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Key Resources to Keep Your Professional New Year’s Resolutions in Check

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in Blog, Search Engine Optimization, SEO.

Professional New Years Resolutions Resources

Summary: Setting professional goals that will help you become better at what you do everyday is, after all, the whole point. Challenging ourselves to becoming more productive, creative and happier at work is essential to any team’s success.

Here we are: two weeks into a shiny new decade and – if history proves correct – some of you are already struggling with those infamous New Year’s resolutions. According to research on this, only 8% of those who make a list of resolutions success. (Yikes!) But no judgement here. We’re all guilty. Sometimes life happens and old habits are tough to break.

The thing that struck me recently is the kind of resolutions most people talk about. We’ve all heard the usual M.O. when it comes to resolutions: “This year, I will save more money…exercise more…quit smoking…learn a new hobby…etc.” These are all great personal objectives. And if you’re successful with hitting your personal self-care goals, then more power to you.

But lately, around the office, I’ve noticed the New Year’s resolutions are a buzz with a refreshing entrepreneurial edge to them. And I love it. Professional resolutions are so much more exciting to me, simply because of the network and support group you have amongst colleagues, mentors, and even your clients. And setting professional goals that will help you become better at what you do everyday is, after all, the whole point. Challenging ourselves to becoming more productive, creative and happier at work is essential to any team’s success.

I’m going talk about three of the most popular resolutions floating around our office to give you an idea of what you could add to your own business’ professional resolutions. I’ll also dive into some supplementary resources that my colleagues and I have used, which, hopefully, will help you (and us) become a part of that elusive 8%.

podcasts

1. “I will listen to more work-related podcasts (not just True Crime ones)”

Whether you’re looking to be a better marketer or looking for inspiration for launching a new business, podcasts offer up a great avenue to learning something new. And it’s truly as easy as accessing Spotify during your subway commute into work, driving to your next client meeting, or grabbing your afternoon espresso. Podcasts fit into a busy life and will put you into the right frame of mind to conquer your professional goals. And the nice things about podcasts is that there’s something for everyone. Those seeking motivation, expert tips, or even a moment of mid-day zen will find something useful. Bonus: with podcasts you don’t have to listen to the episodes in order.

A few helpful resources:

  • The Charged Life with Brendan Bouchard –  Bouchard is a high performance expert and a New York Times bestselling author who focuses on tapping into your motivational drive. It’s great for a quick Monday morning boost to get ready for the week ahead.
  • The #AskGaryVee Show – Thought leader Gary Vaynerchuk dives into topics like entrepreneurship, business management, leadership and millennialism. Tune in for both practical and inspirational know-how about creating the career you always wanted. You’ll find his perspective interesting since he’s actually only taken 3 vacations in his whole life!
  • The Growth Show with Hubspot – Hubspot CMO, Kipp Bodnar, and VP of Marketing, Meghan Keaney Anderson, discuss all things related to business growth from an organizational and cultural perspective. Explore how teams at Google, Apple and Twitter have changed the way they handle team management.
  • Entrepreneur.com 10 Podcast Recommendations –  Deep Patel from Entrepreneur.com recently shared 10 of his recommendations all of which focus on success stories, lessons and challenges from other entrepreneurs like Tony Robbins, and Tim Ferriss. I haven’t had the chance to tune into all of these yet, but a few of them will definitely get added to my list.

2. “I will keep up-to-date with Google’s every move”

google analytics

This is a tough one to make, but doable. Since Google’s algorithm changes more times than a baby’s diaper, this resolution is actually an annual must-have for any marketer, small business owner, or solo-preneur. These algorithm updates are helping searchers find the most useful content out there and you want it to come from you! So keeping up with Google’s changes is the place to start.

A few helpful resources:

  • The Beginner’s Guide to SEO – This is one of our favorites from the folks at Moz. It’s all about making your site search-friendly on Google (or any other search engine for that matter). While Google is working on their nest algorithm update, newcomers should always start with SEO education.
  • Why You Need to Care About On-SERP SEO – ‘No-click searches’ took the SERPS by storm this year, which changed the game for marketers. This is a huge Google development you need to continue to watch closely this year.
  • Google in 2020: From Everyone’s Search Engine to Everyone’s Competitor – Rand Fishkin from SparkToro (and formally MOZ) is a favorite source of ours around here for all things SEO. Keep an eye on Rand, and you inevitably keep an eye on Google. Check out this latest presentation on how Google is expected to change the web landscape this year.
  • Google – Sometimes you just gotta go straight to the horse’s mouth. Google’s team covers major updates and answers important questions directly on their blog

3. “I will learn a new programming language”

learn programming language

High five to all of you who’ve made this resolution this year. No one can ever tell you that you’re scared of a challenge! Marketers ready to jump on this one already know that having at least a basic handle on a few programming languages is an excellent way to enhance your marketing toolkit. Even just being familiar with coding can help open up doors for customized solutions, creating cooler email campaigns, executing better A/B testing, automating GoogleAds, and – naturally – working with tech partners much easier. 

A few helpful resources:

  • Programming 101 for Marketers – Kapost shared this comprehensive list of which languages might be the most helpful for marketers. From Javascript to Python, they dive into practical benefits of each. There are far more than the ones mentioned here, but it’s a decent place to start.
  • Intro to Python from Moz – Python is a hot topic in the marketing world lately and this recent Whiteboard Friday talks about how it can automate tasks, discover keyword opportunities, scrape websites and more. Plus, the episode has a cute little python named Pumpkin to get you into the mood. (Personally, I would have named the python Monty).
  • 10 Free Classes to Learn to Code (If You Have Absolutely No Idea Where to Start) – Here’s a rundown of free classes to start with on resources like Codecademy, Udemy and Skillshare. Learning to code can be intimidating to jump into, so the gratis route can do wonders for alleviating the pressure.

No matter what you choose to work on improving this year, remember there are other professionals out there tackling the same goals as you. Share resources, celebrate milestones, and ask for help if you need it. Often, it’s in your network that you will find the most motivation to reach your target.

WSI was founded in 1995 and is an innovative digital marketing agency with offices in over 80 countries. We’ve spent over 20 years helping more than 100,000 companies and large global brands unlock the full potential of their business by leveraging the Internet and its many unrecognized opportunities. We’d be happy to help do the same for you and consult on your digital marketing strategy.  Simply give me a call or email me at rknutsen@wsiebizsolutions.net to learn more.

 

Website Design And UX: Why It’s Important To Iterate

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in Blog, Search Engine Optimization, UX, Website Design.

Website Design and UX
Summary: With our newly launched website in mind, here are the reasons why it’s important to iterate your website’s design and UX on a regular basis.

Just in case you were wondering, the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” shouldn’t be applied to your website design.

Here’s why: your website essentially begins to break the moment you launch it. It’s like driving a new car off the lot – the second you hit the highway, the car loses 20% of its value.

This isn’t a pessimistic take or anything like that, it’s simply the state of doing business in our increasingly digital world. Tactics, design trends and most significantly, user experience requirements dictate it’s best practice to iterate your website and its design as frequently as you can.

We recently redesigned and migrated our WSIWorld website; with that decision in mind, here are the reasons why it’s important to iterate your website’s design and UX on a regular basis:

The Digital World Moves Fast

Perhaps the biggest reason not to let your website’s design and UX stagnate is the speed at which the digital landscape moves. We do business in a world that changes fast – faster than most of us can even keep up with – and with that comes the need to quickly adapt the tactics, strategies and tools that we use. What worked in the digital world two years ago probably doesn’t work the same way today. So as good as your website looked and functioned two years ago, for all intents and purposes, in today’s digital world, it’s old.

Practice What You Preach

For us, redesigning our website and its UX was part of a company-wide dedication to “practice what we preach” or “drink our own champagne.” We say that we help businesses do better marketing, and in order to do that, we need to have our own ducks in a row. As we’ve discussed, in 2019 and beyond, it’s important to iterate your website’s design and UX on a regular basis. So that’s what we’ve done: we’ve completely revamped our website and UX. We’re really proud of the new site so please, have a look around and let us know what you think!

Follow The Numbers

In the digital marketing world, numbers and data are hugely important. As soon as you any website, you also begin collecting data on it. And unless you’ve somehow built the perfect website, that data is immediately going to tell you that certain components of your site are not working optimally. Whether that’s because users are behaving differently than you thought or a design element isn’t as engaging as you hoped doesn’t really matter. Once your site has been live for a few months, dig into the data and you’ll easily have a list of things to work on for the site’s next iteration.

Optimization, Optimization, Optimization!

Sometimes, you just can’t see all the angles until a project is launched. This is part of the reason why we’d rather ship something imperfect and iterate rather than waiting for perfection, but that’s a post for another day.

WSIWorld Homepage

Throughout the process of creating the new WSIWorld, we: a) analyzed data on our legacy website b) considered modern design and UX trends c) audited our content and SEO strategy and d) really honed in on our customer personas. As a result, here are some rules of thumb we came up with, which you can use if you’re thinking about a website redesign of your own:

Don’t Make Your Visitors Think

If you give your website visitors too many things to think about or too many places to look or click, it causes cognitive friction. When users are overwhelmed by a page on a website, what do they most often do? Click back and try something else – otherwise known as a bounce.

This is why, on the homepage of your website – above the fold – you should try to tell your website visitors a) who you are b) what you do and c) why they should trust you. While it might seem difficult to do all of this in such a small space, it’s totally worth it to put the time and effort into optimizing this information.

Avoid “Greedy Marketer Syndrome”

Picture this: you’ve got a new website and you’re excited. You want to reap the benefits of all that hard work as soon as possible. You launch the site and can’t wait to get that first conversion. Sound familiar?

As tough as it is, we recommend avoiding “greedy marketer syndrome.” The fact is, we shouldn’t really want or expect our website visitors to take the bottom-of-the-funnel conversion action right away. We should earn their trust and allow them to make their own decision without being overly pushy.

This is why, for example, we chose to go with “Talk To Us. We Can Help.” as our main CTA button text instead of something like “Book A Consultation Now!”

Conduct Website Design Post-Launch Analysis

We’ll close this post out by saying, don’t forget to conduct a post-launch analysis once you’ve rolled out the new site and UX. There will be immediate data so why not use it? Heatmaps and A/B tests can give you insight as to how users are engaging and what they’re clicking on – maybe you can even make some tweaks with this data right away.

Good luck, and be sure to reach out of you have any feedback on the brand new WSIWorld!

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WSI was founded in 1995 and is an innovative digital marketing agency with offices in over 80 countries. We’ve spent over 20 years helping more than 100,000 companies and large global brands unlock the full potential of their business by leveraging the Internet and its many unrecognized opportunities. We’d be happy to help do the same for you and consult on your digital marketing strategy.  Simply give me a call or email me at rknutsen@wsiebizsolutions.net to learn more.

 

Let’s Simplify Some Commonly Confused SEO Concepts for You

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in Blog, CTR, Keywords, On-SERP SEO, Search Engine Optimization, SEO.

Confused by SEO concepts? Wondering how to sift through all the jargon to find some simple answers? We understand your frustration. For many business owners and marketers, it is hard enough trying to keep your website ahead of your online competitors without getting side-tracked by confusing search engine optimization terms.

To help you get a better idea of some of the most commonly confused SEO concepts, we have put together a mini-glossary of the widely used jargon. Keep reading to find out more about ranking, algorithms, SERPs and other concepts.

seo

Confused by SEO Concepts? Here’s How to Sift Through the Jargon.

In no particular order, some of the most commonly confused SEO concepts include the following:

  • SERPs. SERPs is short for Search Engine Results Pages. This means where you are placed on search engines such as Google. Page one would be the first page of the search results (which is where you want to be), while page two and three mean that web users need to click to view your ranking. The harder it is to be seen on the first page, the less likely your website will be found. It’s worth noting that there are always exceptions to this rule. If you are not on the first page yet, don’t worry… this comes with time, solid SEO practices and a great deal of work.
  • Ranking. A ranking is essentially how well your website does online. A good ranking means that your site is found on the first page of the SERPs. Although many businesses think that they need to be right at the top, you are still doing well even if you are a few places down. Although not too far down! According to Advanced Web Ranking, the click-through rate for position 5 on Page 1 of the Google search results is only 3%, and it decreases for every position after that. So high up on Page 1 is where all the action is. A number of factors determine your ranking, including on and off-site SEO, content, industry and even the keywords you are using.
  • Algorithms. Algorithms are how your website gets to that all important first page. Every so often, Google updates their algorithms to ensure a better quality experience for consumers. Google is always trying to return the most relevant search result for a user’s search, based on their language, location and search history. Factors that are typically considered include quality of content, the relevance of the content, and others.
  • Penalties. If you have been trying to take shortcuts by buying dodgy links, or your website is loaded with poor quality content, and other elements that Google thinks have a negative impact on the user experience, you may face penalties. Generally speaking, penalties take the form of lost rankings. A website that may have been at the top of the SERPs may suddenly find themselves on page three if they have been penalized by Google.
  • Keywords. A more accurate term would be “search term”. Many people assume that keywords consist of a single word. In reality, search terms need to be as specific as possible or “long tail”. An example of a bad keyword would be something like ‘shop’. Because this term appears in many contexts, it would not help anyone find your specialty kids clothing shop online if they searched for this term. A better term would be ‘Durban shop’, but there are still countless shops in Durban, so this would not help much either. A term such as ‘kids clothing shop in Durban’ meanwhile would make it far easier for your shop to be found.
  • Keyword Density: This refers to how many times your keyword appears in your content. This is tricky because you want your keyword to have a good density on the page (around 3%) but you don’t want the content to sound overly repetitive for the user. It takes good copywriting skills to write content that is both keyword-dense & reads well. You can check your keyword density using this nifty free density checking tool.
  • Search volume. This refers to the number of searches done for a keyword over the course of a month. Although a higher volume can be a good way to find phrases that are frequently searched for, lower numbers for specific searches will generally have a better conversion rate since your site is more relevant to the searcher’s query.
  • Click Through Rate (CTR): This is how many times your website is clicked when it does show up for searches. Let’s say you show up on the first page for a search 100 times, and out of those 100 impressions, your site is clicked on 10 times. This means your CTR is 10%. Google wants your site to be relevant, so good CTRs mean your site is relevant to searches and will do better in the organic rankings.
  • Competition. This refers to how many other websites are using the same term and actively optimizing for it. Be wary of high competition phrases. Even if these have a high volume of searches, you will likely not be able to rank if many others are using the term as well. A low and medium competition will be easier for your content to be found. Just imagine, if there are 2 million pages returned for a specific search result, to get to the first page of the search results, Google has to decide that you are more relevant than 2 999 990 other web pages!
  • Backlinks: Google has confirmed that 30% of your ranking score comes from your backlink profile. This means the links that come into your website from other websites. Think directories, social media, and business listings.
  • On-SERP SEO: Is the optimization of any and all content on SERPs that you can either control or influence in some way (e.g. meta title, meta description, feature snippets).
  • Featured Snippets: A featured snippet is a summary of an answer to a user’s query, which is displayed on top of Google search results. It’s extracted from a webpage and includes the page’s title and URL.
  • Zero-Click SERP: A zero-click SERP is one where the answer is displayed directly at the top of a Google search result. The search intent of the user is satisfied without having to click any actual search result links.
  • Voice Search: Also called voice-enabled, allows the user to use a voice command to search the Internet, a website, or an app.

At WSI, we are passionate about making it easier for businesses just like you to get found online. We aim to make the process as simple as possible so that you don’t have to lose sleep (or waste time) stressing about getting relevant website traffic. If you have any questions on any of these SEO concepts, or you have a specific bit of jargon you’d like us to demystify, get in touch with your local WSI expert today.

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WSI was founded in 1995 and is an innovative digital marketing agency with offices in over 80 countries. We’ve spent over 20 years helping more than 100,000 companies and large global brands unlock the full potential of their business by leveraging the Internet and its many unrecognized opportunities. We’d be happy to help do the same for you and consult on your digital marketing strategy.  Simply give me a call or email me at rknutsen@wsiebizsolutions.net to learn more.

Key Considerations for Your Content in Today’s Evolving Search Landscape

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in Blog, Mobile Marketing Strategy, Search Engine Optimization, SEO.

Today’s internet users are changing the way they search the web and as a result, search engines are constantly evolving to adapt to this change. This has had a significant impact on how searchers find content and how content is being ranked, which affects business’ overall SEO performance. Gone are the days when measuring your SEO success was solely based on keeping track of keyword rankings. With so many factors that now come into play to achieve SEO success, it’s time to rethink your content marketing and social media strategy to keep pace with the ever-changing search landscape. You’ll need to consider how you can restructure your content so that it appears in prime search locations.

Take a look at some of the ways search engines are changing along with searchers. We will address several key considerations to take into account on how to improve your content marketing strategy to keep up with this changing landscape.

Mobile Search is Dominating the Web

It is predicted that mobile is going to become the dominant device for search in 2019. Many users are now conducting mobile searches more than searches on any other device (e.g. tablets and desktops).

Key considerations: In order for your content to rank highly and achieve SEO success, you must ensure that the content on your website is fully optimized for mobile. How do users absorb mobile content? Mobile friendliness is key. Google now expects webpages to load in under 3 seconds. Improve your website load times by compressing images on your webpage and make sure that your content is easily digestible. Huffington Post is a prime example of a company who has nailed their mobile web experience.

Their content is easily scannable, digestible, and ideal for on-the-go mobile users. When you compare both the mobile and desktop versions, Huffington Post’s mobile site is optimized to fit a smaller screen and also has fewer words on the homepage. As a result, readers are able to easily skim the webpage for content.

Voice Search is Changing the Way People Search the Web

According to Forbes, 50% of search queries will be from voice by 2020. Voice search is dramatically changing the way people search the web. This has been made possible with the help of voice assistants such as Google Home, Alexa, and Siri. As a result, search engines like Google are placing a greater emphasis on voice search optimization.

Key considerations: With voice search on the rise, the way content is being ranked is also changing. How will this affect your overall content marketing and social media as ranking factors? Instead of using short and snappy keywords to optimize your content, try to make better use of long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords involve specific keyword phrases. To effectively adapt to voice search, try writing the way you speak in order for your content to rank better. For example, when users type a search query on Google, they’ll usually type “Toronto weather.” However, when users conduct a voice search, they’ll typically say, “What’s the weather in Toronto?” Since voice search and SEO pick up on users’ natural speech patterns, keep in mind to use a more conversational tone in your content and social media marketing strategy to help boost and improve your search rankings.

Drive Greater Traffic with Featured Snippets

Google is increasingly showing featured snippets at the top of search results. Content that ranks within Google’s featured snippet section often drives higher traffic for the given search query. In order to embrace the changing landscape of search, it’s crucial to understand why you need to care about On-SERP SEO. For example, when you search up “top phones 2019,” this is the featured snippet on the SERP (search engine results page) that shows up for the query:

The featured snippet appears above the #1 search result. How do you achieve this?

Key considerations: Develop a shortlist of specific questions that you can answer and rank for. If your content can rank on the first page for one of the shortlisted search query questions, look into optimizing the rest of the content on your webpage to specifically address that question.

Help More Pages Rank with the Topic Cluster Model

Because people are submitting more detailed and conversational search queries through to get information faster, search engines are getting better at providing the exact answers that searchers are looking for. Pillar content and topic clusters are becoming more popular as a way for marketers to organize their content to ensure their content ranks higher. What is pillar content? According to Hubspot, pillar content or topic clusters help more pages rank to give searchers better answers for their queries. This is known as the topic cluster model.

Key considerations: When planning your content marketing strategy, choose a few broad topics you want to rank for. After you’ve chosen the topics, create content (e.g. blog posts) for each of the specific keywords that make up the broader topic. This will result in broader search engine authority because you can then connect specific topics to each other via hyperlinks, linking your content to help more pages on your site rank on Google.

As we continue to move away from traditional search trends, how you approach your content marketing strategy is more important than ever before. Remember to be social with your content and keep in touch with current SEO trends and how the search landscape continues to evolve. As overrated as this phrase may be, it still rings true: “Content is King.”

WSI was founded in 1995 and is an innovative digital marketing agency with offices in over 80 countries. We’ve spent over 20 years helping more than 100,000 companies and large global brands unlock the full potential of their business by leveraging the Internet and its many unrecognized opportunities. We’d be happy to help do the same for you and consult on your digital marketing strategy.  Simply give me a call or email me at rknutsen@wsiebizsolutions.net to learn more.

Why You Need to Care About On-SERP SEO

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in Atlanta, Blog, On-SERP SEO, Search Engine Optimization, SEO.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 8, 2018, and was updated on January 24, 2019.

In 2019 and beyond, digital marketers, and companies that embrace digital marketing strategies, need to be well versed in changing what they care about. Oh, and caring about a lot of things at once, which comes standard with living in the digital world. And for good measure, let’s throw in keeping on eye on the future with the intent to figure out the next pivot before anybody else – and boldly acting on it.

So when I see something like this, from one of the brightest and most influential SEO minds of the last decade, I think, “Hmm, maybe I need to dig into On-SERP SEO a little more.” A SERP, of course, is a search engine results page, and SEO is, well, you know by now!

on-serp-seo

A few months after the above tweet – in September 2018 – Rand gave a talk at a marketing conference. His session was called, “On SERP SEO – The Infuriating Reality of Search’s Future” and we urge you watch every second of the video if you believe what we’re saying.

 

 

Keep in mind this isn’t to say it’s time to immediately start freaking out about On-SERP SEO. Most are aware Google has been tinkering with SERPs (especially mobile SERPs) on the regular for a long time now. What it does mean is that since On-SERP SEO is on Rand’s mind a lot, it should probably be on mine (and yours). It also means I’m interested in dedicating time specifically to generating On-SERP SEO results, which is something that may be on your radar, too.

What is On-SERP SEO?

Before you can snag the answer box of your dreams, you first need to know what On-SERP SEO is (and if you don’t know, that’s totally fine).

On-SERP SEO is the optimization of any and all content on SERPs that you can either control or influence in some way. Traditionally, meta titles and meta descriptions were the main (and only!?) content that SEOs and content marketers could control on SERPs, but that changed when Google introduced featured snippets, which are:

Featured snippets are organic search results that Google doctors up to look pretty, and then places them in the most prominent position on the SERPs – yes, above the #1 results!

Here is the featured snippet on the SERP for the query, “What is an Android TV box?”:

Why You Need to Care About On-SERP SEO – Featured Snippet

For this particular result the paragraph answer box is owned by CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Start Googling things and, if you hadn’t already noticed, many SERPs will include a featured snippet at the top of the page, especially if your queries are questions.

If you’re looking for a quick primer on the different types of featured snippets and other On-SERP SEO content types, this is a great rundown.

Why is On-SERP SEO Important?

There are a number of reasons why On-SERP SEO is important. On a basic level, we can use the Android TV box example above to highlight why a business would covet the featured snippet the CBC currently has.

The CBC article explains what an Android TV box is, as well as how it allows users to “cut the cord” and essentially watch all the TV shows and movies they want – for free. It discusses the legality of the apps that allow users to stream for free, and even links out to some websites that sell preloaded TV boxes.

For a large media corporation like CBC, readership, traffic and awareness are the bread and butter of their business, so the more featured snippets they can attain, the better. In this specific case, they could likely earn some affiliate commissions with a featured snippet for a query with tens of thousands of searches per month, according to keyword data. For whatever it’s worth, CBC isn’t using affiliate links, but it’s easy to see why for content driven affiliate sites, featured snippets are extremely valuable.

There is another, less obvious reason On-SERP SEO is becoming a vital component of core SEO, and it’s summed up by this comment Rand made in the discussion thread of the tweet above:

Why You Need to Care About On-SERP SEO – Featured Snippet – Rand Comment

If more and more searches are ending on the actual Google SERPs, as indicated by Rand’s original tweet and furthered by this comment, then On-SERP SEO is critical – especially because, at least right now, it’s difficult to discern what the goal of featured snippets should be, if not to generate click-throughs. As is usually the case in the digital world, the marketers and companies who figure out how to crack these tough questions are the big winners.

How to Optimize Your Content for SERPs

Ah, now to answer the question you’re all wondering about: how do you optimize your content in order to attain a featured snippet on Google’s search engine results page?

Here’s the short answer to how you win a featured snippet on Google’s search results pages:

  1. Do keyword research to develop a shortlist of specific questions that a) you can answer and b) you can rank for
  2. Rank on the first page for one of these search query questions
  3. Optimize the content of your web page to very specifically answer the question

Simple, right? If only!

Look, nobody said this was going to be easy. The great Dr. Pete has been writing on this topic for years now, and his older articles are still some of the best content there is on the subject (here, here and here) – quite frankly because we just don’t have any more of an idea of what works. Of course, tools like Moz or SEMrush will make your life a lot easier if you’re planning on doing this alone, or you could always get in touch with us – we’d love to help you improve your On-SERP SEO!

At the end of the day, keeping up with On-SERP SEO trends, and perhaps attempting to win a featured snippet or two, likely puts you way ahead of your competition. And if you can become an expert at On-SERP SEO and make getting featured snippets like second nature, you’ll be reaping huge rewards in the future.

WSI was founded in 1995 and is an innovative digital marketing agency with offices in over 80 countries. We’ve spent over 20 years helping more than 100,000 companies and large global brands unlock the full potential of their business by leveraging the Internet and its many unrecognized opportunities. We’d be happy to help do the same for you and consult on your digital marketing strategy.  Simply give me a call or email me at rknutsen@wsiebizsolutions.net to learn more.

 

Making a Difference: Mike Chavez Painting – Client Success Story

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in AdaptiveSEO, Atlanta, Blog, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Websites.

Mike Chavez Painting is an established painting and decorating company with a long-standing commitment to honesty, excellent customer service and quality of work. So, when it came time for them to improve their digital marketing strategy, they turned to WSI to help them achieve those same high standards online.

The Objective

The goal was to create a new website to showcase Mike Chavez Painting’s good reputation. The web presence needed to attract more customers from local searches, then convert those visitors into:

  • Phone Calls
  • Client Meetings

The next step was to design a new conversion​ oriented website ​that looked great, and incorporated the latest design techniques to help turn:

  • Visitors into leads and
  • Enable a consistent publication of compelling content that would:
    • Drive Traffic
    • Deliver Results

The Solution

The new website was designed to showcase the quality of Mike Chavez Painting’s work and enhance their good reputation.

WSI added a company blog to the website providing an ideal platform to publish and share search friendly, customer focused content.

We then launched an aggressive:

to increase the number of targeted visitors to their new website. We accomplished this by achieving multiple first page listings.

The Results

Mike is experiencing more visitors who spend more time on his website, achieving 74% increase in organic traffic generating between 15 to 40 phone calls per month.

Let’s Leave the Last Word to Mike

‘I first heard about WSI at a local networking group here in Santa Rosa. Some of the business challenges I was going through, prior to working with WSI, was reaching a lot of people outside of just word-to-mouth marketing. It’s been really good working with them; it’s been very easy and they are very professional.

WSI has done a great job with my internet marketing. Some of the results I’ve experienced is organically receiving a lot of calls from people who don’t even know me. I would fully recommend WSI.

WSI was founded in 1995 and is an innovative digital marketing agency with offices in over 80 countries. We’ve spent over 20 years helping more than 100,000 companies and large global brands unlock the full potential of their business by leveraging the Internet and its many unrecognized opportunities. We’d be happy to help do the same for you and consult on your digital marketing strategy.  Simply give us a call or get in touch with us at rknutsen@wsiebizsolutions.net to learn more.

 

A Recipe for Content Marketing Success

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in Atlanta, Blog, Content Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO.

Content Marketing has given small businesses the opportunity to become their own publishers, creating and distributing:

  • Valuable, relevant and consistent content
  • Forms and online marketing strategy

It is designed to attract and retain loyal customers. To do this, an effective content marketing plan is crucial.

Here are 5 key ingredients for achieving success with content marketing:

  1. Identify and Understand Your Audience

You need to know who you are writing for. Identify your target audience using buyers personas. This will enable you to understand and directly speak to the challenges your ideal customer faces, then you can help them solve those challenges.

  1. What? Where? How?

By understanding who your content is addressing, you can start brainstorming ideas. Determine the most appropriate:

  • Writing styles
  • Content formats
  • Best place to post your content for maximum impact
  1. Quality Matters Most

The quality of your content will determine how much it is:

  • Viewed
  • Shared
  • Commented on
  • Whether it is positioned at the top of the Search Engine

Focus on producing quality over quantity.

  1. Stay Organized

Planning, producing and publishing a steady flow of valuable and relevant content needs to be organized.

A content calendar will help you coordinate your:

  • Publishing schedule
  • Manage your team of contributors
  • Meet deadlines
  1. Review, Measure, Improve

The effectiveness of content marketing can sometimes seem allusive. Determine your:

  • Objectives
  • Establish your key metrics
  • Measure engagement

Use the data to learn what works best and how to make improvements.

If you would like help launching an effective content marketing plan for your business to position yourself as an expert and increase your sphere of influence, contact your Digital Marketing Consultant today.

WSI was founded in 1995 and is an innovative digital marketing agency with offices in over 80 countries. We’ve spent over 20 years helping more than 100,000 companies and large global brands unlock the full potential of their business by leveraging the Internet and its many unrecognized opportunities. We’d be happy to help do the same for you and consult on your digital marketing strategy.  Simply give us a call or get in touch with us at rknutsen@wsiebizsolutions.net to learn more.

 

Why is inbound marketing so important?

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in Blog, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Social Media, WSI eBiz Solutions.

What is inbound marketing and why is it so important? Inbound marketing refers to marketing your business so that it is easily found by your customers. With traditional marketing, companies focused on finding customers – they used everything from cold calling and print advertising to spamming huge databases of email addresses. Technology is making these techniques less effective and more expensive.

In order to attract customers to you, you need to offer something valuable. There are three important aspects of any successful inbound marketing campaign:

  • Content writing and marketing – this tool attracts internet users to visit your website, so include videos, blog posts, articles, whitepapers and other types of content.
  • Search Engine Optimization – SEO makes it easier for potential clients to find you online. SEO strategies include on page and off page optimization, keyword analysis, and link building.
  • Social media – when your content is shared on various social media platforms, such as Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter and LinkedIn, it becomes more authentic and is more likely to draw qualified customers to your site.

With inbound marketing, you can turn prospects into customers and promoters. Inbound marketing can make your business expand its wings and generate leads.

Get a free inbound marketing checklist

If you’re ready to start using effective, measurable inbound marketing campaigns, then you need WSI eBiz Solution’s free inbound marketing checklist which will show you:

How to stay focused and on course.

10 Simple Steps to Reach your positive ROI.

All you have to do is fill out the form on this page and we will send you the Inbound Marketing Checklist to get you started on your journey to closed loop marketing.

 

7 STEPS TO CERTAIN SEO SUCCESS

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in Blog, Search Engine Optimization, SEO.

More and more, search engines are delivering trustworthy, relevant results when people search for information.  This is good news for consumers and businesses trained to attract more search traffic because the following best practice SEO strategies really haven’t changed.  

They’re still highly effective.

Here are 7 Steps to SEO Success. 

1. Keyword Research

Choosing the right keyword is a critical part of the SEO strategy as it lays the foundation to build upon.

2. Competitive Analysis

Studying and learning from competitors ahead of you on search results can give you a picture of the effort required to match or exceed them.

3. Website Optimization

The goal of onsite optimization techniques is to help search engines understand what your website is about so they can classify it correctly.

4. Address Domain Authority

A major SEO factor is the strength of your domain that link back to your site such as, the number and quality of:

  • Websites
  • Blogs
  • Social media portals
  • Directories

5. Content Strategy

Creating high-quality content consistently is the best way to rank well in search engines results; the emphasis being in quality over quantity.

6. Social Media Strategy

The number of social signals linked with your content indicates how valuable your content is to your users and a reflection of your industry authority.

7. Measure, Report, Improve

Measuring progress is critical to a successful search strategy as detailed reporting allows you to make informed decisions before making improvements.

An approach to Search Engine Optimization or Adaptive SEO means you can apply the appropriate search marketing strategies to reach more customers and increase sales.

If you want to discover how Adaptive SEO can work for your business, get in touch.

 

Get found by customers through inbound marketing

Written by Rick Knutsen on . Posted in Blog, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, PPC, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Social Media, WSI.

Most businesses understand marketing to mean that they have to do everything in their power to find customers and convince them to buy their products or services. However, this is not the case when it comes to inbound marketing because the relationship begins with the customer interacting with your brand. Inbound marketing focuses on understanding the needs of customers and providing them with relevant content that will make them seek out the services or products of particular companies.

Some of the ways that you can use inbound marketing to help customers find your businesses in whichever location include:

  • Create high-quality content

Providing relevant and extraordinary content is the base of inbound marketing, especially when you understand the needs of your target customers. Most online users appreciate being targeted by content marketing that meets their needs and allows them to make an informed decision on various services and products. To increase your reach, consider using Search Engine Optimization techniques to make your content easier to find on search engines.

  • Build social media base

Social media has become an important place to interact with customers directly and get to find out their needs. It is for this reason that social media marketing has become important for inbound marketers that want to attract customers. The best way to get customers to find you on social media is by participating in conversations that are relevant to them and your company as well. The majority of social sites are free to join allowing you to get customers at no cost.

  • Offer relevant advertising

The majority of online users turn to search engines when looking for information on various topics. These search engines are another way to give customers a chance to locate you through paid advertising. The advertising on search engines is associated with good content that will give online users a reason to find out more about you.

Let WSI help you get found easily by customers

The expertise offered by WSI in the area of digital marketing as well as PPC, will help you avoid developing content that will push potential customers away. To get more information on the best way to help customers reach you, contact us today. Need more advice about how to run a successful inbound marketing campaign? Then download our free inbound marketing checklist now.

 

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