Black History

Have you read sales pages that scream, “You don’t need to know SEO! Our software does it all!”

Solving your SEO writing woes with software sounds so easy. You wouldn’t have to worry about keyphrase usage, penning the perfect title length, or structuring links. Just feed in your copy and poof! instant optimization help! In fact, the sales copy for one SEO plug-in even says, “We walk you through every step: no need to hire or be an SEO expert.”

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Here’s the question: do you even need to know SEO if a plug-in can do it all? In other words—can you trust SEO writing tools, or do writers still need to know SEO? Here’s how to think about it.



Machines can’t replace humans (yet!)

SEO tools are extremely helpful and save marketers time. We rely on them every day. But their recommendations are just that: recommendations. The writer (or SEO) makes the final optimization call. Sometimes, it makes sense to follow the recommendations, and sometimes, it doesn’t.

For instance, I’ve received emails from my writing students asking, “The Yoast SEO for WordPress plug-in is telling me to [fill in the blank]. Should I do it even if it doesn’t quite work with the page?” The plug-in was telling them one thing, while their writing experience was telling them another.

Please know that I love and highly recommend Yoast’s SEO for WordPress plug-in and many other SEO experts do too. It’s a nice plug-in that handles a lot of the geeky SEO stuff behind-the-scenes. Plus, it allows you to preview the title and description, check your readability, and more. Heck, I use it on my own site!

But other than a quick check, I don’t follow Yoast’s checklist recommendations as gospel. Why? Sometimes, following the recommendations would mess with the copywriting flow. There may be a reason that I’m not using the focus keyword in the title or that I don’t include the focus keyword in the first paragraph. Or I choose to link a certain way.

I may not follow every recommendation, but I know the page’s SEO strategy is still sound.

At the end of the day, good SEO writing connects with the reader and converts. It’s not because it ticks off various “here’s how to optimize everything perfectly” boxes. Even Yoast admits it’s “nearly impossible” to get a “green bullet” for every checklist item.

Plus, some tools still use keyword density as a scoring item. This means writers are still matching the keyphrase exactly multiple times in order to satisfy a mythical keyword density. They don’t know any better. They’re just doing what the tool tells them to do.

Considering more than  90% of online purchases start with a search engine, and nearly 60% of B2B marketers say organic search generates more leads than any other marketing tactics, your number one digital marketing goal should be getting your site onto the front page of search engines.

7 tips for hiring an SEO consultant people should be able to find your blog or website with just a few clicks. Search engine optimization (SEO) practices have changed significantly over the years, but remain at the core of digital strategy.

Between Google’s history of algorithm updates and increased competition, running an SEO campaign by yourself can be harder than you think. That’s why many people seek the help of an SEO expert. But finding an SEO specialist with the right mix of writing ability, technical skill, and industry knowledge to get your website on the front page may not be easy.



You have to make sure you are on the same page (so to speak) and share the same view. Marketing agencies bring a diverse mix of talent, though they can end up charging a small fortune. If you run or manage marketing for a small to midisized business, an SEO freelancer might be the best answer for you.

But with the abundance of freelancers on the market, how can you make sure you find the right fit? Here are seven tips that can help you make the right decision.

Be Specific with Your Requests and Deadlines

Before beginning your search for the perfect SEO match, get as specific as possible about what you are looking for. Coming up with a description for your project will help the freelancer build a proposal for discussion.

Most freelance websites that connect employers with specialists allow you to put together a description of the project and let freelancers submit proposals you can choose from. A description should give information about your business, expectations, and deadline. Drawing up a clear description of your request will ease the communication between you and the freelancer and help you find the best match.

Get to Know the Person You Will Be Working With

Working with a person you just met online can be frightening, especially in today’s world. Giving access to your website can expose you to all sorts of issues. The online world sadly includes scams and frauds as well as legitimate service providers.

A reputable SEO expert should be able to answer your questions in a simple, straightforward manner. If you have any suspicions, you can conduct a background check to find more about the person, before sealing the deal. Some red flags might include asking for payment before the work is completed, not delivering original content or— if you contracted them through a platform—asking for money offsite.

Ask for References from Past Clients

An experienced SEO specialist should have no problem giving you a short list of clients they’ve worked with. Do a Google search on those clients, with specific keywords, and see if they show up on the first page. Don’t hesitate to contact them and ask for a reference.

Want more leads? Maybe… but probably what you really want is better leads. It’s 2019, after all – B2B marketers have evolved past “lead gen 101”. They need leads that contribute to pipeline. Leads that become closed deals and real revenue.

Plenty of research backs this up. But here’s just one example: 58% of marketers said their top priority was lead quality.

Only 46% said it was lead quantity.

Getting higher-quality leads is a great goal, but it means you have to think more strategically about your ppc lead generation advertising. You have to think beyond the first click – way beyond it. So while many of the tools we’ve listed here are expressly for ppc, a couple are for optimizing what happens after the click.



Some of these ppc tools may be brand new to you, some will be familiar. Some you may already use. We’ve also included a handful of tools that aren’t primarily known as pay per click tools – but if you know how to use them, they can really help B2B lead generation campaigns.

PPC Lead Generation Competitive Analysis Tools

SpyFu.

SpyFu can show you detailed information about your competitors’ SEO and pay per click campaigns, including keywords, estimated spend, estimated traffic, and even the ads they’ve run. It will give you suggestions for negative keywords, tell you who their top organic and paid competitors are, and more. SpyFu’s new tool, Nacho Analytics, even promises to basically show you your competitors’ analytics reports.



Ahrefs is another tool that has similar functionality to SpyFu. They’re primarily known for SEO, but because SEO and PPC are so complementary, you could easily find ways to optimize your ppc accounts with this tool. Same goes for Moz, which is also a terrific SEO analysis tool.

SEMRush.

SEMRush is another competitive analysis tool that can be used for both SEO and PPC. It can help you:

analyze your ppc strategy and your competitors’ strategies
organize your keywords into ad groups more effectively
find negative keywords (more on that below)
research your competitors’ keywords and ads

Great SEO can get sites to the top of organic search rankings, provide valuable traffic from long-tail or high-traffic keywords and play a crucial role in driving growth to your company. However, there is one pitfall to all the hard work that goes into ranking at the top organically. That pitfall is paid search. With pretty minimal effort and investment, competitors can start driving traffic from the same keywords you spent months attempting to rank for. That’s why the best digital marketers supplement SEO tactics with targeted PPC to yield top results.

How to make SEO and PPC efforts work together it's always important to remember that no matter how good your rankings, the top 2 or 3 or even 4 results are likely to be search or shopping ads. They will inevitably cut into the click-through rates of top-ranking pages.



SEO and PPC Work Best Together — Here’s Why

SEO strategies are often thought of as long-term and sustainable approaches to digital marketing. Fast advancements in rankings and increases in traffic are hard to come by. Strategies take months and often years of commitment in order to yield results. PPC management efforts, in contrast, can yield results almost immediately—but are costly in the long term. Balancing both long-term and short-term strategies is ideal.

Stopping the Competition:

No matter your ranking, it is likely that paid ads appear above your organic results. If you want to fully capitalize on search results, it is a good idea to supplement keywords of value with targeted PPC ads.

In addition, some companies love to implement “conquest” campaigns in which you pay for keywords that include your competitor’s brand in them. These can be costly, but potentially quite effective. Thankfully, protecting your own brand with PPC is relatively inexpensive, but then again, you’re spending extra money on something you probably rank for.

Actionable Tip: If you’re on a tight budget, or you have a client concerned with branded campaigns, drop the maximum cost-per-click significantly lower. AdWords likely won’t tell you how low you can go, and will suggest much higher, but because this is your brand and there is likely a much higher relevance to your ads and landing pages, you can significantly reduce costs without losing your position. Make sure to test this out to find the right balance and determine your optimal standing.



Keyword Research/Testing:

Use PPC results to determine the best opportunities for organic, long-term approach (this includes PPC tests for headlines, ad copy, landing pages and keyword optimization).

PPC campaigns can be a great way to test the potential value of creating content that can organically rank for the same keywords. Maybe there is significant volume, but if no one converts, PPC can help determine that.

If competitors are paying for keywords, it is likely that they have determined that those keywords have value. Checking competitors’ campaigns can give great insight into new keywords to target, as well as language that best converts.

High-quality photos are critical to an effective marketing strategy. Did you know that the inclusion of quality photographs generates a 30 percent increase in Twitter engagement?

This means that social media users, or prospective clients, are more likely to like, retweet, or comment on your post. Ultimately, quality imagery yields lead that your team can convert to sales.

Read on to learn why you should invest in high-quality digital marketing images. Explore why imagery is so important in marketing and how to take your game to the next level.



Photos Do Not Lie

The truth is that consumers trust photos more than any other type of sales pitch. Take a technical description as the perfect example.

Shoppers know that companies talk up their products and write about them in the most favorable way. On the other hand, a photograph says 1000 words. It gives consumers a baseline to set expectations and determine if they like it.

The product description and characteristics are still important. However, a high-quality photograph sets a great first impression and makes the shopper want to learn more.



Quality Is Important

Every business plays lip service to producing quality products or service. Some of the best companies go to great lengths to deliver the highest quality in their industry.

Either way, using low-quality photographs to market a product or service is detrimental. What kind of message do you think a low-quality picture gives to shoppers?

It tells them that management is willing to overlook quality. Perhaps most important is that it inserts doubt into the shopper’s mind about quality assurance.

Images Affect a Shopper’s Mood

There is clinical proof that imagery affects a person’s mood. Depending on the tone of the picture, an image can make a person angry or sad.

When trying to sell a product or service, the goal is to generate a positive mood. Simply put, a happy or motivated shopper is more likely to make a purchasing decision than an angry one.

Being at the forefront of marketing sometimes requires shifting resources away from old practices. That’s why 52% of outbound marketers say their marketing efforts are “ineffective”. In fact, inbound marketing is starting to be used more than outbound marketing.

By understanding the effectiveness of inbound marketing, business-to-business (B2B) companies can achieve marketing goals in a faster, more efficient manner than previous efforts.

“33% of inbound marketers and 31% of outbound marketers rank outbound marketing practices, such as paid advertising, as the top waste of time and resources,” per HubSpot in 2016. (More recent research shows most B2B marketers aren’t satisfied with their current mix of inbound vs. outbound tactics regardless of last year’s focus.)



What is Inbound Marketing?

Brian Halligan, the co-founder of Hubspot, first conceived the term “inbound marketing.” Inbound marketing is a growth strategy utilized by marketers to increase brand awareness and drive traffic. Inbound refers to the consumers coming to the business rather than vice versa. Unlike outbound marketing, inbound marketing places the user’s interests first.

Inbound marketing key statistics rather than bombarding potential buyers with banners and TV ads, inbound marketing approaches and connects with prospective customers through useful material and content. This places the power with the buyer rather than the seller. By placing informative material and content throughout, a potential consumer can receive relevant information based on their specific searches.

Here are some commonly used tactics when getting started with inbound marketing:

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps make your online content presence more visible and discoverable during search queries. The more relevant the information is to searches, the better the chance it will have to be ranked higher to be seen. Having good software architecture to optimize website navigation experience and search engine optimization could also improve your inbound marketing. Other key components, such as keywords and links, are just the tip of SEO tactics that can be used in your inbound marketing.

Content Marketing

Producing high-quality, useful, non-promotional content is a great way to market and educate potential consumers of your products or services. This valuable, top-of-the-funnel content can rank well in search and drive relevant website traffic. You can incorporate high-quality content by using blogs, news articles, videos, descriptions, and web page copywriting. It is also important to optimize for keyword phrases with a good balance of high monthly search volume and low organic SEO competition.

B2B companies are doubling down on social media and it’s paying off. Many social media marketers feel like social media is an important part of their overall marketing strategy, and they’re employing the latest trends and available options. After all, Content Marketing Institute reported that 61 percent of B2B marketers increased their use social media for content marketing purposes compared with one year ago.

Decision-makers are using social media for business and for personal use, and it’s important to reach them whenever they’re online. When sharing a relevant message, they’re more likely to pay attention and consider your brands products and services.

Below are some examples of actual B2B companies on social media and what they’re doing right to connect with their audience and leverage social media in the right way.



B2B companies are doubling down on social media and it’s paying off. Many social media marketers feel like social media is an important part of their overall marketing strategy, and they’re employing the latest trends and available options. After all, Content Marketing Institute reported that 61 percent of B2B marketers increased their use social media for content marketing purposes compared with one year ago.

Decision-makers are using social media for business and for personal use, and it’s important to reach them whenever they’re online. When sharing a relevant message, they’re more likely to pay attention and consider your brands products and services.

Below are some examples of actual B2B companies on social media and what they’re doing right to connect with their audience and leverage social media in the right way.

Custom Images

TripAdvisor has a Twitter account that’s just for their hotel partners that have listings on their site. Not only do they do a great job serving the community of hotel owners and managers that want to connect with them, but they also have a very visually appealing Twitter profile. Almost all of the images they share or retweet are branded with their logo and “Certificate of Excellence” that reminds anyone viewing their feed that they represent the B2B side of TripAdvisor.

Oftentimes, these types of images aren’t difficult to create.

TripAdvisor created images for the winners using a photo from their hotel and then placed their logo and a few graphic elements that match their brand colors on top of it. This cohesive feel leads to a more professional appearance and also plays into the idea that they represent the highest quality hotels around the world.

As a hotel owner, it would be difficult to turn down the opportunity to be listed on TripAdvisor. The brand aesthetic (with actual photos from hotels on TripAdvisor) represents hotel quality and professionalism, something that any hotel owner or manager would be proud to be known for.

Social media success isn’t nearly as random as it can seem. Most successful pages and brands have had a great deal of work put into them over time, along with solid decision-making in terms of content, post frequency, and who or what they tag. Though it’s a challenge, there’s no magical force keeping you from reaching your social media goals.

Why you need a social media audit
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

To reach your destination, you first need to know how to steer your ship. That’s difficult if you don’t know where you are in the first place. To establish that, begin with a social media audit.



What Is a Social Media Audit?

This post will cover the basic elements. You may want to consult other sources for further details about the process. A social media audit generally looks into the following:

The results of your posts and overall engagement, including metrics such as likes, number of comments, the overall reach for reach post, mentions, shares, and more. If it can be measured, it probably should be measured.
How your posts perform in both short term and long term. While most social media content doesn’t have a long shelf life, sometimes a piece of content can go viral after the fact. A good audit helps you figure out why.

Comparison of similar posts to see how the differences between them affect success.
Both your top performing posts and your worst posts, in-depth, in order to help you adjust strategies for the future.

The alignment between your social media campaign and your brand / company goals and stated values. There shouldn’t be dissonance here.
Your expenditures and an analysis of whether the current outreach used is the most cost-effective option.

The audit will use the data collected to help your team analyze the interests of your audience and take demographics into consideration, maximizing future engagement.

As noted, you can absolutely add or remove elements depending on your business needs. What is important to note is that it is a holistic process. For this to be effective, you must look at everything. A missing (but important) factor can potentially take the whole audit off course.

To perform an audit, we recommend using social media monitoring tools so your time isn’t wasted gathering data (a task a program can do nearly instantly). Which tools to use is up to you, but try to pick a service that will keep all your data together for easier analysis, as well as one that won’t try to keep additional data behind paywalls.

The Information to Develop a Clear Strategy

A proper social media audit will provide all the information you need to develop a clear strategy and goals for the future. It will help identify which platforms to focus on for success, develop a solid posting strategy, and even help optimize post timing and scheduling.

Are you trying to gain new business for your cryptocurrency business?

If so, you need to remember that you’re not in a business that everyone understands. Even if you know why others need to have cryptocurrency, you have to be able to sell the “why” to others.

That’s why marketing for a cryptocurrency business is pertinent for you to survive. Content needs to inform and help your potential clients realize why they need to work with you.



1.You Have to Be on Social Media

If you’re a cryptocurrency business in 2018, you have to be on social media. There’s no way around this. Without it, you don’t look like you know what’s going on.

On social media, you should be posting regular updates about the cryptocurrency business, responding to others who are talking about it, and using it for your own personal knowledge.

Keep in mind that it’s not enough to be on social media. You need to make sure you’re picking the sites that your target audience is on. Otherwise, it will be a waste of time.

Also, make sure you post on a regular basis. Inactive social media does more harm than no social media at all.

2.Content, Content, Content

The days of odd television segments and annoying radio speakers are over. The average customer is too smart to fall for simple advertisements before they come to your business.

Instead, customers want to see inbound marketing, and most don’t even know what it’s called! Inbound marketing is marketing that they find on their own because they want it.

Some common examples of inbound marketing are social media posts, blogs, and videos. These pieces of marketing content don’t advertise directly. Instead, they help their potential clients learn something.

As a cryptocurrency business, consider posting blogs about cryptocurrency tools like 3Commas. You could also create videos telling users what to expect in the upcoming weeks.

Educating your potential clients will make them feel appreciated, and they’ll know how to use your product for their benefit. Because cryptocurrency is complex, make sure you don’t skip out on this step of your marketing strategy.

Did you know that 15 percent of state surveys miss actual harm and jeopardy nursing home residents are facing?

When these cases come to light, these people need legal representation. If they don’t know about your law firm, they won’t be able to contact you. The ability for people to be able to find your business is why you need an effective digital marketing campaign.

In this article, we are going to talk about marketing a law practice and how you can use the internet to get in front of your target market.



Launching a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign

As you are learning more about launching your firm’s campaign, your goal should be getting your firm in front of your ideal customer. While wide-reaching approach type marketing plans may be the norm, you don’t want normal. When you have a well-planned campaign, you will be able to pass your competition with smart law firm marketing ideas.

When you become a lawyer, you probably didn’t expect to need to learn digital marketing skills for your business. While you may not have gone to school for marketing, you’ll need to get good at it if you want to bring in a steady stream of clients.



Focus on UX (User Experience)

User experience should be the center of your marketing efforts. Your website should allow potential clients to find what they need easily.

Setting up your site’s navigation in a common-sense way will make it easier for people to use the site. Keep visible options to a minimum so extra buttons don’t distract users from taking desired actions. Important call to actions should be positioned strategically.

Use YouTube to Get in Front of Potential Clients

Video marketing is a powerful way to get your message in front of your target market. When people watch your videos, it is easier for them to connect with your image than words on a page.

When you use video marketing, do keyword research to find terms you want to rank. You might want to rank for terms in your local area, such as lawyer in your city or attorney in your city. Optimizing your videos for certain terms helps your videos show up in the right places.

Make Sure Your Website Is up to Speed

Most legal professionals haven’t checked their website’s speed performance. If your website loads slow, you are likely losing website traffic. Websites that take more than a few seconds to load don’t satisfy visitors’ need for instant gratification.

Downsizing images or using fewer images on a page helps reduce loading times. Remove complicated scripts and any elements you don’t need from your site. If you use the CMS WordPress, make sure you aren’t using any plugins that you don’t need.

Did you know that 15 percent of state surveys miss actual harm and jeopardy nursing home residents are facing?

When these cases come to light, these people need legal representation. If they don’t know about your law firm, they won’t be able to contact you. The ability for people to be able to find your business is why you need an effective digital marketing campaign.

In this article, we are going to talk about marketing a law practice and how you can use the internet to get in front of your target market.



Launching a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign

As you are learning more about launching your firm’s campaign, your goal should be getting your firm in front of your ideal customer. While wide-reaching approach type marketing plans may be the norm, you don’t want normal. When you have a well-planned campaign, you will be able to pass your competition with smart law firm marketing ideas.

When you become a lawyer, you probably didn’t expect to need to learn digital marketing skills for your business. While you may not have gone to school for marketing, you’ll need to get good at it if you want to bring in a steady stream of clients.

Focus on UX (User Experience)

User experience should be the center of your marketing efforts. Your website should allow potential clients to find what they need easily.



Setting up your site’s navigation in a common sense way will make it easier for people to use the site. Keep visible options to a minimum so extra buttons don’t distract users from taking desired actions. Important call to actions should be positioned strategically.

Use YouTube to Get in Front of Potential Clients

Video marketing is a powerful way to get your message in front of your target market. When people watch your videos, it is easier for them to connect with your image than words on a page.

When you use video marketing, do keyword research to find terms you want to rank. You might want to rank for terms in your local area, such as lawyer in your city or attorney in your city. Optimizing your videos for certain terms helps your videos show up in the right places.

Make Sure Your Website Is up to Speed

Did you know the digital advertising industry is worth more than $192 billion?

Do you want to increase your sales but are wondering what is a click funnel? Not to worry! In this article, we’ll go over what it is and how it could help.

Want to learn more? Keep reading to find out.



What is a Click Funnel?

Clickfunnels is an online sales funnel builder. It helps businesses sell, market, and deliver their products online.

This tool helps simplify the online marketing of products and services. Users have funnel options pre-built for a specific service or product.

You can use it to build webinars, landing pages, and membership sites. Clickfunnels incorporates elements needed for a functional sales funnel.

You’ll have a unified and comprehensive package. Many people choose between Clickfunnels vs Leadpages.

How Does It Work?

Clickfunnels allows users to use a bunch of pre-built sale funnels. They choose the one that matches their business needs. Clickfunnels saves you time and speeds up the sales funnel setup.

When you’ve selected your funnel, you’ll need to choose a template. You have a variety to choose from and proven to work. With a bunch of templates to use, you don’t have to worry about a testing phase.

It’s a user-friendly interface. You can integrate clocks, videos, and animation to your templates. You can perform your A/B testing to see what works and what doesn’t work. You don’t have to deal with a learning curve.

Clickfunnels has a staff ready to answer any of your questions. They also have a Facebook group you can join for more support.

Americans spend, on average, almost six hours per day watching video. People watch video on their TVs, on their computers, and on mobile devices.

So it only makes sense, as marketers, to use consumer’s love for video in order to sell your product. This idea is known as video marketing, and it has become extremely popular over the last few years.

But, what is video marketing? Why is it so popular and how can it help your business? 

What Is Video Marketing?

87 percent of businesses use video as a tool for marketing. If you aren’t using video marketing to drive traffic to your site and increase sales, you’re getting left behind your competition.

The goal of video marketing is the same as any other type of marketing: to increase sales and improve customer relations. With video marketing, you’ll create videos that attract customers and get them interested in buying what you have to offer.



These videos can consist of any of the following:

How-to’s
Brand promotion
New services or products
Customer testimonials
Live events
Entertaining and informative content
And more!

If you’re looking for more creative video marketing ideas, check out this page for additional information.


What Are the Benefits of Video Marketing?

So now that you know what video marketing is, it’s time to answer the most important question. What are the benefits? How can video marketing help my business?

Here are just a few of the benefits of video marketing for business.