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  • 5 SEO Metrics That Won’t Fail: The Recipe for A Good, Old-Fashioned Organic Listing

    5 SEO Metrics That Won’t Fail: The Recipe for A Good, Old-Fashioned Organic Listing

    Between algorithms and techniques, SEO is constantly evolving in order to deliver the best results to users everywhere. With each and every update, best practices are changing and it is vital to stay on top of the game. The best way to remain relevant and become a front-runner with your content is to dedicate plenty of research and care when crafting each post. A well-informed page is a ranking page.

    Do Your Research: Keywords Are Crucial

    Before you set out to publish engaging and alluring content, it is important to develop a good baseline with in-depth keyword research. Not only does this research help to develop your topics, it allows you to get a sense for what readers are looking for. SEO keywords are your trail of breadcrumbs that help shape your article and give you a vision for the direction your content will go.

    Keywords are also an insight into what is going on in the industry. Much like a fad, they are constantly changing depending on the times and trends. Digital marketing is a field where practices and methods can change by the hour, which is why it is so necessary to develop a good baseline of data and strategy. Best practices this month aren’t always in style by next month.

    Target Users with SEO Content: Don’t Write for Robots 

    Digital Marketing

    The best SEO content is natural, keyword-focused content. Google does not want to see content tailored towards the robots. Just write with a natural, conversational tone. People can sense when you talk above them or when writing becomes superfluous. Often times, adding multiple sentences to get a specific keyword ranking, or even dropping words can disrupt the content flow. Don’t ever compromise your quality. A quality SEO writer is first and foremost a writer.

    It is vital to remember that content exists to help users and create the best user experience. SEO should reflect this in the tone, as well as the formula. Awkward verbiage or stuffed keywords can signal to Google that the page in question may not have the best SEO-driven content. Also, the language can take your reader out of their element or cause them to seek more engaging information. Similar to cooking, with SEO presentation is everything.

    Keep it Fresh: Manage Content Regularly to Remain Relevant

    An active domain is a happy domain. If Google scans your indexed pages and the number is regularly growing, it’s going to give your site some recognition. Although there is no penalty or suggested schedule for posting content, it is important to stay relevant. Activity shows the robots that the domain is updated regularly and is well-managed.

    Similar to keyword research, keeping up with current trends and topics will also attract users looking for a fresh perspective and applicable tips. Writing about what’s in the news is also a great tactic to stay ahead of your competitors. Content writers that know the market are not only great resources to validate skills, but they are going to attract a larger audience. Websites with a generous following typically have a strong authority and will appear attractive to Google.

    Don’t Ignore the Background: Technical Optimization is Crucial

    If you haven’t already made the switch to HTTPS, stop whatever you’re doing right now and do it. It is one of the best things you can do for the health and integrity of your website. HTTPS is the most common and most secure protocol available. Not only is it a best practice, but HTTPS protects users from malicious parties that take advantage of your site. If Google detects a secure protocol, you’ve gained a major SEO advantage.  Web Development

    Also, be sure your site is mobile-friendly. Optimizing your site for AMP, or Accelerated Mobile Pages is not only something encouraged by Google, it is necessary to rank at all in the search results. Not having a mobile-friendly site can be a major penalty and hurt the integrity of your site.

    Avoid 404 errors at all costs. Nothing will drop your ranking in the search results faster than having a bunch of 404 errors on your site. Fix these broken pages as fast as possible to ensure your links are in working order and boost the overall user experience.

    Invest in Your Own Crawl: Audit Your Pages on a Regular Basis

    Don’t wait for the search engine robots to crawl your pages. Technology is crucial to ensure your site is behaving as it should. Investing in crawling software to help you manage, strategize and audit your site on a regular basis. SEO strategy is ever-changing and a crawling software will be your best friend to help identify your trouble areas and stay on top of the SEO content. Also, it will help ensure every page is being properly indexed and visible.

    If you need help with these tips or some are out of your control, contact 216digital to get the help you need! We are a local agency and Miva developer in Cleveland, OH. For Cleveland web development or assistance with SEO services, 216digital is the extra set of eyes your site needs. We specialize in social media, Cleveland web design and are experts with Miva design.

    Though trends are ever-changing and updates come more often than not, one fact remains the same. Google is always seeking to capitalize on user experience. Whether you have a personal blog, a directory or an eCommerce page, keep in mind that your content has a larger audience than you may realize. After all, the robots aren’t the only ones who are watching.

    Greg McNeil

    July 3, 2018
    216digital, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, SEO, Web Design
    Digital Marketing, Miva Design, responsive web design, SEO
  • Black Friday Shopping: Is Your Online Business Ready?

    Black Friday Shopping: Is Your Online Business Ready?
    America’s favorite shopping season is right around the corner and with it a barrage of online bargain shoppers. Is your site ready to handle the Black Friday shopping rush? If the answer is anything but yes, you may want to consider a quick preparatory revamp. Why? Because the year-end holiday season is not only the best time to meet your annual sales goals, but a great time to capture new customers. Following Thanksgiving, Black Friday and the last two months of the year are prime for gift-giving; people are shopping for themselves, their family, and their friends. Not to mention, over the last eight years, Black Friday retail e-commerce spending alone went from $534 million USD to $1970 million USD  – and it’s only expected to rise again this year. Which means optimizing your site for online sales now can ensure your business is ready to roll this holiday season. So how can you prepare? The first step is to decide which holidays you want to run promotions on. Once you’ve determined that and set up a promotional calendar, you can move on to polishing your website and online holiday marketing strategy. To make it easier, we’ve compiled a checklist to help get you on your way.

    Getting Your Website in Gear

    Image of a person browsing an ecommerce platform
    1. Check Your Server Traffic Capacity. Black Friday weekend is sure to draw a lot of traffic to your site, especially if you are running promotional deals. So making sure your server can handle the influx of customers is likely to make both their and your experience easier.  Check your server capacity before the season starts at  LoadImpact.com or Blitz.io.
    2. Create Landing Pages for Your Black Friday Deals. If you plan on setting your customers up with some awesome deals, it’s important to make sure they know what they are and where to find them. Landing pages on your website specifically made for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions can help alert your customers to all the seasonal discounts you have on offer. Going the extra mile and creating a banner for your deals to be displayed on every page, will also help ensure no one misses out!
    3. Make sure your website is mobile friendly. The share of mobile sales on Black Friday in 2013 went from 27%  to 48% in 2016. And with more and more customers turning to their phones for online shopping, having a site with responsive design is more important than ever. Don’t know whether your site is mobile ready? Check it out with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. And if you still can’t figure it out, let us take a look!
    4. Test and troubleshoot everything. Even with the best promotions, the holiday shopping season could still be a complete bust if your customers aren’t able to make purchases from your site.  Whether it’s a broken link or simply a slow loading page, it’s important to make sure you’ve tested the durability of your landing pages and made sure your promotional coupons are working fine.
    5. Make the checkout process as seamless as possible. Simplicity is key. Customers like it when they can make a purchase with the fewest clicks possible – and obvious clicks at that. So spend some time ensuring your website has a user friendly interface with clear add/delete item and checkout buttons. And if you need a little help, let us know.
    6. Have your Shipping and Returns Policy for the shopping season in fine print. To prevent any future misunderstandings or complaints, it’s best to have your holiday season shipping and returns policy listed on your website where customers can easily access or see it.
    7. Track EVERYTHING. To make sure you’re getting the results you want and your leads are converting into sales, keep a detailed track record of every change you’ve made to your site and how it has affected your conversions.  A great way to do this is through tracking your Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel data.

    Marketing Yourself Right

    Images of a persons Startup company Now that you have your website ready to go the next thing to tackle is your marketing strategy. To start, look at your past marketing data to see how your business performed during previous years. This will make it easier to plan a marketing strategy as you’ll have a better idea of what worked and what didn’t. Once you have that data, you can start to plan for the future holiday season. And the following tips will help you put your best foot forward!
    1. Research your customers. A good marketing strategy starts with great research. For example, do you know 100% who your customers are? Have you created buyer personas? If you haven’t, check your Google Analytics demographics to ensure that the personas you have in mind match the factual customer data retrieved by Google. This will help you market to not only your current customers, but all potential buyers as well. Still unsure? Take a look at this helpful B2B Buyer Persona Guide for a more in-depth look on how to make your customer-data work for you.
    2. Create a winning PPC Campaign. Pay-per-click is one of the best ways to reach targeted customers. If you have optimized your campaign with the right keywords, your ad should appear at the top of Google’s search results. However, if you did not have the time to get your SEO and keyword targeting in place, PPC can help! For example:
      1. Shopping Ads is one of the best ways to get your products in front of your customers, because its CPC is much lower when compared to a Text Ad, and it can get you better conversion rates. You can also target local customers with Google’s Zip Code Targeting.
      2. And if you are already running PPC campaigns, the holiday season is a good time to start a remarketing campaign. Reach your customers who are actively searching for your products, or are loyal to your business with remarketing campaigns.
    3. Utilize social media for customer insights. Your social media channels can be a treasure trove of information. Places like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are full of consumer opinions on products and services. And not just on products they currently use, but items they are interested in buying. Put this information to use by –
      1. Promoting your Black Friday deals on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook.
      2. Creating product hype and awareness by offering special discounts to  your followers.
      3. Closely monitoring comments or mentions on your social channels and responding to any customer queries and feedback promptly. You can even make use of social listening tools to listen to what people are saying online about your brand or products.
      4. Creating your own hashtags for the holiday season. You can stick to the regular hashtags of #BlackFriday and #CyberMonday, of course, but you can also create hashtags specific to your business. If you do, make sure you plug them on all your marketing channels- website, social media, and emails.
      5. Using Facebook Dynamic Shopping ads, which are a great way target customers who visited your website and added a product to their cart but never followed through with the purchase.
    4. Start an email campaign targeting current customers. When it comes to getting results, email marketing is still very effective. Triggered emails like those to customers that abandoned full online shopping carts, still tend to bring in more customers than many social media campaigns.  To get the most out of your email campaign –
      1. Categorize your email lists.  Segmenting your emails into specific customer lists based on products they’ve looked at or purchased is likely to get you more email open rates.
      2. Personalize! Include the name of the subscriber and offer specific promotions based on their location.
      3. Create and manage your email workflows in advance. This will ensure that every email is catered to the customer receiving it, and be less work for you in the long run.
      4. Leverage your current customer base through exclusive deals. Not only will this help build anticipation for future Black Friday deals, but it will show your loyal customers that there is  some advantage in following you.
      5. Create a countdown timer for your emails to promote urgency.

    In the End

    No one knows your customers as well as you do and any website adjustment or marketing campaign should be planned with them in mind. However, we hope these tips will help get you and your site on your way to holiday-ready! And if you still have questions, let us know!

    Sources

    Desktop retail spending on Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States from 2008 to 2016 Share of mobile online sales on Black Friday from 2013 to 2016 How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas for Your Business Get Local with ZIP Code targeting Effects of List Segmentation on Email Marketing Stats Why You Should Spend More on Google Shopping vs Text Ads

    Greg McNeil

    October 18, 2017
    216digital, Digital Marketing, Ecommerce Platforms, Google AdWords, Google Analytics, PPC, Responsive, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Web Design
    Digital Marketing, ecommerce design, ecommerce website, PPC, responsive design, responsive web design, SEO
  • The Basics of Responsive Web Design

    The Basics of Responsive Web Design

    Implementing a responsive web design can have a tremendous impact on the overall custom experience your site offers. As consumers rely more and more on phones, tablets, and other mobile devices to stay informed, stay connected, and shop, it’s more critical than ever that your site utilizes a design that is easy to use on any device. Customers will look for every reason to exit out of your webpage, and if your website is difficult to navigate from a phone, they won’t stay long enough to buy anything and they won’t recommend it to their friends. That’s why making your website as user friendly as possible will work to your benefit, and 216digital is here to help you make it happen.

    The mobile view a user experiences on 216digital's site.
    The mobile view a user experiences on 216digital’s site.

    Here we’ve gathered together some reasons why you should seriously consider making your website responsive:

    1. Make sure your customers don’t tap dance: One of the most frustrating parts of using a website that isn’t optimized for mobile devices is the tapping and zooming you have to do to get to the content you want. To make things as easy and enjoyable as possible for your customers, you’ll want to make sure that your website’s images and content are properly presented and don’t require the customer to manipulate their device in some awkward fashion in order to make use of it.

    2. Make sure your website rankings don’t suffer: Google Webmasters recently released an article stating that “We see these [mobile friendly] labels as a first step in helping mobile users to have a better mobile web experience. We are also experimenting with using the mobile-friendly criteria as a ranking signal.” This means that your website could be hit hard in the coming years if it isn’t mobile friendly. Future-proof your website and don’t be left in the dust!

    3. Always think of the customer: Responsive web design isn’t just for customers using smaller, handheld devices. It should also scale-up and conform to fit the screens of larger devices, like televisions, that customers might be using through their gaming systems or other peripherals. By keeping the quality of your customers’ experiences a priority, you’ll be sure to have a website that will respond to all of their needs, no matter the device they are using.

    4. Leave the reading glasses at home: If your website isn’t optimized, many times the text is either much too large or way too small to be read easily. And, remember, your customers might be using a larger screen, like a TV, but sitting further away and still not able to read what’s on your site. The whole point of your website is to make it effortless for your customers to breeze through checkout when they decide to buy your product. So, if the site’s text is too small to read, that complication will not bode well for your bottom line. Making sure your text is readable is crucial to success.

    The desktop view a user experiences on 216digital's site.
    The desktop view a user experiences on 216digital’s site.

    216digital is here to simplify this whole process for you. Responsive web design is not only helpful, but in light of the ever-widening array of web-enabled devices available to consumers, it’s become absolutely essential. Nonetheless, it can also be time consuming and cumbersome to learn, which is difficult while trying to manage your online business. Let 216digital take responsive web design off your list of worries. Our team of expert designers knows exactly how to build your website to respond to whatever size screen your customers are using, so that you can entice them, no matter the device. Check out some of our work—we think you’ll like what you see.

    Greg McNeil

    March 2, 2015
    Responsive, Web Design
    responsive web design

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