand to life with an exciting origin story or engaging mission statement. If you can attract people this way, you will be more likely to develop a loyal following.

· A/B Test Your Site

A/B testing allows you to test two versions of your webpage against one another to determine which one is more effective. This strategy is not only crucial for the landing page, but also can be applied to help you better target specific audiences, regions, and keywords. For instance, if your product is sold across the world, you can use A/B testing to show them content that matches their language and cultural experience.

· Keep Your Content Fresh

Regularly populating your pages with engaging content is imperative, especially if you produce art, videos, photos, or blogs. Businesses that updated their blogs periodically see 126 percent more leads than competitors that do not. Fresh content is also a chance to excite visitors about your call to action, upcoming announcements, or new products.

· Use SEO

The question of how effective SEO is can be understood by knowing the importance of the keywords. Search engine optimization, or SEO, uses specially selected keywords to target specific audiences. Choosing effective keywords will increase the likelihood of visitors connecting with your brand message and clicking through your website. Great SEO is a self-fulfilling cycle, as the keywords will lead to more clicks, boosting your site on search engines, generating even more clicks, etc.

· Use Videos to Get Eyeballs

Video is the ideal way to get someone’s attention in a hurry. The visual experience is designed to deliver your message quickly while demonstrating what your company is all about. Videos are always a tremendous opportunity to entertain the audience and give them a taste of your company’s personality.

· Use High-Quality Images to Grab Attention

The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. So, if you want to get your audience’s attention, make sure you have unique visuals in the right places. High-quality images can increase the time users spend on the first page and the likelihood that they visit a second one.

· Maximize Customer Reviews

Let customers do the talking for you with user reviews. Considering that 70 percent of customers look at product reviews before they purchase an item, testimonials can influence audience members on whether or not they follow through on buying. The best reviews are ones that build trust with the reader without sounding like they are selling a product.

· Demonstrate Your Credibility

If your company sells to or partners with other name-brand businesses, flaunt it. People are more inclined to trust you if you can authentically associate yourself with a brand that they already know. You can also showcase any awards, certifications, or endorsements that your company has earned along the way.

Digital Engage is a digital marketing and web design company based in Tennessee. Our professional team has expertise in services like website design and development, Magento Web Design, Squarespace Design Services, BigCommerce and others. You should choose us because we provide professional consultation, value our clients, have a track record of success, and are always available to provide you with the most professional services. Call us today to learn more about our services.

digitaluser June 29, 2020 0 Comments

SEO TipsStrategyTrends

7 Essential Tips to Guide SEO for Your Small Business

SEO or search engine optimization is the practice of improving the visibility of a website. This effect is achieved through increased rates of organic or unpaid website traffic, in part because of higher quality content. Getting the most out of SEO can boost a website to the top of any search query.

Understanding how to top search engine results involves knowing how the process works behind the scenes. For instance, Google uses crawlers to gather information about content across the web and feds the results into an algorithm. The algorithm then matches the data back to a search query.

SEO can be a powerful tool for any small business. Well-executed SEO means higher quality and quantity of traffic as well as more organic results. Here are our seven essential tips to guide your small business through the world of SEO.

Optimize Information on Your Website

Your website is one of the most visible platforms for consumers to engage with your business. That is why all the information on and associated with the site should be strategically written. Something as simple as a domain name that accurately reflects your business type and location can make a world of difference.

Information optimization comes in many forms. This process includes adding specific keywords on page titles to identify your business’ products and services and making contact information easily accessible. Similarly, ensure your website copy mentions your business’ location as much as possible, mainly if you rely heavily on foot traffic for sales.

Encourage Users to Write Reviews

A majority of consumers use product reviews to decide whether or to buy a product. An impressive 68 percent of Americans are more likely to use a business if they read a positive review. Similarly, the Harvard Business School reports that a one-star increase in a company’s Yelp rating can lead to a 5 to 9 percent increase in revenue

Put simply, a wealth of persuasive user reviews can make or break your business. That’s why you should be advocating for reviews, whether it is in a company blog or on a coupon. Whatever strategy you use, make sure you make the testimonial writing process as convenient as possible.

Develop a Strong Social Media Presence

Proper use of social media can elevate a company to a whole new level. Social media is a perfect opportunity to keep an audience up to date with new products, services, and events. It is also a powerful tool to connect with fans and spread your brand message genuinely.

While the list of tips to develop a strong media presence is infinite, the most crucial aspect is to understand your brand voice. Being consistent with your company’s brand mission and identity will make it easier for people to connect with what you are saying. There are also countless excellent examples of branded social media presence, including Wendy’s, Ben and Jerry’s, and Nike.

Find Better Keywords

Before writing new copy, it is essential to know what search terms and phrases users are searching for that might lead them to your site. This insight can inform future decisions on what to write, whether on social media, commercials, or a blog. One of the easiest ways to find these terms is with Google AdWords.

The tool allows you to see how often specific keywords are searched and how it relates to your content. Similarly, you can see what things you should not write. This process, which is especially useful in pay-per-click campaigns, is known as using negative keywords.

Make Use of Hyperlinks

A hyperlink is a clickable link that leads from one webpage to another. These are most commonly seen with text but can be inserted into images or buttons too. Hyperlinks are valuable because they create backlinks.

When Google’s algorithm analyzes website content, it rewards backlinks explicitly. They can lend credibility to your website while increasing page views. They are also a way to add a lot of information to your site without taking up additional space.

Use Internal Links

While hyperlinks connect to webpages outside of your site, internal links say within the existing domain. Conveniently internal links make it easier for visitors to navigate your website and improve bounce rate and conversions. They simultaneously reflect the value and quality of a page.

Internal links are also useful to the Google algorithm PageRank. These links can distribute inbound traffic across your site, and the result is higher rankings for other pages on your website.

Create a Google My Business Listing

When people want to learn more about your company, they use Google My Business. The platform provides information, ratings, and reviews so potential customers can make an informed purchase. It also allows you to reach new customers that you might not have been able to otherwise.

Your listing should include important, accurate information, such as your:

Business hours
Website
Service category

One of the most important features is the locating tool of Google My Business—it’s essential to ensure your address is correct. Customers will be able to see your service area and proximity to their location. Additionally, the platform gives small businesses the chance to advertise their products and services for free.

Utilize Negative Keywords

Figure out what keywords not to use is as important as determining the ones to use. Using negative keywords ensures your ads do not appear on irrelevant search queries. This method also allows you to boost the quality score and reduce the cost per click for each ad.

The best way to find negative keywords is to see what search terms lead to your ad. Here, you can target what are the most and less useful phrases or words when it comes to click-throughs. That way, when people use negative keywords in queries, your ads will not appear.

Digital Engage is a full-service digital marketing agency, get in touch today.

digitaluser June 14, 2020 0 Comments

BusinessSEO TipsStrategy

8 Important SEO Factors That Boost Your Search Engine Rankings Quickly

Organic searches are a cornerstone to any company’s online success. Search engine optimization (SEO) can boost the quantity and quality of organic visitors to a website while establishing trust between potential consumers and the brand. Effective SEO will also help a company rank higher in search engine queries, which boosts visibility.

Consider this. Search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing, report that the number one listed website sees about 42 percent of traffic from a single search. The second result gets 11 percent while the third gets 8 percent.

Obviously, it pays to be on top. Well-executed SEO can make a world of difference to a company’s digital presence and bottom line. If you want to boost your search engine rankings, here are eight essential SEO factors to know.

Write High-Quality Content

Undoubtedly, SEO is now essential for getting top rank on search engines. The content on each website page should be relevant and useful to users. For complete optimization, a site needs to have more high-quality content than its competitors. Typically, Google rewards relatively long SEO content backed with facts and statistics and should be unique.

There are several methods to improve the content on your website, but one of the easiest ways is to write a blog. Companies can demonstrate their experience and credibility to readers with informative and entertaining posts that will have visitors coming back time and again. According to research, companies who blog receive 97 percent more links to their website than non-blogging competitors.

Update Your Content Regularly

Fresh content is king. In today’s digital ecosystem, it is not good enough to create a stunning website and leave it. Search engines reward companies that continuously prove themselves to be relevant to visitors.

Generating new content is an opportunity to share upcoming events, product launches, or changes at your company. It is also a chance to optimize specific keywords you have not used in the past. The key is to set a schedule for what and when to publish new material and to make sure it appeals to readers, not just search engines.

Maximize Links

Links come in three types: inbound, hyperlinks, and internal links. Google uses these to discover new pages and figure out how to rank each page. There is a strong correlation between the number of domains linking to a page and the page’s search engine ranking.

Inbound links are tremendously valuable because they drive traffic from other sites to yours. The inbound link signals to Google that the content on your website is relevant to users. Additionally, hyperlinks help connect you with other companies, while internal links distribute incoming search traffic.

Boost Your Page Speed

Speed, or the lack thereof, kills. People expect things immediately these days, and website uploads are no exception. An impressive 47 percent of users will leave a site if it takes longer than three seconds to load.

Slow loading speeds lead to poor user experiences, which can negatively impact page rank. Slowness may be a result of one or many factors, including among others:

Host issues
Too many ads

You can get an idea of how fast your website is by using Google’s PageSpeed Tool or get in touch with our team for a website evaluation.

Web Design Matters

Don’t take the physical appearance of a website for granted. Well-designed websites should be easy to use and make pertinent information highly accessible to visitors. The more enjoyable a site is to use, the more likely people will revisit it in the future and recommend it to friends.

Make sure your content is readable, so your audience understands and makes use of the information you have to offer. When possible, condense information into bulleted lists or infographics that are more digestible than paragraphs of text. Website creators can also improve the design through the strategic use of bold type and colors, subheadings, and distinctive typography.

Upgrade Your Visuals

What users see in images can be as important as what they read. That’s why 55 percent of content marketers are focusing on creating more visual-oriented content. Sleek and eye-catching visuals can streamline information to readers while increasing the likelihood that they spend more time on your site.

Visuals can come in the form of images, infographics, or videos. More importantly, they distill essential information to the reader in a compelling manner.

Get the Most Out of Mobile

Roughly half of the Internet traffic comes from a mobile device. To account for this shift in the media landscape, Google has rolled out its first mobile-first index. The indexing will utilize a mobile-friendly test for the website to see how well they perform on smartphones.

The most important part of the user mobile experience has a website that is responsive and easy to navigate. Visitors should be able to have all the same content and information on their device displayed intuitively. This mobile design often incorporates larger fonts, compressed images, and autocorrect for forms.

digitaluser June 4, 2020 0 Comments