When Is It Time for a Branding Overhaul?

If you are in an upper management position in a company, or if you are the sole propriety of your own business already, then you have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders.  You need to be able to make the tough decisions at the right time, otherwise you risk compromising your business and the future of those in your team.  No one is going to make the decisions for you, and nobody’s even going to initiate a major change in operations because it’s not their job.  It’s yours.

When it comes to branding there are many vexing questions that you must have answers for.  One of the most challenging questions is: when is it time for a branding overhaul?

The answer to this question would have been harder in the pre-digital era.  Luckily, today there are a number of metrics available to make the decision easier.  You can consider:

  • Changing engagement rates relative to the most recent branding overhaul
  • Changes in direct traffic and potential reasons why
  • The success or failure of your most recent press campaign

Monitoring these metrics will give you a strong indication of whether or not it’s branding that needs to change in order to boost your business. 

Changing Your Brand Means Knowing Your Audience

Making a branding change is all about knowing how your business resonates with your audience and then capitalizing on it.  Here are three general tips to keep in mind while you contemplate the big decision of revamping the company’s image:

  1. Change your logo every 5 years.  Changing your logo (even slightly) within a five year span is smart business practice for a number of reasons.  The most obvious reason is that it keeps customers interested, and what’s more important than that?
  2. Does your business strategy no longer resonate with your branding? This is the tough question that you and your marketing team need to figure out.  It often happens that business strategy changes so quickly that branding is left behind.  Operating with an image that does not represent the specific service or purpose of the company will slice through potential revenue like a hot knife through butter. 
  3. If customer loyalty is lagging, it’s time for an overhaul.  This is another tricky intangible that you need to understand thoroughly before deciding to revamp.  Gauging loyalty has nothing to do with press clippings, direct traffic to your homepage or any other fancy marketing metric.  Loyalty is measured by word-of-mouth marketing and the number of social shares you get when posting a on Facebook.  It’s your community of customers that stand behind your brand, partly because they like what you do, and partly because they like your branding (the story behind your company and the message it shares with the world).  If this loyalty begins to lose steam, it’s definitely time to refine your message with a corresponding image.    

It’s All About Timing

Measuring the impact of your branding relative to the voice of the company requires constant attention.  There is going to be a right time every 5 or so years to change your image – it’s just important to figure out when that time is.  At the end of the day, a change in the tone and aesthetic of your brand might have the kind of measurable impact on sales that you’ve been looking for. 

Lead Generation-How to Scale Up Your Business Without Breaking the Bank

Lead Generation: Going Back to Basics

Lead generation is one of those areas of business that you will always need to think about.  You’re probably asking yourself every week if the inbound strategies you are using bring in high enough conversion rates.  What’s going to happen to your business if conversion rates drop below 3%? 

While I can’t say what will change, I can say that nothing should change about your lead strategy just because of a two-month dip. 

Don’t Overthink Your Lead Strategy

Stressing about your lead strategy can be a healthy obsession.  Part of your overall inbound marketing strategy, lead generation is the crucial second step in the chain that begins with organic traffic and ends in a sale.  Figuring out the best way to turn visitors into interested customers is part of the magic of business, and definitely requires a lot of strategizing and execution. 

Recent data shows that average ecommerce conversion rates hover around 4%.  Or consider that the average lead generation conversion rate in the travel industry is 5%, while in business services it’s 3.4%.  So, it’s likely that your work fits right into your industry’s average.  Point being: it’s hard to generate leads. 

Go Back to Basics

The only way to put your mind at ease about your lead generation strategy is to bring it all back to basics. 

It might be that you are over-extended in your lead generation attempts.  Or perhaps the actual content of your outreach efforts is not resonating with enough people.  In both of these examples, making small changes to your approach will not make the difference you are looking for.  To greatly improve your sales numbers, you may need to change the entirety of your lead generation strategy. 

Where is Your Call-to-Action Button?

It might be time to change the location and design of your CTAs.  Is it being ignored on your blog no matter how many views the blog gets?  Then try putting together a direct messenger campaign on Facebook that targets people who have reacted to your posts recently.  Or simplify your web design to make your CTA stand out more. 

Landing Page Optimization Shift

This might be a concern for the web design team, but without your input it will undoubtedly suffer.  A landing page needs to have a few components to be successful: a catchy headline, a short batch of text that is easy to read, and a call to action button that stands out from the rest of the content.  Without these basic features shining through it’s very possible your landing page is the weakest link. 

The Offer Needs to Have Impact

Here is where you can be creative and unique.  The whole point of a lead is to collect the personal information from potential customers.  In order to receive this information, you need to make an appealing offer, and perhaps your offer just is not appealing enough.  Get brainstorming and figure out what incentive you can provide your customers.  Offering a spreadsheet or free consultation in exchange for signing up to a mailing list might be the change you were looking for to keep things rolling!

Conclusion

So, don’t get discouraged by your lead generation conversion rate.  It’s a hard bargain to generate interested customers no matter what business you operate in.  When things get overwhelming, the key to success is returning to the basics, because it will remind you what it is that makes your company unique. 

5 Common SEO Mistakes You Need To Avoid

Question: What is the most valuable intangible in business?

Answer: Time.

No matter what area of business you apply the microscope, time management is the most valuable intangible.  It can either make you the most efficient person you could ever be, or lead you down a path of confusion and misunderstanding as you put tons of work into your business but keep on seeing diminishing returns.

Working on your business is all about making the most of your time in every single task you take on.  So what’s a good example of poor time management in business?  Operating on old principles that have become irrelevant in the fast-paced world of innovation and adaptation. 

A great example of operating on outdated principles can be found in search engine optimization.  Search engine optimization (or SEO) is an area of digital marketing that changes rapidly in relation to consumer behavior and Google measurement metrics. 

In the interest of saving time, many small business owners might think they can do their own basic SEO and get away with it.  They can, but only if they stay up-to-date with best practices.  Much like any area of business, managing your own SEO strategy it’s very easy to fall by the wayside and use methods that you think are effective, but in Google’s eyes are meaningless (or even harmful).

Here are 3 things I’ve noticed about SEO measurement that you should avoid if you want to make the most out of your time and effort:

  1. Conversions

The thing about conversion rates is that they are very alluring.  Of course it would be great to take a quick look at your Analytics, notice that conversion rates are going up across the board, and then pat yourself on the back for a job well done.  That would be a mistake.  Why? Because unless you are purely an e-commerce site, conversion rates tell only part of the story.  The common conversion metrics people look at are things like landing on your homepage, signing up for a newsletter, or the percentage of returning visitors.  That might look like a good percentage on your Analytics report, but if it does not have a meaningful impact on your bottom line then you need to change things up. 

2) Traffic

Overall traffic is another appealing stat that can misinform you.  Let’s say you incorporate some generic keywords into your site and see a 15% increase in site traffic over 6 months.  Generating increased traffic really only matters if it leads to increased sales – otherwise the value of the effort is worthless.  Focus purely on generating traffic that actually leads to sales, and to do that means cutting down your impressive overall traffic numbers and getting more specific.   

3) Poor Keyword Descriptions

The best way to target meaningful searchers is to isolate long tail keywords in your niche.  The big hitting keywords draw far too many site managers in because of the high volume of traffic they draw – until six months later they realize that all their work has led to no increase in sales. 

Stick To Value-Added Issues Only

Remember that comment about time the beginning of this blog post?  It applies to even the most acute levels of search engine optimization.  To avoid aimless hours trying to improve your overall traffic, stick to value-added issues that bring in the money.  At the end of the day, nothing else matters as much closing the sale. 

How to Make Back Linking Work for You?

It’s the digital version of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back.”  Backlinking sounds like such a small thing, but can be extremely advantageous for those who do it strategically.  Implementing backlinks into your site is something you need to be thinking about if your business relies on digital exposure. In fact, many businesses should be putting as much time into a back linking campaign as they put into public relations and social media updates.  It really is that important.

According to Google, back linking is one of the most important metrics to measure site authority and relevance.  As you can probably guess, ‘site authority’ and ‘relevance’ are SEO terms that mean higher ranking – and thus more revenue!  That’s why the ROI is so strong for back linking strategies as compared to PPC campaigns. 

The principle behind Google’s approach is this: the more sites of high-quality content linked to pages on your site, the more relevant your site becomes.  So, basically, that means you want to publish high-quality content that references (and is shared by) influential authority sites in your niche. 

Five years ago their approach was not so specific.  It used to be that the volume of links meant more than the quality of the links, which induced site managers to take part in back link stuffing.  Google penalizes this type of practice these days, so it’s important to stay on top of best-practices in your digital marketing strategy. 

Not Complicated, Just Specific

It might seem like back linking is a complicated part of high-level search engine optimization, involving HTML code and dense analytical work.  In reality, building a strong back linking strategy is something any business owner can do in collaboration with a digital marketing agency.  All it requires is some basic knowledge of HTML, a thorough understanding of important players in your niche, and a commitment to hard work.

Let’s say you run an e-commerce site selling barbeques in Indianapolis.  What are some back linking strategies you could use?

  1. Keyword Research – The best way to start is by typing in the short and long tail keywords you want to get backlinks for.

An example might be: “best BBQ Indianapolis”. 

Once you generate a list of 5-10 phrases, do a bit of research into what sites rank for each phrase.  Take note of these sites – because they are your competitors – and build and Excel sheet with all the relevant backlinks on their site.  You want to have 7-10 relevant sites from each competitor that you should link to as well.  This research will become the basis of your back linking strategy because it clarifies what terms and what sites you want to backlink too. 

  1. Broken Link Strategy – Based on your keyword research, go through high authority sites that link to competitors and look for broken links.  There are some great back linking tools to help you with this step.  Simply write to the site manager informing them of a broken link, offer your site as an alternative link, and start watching your SEO ranking improve. 
  1. Rely on Bloggers – Back linking is still dependant on volume of links, and the best way to boost your volume is to rely on social shares and blog shares.  Chances are your business has a pretty strong social media presence, likely being followed by influential writers in your industry.  Getting them to write a feature on your business is a great way to build authoritative backlinks because it’s essentially an endorsement. 

It’s A Multi-Pronged Approach

As with a lot of entrepreneurial work, a proper backlink strategy requires a multi-pronged approach.  It’s one piece of the puzzle that will deliver stronger results when used in conjunction with the right social media strategy, funnels, email campaigns, and website design.  Considering that these technologies (and Google rankings) are always changing, rather than take everything onto your shoulders, it’s best to work with a digital marketing strategist who will have the tools and expertise you require to stay ahead of the curve. 

How to Build Authority with Your Blog

One of the best in-house marketing techniques you can take advantage of is a blog.  A regularly updated blog full of high-quality content is a great marketing resource for a whole bunch of reasons. 

For one, blogging is still one of the most effective SEO tools in your personal arsenal of digital marketing tools.  Google Webmaster loves having new pages to index on sites they are already familiar with.  The logic behind this is quite simple: the more new content a page has to index, the more relevant it is deemed by Google in their optimization rankings. 

You can change content on a service page, but realistically, how often are you going to be changing this content? Probably once a month, at most.  With a blog you can literally post as much as you deem necessary.  As long as you optimize each post with a few SEO basics (which you can learn about here), the blog post will help your organic search ranking and provide valuable insight for your customer base. 

For another thing, a blog is a great way to connect with your customer base in a genuine, ‘non-advertising’ kind of way.  A lot of digital marketing can fall into the trap of generality and mass-communication.  With a blog, you are essentially providing free insight into your industry (and your business) without asking for anything from the visitor.  It goes beyond advertising and offers a behind-the-scenes look at what differentiates your brand.  That’s a huge intangible value.  Gary Vaynerchuk refers to this as a “jab” in his book “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook”.  Give value, and then give some more. Earn the right to make the pitch.

Techniques for Building Blog Authority

Focus On Content – There is nothing as valuable as writing engaging content.  Find your voice and style before you start blogging so that your words remain familiar to readers.  Check out sites like Alltop, Google Alerts, or Feedly for inspiring topics to riff on. 

Start Guest Blogging – You want to get your words in front of as many readers as possible, and that means guest blogging.  A lot of the biggest aggregators of traffic do not generate their own content – they allow others to post on their site and thus generate traffic for them.  Scroll through Huffington Post and Entreprenuer.com to get an idea of how posts should look, and then reach out with your own unique list of blog post ideas. 

Invite Guest Bloggers – An effective way to get your blog off the ground is to invite a guest blogger to write a few months of content.  Pick a writer with a large built-in audience of readers who would be interested by your brand, and track the changes in site traffic to see just how impactful it can be. 

It’s a Long-Term Investment

It’s important to take a long-term approach to blogging.  Always remember that you can run tests on what works, and adapt the content accordingly. 

In running tests of your blog content, you might be surprised at how much ‘traditional’ blogging advice simply does not work for you.  A case in point is the clean-cut layout most web designers recommend.  Sharp lines, simple black and white color scheme, few distractions – what could be more appealing?  It’s only appealing if it draws traffic to your site, and you should experiment with various layouts to see what most people prefer. 

In developing blog authority it’s important to rely on intuition and experimentation instead of spending excessive amounts on banner advertisements (to give just one example).

Build Authority in a Unique Way

It’s an exciting prospect to plan a year’s worth of blog content.  With the right kind of digital marketing consultant, a lot of research and a bit of soul searching, before too long it will be your name at the top of Google queries in your niche. 

The Do’s and Don’ts of Customer Service

There is one fundamental aspect of business that simply cannot be ignored: you need to attract customers.  Attracting customers can be done many different ways depending on your budget. 

You can invest in social media marketing techniques, Google Adwords campaigns, thorough SEO work on your homepage, and several outreach efforts on influential blogs or news sites. 

Here’s the catch: these are effective techniques to drive traffic to your website, but not necessarily to create leads and cultivate conversions. 

Much of the time, social media marketers get caught up looking at volume of traffic rather than conversion rates.  While the two numbers are intimately related (higher volume usually equates to higher conversion rate), focusing on driving traffic can obscure an important part of your everyday business operations. 

So, what is that intangible aspect of your business operations that gets overlooked in all the data analysis? Customer service.  No matter what your business operation looks like, some fundamental principles of customer service will ring true.  Here is a quick list of dos’ and don’ts when it comes to dealing with the most important intangible in your operational frame: the customer.

DO

Integrate Chatbots – Chatbots have been on the rise in the past few years.  Many of the bigger companies like Facebook and Netflix make use of them to great effect, and you should, too.  A chatbot can be prompted on a landing page within seconds.  A simple introductory message is all it takes to familiarize the visitor with the bot.  If they have a specific question they can ask the bot directly, which saves them time scrolling through the site.

A NOTE OF CAUTION: Always have a real person working customer service and monitoring the chatbot conversation with new visitors.  If the chatbot is unable to answer a question, a member of your team can step in and take it from there. 

Keep It Simple – Your customer service team needs to know that keeping it simple is the best strategy, always.  A visitor who is curious about options is on the verge of buying.  All it takes is a subtle bit of guidance from a customer service rep and they find what they are looking for.  On the flipside, if a customer service rep is overwhelming in their approach, it’s quite possible the visitor will lose interest. 

Be Honest – Customers can tell when a sales rep is exaggerating the truth to make a sale.  The only way to stop this from occurring is to be as honest as possible, at all times, even if it means advising a customer not to buy a product. 

DON’T

Think of Customers As Transactions – Your team cannot forget that every customer is deserving of the same treatment.  It is vital that each new visitor feels as though they are being listened to, respected, and given solid advice.  Thinking of every customer as a transaction makes it far too easy to forget the intangible aspects of customer service – like giving time for reflection and thought, discussing the pros and cons of each product, etc.

Ignore Feedback and Criticism – No company is going to have a perfect customer service rating, and every customer service agent will face critique at some point.  The question is: how can you learn from the criticisms?  How well do you respond to customer feedback?  Make sure your team is full of confident and self-aware people that can adapt to the demands of your customers. It’s never a failure if there’s a lesson attached.

It’s All About Consistency

Following these principles of customer service will help your team become better at serving your customer’s needs.  However, without consistency, your whole approach is bound for failure.  What’s the ticket for consistency? Hire a team that believes in your business.

Want to learn how to implement online strategies like chatbots and the possibility of having a team to help you get more leads and close more sales? Get free resources at https://ezmetrics.com/free-resources/.

Goal Setting 101: How to Scale the Mountain On Your First Attempt

We all have goals – in personal life and for our business. And many times, our goals can seem so large that we aren’t sure where to begin.  I want to share with you a simple “mind-hack” that my team and I use to accomplish some pretty epic goals!

Set an end goal, and imagine it as the peak of a mountain.  You have to scale the mountain, and you need to take incremental steps to get there.   

Maybe you could draw a mountain on your office board, give the project a name like ‘Mount BigDeal, or just imagine each micro-goal you achieve as taking you one step higher in the chain of goals. 

Thought experiments like this help to break down complex, often long-term goals.  As you probably know, achieving long-term goals requires a number of short-term micro goals.  It’s not hard to grasp in theory – but in practice it takes a lot of diligence and focus.


Zig Ziglar said, “A goal properly set is halfway reached.”

Maybe you are looking to get an X% increase in sales, or an X% growth in Facebook conversions over a 12-month period. 

Whatever the goal, what matters most is the procedure you follow to get there.

Here are a few tips from experience that will help you scale the mountain on your first attempt, each and every time:

Tip #1 – Start Slow

Many people in business try and get things done too quickly.  Want an example? 

Say you are looking to increase Facebook conversion rates by 10%.  To achieve this, you decide Facebook ads will be the key. 

It’s in your best interest to learn everything about Facebook ads before starting a campaign, but often in the haste of business you just go with what you know. 

Do you know how Facebook defines ‘engagement’?  If you do not, then take the time to read up on it.  It will help.

DON’T FORGET: Facebook has many different types of advertisement platforms.  Do the research into each of them to get an idea which one works best for you.

Developing Facebook ad campaigns can be broken into 6-10 incremental micro-tasks that build on each other.  Write them all down so that you remain accountable to them!

That’s how you get to the peak of the mountain – but you have to build on what you know. 

Tip #2 –  Make A Daily Routine

One of the best ways to scale a mountain is to hike at a consistent pace the entire way up.  That way your body gets used to the exertion and can ensure you have enough energy to reach the end goal.

It’s exactly the same in business.

If you put 60 hours a week into achieving a long-term goal for ONLY 2 WEEKS, how can you expect to achieve it? 

More importantly: how can you expect to have the motivation to continue working on it after 120 hours in 14 days. 

SOLUTION: Make it a daily routine to accomplish one micro-goal a day.  It could be as simple as scrolling over competitors Facebook ads to see what you like. 

It might not bring results overnight, but it will harness all your capability to write engaging copy and give you industry insight that you would have overlooked otherwise.    

Tip #3 –  Use Software Like BaseCamp

Basecamp.com is a great resource to keep every project organized and on schedule.  It’s especially effective when working on a large-scale project with a number of participants, as the user-friendly interface keeps track of all tasks, deadlines, and goals. Basecamp is a fantastic alternative because it tracks everything on one central page. It doesn’t matter which program you decide to use, as long as it works for you & is something you can stick with.

Structure Is Key, Not Energy

The final thing to say about goal setting is that it’s all about building AND maintaining a structure around your goals. 

You have to make sure to maintain a pace which will leave you with endurance near the end, to actualize your goal and enjoy the fruits of your labor. After all, you want the energy to celebrate a job well-done with your team!

5 Effective Time Management Strategies

It’s crucial to manage your time – even more so than your finances. Both are important, but think about it – you can make more money. You can never make up for lost time.

In regards to business, time is one of the most essential components. It’s a large part of the business life cycle and should be a consideration as you plan each project. 

The incremental stages of a business plan are always built on a 6-month or 12-month timeline, for example.  Without this structure in place, it would be hard to analyze data and mark improvements year-over-year. But using time as a measuring tool is the easy part.  The challenge with time is on a personal, day-to-day level. 

We’re talking about how to make the best use of time every day, for both you and your business.  We’re imagining creative approaches for increasing the quality and efficiency of your work.  We’re thinking about the strategies you can use to feel accomplished after a work day, rather than swamped in deadlines and full of stress. 

Don’t Overthink It

High functioning business folks often get stuck on the little details.  This is good on one hand, because it’s the small things that make it possible to maintain a strong business platform in the long run.  But when it comes to efficiency, sweating the small stuff can get in the way of focused and productive work.

Here are 5 of the best tips for time management that will come in handy the next time you catch yourself staring out the window all morning.

Plan, Plan, Plan

Organization is the key to focus.  You have a goal for the day? Put it down, and make sure you achieve it.  You have a plan for the week? Make a schedule of tasks to ensure you don’t forget anything. These are relatively simple tasks that should be taken care of at the beginning and end of a work day.  Much like a professor prepares a lecture for the following morning, you should spend the last 15 minutes of your day planning the next one.

Don’t Multi-Task

Maybe the most common productivity issue for entrepreneurs is multi-tasking.  It’s a bad habit to get into because though it might seem like so much is happening, fewer meaningful things actually get done. 

It’s best to follow your daily schedule and allocate yourself hourly blocks of time for specific tasks.  If it takes longer than the allocated time, don’t fret: just come back to it the next day. 

Delegate Wisely

This applies whether you are a freelancer or the head of marketing at a company.  There is a lot to say about delegation, but for now let’s just leave it at this: proper delegation is the structure that allows efficiency to flourish.  Why? Because it accounts for all the pieces of the puzzle, and ensures they are completed in a timely fashion.

Eliminate Bad Distractions

Bad distractions are all around us.  Procrastinators will literally find anything to do other than get their work done – and let’s be honest, we all procrastinate in one way or another.

The best strategy is to isolate yourself until the work gets done.  What does that mean?  It could mean blocking yourself from social media platforms, putting a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, or turning your phone off until you complete the task at hand. 

Introduce Creative Distractions

Going back to the issue of focus and productivity, many people need to do something to get into a routine.  That’s why Google has a workout gym and a bunch of other free perks – they know it helps employees stay focused.  Creative distractions like making a coffee or doing drawing in a sketchbook gives the brain a little break during a long work week. 

Efficiency Breeds Success

Effective time management is one of those intangibles that make a huge difference to the bottom line.  It’s the secret ingredient to running a successful business, no matter what the budget is. Indeed, if these 5 strategies are followed up on, that yearly status report will look far more impressive than it did before. 

BONUS TIP: One of the most effective time management strategies is to ONLY spend your time on the things that need your attention. If it can be outsourced or delegated, consider doing so. Speaking of which, check out our programs including Done for You team who can handle your digital and social media marketing for you, so that you can leverage your time even more efficiently.

5 Ways Google Adwords Can Help With SEO Planning

While some people say Adwords is not worth the time and money, from an SEO perspective it is an extremely valuable resource.  It informs the most important component of an SEO approach – the keyword list. 

There are many intangibles to keyword searches that can only be teased out from high quality data.  High quality data means the information gathered from running a short PPC campaign with a variety of relevant keywords and phrases. 

Paying a little bit for this high quality data makes sense in the short-term because it helps isolate the keywords that actually convert for your client.  Simply using the most popular keywords in your niche does not guarantee high conversion rate (or even high traffic) for your site. 

Don’t forget that the painstaking work of SEO means always analyzing and changing your keyword set to match search term queries. 

Here are 3 ways that Google Adwords can inform your SEO approach:

  1. Use Filters On Data

Filters is a great tool because they allow you to get particular insight about one large set of data.  You can literally get thirty different perspectives on the same data set by using filters. 

Maybe you want to see which keywords are not converting.  This is a great way to challenge the common assumption that popular keywords are the most valuable to keep.  Use a filter to see which keywords actually convert best in the keyword set for your client, and use this information to target only the most relevant keywords going forward. 

  1. Add Segments To Learn More About Keyword Searches

Segments are a great way to figure out what kinds of phrases work best for each keyword. 

Often times a keyword with a high conversion rate will not be as effective in a long tail form. 

For example, let’s say “shoe store” is your base keyword that does pretty well.  But let’s presume you have added “best shoe store Chicago” and “Chicago shoe store best prices” to your keyword list.  Adding segments to test Search Term Match Type will tell you if short tail or long tail keywords convert better. 

  1. The URL Conversion Rate Is Key

Another option with Google Adwords is to asses which URL has the best conversion rate.  Referred to as ‘Destination URLs’, Adwords is able to inform the user which pages on the site have had the most conversion success. 

That should lead you to analyze the keywords used on the page and apply a similar style to your other pages.

If, for example, the URL with a high conversation rate has less text on it, that is certainly something to apply across the site. 

SEO Is All About the Intangibles

These are only a few of the ways to make use of Google Adwords in your approach to SEO. 

The specificity of each method highlights the fact that SEO is all about the intangibles.  Every component of a website is connected, and it must always remain relevant according to the most important variable at play: the keyword list. 

Google Adwords can help with that, mainly by providing some insightful data about the nuances of search terms. 

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Schedule a free consultation with our team to learn how to implement these tips in your business specifically or other ideas to grow your brand online. Reach out to us at www.ezmetrics.com.

Major Features of Local SEO

Thought Local SEO was only important for brick & mortar locations?
Think again – SEO applies to everyone, and comprises a number of different focus areas.    

We could talk about the on-site features that need to be taken care of to ensure optimal growth. 

Or we could discuss the various off-page optimization techniques that make a difference in organic score. 

We could even talk about the importance of long tail keywords in generating solid traffic in the long term.  And that’s only the beginning. 

But today, the focus will be on features of local SEO.  Everyone should be aware of local SEO ranking techniques for the simple reason that they apply to every site on the internet. 

In what way do they apply?  Every keyword can be a geographical specification.  A long-tail keyword will often contain a city or region for which it is focused – like “best shoe store Chicago” for example. 

If someone searches for “best shoe store Chicago”, the results will begin with the site that has great local search optimization.

Local search makes a huge difference for a business with a brick and mortar location, but is also useful for an e-commerce company that wants to focus on generating traffic in a specific market. 

That’s why local SEO applies to everyone. 

5 Key Features Make All the Difference

There are a number of important factors that will improve local search rankings.  Here is a little list of some factors:

  1. On-Page Signals

The presence of local keywords is most important.  The specific location needs to be as present as the keywords that define your business.  If these keywords are not accurate, then local search traffic will suffer greatly.  It’s that simple. 

2. Quality of Link Signals

Link signals include a whole number of on-site features.  The most important feature is the quality of the backlinking.  Are you connecting with important local influencers on your site?  If not, then it’s time to build a local support network between your site and others. 

Another important factor are the terms you use to backlink.  The anchor text should be the same as the keywords you are focusing on, or as relevant as possible.  It is also good to use anchor text that is relevant to the site you are back-linking to.  That way your site will share local traffic with the influencer or company you are referring to. 

3. Customer Behavior

If customers are using mobile, then you need to respond to that and make your site as mobile friendly as possible. 

That means keeping it simple with a scroll-down layout rather than a homepage with a list of different pages to click on. 

4. Business Info Needs To Be Accurate

All the brick and mortar info about your business needs to be present on Google, business directories, and social media platforms. 

When it comes to business directories, the most important is Yelp, but there are many more that need to be considered, including Yahoo Local, Tripadvisor, and Zomato (for cafes/restaurants). 

5. Reviews

Not to be forgotten are the reviews of your business. 

Customer satisfaction and online reputation matter in all digital endeavors, but a local SEO campaign will suffer if the reviews are not glowing. 

Getting a solid rating across the business directories and Facebook will contribute a great boost to the more technical features of local SEO that are being executed. 

Start Getting Local Traffic

Each page on your ecommerce site can have a different geographical focus area. 

Or, if you are only targeting one local market, populate your whole site with the same geographical terms. 

In either case, putting extra focus into local SEO will drive meaningful traffic within days, enabling you to reach your ideal clients with greater ease.