You should use local SEO, a search engine optimization technique, to appear in local search results on Google. It doesn't matter what products or services you offer; your business can benefit from local SEO. In this article you are going to learn how to do local SEO and how Google My Business works. Local SEO in a nutshell Do you want to know how to do local SEO marketing properly? If the answer is yes, let's have a look at local SEO in a nutshell. To figure out how to do local SEO marketing, we need to look at how Google My Business works. When you enter a key-phrase, for example "a pharmacy open now" in the search engine, the organic content may be shown after local results. Google My Business entries appear at the top of local search results when it detects local search intent. Besides ratings, users can also see the customer reviews, which have a great impact on their decision-making process. Which businesses should use local SEO? All businesses that have customers from a particular area who are looking to gain new customers searching for products or services in that area need to implement local SEO. It is technique that is particularly relevant to businesses that serve their local area such as estate agents, pharmacies, gardeners or restaurants owners. It's really important that the information that is visible in local search results is complete – it should contain the business name, phone number, address, website, photos, videos, star ratings, or customer reviews. Customers who can see all this information are more likely to use your service or buy something from you if they can see what you actually offer. Lack of a website doesn't mean you can't appear in the Map Pack – the information presented is collected from your Google Business Profile listing. It may be the compilation of information from the web or users' suggestions. How to choose the right local SEO agency? There is a list of characteristics to look for when searching for a local SEO agency. However, the final decision about which local SEO company will meet your requirements may not be easy, with the large number of them on the market. You can choose an agency with a focus on local SEO, or an agency with a broader focus, able to offer advice on other marketing channels too. If you choose a local SEO specialist, they will provide you with creative strategies in your local search campaigns. That means you're unlikely to get any help with other parts of your online marketing. If you have a limited budget, it might be better to invest in an agency that can offer help with other channels too, like social media, advertising, or email. It's helpful if you choose a local SEO company with experience of your type of business so they have an in-depth understanding of your business upfront. To check if the SEO company is good at their job, make sure they rank well for a large number of keywords. They can't prove their skills if they're not present in local or organic search themselves. Check reviews and ratings while looking for a local SEO agency. They can give you important information about their likely performance, strengths and weaknesses. Any local SEO agency should be able to provide you with references and work samples. Local SEO – pros and cons Now you know what local SEO is, which businesses it might benefit and how to choose a local SEO business, let's talk about Google My Business. Taking a look at the pros and cons can help you decide whether or not you should invest in local SEO services. Pros Creating local content and clearly demonstrating a local intent online can help you gather local interest. Local SEO also generates local traffic that could convert into profits – many people still prefer to support local businesses, rather to paying larger, corporate companies for the same products or services. Cons Adding local SEO services to your marketing efforts will swell your marketing budget. Another consideration is that it is not a one-off cost. Local SEO should be done monthly so that you remain visible to your customers. Another big consideration is that local SEO takes time, so don't expect instant results. Source: marketingdonut.co.uk
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One of the main purposes of a business website is to convert website traffic into revenue. This means creating calls to action (CTAs), building sales funnels and curating interesting, valuable content for those browsing your website. But there are multiple ways to optimize your website for conversions and usher potential consumers to your sales page. To help you do this, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council provide their top-recommended "tricks of the trade" to boost website conversions below. 1. Offer Valuable Visual Elements Have fewer products, less text and more value. Don't overwhelm your shopper. Instead, offer more visual elements on your website that emphasize the value of the product or service rather than flashy images of the product itself. Also, I suggest creating affiliate sales links that can be sent to content creators and bloggers. This way, your website can reach a wider audience and you can support important content creators in the process. - Amine Rahal, IronMonk Solutions 2. Implement Proper Tracking And Pixel Codes The No. 1 tip I can give on optimizing for conversions and turning your website traffic into revenue would be to make sure you have the proper tracking and pixel codes on your website. This element is crucial for paid traffic. It allows the algorithms to show your advertisements to the right people who are more likely to convert after getting the data. Along with the proper tracking, you want to make sure you are extremely direct with your messaging. Don’t just try to get anyone to your website. You need to work on your messaging to get the right people to look at the information you have to offer. Even if it’s a smaller number of people going to your website, you want to get people who will be interested instead of just looking at vanity numbers like website traffic. - Bryan Driscoll, Motivated Leads 3. Curate Interactive Content Switching from static to interactive content will yield a consistent, and often staggering, increase in conversion rates. This is because more content will be viewed, making the user more aware of your brand and product. At the same time, users are more likely to provide more information, which is key to converting them. From quizzes to surveys, interactive content gets people more engaged, which, in turn, leads to higher revenue. - Vlad Gozman, involve.me 4. Remove Purchasing Obstacles The fewer clicks to buy, the better. Give people multiple payment options so they can choose the one they’re most comfortable with. Make it easy to get answers to questions quickly; it should take a single click to get answers to frequently asked questions with information about shipping, returns and so on. Add live online chat to your site. It’s not only helpful today, but most consumers expect it. It’s worth the investment. Every product page should offer as much information as possible so consumers are convinced to buy immediately. What are the obstacles consumers often cite that keep them from buying? Make sure those obstacles are removed from your website. This could require adding information, features or technology to remove all barriers. - Jonathan Prichard, MattressInsider.com 5. Provide Social Proof Social proof is an extremely powerful way to optimize your site for conversions. In marketing, social proof is anything that shows visitors that your site is trusted and respected by consumers and other well-known businesses. There are plenty of ways to get more social proof on your site. One of the easiest ways is to add the option to leave reviews on your product pages. When new visitors see reviews from existing customers, they are more likely to engage with your brand. Other social proof possibilities include live sales notifications, trust badges and user-generated content on social media. - John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC 6. Offer Something For Free Give them something for free! When shopping for services or goods, there are an unlimited number of options for customers. They are all looking for the best product or service for the best price point. To help showcase your value, give them a taste of what you have to offer. A free digital download or a limited-time trial can leave them wanting more. - Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR 7. Create Clear Copy Be concise and avoid confusing your customers. Copy should tell a story that engages your customers and motivates them to buy, whether that is a service or a product. Sales funnels are traditionally used for this purpose. However, that doesn't work with today's savvy buyers. Customers have all the information they need at their fingertips to make a judgment about your product or service. Your reputation or the quality of your product or customer service will sell the product. That is the story. Engagingly telling that story with the help of influencers and testimonials will help get your products and services noticed. Be authentically you. - Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc. 8. Show Your Product In Action Show the product in action however you can. Remember, your customers can't pick it up and hold it, so give them any media or explanations they need to understand it. Nobody buys something they don't understand, so focus on clarity, clean design, testimonials and showing the product in action one way or another. If you need examples, simply peruse the top-ranking e-commerce listings on any major online platform. You're likely to see no background photos, well-lit videos and a couple of quotes from happy customers all readily visible to shoppers. A product listing is an evolving medium. It can adapt to the needs and expectations of consumers over time, and it should. Test and retest until you get the result you want. Steal ideas from the best in the game! It's a great way to learn and grow. - Tyler Bray, TK Trailer Parts 9. Understand Your User Experience To make money from your website and online content, it's important to focus on creating a positive user experience (UX). Failing to optimize your website will lead to fewer conversions and less engagement because people don't want to deal with annoying websites and long loading times. Things like your navigation menu, site speed, layout and more all affect how users interact with your website and whether or not they'll continue to engage. Don't underestimate the impact that your website design has on users and their ability to stick around. The more you optimize it for your audience, the likelier they'll be to return. - Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms Source: https://www.forbes.com/
Online safety is critical when you’re serving e-commerce customers. If proper protocols aren’t followed, e-commerce sites can easily fall prey to cybersecurity breaches, which may expose private customer information. These security breaches can cost your company both in money and in customer loyalty, so it’s essential to prioritize shoppers’ online safety. To help you secure your consumers’ shopping experience, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council outline the key security steps companies should take with their e-commerce sites. 1. Always Use A Payment Provider Never store credit cards yourself. Always use a payment provider like Stripe that will take the liability away from you. People can live with losing their email address, although they don't like it; what people won't forgive you for is if you lose their credit card information. Even if you're not selling products, but rather recurring subscriptions, there are payment providers that will store this information and manage all of it for you. Taking this step is especially important as an early-stage startup before you have the resources in place to get proper security software and internal IT security personnel. - Andy Karuza, Base64.ai 2. Create Best Practices It's all about data privacy. Even people who know about data privacy don't fully understand how valuable it is. Find standard best practices for making sure your customers’ data is secure on your website. Be transparent about your policy with it. This doesn't just protect your consumers—it protects you as well. - Tyler Bray, TK Trailer Parts 3. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication One of the best ways to keep your customers safe online is to enable multi-factor authentication for returning visitors. We always ask our customers to register with their phone number or email address so we can confirm their identity before they make a purchase from our site. This tip helps us track who is accessing our site and from where. I believe being mindful of how users log in can dramatically improve e-commerce safety and security for shoppers around the globe. - Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights 4. Use Fraud Prevention Tools You need to make the most of fraud-checking and virus protection software. When you're dealing with other people's money, you need to take every step you possibly can to ensure that all transactions are completed as safely as possible. Nothing will ruin trust in a company faster than a data breach, and nothing will lose you money faster than having to compensate burned customers. If you predominantly sell online, you need to stay on top of cybersecurity. Hackers, sadly, are only getting more sophisticated with their tactics, so you need to do the same. Fraud prevention tools in particular can protect both you and your clients from falling victim, so it's a beneficial investment for everybody involved. - Nick Venditti, StitchGolf 5. Look Beyond Native Security Most companies need to take the time to look beyond the native security of the platform they are using. The website-building sites like Squarespace or WordPress and popular store-building sites like WooCommerce or Shopify make it easy to set up an e-commerce store, but the security they come packaged with leaves a lot to be desired. While some of these sites (like Shopify) are a bit better about native security than others, they all have security plug-ins or third-party security features that you can add. The farther away you can get from a generic security setup, the less likely you or your customers are to be victimized. - Salvador Ordorica, The Spanish Group LLC 6. Install An SSL Certificate Having an e-commerce site automatically comes with the responsibility to keep your customers safe from intrusive hackers. One security step companies should take is keeping private information secure by installing an SSL certificate. This is a tool that encrypts data that's in transit from the customer's browser to the server of the payment processing site. In other words, it's preventing a customer's personal information from getting stolen. For example, my company accepts payment through third-party processors like Shopify Pay. An SSL certificate prevents hackers from stealing payment information in the process of them making a purchase. - Emily Stallings, Casely, Inc. 7. Educate Your Customers As business owners, it's our duty to protect our customers’ information online—but you need to understand that your customers might not know how to do it. So, educating them about cybersecurity is extremely important. Remind them to change their password and access credentials from time to time, back up their data regularly, install authorized software, etc. You can also send them relevant newsletters that help them learn more about keeping their data safe online. - Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster 8. Keep Everything Up To Date There are quite a number of things an e-commerce store needs to do to keep its customers safe and feeling safe. That includes being safe as a business because if you get hacked as an e-commerce site especially, it'll be hard to convince your customers that they'll be safe buying from your website even if they themselves weren't affected personally. I'll say that you, your staff and your customers should be security conscious. Build your site on trusted and tested internet infrastructure. And when you do, keep the place up to date. Hackers are crawling the net looking for opportunities to destroy businesses. And they've learned to target small ones that think hacks happen to big corporations only. Small businesses are easy targets. - Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS 9. Invest In A Quality Hosting Provider An e-commerce site's safety depends heavily on the hosting provider they use. New business owners may think that it's a good idea to use cheap shared hosting, but this option becomes expensive in the long run. You also want to use a good hosting provider that can upgrade your usage and solve technical issues fast. Such providers are proactive when it comes to monitoring threats and security issues. Start by investing in a reliable hosting platform or make the switch to a good one fast. It'll reflect in the speed of your website and will help protect your site and customers from data breaches. - Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner Source: Forbes.com Image: Courtesy of The Individual Members
We have entered an era of media overload. At every turn, consumers are met with the newest influencer, advertisement or article, and there are only so many things you can do to stand out from the crowd. Livecasting has been on the rise for years, and now it is more important than ever for businesses to leverage it in their marketing plans. But why? Let’s dive into what livecasting can really do for you and your business. Build Trust And Community When the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world, people’s values began to shift. One of the biggest shifts was in how much people value the ability to speak and communicate face-to-face. This is what livecasting can offer your consumers: the chance to see and connect with the real people behind a business. Not only does this foster the kind of trust between business and consumer that is essential to any brand, but it creates a feeling of social support for everyone who joins your livecast. Livecasting provides the opportunity for real-time engagement, and whether it is simply through attendance or comments, it's more likely attendees will feel like they are a part of a community, and creating a community can make your brand more recognizable and successful. Broaden Your Audience Prior to the pandemic, most events hosted by businesses were exclusive to those with the resources to attend. With the growth of platforms like Zoom and Facebook Live, though, this no longer has to be the case. Online, anyone who is interested can join your livecast, and it stands to reason that viewers are more likely to share brand videos they’ve watched or participated in with friends and family. This is the kind of reach an in-person event simply doesn’t allow for. Plus, you can pull the reports on not just who came to your livecast but on how long they stayed. This data allows you to see which of your livecasts were the most and least successful and use that information to improve with every future livecast. Increase Your Bottom Line This is really what it boils down to: Livecasting is economically advantageous to your business. There is no venue to rent, pamphlets to print or refreshments to buy. The cost of a livecast is significantly lower than the cost of any in-person event because, aside from perhaps camera equipment, what is there to pay for? But here are the real economic benefits: According to one survey, 87% of video marketers report that video gives them a positive ROI. According to that same survey, consumers are watching almost double the amount of online content compared to 2018. Those numbers sound pretty good. But why make it livecast? Why not just pre-record a video? Because live videos hold viewers’ attention for 10 to 20 times longer (paywall) than any pre-recorded content, and the more time your viewer invests at the moment, the more they’re willing to invest in your company in the future. And once the livecast is over, you have a recorded video ready to optimize for use on your social media or website. So, how can you leverage livecasting to ensure that you make the most of these benefits? Use Your Brand Livecasting isn’t about making an advertisement for your company — it’s about connecting with your viewers and showing them who you are. The best way to do this is to keep your brand’s values and mission statement at the forefront of your mind when planning your livecast. If the point of your livecast is to promote or launch a product, it shouldn’t feel like just another ad or TV commercial. Show the faces behind the product. Show your viewers why you are excited about it and what it can do for them. Make your livecast feel as human and authentic as possible. Encourage Engagement Getting your audience involved helps them feel like they are part of a community, so get creative with it. Put out polls, host a Q&A, incorporate games. Audience members can participate through comments, likes, reactions and shares, and you want to do whatever possible to ensure that they do. To keep that feeling of inclusivity and community going, invite them to engage after the livecast is over through things like newsletter signups, giveaways or feedback surveys. Leverage Promotion No matter how genius your livecast is, it won’t matter if no one is interested enough to attend. You need to know what audience you are trying to appeal to and you need to promote to them in an eye-catching way. Come up with a catchy title and description for social media. Make a flashy graphic or release teasers. Make sure your consumers know about your livecast and get them excited! Conclusion The benefits to your business are always important to consider when embarking on a new marketing strategy. Knowing how to optimize those benefits is just as important. But here is one last thing to consider. Don’t think of livecasting as just one more chore to add to your list. A study revealed that 80% of online consumers would rather watch a live video from a brand than read their blog. Livecasting isn’t an addition to your plan. It’s a substitute for some of the work you’re currently doing, and it’s a substitute that will benefit you in the long run. Source: forbes.com Image Credit: Photo by Ivan Samkov
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