10 Latest Content Marketing Tips During COVID-19 Pandemic [2020]
In today’s post, you will learn about 10 latest content marketing tips during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Let’s start.
The coronavirus has profoundly influenced how we meet, operate, and do business.
The current situation is complicated, and we can’t do anything to dismiss it.
If you don’t know where to start and what the future holds, what can you do to minimize the risk of the impact of COVID-19 on your business, while also developing and strengthening future growth avenues?
Content is more than just filling up the pages online.
Content marketing helps create trust among the current and potential ones.
In the past, content marketing was only used to set you apart from competing companies.
Now for any company, it’s become a must.
This article will focus on all the content marketing tips that can assist your business organization in positioning your brand as well as generate leads.
10 Latest Content Marketing Tips During COVID-19 Pandemic
1. Know Your Audience
You need to know your audience before you can build some kind of marketing plan (online or otherwise).
But unlike most conventional approaches, content marketing allows you to be more conscious of who your audience target is.
Content marketing includes that you write articles, blog posts, and graphics that will reach your audience.
To do so, you need to consider what your potential clients want.
What are their interests?
Which help do they need?
And what words and phrases do they use online to find answers?
When you have a good understanding of your audience, your marketing efforts on content will be even more effective.
And if you’ve never done this sort of research, it can be a great way to start developing personas.
2. User-Based Writing and Search Engine Based Optimization
That may sound silly, but you need to write to them once you know who your audience is.
From research methodology to your final edits, your audience should play a major role in the way information is presented to them.
Search engines serve one function, which is to satisfy users by answering their questions or queries.
If you just care about what people want to read without taking into account what search engines will understand, you’ll be delivering amazing content that no one reads at the end of the day.
On the other hand, you have a win-win scenario when you first think about your customers and the type of content they need and then customize it for search engines.
You must pick topics right from the start, about which potential customers would like to know.
It is a difficult method (and sometimes you’re going to be wrong), but you can continue seeking ideas they’re going to love.
3. Purposeful Content
Much of the material falls into one of two categories: enjoyable or beneficial.
When you come up with ideas on the subject, ask yourself if your idea will help a potential client solve a problem.
If not, ask yourself if it would be amusing or interesting to them.
We suggest building a dedicated landing page on your website to serve as a hub of information for anything related to coronavirus.
How much content you put out depends on your business nature, but the goal is to put it in one place and make it easy to find from your homepage.
It ensures that your clients will be able to get the details they need from you when they need it.
4. Subject Adequacy
Before you start publishing content on your website or blog, make sure it is relevant to your knowledge niche and region.
This might be clear to many, but some people always get it wrong.
For instance, if you run a tech blog, you shouldn’t publish a culinary post just because you like it.
Neither one will blame you for doing so, but the chances of gaining traction from this article will get minimized.
The best approach is to publish similar material that aligns with your website’s overall objectives.
For example, if you sell coffee makers online, then in addition to providing all the technical details about your products (specs, images, reviews, videos), you should also provide coffee-related articles (making, drinking, recipes, advice, etc.) to a blog.
Including the themes of the content in question to the way you interact with your audience, being significant provides an air of credibility but also making your messages or opinions more credible.
Content marketing enables businesses to publish their own positive ads through owned media outlets.
And if the materials you make are crucial, you will quickly become an esteemed authoritative figure with a reputation.
5. Experiment with New Methods
Just before the government outlawed public meetings, a number of companies had already planned to cancel their events.
Such activities have now, in many cases, switched to video streaming or webinars.
Webinars have a number of benefits from a content marketing perspective, such as the opportunity to run email drips to participants.
But think about how you can blend the style, as it will be a major challenge to distinguish the video or webinar content as more and more brands do.
For example, you can cut your footage using custom animations instead of simply talking over a video presentation.
And try the whiteboard style, which really stands out in social media feeds.
Businesses hold virtual happy hours for their employees; exercise and cooking lessons are available on the zoom and even virtual world tours.
The chance to digitally get together is a phenomenon worth pursuing.
This can exponentially increase brand affinity, and if done right, generate a lot of buzzes.
6. Podcasts
In recent years, the use of podcasts has boomed various industries.
In the last decade, the number of podcast listeners has tripled and this figure is expected to continue to increase as time goes on.
This might be the ideal time for your brand to launch a branded podcast.
During the times of pandemic, people love to hear positive stories and experiences.
Podcasts can provide just that.
Using a podcast is one of the most helpful content marketing tips.
It won’t be successful to create a podcast for the sake of doing so; neither should you whip up a segment if your team has any spare time, or whenever the mood hits.
Rather of sometimes haphazardly producing podcast content, treat your podcast campaigns as you do the rest of your marketing activities.
Podcast listeners are extremely likely to complete episodes of their favorite shows — and then have an improved chance of further engaging with the company in question.
7. Visual Content
Today’s life has become a bit monotonous due to the effects of the Corona Virus.
To make it a little happening, try to use as many interesting visuals as possible.
Using visuals is one of the most eye-catching content marketing tips.
One of the most attractive aspects of digital media is the way the visual medium can be used.
People go all-in on the influence of immersive or interactive imagery, from entertainment to communication.
Digital social media reigns supreme in the next generation of soon-to-be adults.
The most popular sites where teens hang out are Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat.
To use this marketing tip for content, create and share interesting graphics that will captivate your audience.
Your audience will be subjected to numerous social media posts updated, so make sure that your posts stand out from the crowd.
8. Content Re-Optimization
If you are concerned that the 24-hour coronavirus coverage will destroy your new content, spend some time and energy in enhancing the content that you already have.
Content Re-optimization is one of the most helpful content marketing tips.
One of the best ways to display content marketing ROI is to re-optimize blogs and landing pages which rank in search but not in positions that drive traffic to your site.
The quarantine of coronavirus is the perfect time to inspect the content and get started on a big re-optimization project.
It will determine that when the demand for your goods and services bounces back, your content ranks for keywords that matter.
9. Invest in Different Content Platforms
Some of the advantages of operating remotely are fewer interruptions (or at least fewer work-related interruptions) and the space in the brain to think longer.
Right now working on creating large, in-depth eBooks and other high-value content assets with a number of clients in the B2B market will be crucial in the future.
This content is what you are creating a whole campaign around.
And you can re-use it for different channels, recycle it and repack it.
As well as the time to work collaboratively on the fruitful standard, 10x content, remote work is likely to mean your audience will have the time and motivation to consume it.
Yet it also has a long shelf-life, and you don’t have to think about dating if you want to wait on this material for a while before you post it.
10. Personal Content
In particular, during these tough times, the modern customer is searching for more than your typical content marketing experience.
The use of brand inclusive content is one of the most interesting and effective content marketing tips.
Your consumer doesn’t want to get the very same content set that all of the other consumers have.
Alternatively, individual customers tend to obtain content directly tailored to their brand preferences and needs.
The aim of creating unique, custom content is to deliver precisely what a customer is looking for; this allows them to take more steps to further engage with your brand.
Personalized advertising isn’t as difficult to produce as it used to be thanks to marketing automation.
Conclusion
The Corona Virus presents problems for companies around the globe. But note that this is a temporary phase.
Now the important thing is to stay united to make sure that the audience is provided with valuable information.
Use the above-given content marketing tips to help your audience and create your brand image and stay healthy and positive in these times.
The post 10 Latest Content Marketing Tips During COVID-19 Pandemic [2020] appeared first on SEO Basics.
15 Latest Influencer Marketing Trends That will Dominate in 2020
In today’s post, you will learn about the 15 latest influencer marketing trends that every marketer should know.
By following these trends, you can get the best results from your influencer marketing campaigns.
So let’s start without further ado.
Influencer marketing requires several steps to create user-generated branded content that supports digital marketing objectives.
Influencer marketing involves finding famous individuals that connect with your target audiences, promoting your brand to those influencers, enabling those influencers to spread the message of your brand across their networks, and eventually transforming those influencers into loyal brand followers and advocates.
Therefore it is necessary to seek and analyze the trends in influencer marketing.
With really no signs of stopping this year, influencer marketing will continue to expand.
So we’re bringing you the best influencer marketing trends in 2020 that brands need to know for a successful influencer marketing campaign.
15 Latest Influencer Marketing Trends You Need to Know About in 2020
1. Long Term Relationships
Authenticity and actual links should play a critical role in shaping marketing patterns through 2020.
For this reason, brands should focus on enhancing and expanding relationships with influencers.
Brands must try to get to know their brand partners well before they work with them, regular communication with brand associates, and understand the importance of their influencers.
In fact, brand and influencer partnerships are more likely to survive when brands give outstanding influencer experience to social media stars.
Building a long term relationship with influencers is one of the crucial trends in influencer marketing.
2. Authenticity Comes First
The influencers aim to remain credible.
They chose to work with brands that fit with their message, instead of brands that only pay well.
“Keeping it real” is one of the pivotal influencer marketing trends in the coming year.
Brands rely mainly on producing quality content that is useful to their consumers, rather than solely concentrating on monetization.
What we should expect from this year’s influencers is less perfection and more quality in real life.
Hence we can see a change from well-crafted short texts to extended and truthful illustrations of the blog form.
Moreover, consumers will also desire authenticity from brands.
3. Nano and Micro-Influencers
Brands should concentrate on partnering with influencers who have goals and values similar to their brand for the 2020 influencer marketing trends.
Moreover, audiences have faith in micro-influencers because of their authenticity.
Thus, as influencers form real relationships with brands, their content is more genuine and credible.
In contrast, the expense of partnering with micro-influencers is more affordable than with celebrity collaborations.
Brands should also start to work with nano-influencers, too.
While they have a smaller number of followers, nano-influencers are incredibly active and have loyal audiences, can generate excellent content, and are cost-efficient.
4. Video Content is King
Among all the influencer marketing trends, video content is still going strong and will continue to dominate in the coming years too.
Video is easy to access, and the details they are searching for are a fast way for people to get.
People can mute videos on mobile phones and view them nearly anytime and anywhere.
With increasing numbers of viewers using mobile screens, it makes sense for marketers to reach out to more people.
Although YouTube remains the leading video platform for 2020, a number of companies are using other visual platforms and social media features such as IGTV, Facebook Live and Instagram Live, and Instagram Stories for video content creation.
Product reviews, Q&A, Interviews, How-tos, Tip of the day are some of the ways of collaborating with influencers.
Brands may also use influencers in their video ads, and in influencer vlogs and live streams, ask for product references.
Video can be used by influencers to support brand-sponsored events.
5. Employee Influencers
Activating an employee engagement system within the organization helps you to draw into the brand awareness and expertise already in place.
This increased level of passion and experience will compensate for the smaller social impact of the employee influencer.
Many employees (particularly those who are geniuses of social media) will see this as enjoyable and fascinating, while others will need some training and encouragement.
Keep workers inspired by conducting competitions for the most earned shares, likes or exchanges, the most innovative tweets, or other personal-specific ideas.
6. Instagram and Its Features
Instagram is among the largest social media networks in 2019 with the most subscribers.
Therefore, brands will exploit Instagram to boost engagement and sales as part of the 2020 trends.
Produce Instagram stories to showcase new products and a sneak preview of deals coming soon.
Run Instagram influencer takeovers to share engaging content, promote competitions and challenges, and invite viewers to join in, make live videos of current partnered events or demonstrations featuring brand products and services, and create coupon codes and promotions for influencer channels.
7. Use Twitch More Frequently
Twitch achieved more popularity with influencer marketers over the past two years.
For a long time, the platform has been the go-to spot for gamers to live stream games.
But the live stream content, including art, beauty, cooking, and fitness, is also increasingly becoming a spot for other creators.
Brands are seeing the potential for Twitch influencer partnerships.
In the past two years, the partner program has expanded tremendously, and Twitch events like TwitchCon are gaining massive amounts of support and participation.
Developers have become accustomed to Twitch to gaming brand activations, but many major non-gaming brands make their presence known on the site.
Brands understand the ability to work with top influencers on Twitch.
With games like Fortnite and Call of Duty streaming being the norm, we expect Twitch to remain a viable choice for advertisers.
8. Influencer Events
One of the most crucial influencer marketing trends is by hosting dedicated influencer events.
Influencers are to themselves an industry.
Brands are keenly aware of the possibilities that can put a bunch of influencers into the same room.
The brands will boost their initiative by hosting influencer events.
Events involve special, inviting-only activities that usually invite influencers to a party or a holiday.
All expenses charged as long as a dedicated post or two posted to endorse the brand.
Influencer events are expensive and require preparations.
And they’re more than worth it.
They create massive amounts of buzz when well-performed, and give a brand the all-important exposure.
9. Snapchat Collaborations
Everybody knows that the primary social media channels are the places where you can target your marketing efforts to meet and select influencers to the broad audience.
One platform that is one of the new trends in influencer marketing is Snapchat.
Snapchat is a forum for video sharing, and it’s able to ride the phenomenon and make an impact in 2020.
But more than that, in 2019, Snapchat placed significant effort and resources into updating its interface apps.
It added editing and sharing options like Lenses, Geofilters, Discover, Stickers, and Snap Map to improve the platform’s fun and enjoyable vibe.
Marketers may partner in all traditional ways with Snapchat influencers, including product launches, competitions, unboxing, events, and so on.
For example, taking viewers behind the scenes at an event or tour is one of the best types of tactics on Snapchat.
10. Podcasts
Influencers look beyond social media sites to find new ways to communicate directly with their audience members.
Hosting a podcast is one instance for content creators, which is one of the latest trends.
Podcasts are switching blogging from the written word to audio, making it more accessible.
People listen to content in places they can’t read, like driving, commuting, cooking, cleaning, and exercising.
Listening to podcasts saves time, making the fans more likely to consume more often.
11. The Rise of AI
AI makes it easier and better for marketers to find the right influencers to collaborate.
And brands are better able to monitor consumers through the purchase process by geolocation and retarget their message as necessary.
AI promotes weeding out fake followers and identifying influencers who still have the highest level of interaction.
AI may also evaluate the posts of an influencer and predict when they are likely to see their influence raise or decrease.
Flagging posts that do not follow the guidelines for FTC disclosure is better with AI, which saves time for marketers and avoids potential problems.
12. Advertisement Features
The year 2020 looks like a moment when influencers appear in your social media account stream banner advertising and promotions.
Although celebrity faces have historically appeared in advertising, influencers may now make a major impact.
It’s a natural evolution from funded content and brand ambassadors as the benefit of broader recognition by an influencer.
Owing to the direct income they earn, social media sites are likely to promote influencer advertising, which is not the case for sponsored content.
The ad may then go out to a bigger audience, appearing outside of the influencer’s followers in feeds and stories of Instagram users.
13. Gaming Influencers
Gamers rule massive, faithful followers.
PewDiePie is an industry for itself, while other gamers on YouTube and Twitch streamers are seeing their stock grow.
Gaming has become a revolution in influencer marketing trends.
Top gamers are enticing advertisers’ prospects — they have tremendous sway over the lucrative markets of the Gen Z and the Millennial.
Streaming growth has generated larger audiences than ever before, and non-gaming companies are now at ease with sponsorships in a previously fragmented environment.
14. Variable Cost
As influencer stocks have expanded, so have demands.
Mega-influencers have priced out of the market many brands, with top talent loading over the moon.
It has also forced the hand of advertisers, with just the major corporations able to shell out so much cash for one single post.
Considering that pricing structures tend to change across networks and sectors, ultimately, the cost of working with influencers will not be standardized.
It is one of the influencer marketing trends that will intensify as influencers are more likely to integrate sponsored content and promotions into their work — an improvement in professionalism that is in itself a bonus.
15. Influencer Regulations
The Federal Trade Commission has vigorously underlined in recent years the guidelines for influencers and advertisers to obey concerning proper reporting of ads and endorsement.
YouTube ensured that all influencers with video content aimed at children reported content as directed at children, stopped serving customized advertising, and removed other YouTube features such as comments due to the FTC guidelines.
As a result, many content creators and YouTubers are impacted by regulations imposed by FTC.
Conclusion
To thrive in the ever-changing marketing influencer industry, marketers need to learn and accept the marketing tactics of the winning influencer.
Hence, the above-written is the latest 2020 influencer marketing trends that will help brands to increase engagement and bear fruitful success.
The post 15 Latest Influencer Marketing Trends That will Dominate in 2020 appeared first on SEO Basics.
How to Speed Up WordPress Website to Improve Search Ranking in 2020
In today’s post, you will learn about how to speed up a WordPress website to improve search engine rankings in 2020.
Let’s start.
WordPress is known as the largest content management system in the world.
There are lots of people trying to speed up their WordPress website because speed is the best-ranking factor of Google.
It is one of the most trending topics around the blogger community these days.
For some WordPress users, speeding their WordPress website becomes a nightmare for those who don’t even know where to start troubleshooting this problem.
In this detailed guide, I’ll help you to solve this problem with all the troubleshooting steps that I’ve learned in my five years blogging journey.
Why You Should Increase Your WordPress Site Speed
So, here a question arises; Why should you speed up your WordPress website?
What should happen if my site loads two seconds more?
The answer to your question is; it matters a lot.
Google has officially stated that the site speed will affect the site ranking in SERPs.
Here are some reasons why you should speed your site up.
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Most of the search engines rank fast loading websites up as compare to the slow loading sites. So, if you want to improve your ranking in SERPs, then make sure your website load time best.
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When someone lands on your website, you have only a few seconds to convince your users to spend time on your website.
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If your site loading time is more than two or three seconds, there are more possibilities they leave your site before landing your page.
How to Check Speed of a Website
First, you need to check the current load time of your website.
There are some tools that can help you to test your site speed.
But remember that your site may vary page to page, depending on different factors.
Usually, a website homepage is used as a benchmark for checking the load time.
However, sometimes it depends on how many requests you are generating.
These are some tools which help you to test your website page speed:
- Tools.Pingdoom.com
- Webpagetest.Org
- PageSpeed Insights (This tool is to help users to understand what type of element can boost your site speed.)
So, now you will understand the basics of why you need to speed up your WordPress website.
9 Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress Website
1. Choose the Better Web Hosting Provider
This one is the most basic step in order to increase site performance.
Choosing the best WordPress hosting plan with the right hosting company can take your website to the next level.
Most of the new website creators go for shared hosting because of unlimited bandwidth, emails, space, domains, and more.
However, the fact is most of the shared hosting providers can not deliver 99% uptime in peak hours and fail to provide good loading time.
SEO Basics is hosting on Bluehost, as they provide the best WordPress hosting with a guarantee of 99.99% uptime.
But Why Choose Bluehost?
There are lots of other web hosting companies out there, why choose Bluehost?
Let me explain it to you.
Bluehost is one of the most trusted hosting companies in the past couple of decades.
It is used more than 2 million websites all around the world.
Whether you are running a small business or an owner of a big portal, Bluehost provides all kinds of WordPress hosting according to your need.
Bluehost provides a variety of web hosting services from low-cost shared hosting to virtual servers, dedicated servers, and cloud storage.
Bluehost charges are very cheap as compare to other hosting companies as they don’t provide monthly web hosings.
So, choosing Bluehost for your WordPress hosting can always benefit your site performance in Google.
2. Choose the Better WordPress Theme
This might be weird in listening but a lot of typical elements on the theme can slow down a WordPress website.
If you also have so many elements on your homepage then this will also high your page load time.
The best solution to this problem is, choose a lightweight theme.
The WordPress default theme Twenty Nineteen is quite speedy and lightweight.
But I know you don’t want to use Twenty Nineteen.
That is why I recommend the GeneratePress premium theme because it is less than 1 MB in size.
The less size helps this theme to loads very fast whenever a user comes on your website.
You can also choose Astra and OcianWP if you’re at the starting point of any WordPress & WooCommerce project.
3. Optimize Images
High-quality images take too much time while loading your website.
That is why you need to reduce the image size in order to speed up your WordPress website.
This process is called image compression.
You can do this step manually but this process will take your lots of time.
However, there are lots of plugins available that will automatically compress all your website images.
One of them is WP Smush which I recommend you to use on your site.
WP smush will automatically reduce all your image sizes without losing their quality.
These plugins have bulk optimization tools so you don’t have to optimize your existing images manually.
4. Deactivate or Uninstall Unwanted Plugins
If you keep unwanted plugins on your site then it will add lots of trash files on your web server.
It will also reduce the page speed of your website as there are lots of files to be load on your server.
The simple solution to this problem is, use those plugins which can do some extra work for your website.
Some plugins like the Elementor pro page builder can also build your fast-loading landing pages for your website.
The Elementor Pro plugin is one solution of your all needs as it is recommended by some pro bloggers.
It is necessary to deactivate all unwanted plugins in order to speed up the WordPress website.
And also, look for the fast loading plugins.
5. Use Caching Plugin
Using the best caching plugin for your website can load your website faster.
A cache plugin can create and store your website’s static HTML pages on your server.
Instead of juggling comparatively strong WordPress PHP files, every time the user wants to reach your website, your cache plugin serves the lighter HTML page to your users.
This helps the cache plugin to increase the loading time of your website page.
If you would like to choose the best WordPress cache plugin, then I recommend you to go for W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket.
These two plugins are one of the best WordPress cache plugins used by millions of websites around the world.
6. Keep Your WordPress Website Updated
It is your responsibility to keep your website updated with the current version of WordPress.
Not only WordPress but also your theme and plugins should be up to date with the latest version.
WordPress frequently updates will not only offer new features but also fix security issues and bugs.
7. Optimize Your Site’s Homepage
It is also one of the most important parts in order to speed up the WordPress website.
Lots of people directly land on your home page so it needs to be load faster.
You don’t need to add more widgets to look like an awesome website.
Make your homepage with the help of a page builder plugin like Elementor pro.
It can build your homepage fast loading but can also build your other landing pages creatively.
Showing many lengthy blog posts on a single page could also cause a longer loading time issue.
Keep in mind, the simple or cleaner homepage you keep, the faster it loads.
8. Minify JavaScript and CSS Files
If you are familiar with the Google PageSpeed Insight tool, then you will be notified about the warning that minifies your JavaScript and CSS files.
It means that after reducing the number of JS & CSS files, the load time of your site will also reduce.
After reducing these files, you will also reduce the server load time for your website and you can improve your site loading time.
There are so many ways to minify JS and CSS files.
You can do it manually or you can use a WordPress plugin called Autoptimize.
9. Compress Your WordPress Site’s Size
We have already discussed compressing the site images to reduce the site load time but you might be surprised that it will also be possible for your website.
After all, the WordPress website is a collection of your files.
The smaller your WordPress website size is, the faster it loads.
GZip compression will minimize content on your website by about 70%.
And after being compressed, a website loads quicker because of bandwidth reduction.
It can be done by using a simple caching plugin that can add a simple code on your .htaccess file directory.
By reducing the load time with GZip compression, you will know why you need to use this WordPress cache plugin feature.
Conclusion
So, here you will definitely understand why having a fast loading website is a must need thing nowadays.
It will give you lots of benefits in Google search rankings as well as help you to gain authority around your community.
Your WordPress website needs to load fast in mobile devices also because Google prioritizes mobile page load speed as a key metric when determining your website’s search ranking,
I hope that this guide on speed up WordPress website will help you and you apply these solutions on your site to reduce your load time.
If you have any queries then feel free to share us on the comments.
The post How to Speed Up WordPress Website to Improve Search Ranking in 2020 appeared first on SEO Basics.
Search Marketing Priorities for Auto / Car Dealerships
This is the latest article in a series called “Search Marketing Priorities” which is focused on how different companies should spend their Marketing Dollars in the Online Space. Due to the maturity over time of the Internet there are so many different areas to invest in that it’s important for a business owner to know how to prioritize. This article will help guide Car and Auto Dealers on what parts of Search Marketing they should concentrate on to help move their auto inventory.
Priority List:
- Paid Search – 9/10
- Local Listings/Google Maps – 9/10
- Website Quality – 9/10
- Organic SEO – 8/10
- Social Media – 8/10
Paid Search
The nice thing about Paid Search for Car Dealers is that this where they can narrow down and focus on their best selling products or autos that they need to move off of their lot. They can also use Paid Search to promote short term sales on particular cars. Google Adwords is ideal for this kind of marketing and it also allows you to just run ads on days/hours the dealership is open. Paid Search also typically appears above the Local Listings and offers you a chance to be seen first before your local competitors. You can also add additional links to your listings promoting particular cars models that you may have a large stock of. You can also ttarget many generic keywords like ‘used car’ or ‘luxury car’ that might be hard to rank for either in Local or Organic listings. In this way Paid Search is the most powerful promotion tool that a Car Dealership can use online.
Local Listings/Maps
Obviously most new and used car buyers prefer to purchase their car from a dealership close to their homes. Even if someone wants a car that is in another state or close by city they can expect to have it shipped to their local dealership where they will be able to purchase it. For this reason Local Searches for car dealerships are very important. The way that Google and other Search Engines treat car searches is important to understand as well. Typically people will put in the make and model of the car they are looking for or simply the Make and the word ‘dealership’. The maps will then come up and they will try to show the consumer the dealerships closest to the location in which they made the search either on a computer or mobile device. Since the maps listings come up very close to the top the consumer will then be made aware of the different dealerships in their area then browse each one for further information. Making sure that your local pages are updated with the proper phone number and website is quite important
Website Quality
If you were to look at 10 car dealer websites you would likely see the same design 9 out of 10 times. This is not a bad thing as consumers come to expect a flashy home page with big pictures and big lettering promoting the latest cars and whatever promotion the dealership is currently running. The quality of that website and those pictures will often make the consumer feel like you are a trusted brand. This is important but on the other end of that is how well does the structure of your website help your Internet Marketing abilities. You want to make sure that the structure of your website makes it easy for search engines to crawl through and identify the information on that site (the different types of cars, makes , models, year, location etc.) so that when people make a search for a specific car they are more likely to see your pretty site. Since consumers expect to see a pretty standard website how you can make yours stand out is in the structure of that site.
Organic SEO
For most car dealerships they will notice that their most popular keywords organically are often ‘branded’ keywords from people searching their dealership from offline advertising (like TV or Radio). The stronger the dealerships brand the more non-branded keywords will seem few and far between. This is mainly because of the way that people search for cars online and how Google reacts to those searches. For instance when someone makes a search for a “Ford Mustang” in Google it is not assumed that 100% of those people are looking to buy one. Google will list the manufacturer website, some information sites, sites that talk about the history of the car or give specs about it. Most of this is totally unhelpful to a Car Dealership who wants to capture this traffic and bring it onto their website. In this way organic search is a poor way to gain traffic for the 10% of people search ‘ford mustang’ who want to purchase one. Although a Car Dealership can structure itself in a way that it can capture a good amount of non-branded traffic if the website itself has an inventory system that Google can actually crawl. So if someone searches a ‘2019 Ford Mustang GT” you would have a chance of coming up. So there is opportunity there to appear both in Paid and Organic but for most Dealerships they waste that opportunity due to a poorly structured website.
Social Media
Social Media can be an important part of your Marketing as a car dealership if done right. When someone gets a new car they are usually pretty happy about it and they want to share this news with their friends or family. Making it easy for them to do so will pay dividends as the family or friends might find out that your dealership is a friendly place where someone they know got a good deal on a car. So when they go to look for their own car they will think of your brand first. Posting pictures of people who bought cars and tagging them (with permission of course) on Facebook or other Social Networks is a good idea as well. People who are looking for a new car may also check these Social Channels to make sure that your dealership looks like a clean, friendly place to visit. They might be looking at the sales people to see if they look like they’ll be pushy or intimidating online before they ever step foot in your dealership. More and more people look to those channels for re-assurance of the quality of a brand before deciding on what dealership to visit.
A Car Dealership always has inventory it needs to sell and the Internet always has people looking to buy cars so it is a match made in heaven. If you can utilize Search Marketing in an effective way it can help your car dealership grow, keep your salesmen selling cars and make your business successful. Making sure that you create a website that is an effective marketing tool is important to your success. As mentioned make sure that your Local presence is strong and utilize all the options that Paid Search provides you and you will sell a good amount of cars from your Search Marketing Channels.
10 Facebook Ads Trends That You Should Follow in 2020
In today’s post, I’m going to show you the 10 latest Facebook ads trends.
I’m sure after following these Facebook ads trends, you can get higher ROI from Facebook advertising.
So let’s start without further ado.
Facebook ads are an effective way to link to the customers on the largest social network in the world.
The ever-changing Facebook algorithm can pose a challenge for communicating with fans organically.
But the micro-targeting features of Facebook let you hit your target audience precisely.
That means that Facebook advertising will take your message to the people who most likely want your product/services.
Facebook ads are perfect for your budget, the rate of conversion, and the return on investment.
You pay only for access to the most desirable potential customers.
For best results, it’s essential to understand the various types of Facebook ads trends and targeting options before you start to invest.
60% of social marketers agree that Facebook is the most powerful social media channel they use.
Keeping this in mind, let us take a look at 10 Facebook Ads trends to keep in mind before formulating an advertising strategy.
10 Latest Facebook Ads Trends That You Should Follow in 2020
1. Optimize Ads for Mobile App
94% of advertisement revenue from Facebook comes from smartphones.
The number remains steady even with an aging Facebook population.
The problem is that consumers deal with mobile ads differently.
Their concentration time is shorter.
Facebook found that, on average, users spend 1.7 seconds on a smartphone compared to 2.5 seconds on a laptop with a piece of content.
In order to capture more of the visitors’ attention, you can start with showing immediate details about the brand, let your product or service stand out for the majority of the ad, ail your main message primarily, and keeping it short and straightforward even without audio.
Make the most of the vertical screen space by making 9:16 video advertisements.
And it is now easier than ever to format your video ads to suit the vertical screen space, with the automatic cropping feature in Ads Manager, where our scene detection technology determines the focal point of a non-vertical video on a frame-by-frame basis and automatically crops the video to the aspect ratio.
2. Facebook Stories and Ads Go Well Together
The feature of the Stories has taken over every site.
You won’t lose your content after 24 hours with Facebook’s Stories ads.
Moreover, unlike daily videos, people on Facebook stories listen to the audio.
However, users of Facebook absorb stories faster than other forms of content.
Get the most out of Stories ads by adding an emotionally compelling message to your story at the outset.
Then add music or voice-over for plot enhancement.
Using a vertical full-screen interface of both video and static images for better performance.
Story-based ads have proven to generate successful business results.
In the Ipsos survey, 62% of people said that after seeing it in a story, they were more interested in a brand or product.
And brands testing ads for Facebook stories already see results.
3. Lead Form Advertisement
Facebook lead type ads are a perfect way to connect to your audience or get your email subscribers back on board.
For example, by re-targeting them with a lead type ad, you can request previous Facebook contest participants to send you a summary or sign-up for your email newsletter.
Or in Messenger, use the Facebook lead type ads.
Doing so provides more chances for delivering leads to high quality and establishing a relationship with your fans.
Facebook Lead Advertising allows users to remain on the site to apply their lead form.
Instead of sending users to an external landing page, prospects will access the deal without ever leaving the Facebook app that is crucial to growing conversions.
This means you can grab lead information from the Facebook platform and avoid the user being discord with a longer click-through route.
4. Re-targeting With Facebook Ads
One of the Facebook Advertising trends is re-targeting users who view your videos.
If your viewer does so before clicking through three seconds of your video ad or live stream, consider re-targeting them with a Facebook ad.
Viewers get an idea of the target in those few seconds.
But it looks familiar to a well-placed ad.
But with your first re-targeted ad, don’t sell out.
Instead, supply a second video or piece of content which adds value.
Further, segment your audience into a lead magnet or landing page.
You can do this by directing highly engaged viewers especially the ones who watched a higher percentage of your video).
More often than not, purchasing decisions take time, especially for big purchases such as software or real estate.
But the odds of them changing their minds are better by telling them frequently what they are unsure about.
This is why you should plan to run retargeting ads, whatever the nature of your sector.
5. Short Video Ads
Videos are more common than ever before.
Watching videos is a simple and passive activity on Facebook.
It’s a smart way to pause scrolling, too.
However, when watching videos 85% of people don’t use music.
You can increase viewing time by as much as 12% by adding captions to your video content.
Short Video Ads with Captions are one of the most influential Facebook Ads trends.
A survey by HubSpot found that 54% of people wanted to see more video content from a brand or organization they support.
Normally most customers just read between 20% and 28% of the words on your page, and it’s no wonder that four times as many consumers would prefer to watch a video about your product rather than read it.
6. Customized Facebook Ads
Another Facebook Ads trends are the customization of advertisements.
Your chances of commercial success are improved for both custom and lookalike audiences.
Upgrade to existing clients, engage your email subscribers, or extend your scope by creating a lookalike audience.
But don’t blast out the same commercial on your list to anyone.
Established customers would want more detail about new items, similar to those they had previously purchased.
However, there might be chances that some of your new fans might need a giveaway of freebie or details on your services.
Broaden the scope of your ad by reaching people who share common characteristics with those who are already engaged with your business page.
A lookalike audience lets you discover people that are involved in similar services or goods.
7. Facebook Messenger Ads
Messenger advertisements offer a major marketing tool.
Facebook says, “People get 20 billion messages from businesses every month”.
Yet, without a good reason, you can’t just leap into somebody’s private messaging room.
This is one of the most effective Facebook advertising trends in terms of conversion.
Using Messenger ads instead to reach people who have viewed your video advertising for a few seconds.
Or consider adding a pixel to your shopping cart or FAQ accounts on Facebook.
This way, you can send a message to customers if they close your web page without having to make a purchase or answer their questions.
Customer service is switching to messaging.
If you don’t use a live chat service in any way, shape, or type, you’re at risk of missing out on conversions.
And it’s no secret that reacting to a possible lead will only improve the chances of completing a deal faster.
8. Facebook Search and Placement
Facebook keeps upgrading its ad site with a range of new formats.
It recently revealed that advertisements in Facebook’s search results will be open to more companies, after testing search advertising for around a year.
Search ads are similar to Google ad placement.
Search ads are a perfect way to draw those who want to buy now because 15% of Facebook users do shopping on the app.
This has been one of the influential Facebook Ads trends in recent times.
You can reach those users with a valid search ad at the right time.
Except that you can’t pick specific keywords that you want to advertise on Facebook.
Facebook searches the company page instead and takes out words and phrases.
So, updating your page to include terms for your items, services, and competitions or giveaways is essential.
9. Facebook Ads For Marketplace
Another of the Facebook Advertising trends is the application of Facebook ads in the marketplace feature.
Users on Facebook click on the tab to view marketplace products.
Placing advertising on the internet is a way of reaching an audience ready to make a purchase.
In addition, marketplace ads appear in the newsfeed too, so you get additional coverage.
Marketplace advertisements are a perfect example of purpose-based advertising, so design your ad accordingly.
10. Slideshow Facebook Ads
Though Facebook users love video, it’s costly to create video content and takes more time than other ad formats.
You are getting the best of both worlds with a slideshow ad.
You post photos of high quality, and the slideshow ad gives motion to your still photographs.
Facebook also notes that this ad format uses five times fewer data than usual video advertising.
To attain the most profit from this format you can use three to ten images, first display your best photo, insert overlays of text, and add music or other audio.
Conclusion
Facebook wants its advertisers to thrive so that they can continue to make more money.
Keeping in mind the above-mentioned Facebook Ads trends, you can make a suitable strategy.
That means better tools to increase the efficacy of marketing campaigns and offer marketers more opportunities to communicate with their target audience.
It’s a win-win, even though it doesn’t always sound that way.
The post 10 Facebook Ads Trends That You Should Follow in 2020 appeared first on SEO Basics.
Search Marketing Priorities for Roofers
This is the fourth article in a series called “Search Marketing Priorities” which puts the focus on examining what areas of Search Marketing different companies should concentrate their efforts on. After gaining the skills you need for your profession and opening up your own shop Marketing is essential to the success of that business. This article will help guide Roofers and Roofing Companies on what areas of Search Marketing they should focus on that will grow their business.
Priority List:
Local Listings/Google Maps – 9/10
Paid Search – 9/10
Organic SEO – 9/10
Website Quality – 9/10
Social Media – 8/10
Local Listings/Maps
When a roof starts to leak or shingles begin to fall off people will immediately look for a local roofer either on their mobile device or on their computer. Since being local to the client is essential, that makes having a listing on Google Maps/Business important to driving in new business to your roofing company. In most cases a client will call the first two or three companies listed in order to get an estimate and if you are not at the top of the Search you will be ignored. Therefore making sure that the information you have on your Google Maps listing is up to date and accurate it important. Having positive reviews on local listings will also help you out as some roofing companies have a reputation for dishonesty and if you can show your company is different via customer reviews you will stand out.
Paid Search
Obviously roofing jobs are costly to your client and they are looking for a great job done at a reasonable price. Paid search allows you not only to get in front of the potential client but also hit them with the Marketing message that you desire. That is because Adwords allows you to link to specific pages within your site as well as highlight specials and information within the Ad that can help set you apart from others. This ability to control your message is important as it sets up the discussion you’ll have with the potential customer once they fill out your form or call you up. You can also target keywords for more lucrative roofing jobs that will bring in more profit and keep your contractors working more often. Paid Search also allows you to target areas outside of your business location that might bring in bigger jobs (like larger wealthy communities that are outside of your city but close enough to do work in)
Organic SEO
Roofers can benefit from the vast amount of traffic in Organic SEO. Having your site appear in organic listings gives potential customers the impression that your company is trusted and has been around for a while. If you write a blog on your site you can use this power to target specific types of jobs or highlight previous work that you’ve done so that when people make a search, information will come up about your site as opposed to your competitors. Having strong content on your site will help you rank for more keywords in many locations and help grow your business.
Website Quality
Many roofing sites are behind the times when it comes to quality and so if you can create a new website with broad visual appeal you can gain immediately on your local competitors. Seeing examples of roof fixes and new roofs is a very appealing marketing tool for your company. Having a site that has a robust gallery and a good sales form can really help you get more quotes and eventually more work. A quality site will also help you provide clients the information they need to see the different types of roofs that you can work on and the quality of your work.
Social Media
For many roofers it is hard for them to control the message about their business on Social Media because one negative review can tarnish an otherwise good reputation. Therefore monitoring and responding quickly to any issue on Social Media is important. Social Media can help establish a wall of trust for your business. Since a new roof can be a large expense for someone they will do a good deal of research beforehand on your company and if they see an active Social Media presence they will be more likely to trust your company and decide to work with you.
For a Roofing Company to be successful it needs to be able to attract a good amount of ‘new roof’ building as well as roof repair work. A Roofer can utilize Google Adwords to keep the phones ringing on both of these types of jobs and target organic traffic towards the higher end work they desire. Making sure that your local listings are maintained will get you in front of the most customers and allow for you to get quotes for most work in your area. A Roofer is in the unique position of needing to work on almost all of the aspects of Search Marketing equally so that there is a unified message of trust and availability.
Search Marketing Priorities for Pest Control Companies
This is the latest article in a series called “Search Marketing Priorities” which is intended to help companies determine how they should allocate their Marketing dollars online. With so many different areas to concentrate on it is important to focus on those that will benefit your company the most. This article will help guide Pet Control Companies on what areas of Search Marketing they should work hardest on to bring in new clients for their business.
Priority List:
- Local Listings/Google Maps – 10/10
- Paid Search – 9/10
- Organic SEO – 9/10
- Website Quality – 8/10
- Social Media – 8/10
Local Listings/Maps
When a person has a pest problem in their house whether it’s bugs or rats they are looking to have those creatures out of their house immediately. Therefore they are going to be looking for a business that is as close as possible to alleviate their problem. In this way the local listings are key to the success of a pest control business. Making sure that your business is located in a populous city and making sure that your local business page has the correct information is important. Having all of your information (such as phone number, address, business type) the same over all the different local platforms will show consistency to search engines and help you rank above your competitors even if you are all in the same city as your business. Coming up as high as possible in your current city will ensure a steady stream of new clients from your local listings.
Paid Search
When looking at important areas of marketing for your business paid search should rank quite high. If your company is located in one city but services many areas around it then you can utilize Paid Search to target all of those different communities with just one location. You can even target specific neighborhoods where specific pests might be most common or ones where you would be able to see the most significant profit from a service call. Paid search is unique in this way as most other targeting by Google limits you to the specific location/city of your business. Paid Search also offers you the ability to promote current promotions based on location or service. This will help you stand out among your competitors. You can also create specific landing pages for different services or specials and direct potential clients to those pages where you can more easily close the deal and get them to contact your business before your competition.
Organic SEO
As a pest control expert you want to be found in the organic listings because they are the most used and most trusted of all the search results. While everyone is fighting over space in Paid and Local Search results if you can establish yourself in organic results you are more than likely to stay in that position for a while and gain very qualified new clients. The overall pest control space can be very crowded but most companies in this area are not concentrating highly on organic SEO and that creates a good niche for a savvy marketer to move in on. Constructing your website to have specific pages for each location you want to serve and pages for each pest/service area will also help you to come up when customers make more specific searches.
Website Quality
Typically a Pest Control company website does not need to be very pretty but should be very functional. A potential client isn’t expecting a million dollar look to your website but they will want it to have good usability. Key to this is making sure that your contact information is easy to find and that your form is simple and quick to fill out. Your website should contain information like how long you’ve been in business and what services you specialize in. It helps to have some pictures of employees so new customers will know who might be coming out to their location. Overall you want to make sure that your website is appealing (and mobile friendly) but it does not need to super expensive to build.
Social Media
Social Media is a good way of keeping your current customers loyal to you as well as bringing in new customers from recommendations from people they know. You can also keep clients informed with the latest deals or specials you are running. For Marketing purposes Social Media should be used just enough to keep people informed but you shouldn’t put as much effort into it as you would the other marketing channels as people are not looking to be informed about pests all the time.
A Pest Control Company is in a unique position of being needed as quickly as possible by its clients. This means you want to position yourself in front of your client as much as possible when they make a search for your business. Being in the Paid, Local and Organic results all at the same time will ensure that your business is not missed. This will help your company succeed and have a steady flow of new and existing clients needing your services.
10 Most Important Things to Know Before Hiring a Local SEO Agency
In today’s post, you will learn about the 10 most important things you should evaluate before hiring a local SEO agency in 2020.
Let’s dive right in.
Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is an essential form of modern-day online marketing.
Business promotion and the building of a reputation depend massively on a successful SEO campaign.
Building an in-house SEO team may prove to be expensive for most companies.
For this purpose, they recruit local SEO agency.
It seems like a new local SEO agency begins with assurances of fast ranking results at minimal costs every other week.
It may sound appealing at first glance, but like most things, you get what you’re paying for, and it’s crucial to understand what to look for when you recruit the right local SEO agency.
Your marketing campaign should more forward towards attracting new visitors to your site
Also, make sure that your website is in accordance with your buyer persona.
You will need to use a diverse strategy to drive targeted, “organic” traffic to your website, which will help you achieve the goals of your business.
10 Most Important Things to Evaluate Before Hiring a Local SEO Agency or Consultant
1. Experience
When you are trying to expand your small business in a major city or metropolitan area, local SEO is necessary.
You want to partner with an organization that has some field experience.
Ask the local SEO agency about their previous performances, as well as their approach to title tags, meta descriptions, and keyword analysis.
They may not be able to come up with a full plan right then for you, but they should be able to provide some suggestions and tactics.
A lot of experts suggest that you should find an existing local SEO agency with 10+ years of relevant business experience in the SEO industry.
This would mean the organization had several years to refine its SEO operating practices and develop them.
During the first five years of business, several SEO companies struggle or fizzle out.
A local SEO agency that is at least 10+ years old is efficient in surviving the storm of market cycles and are ready to defeat their rivals, they believe on the basis of experience, success, and customer loyalties.
2. Case Studies
Ask for more case studies, ideally in the same sector in which your company works.
SEO case studies will provide consistent data in the following key performance indicators ( KPIs) for the SEO: overall organic exposure (impressions), rankings, organic traffic, and achievement of organic targets (conversion rate).
Additional SEO KPIs can include data from Google My Business listings including, Visibility search, Visibility chart, Website clicks, Directions clicks, and Call clicks.
The output of these SEO KPIs can vary widely from industry to industry and by company size, but for most of these KPIs, we typically look for an improvement of 50 percent to 300 percent.
3. Reviews
Look for reviews in both the quantity and quality.
We recommend finding companies that have a minimum of 30+ ratings on Google.
Reviews must span for at least five years.
The agencies need to be flagged companies that have lots of reviews in a short time and all five stars.
Usually, this refers to fake reviews.
Like for other companies, ratings tend to be either 1 star or five stars.
It must be a well-established, successful local SEO agency with a long history to occasionally have negative reviews.
A lot of people expect that this is the industry where honest businesses are not looking to sanitize their reputations.
If you find SEO companies with a 4.5-star rating or less, try to avoid them because they might have a higher percentage of negative feedback, possibly 1 to 2 percent can be negative.
4. Professionalism and Proficiency
Although there are more than 10,000 marketing companies offering SEO, we recommend choosing a Local SEO company specializing in search engine optimization, not just one that offers SEO along with other facilities.
It should be their professional priority and their company’s main central theme.
We strongly believe you’re a master of none if you’re a jack in all marketing services.
Search for companies focused on perfecting a few offerings, the focus being SEO.
5. Link Building Strategy
Link building is one of the search engine optimization’s most complicated but crucial aspects.
Its method for link building, the local SEO agency you choose, must have white hat links.
Try to avoid every type of black hat or old school link-building method such as every form of bots, comment links, forum links, etc.
Address the SEO company’s quality link requirements.
Are they searching for connections from websites with a minimum authority over the domain?
Are they searching for links from website pages with a minimum authority for the page?
Do they do advertisements or guest posts?
We suggest hiring a local SEO company that adopts a holistic approach to building ties, integrating a wide variety of methodologies for acquiring link building.
6. Keyword Research and Strategy
Fitting the stage for an SEO campaign is critical to its long-term success.
Ensure the local SEO company’s research component is rigorous in providing a good understanding of the business model and products or services.
Discuss how they are going to take the detail and look for it.
What metrics are used to evaluate the best keywords for optimization?
Quantity Search?
Pertinence?
Competence?
Assure that they have a clear understanding of your market so that they can successfully place your SEO campaign goals.
7. On-Page SEO Strategy
Content is the most influential element in the optimization of search engines.
You have to wonder whether they can produce new material, or work with the old content.
When they choose to create new content, test their knowledge on various subjects while producing quality content.
Also, you should check their language’s quality and proficiency.
Also, ask them about the changes they will make on the page and why.
Effective SEO campaigns begin with on-page SEO campaigns.
Ask the local SEO agency that you are interviewing on how their on-page SEO approach looks.
Are they on a checklist?
How many elements go through the evaluation process during the SEO strategy on-page?
8. Content Strategy
Content is king and a critical part of the optimization of search engines.
Ask the SEO agency that you are interviewing about the content strategy they’d outline for your business.
A better way to approach this is to discuss which existing products or services you are offering that need to broaden and optimize the content.
Discuss other products or services not listed on your website, which may need pages created, content written, and optimized.
Ask the local SEO agency about its blogging strategy.
Are they blogging?
How frequently?
How do they choose topics they want to write about.
As part of their overall SEO strategy, Great SEO firms should have systematic content optimization approaches.
9. Reporting and Discussion Techniques
To some people, it can be incredibly monotonous to look at reports and statistics.
When SEO agencies interview, you find out what looks like a typical SEO report that sends.
How frequently they send reports?
Do they have a dashboard or login so the SEO data can be viewed at any time?
We recommend that you find a local SEO company that will allow you to access your SEO progress data via a dashboard at any time.
Here are a few SEO KPIs you should insure in a dashboard.
Organic visibility overall, or impressions.
Google Search Console & Bing Webmaster Tool tracks this.
Rankings by keywords.
Select a set of keywords to trace and concentrate.
With this set of keywords, the SEO company will have consistent progress rankings.
Data on organic traffic.
Tracking of organic visitors with Google Analytics.
Your SEO company should give you a report outlining all the stats relating to your organic traffic.
Organic conversions are best recorded in the goals section of Google Analytics too.
Your selected SEO company will explore conversions or goal fulfillment with and the importance of those objectives.
The vital targets to consider are phone calls, form submissions, e-commerce sales, or events like a click button or download a white paper, etc.
Understand and discuss how the SEO department wants to help you interpret the SEO results and the steps they will take based on the details.
10. Website Modifications
Your website may need a lot of improvements in templates, content, navigations, etc. for an SEO campaign to work appropriately.
Next, make sure they have the right person to handle the modifications.
Also, make sure that you understand the changes that are made on the website clearly.
At least, you should sign off the modifications to create a trust for the first few weeks.
If the requirement of any critical change arises, you should ask your developer or ask the SEO company to check if they have the skillset to handle the problem.
By handing your website to an amateur, you do not want to endanger your business.
Conclusion
These are factors to consider when hiring a local SEO company.
I hope these factors help make your mind up.
Hire an authentic local SEO agency instead of a so-called one, and get the push you need from your business to obtain a better return.
The post 10 Most Important Things to Know Before Hiring a Local SEO Agency appeared first on SEO Basics.
Search Marketing Priorities for Limousine Companies
This is the newest article that helps different companies determine what type of Marketing they should be doing on the Internet. With so many different options out there it is important to know what areas you should focus on as a business owner. This month we are going to look at the priorities for Limousine and Limo Companies.
Priority List:
- Local Listings/Google Maps – 10/10
- Paid Search – 10/10
- Organic SEO – 8/10
- Social Media – 8/10
- Website Quality – 7/10
Local Listings/Maps
With your business being mainly focused around customers that you can drive your product to (the limousine) it is imperative that people find you locally and not from hundreds of miles away. Therefore appearing in the local listings on site like Google should be a top priority. Making sure that you have a physical office location in a major city you want to serve is important. If you’re in the town next door it won’t have the same impact so when looking at a place to park your limos you may want to choose a location that is nearest to your customer base. Once you have that address you want to determine that it is correctly listed across many different directories on the Internet. By making sure your address, business name and phone number are streamlined across many different platforms it will help in how you rank locally on Search engines as well. You also want to make sure that you provide solid customer service so that you can accumulate good reviews which will also help you rank better locally.
Paid Search
The market for limousine rental can be fierce especially during high demand times like around Prom. This means that you have to be able to reach customers quickly with your marketing message as well as your sites existence. This is where Paid Search can be quite valuable. Not only can you turn ads on and off during different seasons but you can increase bids at different hours of the day. If your fleet of limousines are idling then you’ll want to increase your bids or push a different marketing message. If you are booked solid then you’ll want to pull those ads back. You can also put out different marketing messages depending on the time of year and offer specials as well. For a new limousine business this is a way to get business quickly as you won’t have to wait for your other long term marketing efforts to pay off like with Organic SEO, you will be able to gain new customers quickly via Paid Search.
Organic SEO
The Limousine industry is rife with competitors both new and established. Many of the more established limo companies are in the organic listings because they have been around for a while and acquired that status. If you are a newer company you’ll want to make sure that your website starts to acquire inbound links so that you can also be ranked organically. You’ll notice that at first your site might be nowhere to be found on these listings but over time with enough hard work you’ll start to appear next to more established companies. As an established company you’ll want to maintain your positions because 100% of Searchers use Organic listings and trust them more than paid search. You can keep ahead of new competitors by keeping your page content fresh and by continuing to accumulate links into your website. Organic Search is the key to a limo business being successful long term.
Social Media
Having a good presence on Social Media can help your company get in front of more eye balls on the Internet. With almost universal use of Social Media at this point it is important that people know that your limo business exists and creating pages on sites like Facebook help you establish that. During busy seasons like Prom it might be a good idea to run a campaign via Social Media to let people know about whatever promotions you are running since Social Media user skew a bit younger than overall Internet users. Having a presence on Social Media channels also shows Search Engines that you are a more trustworthy site and will help your overall Search Rankings as well.
Website Quality
In most cases Limo websites typically have a very similar look. With a fleet of limos and the city they serve highlighted in either a picture on in the content. Making sure that your website is up to date and the content is fresh is important. Most customers aren’t expecting a world class web design presentation and just want to get onto your website see what limos you have and what the prices are. Try not to complicate their pursuit of that information and make sure that you have your contact information displayed so that they can easily get in touch with you. Making sure your site functions correctly is very important to your Marketing efforts.
A limousine company has unique challenges that make it stand out from other businesses. As a limo company owner you have a limited amount of limos and you want to be able to have them in service as often as possible. Internet Marketing allows you the flexibility to promote your company at different times depending on the availability of your fleet of limos. Using Paid Search intelligently along with a good local and organic presence can help you succeed as a business where others might fail.
Search Marketing Priorities for Carpet Cleaning Companies
This is the latest article in a series called “Search Marketing Priorities” which puts the focus on the most important areas that specific business can concentrate on when looking at the Internet Marketing Space. This month we are going to look at the priorities for Carpet Cleaners and Carpet Cleaning Companies.
Priority List:
- Local Listings/Google Maps – 10/10
- Paid Search – 9/10
- Organic SEO – 8/10
- Social Media – 8/10
- Website Quality – 7/10
Local Listings/Maps
When people have carpet cleaning needs they are typically going to look locally for the business that can service them. When potential clients look for you online they are likely to type ‘carpet cleaning’ or ‘carpet cleaning + city’ in this way search engines like Google will automatically detect where they are by their IP Address or phone/mobile device location. Making sure that your Local Business Pages (like My Business by Google) has the right information, services you provide, contact address and phone number are key. Having all of the same information across different local pages and platforms will also help you rank better overall in search. With most of your customers being within 50 miles of your business it is important that you appear when people make local searches.
Paid Search
Paid search offers a wide variety of options to a Carpet Cleaning Company and is essential to the success of your online marketing presence. With many competitors in your local area it can sometimes be hard to rank well on local map listings or organically. Paid Search gives you the ability to target any local area you want with geo targeting and test out the viability of specials and offers in a particular area. For instance due to all of the additional information you can add to a Google Paid Ad you can promote specific coupons or offers and direct people to pages on your site that promote those offers. For many new clients they are looking for ‘the best deal fast’ and Google Adwords can help you put that promotion out quickly and reap the rewards of new clients and a busy staff.
Organic SEO
With so many different carpet cleaning companies to compete with in a city or local area it is important to maintain a strong presence in organic SEO. With many people typing in ‘carpet cleaning’ it will be important that you appear in the list on the first page of organic results. It can also benefit you greatly to create separate pages for each of your city locations so that you appear when people make ‘city carpet cleaner’ type queries as well. Having a page dedicated to that local area can help you gain additional clients outside of your office location. Organic results are also more trusted and used by 100% of people using a search engine and having results in those locations will help establish you as a trusted business before users even venture onto your website.
Social Media
Having a good social media presence online helps your current customers keep up with your specials and promotions as well as learn more about your business. This allows customers on Social Media already to share information with their friends or family about the existence of your business. So keeping your basic Social Media pages up to date is helpful for your business. Since most people are not on Social Media looking for Carpet Cleaning It is not going to be as effective as other areas but it will help you with repeat business and trust from the Search engines.
Website Quality
Carpet Cleaning companies are in a unique position where the quality of their website is not judged as harshly as the quality of their work. As long as you have a decent looking website and a good price point you will likely still get a call from a client. They are not looking at your site as a direct reflection of the quality of your work although it would be helpful if you included pictures of successful carpet cleaning work on the site. The site itself should be easy to navigate and include the services you provide as well as the locations you service. This will help with your overall search optimization efforts as well.
New customers for a Carpet Cleaning Company are likely to look over several companies and make their decision based on the quality of work they see on the website as well as the price point. So making sure that you are listed on the first page in Search engines either organically, paid or in local listings is very important. It would be ideal to be listed on all three if possible. With Carpet Cleaning being such a competitive business the more exposure you can get on the Search Engines the better.
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