The Secret Behind Visual Marketing

Photo taken from Nordwood Themes

What better way to boost content marketing on several online platforms than using visuals? Though search engine optimizers use full-length articles for their strategies, visuals are just as compelling. Visual marketing falls under content marketing, but the hierarchy of content importance and the underdevelopment of algorithms to recognize photos make it the last resort to raise SERP ranking.

Visual marketing one way of appealing to search engine crawlers and users through images, photos, slideshows, graphs, and the likes. Audiences like them because they are snackable and bite-sized. Information becomes easy to digest. They are impressive promotional elements across social media platforms. This marketing strategy increases CTR and website traffic which helps with ROI and conversion rate.

Furthermore, it’s a way to recycle full-length articles and newsletters into motion graphics, images, videos and the likes. A website won’t be stuck with popular long-form posts when it has visuals to back them up. The continuous sharing of the content on social media and the web will generate traffic back to the original site. Adding a visual gives the long-form a chance to be an evergreen content.

Lastly, posting another type of content format is refreshing and rewarding to frequent site visitors and loyal audiences.

Four Reasons to Join The Visual Marketing Bandwagon

Photo taken from Unsplash

Not everyone jumps on the opportunity to use the marketing tactic though it’s around for a long time. The technique becomes different when on a digital scale. Still, some things remain the same. Take the advice from a web design company and join the hottest digital marketing trend. Below are four reasons why visual marketing is a useful technique to leverage a business or an industry.

1. Visuals improve recall through association of figures, compelling imagery, and motion.

According to Inc.com, 81 percent of users skim the content they read online. A photo, gif or slideshow gains people’s attention back to the material. It also attracts them long enough to stay on the page.

2. Visual marketing will make you stand out.

Content recycling and creating visual content push webmasters to go out of the usual type-and-publish. It encourages them to look for new ways to present information which results in unique and one-of-a-kind posts.

3. It provides a content personality.

Getting used to the pattern of visual content creation leads to adopting consistency. A designer often has or follows a template. Hence, the set of visuals will have uniformity while remaining relevant to a topic.

4. It promotes brand identity.

Besides consistency, making a logo and using it to brand visual content makes the business or company stand out. Customizing logos for different types of visual content helps users recognize your brand. A small icon is neat and fits well on videos and other motion graphics. Meanwhile, a complete logo that includes the enterprise slogan, website, and name is for images and infographics.

Wrapping Up

Visual marketing is and must be a part of an SEO agency’s strategy. Though it’s short of words for link building and identifies using keywords, it has the power to engage users. The elements on an image taps on the emotional and psychological aspects of audiences. Utilizing it leads to traffic generation, high CTR, and conversion rate.

The post Using Visuals to Leverage Content Marketing for SEO appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

Whether a self-learner or a veteran, there’s still a bunch of things to learn in this fast-paced industry. Thus, they rely on the information from the community and other fans who follow the topic. Since a lot is going in digital marketing, the content people consume must be informative and essential to the rest of the community.

If you have been under a rock, here are five blogs you must bookmark to be on top of online marketing news, updates, and techniques.

1. Moz

The blog is the go-to-guide for everything related to an SEO company – analytics, keyword research, link building, and content writing. It also has topics that can bring your online marketing skills to the next level. There are posts relating to branding, design, social media, and user experience (UX).

What’s unique about the Moz blog is how each published advice, how-to, and insight is comprehensive. Beginners of SEO can grasp the concept behind each idea because of the simplicity in each explanation. Most of all, some posts come in a different format. You can read, listen or watch. It’s up to you how you plan to consume the information.

Reason to bookmark: Whiteboard Friday SEO lectures by Rand Fishkin

2. Content Marketing Institute

Explore a community of content creators and providers through Content Marketing Institute. The website has articles and resources on content creation up to distribution. It even covers the editorial process as well as the tools and techniques used in generating content for mobile and desktop platforms.

On top of the tips and tricks from the published posts, the website also features what’s new in the content writing strata. There are also announcements on training and events for budding writers, marketers, and those who wish to leverage their existing skills.

Reason to bookmark: Free browsing of Chief Content Officer, a print, and digital magazine published quarterly

3. Kissmetrics

Real-time results and progress need representation. Kissmetrics provides studies and analysis on behavior-based engagement on social media. The blog, on the other hand, is an excellent reference for statistical reports between websites. Besides the comparison, it also includes the tools they use to arrive at the solution.

Kissmetrics is a useful guide to those who want an in-depth understanding of analytics. The blog also includes a discussion of SEO techniques as well as catchy and real-life sales and business operations relating to online marketing.

Reason to bookmark: Articles that explain the importance of conversions

4. Copyblogger

Investing in content marketing is the key to rank a website. As part of the search algorithm, it pays to have a solid content marketing plan and presence to maximize user engagement. A blog that provides information on such topic is Copyblogger. The company founded its operations on optimizing user engagement and traffic.

Though there exist different types of content, nothing beats the long-form writing. Copyblogger’s website has a blog that tackles writing, creativity, and productivity. It also has articles on entrepreneurship, selling and freelancing – essential life tips that will expand your career in writing or blogging.

Reason to bookmark: MyCopyblogger, an online training resource that gives you access to a course and e-books.

5. Marketing Land

The website includes everything about marketing – email, mobile, social, and SEM. It even has a section for Chief Marketing Officers and digital marketing executives. It has an ongoing post called “Marketing Day” that reports what goes on in within Marketing Land and other places in the industry.

It compiles the news within the landscape, so you don’t have to look anywhere else. The articles are a combination of online and traditional marketing. Everyone can catch up with the trends of the practices in the industry.

Reason to bookmark: Click-baiting featured images of each article

Lots of comprehensive and useful websites are available on the web. To ensure you aren’t spending your time on useless and irrelevant blogs and online marketing news, you can narrow down your search. Specify what you need so you get more time learning and less time browsing.

The post 5 Blogs on Digital Marketing To Bookmark This 2018 appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

SEO refers to the strategies to improve the ranking of the website or webpage among search engines.  SEO techniques target searches such as local search, video search, and image search. When it comes to online marketing, SEO assesses how these search algorithms work along with the user’s search habits. This is possible through the removal of indexing barriers. When that happens, search crawlers that use HTML may be able to increase the relevance of keywords for compelling content.

While editing contents to suit search algorithms, the website is being promoted through SEO techniques utilized as it increases the volumes of inbound links and backlinks.

Any algorithm study will include the discussion on the possibility of integrating SEO tactics in website development through HTML source coding. Content including images and videos, for instance, can be optimized for the Google bot to consider the webpage or site as search-engine-friendly (SEF). Optimization for target market differs from one website to another. Nevertheless, the goal is to enhance not only the competition but also the share of search of the site among search algorithms.

The problem is that ranking-oriented algorithms remain to be a challenge especially since Google is frequently changing the ranking schemes. Today, we are no longer witnessing keyword-stuffed contents, robotic backlinking, and even mass submissions because algorithms study noted that they are no longer useful. Even with a local search, a webpage or website owner needs to change the SEO techniques so that it will rank.

Google’s Search Algorithm

Google’s goal in algorithm study is enhancing the user experience by mean of making more accurate searches including local search. However, it is up to the SEO techniques that an individual or firms use whether the webpage or website will rank or not. When it does, it means that the page or site developers deeply understand the algorithms requirement of Google despite the fact that Google’s algorithm setting is not disclosed to the public.

Google has its way of ranking pages and sites. The challenge for SEO specialists is trying to gain a higher ranking for those search keywords with high completion. That is, it is rather easy to obtain a high rank using keywords with low competition. With the help of search algorithms positioning, keywords with little competition should rank several times in SERPs or search engine results page before the page or site receives visitors.

An effective SEO technique would be targeting search terms based on keywords strategically. There might be the need to focus on page or site’s popularity to veer away from the search algorithm of Google. When a website is popular, it will not only rank high in SERPs but also bring traffic to the site including referral traffic. There are instances that a site may not necessarily rank high in search engines, but the volume of traffic into the website is high.

Though there exist various techniques for SEO in the Philippines, search algorithms will still depend on Google. The powerful search engine always updates its interface to provide a meaningful and compelling platform for information. Hence, websites must be ready to adapt to the changes regarding content and on-page optimization. Low-quality exact match domain and thin content are some aspects of a site that are penalized.

Webmasters and site developers must be aware of the changes in the search algorithm, so the website stays optimized for search engines and consumers of the content.

The post SEO Techniques: Understanding Google Search Algorithms appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

 Wanna rack up sales?

1. Improve your website.
2. Get some traffic.
3. Hire people to do it if you can’t.

That’s why businesses are seeking an SEO company capable of meeting their demands and needs. However, optimization isn’t only for websites. It also applies to businesses.

How exactly does SEO affect how business works?

1. Companies have to consider expenses for online presence.

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Some social media accounts are free but making it tailor fit for business involves costs. The same goes for creating a website. Some platforms offer free hosting, but it’s tacky and makes you look unprofessional. Getting your domain is better because then, it will be your own.

Besides setting up the online presence, there are services to consider.

• Who will set up the website?
• Is there anyone in the company capable of handling it?

Think of design, content, SEO and other back-end technicalities. Some tools can be found online and downloaded for free. But if there’s no one with the skills to perform the task, get someone to do it.

2. They have to account for the virtual and physical customers.

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Businesses now have a bigger audience because of online presence. At the same time, they have to consider the customers they have in stores. Customers will have different personalities and traits online and offline. Hence, the approach to gain their trust and entice them to subscribe to the product or service will vary.

There should be a target audience, and they have to be online – in the case of digital marketing. If the targeted audience is passive and unresponsive, it will be troublesome especially if you are after conversion. Therefore, there should be a strategy on how to engage the online audience and real-time customers.

Other than the customers’ behavior, it is important to remember the Web is much larger than a shopping mall. There are distractions all over so it’s a must optimize your website and its contents to get ahead in the game [or sales].

3. There is content marketing.

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 Content marketing is different from SEO, but they go like bread and butter.

SEO is the technicalities of the search engine. Content marketing is the practical application of SEO method – keywords.

Content marketing involves the production of high-quality content using the target keywords. An impressive content helps immensely in link building. When a popular page uses the published content as a link, it’s guaranteed to rank the source’s website on the search engine results page  (SERP). Consistently producing fresh content is also part of content marketing. New and updated content publishing will help the website boost its SERP ranking.

Without content, there’s no use for SEO.

4. The need to create a unique experience.

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Customer experience and expectations are different in physical stores and online catalogs.

All the senses are engaged in a shop. They can see, touch, feel, smell and taste the product or service in an instant. But online, the experience is limited. It’s all in the head. Imagination fuels the fantasy and perception are two-dimensional.

There is also delayed gratification.

Upon purchasing an item in a store, the customer is immediately satisfied. It will take a few days or more to have the same experience when buying online.

Consequently, the experience of printed and online materials also differ. Both traditional and digital marketing offers a fantasy by stimulating the imagination. The marketing approaches also use different platforms thus the marketing plan must be tailored to enhance the experience. The approach is costly and will take time for careful consideration and planning.

Businesses should find the balance between catering to customers and users, aiming for their goals and objectives, and optimizing their website. The latter is a tool for their mission and objectives. If they combine their goals with user experience, queries, and needs, the workload becomes less. SEO is a business game changer, but the game changes when creativity is involved.

The post SEO is a Business Game Changer appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

Don’t fret.

If you don’t have an SEO company at your disposal, it’s alright. You will live. But to save you from misery, we wrote a few mistakes common to rookies. You might be guilty of them too.

1. Not Knowing Which Type of SEO To Use

There are two types of SEO: Black Hat and White Hat.

We don’t know where they got their names, but we understand how they work.

White Hat SEO operates on methods and techniques that follow the search engine’s guideline to improve the ranking of the website. Most companies and websites with long-term, stable and sustainable goals use this. It provides growth steadily and gradually for conversion.

This squeaky clean SEO technique includes high-quality content development, website HTML optimization, and restructuring, link acquisition campaigns supported by high-quality content and manual research and outreach.

Black Hat SEO is the naughty one. It exploits the weaknesses in the search engine algorithms to have quick and short-lasting growth in rankings. It uses techniques and methods in conflict with the search engine guidelines. Some techniques of the Black Hat SEO are link spamming, keyword stuffing, cloaking, hidden text, and links. However, using these techniques may end up penalizing your website.

If you are using a combination of the two, then you are wearing your Gray Hat. Most SEO companies employ a mix of both techniques to deliver results to their clients. Gray Hat SEO also allows companies to offer affordable services because costs are less when questionable methods are involved.

There is no wrong and right way to do SEO, but it’s better to know and be aware of the types and the risks involved when dealing with them.

2. Not Utilizing Links

Links can either be a follow link or a no follow.

What does that have to do with anything?

SEO is all about putting yourself out there and having links pointing to your website earns you brownie points. Google keeps track of how many links are on a page, and if a lot of pages link to that particular page, then that page is valuable.

A follow link also allows Google to crawl on the pages. It gives your site a higher chance of appearing in the SERP. Google also has a metric for calculating link points. Link points or link juice can flow through the sites. If your site from a reputable site, you’d get a fair share of link juice. Large boosts in link juice give a higher ranking.

3. Not Checking for Duplicate Content

Duplicate content is having the same content on multiple URLs. You may be caught up on filling your website with details and information, but it’s best to do it in an organized manner. Google won’t be ranking a site with a bunch of duplicate content.

Before adding a new page to your site, check if there’s already an existing one with the same content. You can use no follow links, 301 redirects or the canonical tag to fix this.

4. Not Setting Up Landing Pages

Having designated landing pages for each keyword minimizes the probability of having duplicate content. At the same time, it increases the traffic to your site, and it puts everything in perspective. It is useful to direct users to the information they need or to the things you want them to see.

5. Targeting The Wrong Keywords

Choosing the appropriate keywords for your content is crucial for SEO. At most, choose high-value keywords that are relevant to your brand, company, product, and service. It’s best to go for keywords that are unique. Some keywords belong to a competitive niche. You will have a hard time directing the users to your content if thousands are doing the same thing.

Here’s an alternative, optimize your content for Rich Answer. Rich Answers are the results that appear on top of organic search results. It’s the first thing users will see upon searching for their query. It makes them think that information in there is reliable and highly recommended.

6. Expecting Results Overnight

SEO is an ever-evolving process that requires an enormous time investment and plenty of hard work.

Anytime someone offers you or tells you of instant results, don’t be fooled. A high ranking is not possible without influencers, capable webmasters to navigate the algorithms and understand analytics, and a [content marketing] plan.

We hope you picked a thing or two on the mistakes SEO rookies are bound to make. You may have committed a few of these, but now you know how to deal with them. Remember, SEO is a concept not set in stone. It’s always better to keep learning and stay up-to-date on the changes to the search engine’s algorithms. You will learn to catch up, eventually.

The post SEO Rookies are GUILTY of these Mistakes appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

But if you’re just starting, it might be best to reconsider your plans of going public and focus on polishing the initial steps as well as remembering the crucial matters involved in online marketing. Here are a few of them.

Planning is indispensable

There isn’t any shortcut to online marketing success. Despite all the advanced tools meant to aid digital marketers in making their work easier, there isn’t just a concrete, solid formula that would guarantee long-term success.

This is why careful planning is necessary. For startup and small businesses, this means looking into the specifics of the following:

• Target market
• Budget plan
• Type of social media campaign
• Frequency of online posts
• Quality of marketing copy
• Customer engagement

And so much more. Before one can fully jump-start any campaign, there has to be a solid blueprint that tells the marketers and company owners the step by step way of the implementation. Otherwise, the whole strategy might be rendered ineffective.

Staying realistic is a key

Visualizing the grand dreams we have for our companies is easy, but acting on it is a whole new different story. Aside from it takes time, money, manpower and risk factors are crucial indicators on whether or not you will succeed.

While it’s good to have your eyes on the win, staying realistic is always better. You have to assess whether or not your current budget, timeline, logistics and everything else coincides with each other. If not, you might end up having some huge issues on the way.

Numbers aren’t everything

Ever since social media has dominated the marketing arena, more and more entrepreneurs seemed to be so fixated in gaining a lot of followers and subscribers in their social accounts.

While these numbers are important, it’s not the totality of your campaign. The point of building a strong online presence is to reach out with customers and eventually encourage them to buy your product or service. But other than that, it’s also a matter of building your credibility to ensure that they get back to you after making the purchase.

You can have as many followers online, but if they don’t convert to anything tangible, you can’t fully assess the efficiency of your campaign. More importantly, you can’t get the profit you initially projected.

Don’t hope for instant gratification

Online is faster. This fact alone gives many marketers and small businesses the impression that results are also instant – which of course, is wrong.

As mentioned, there are no shortcuts in digital marketing. It follows a process. Hoping for instant gratification will only lead to disappointment and this defeats the idea of fully building a trusted reputation online.

Instead of only looking at the short-term goals, it might be best to start looking into the long-term ones. If you don’t win by the numbers on your first try, then that’s fine. You’re just starting after all. There is always a room for making your next campaign better.

Social media marketing works wonders

Lastly, social media is no joke. It’s reality. The challenge with small business companies is how to make their services public and get the attention of their market. This issue is primarily addressed by social media and its unique metrics that help entrepreneurs boost their marketing messages.

Unfortunately, not everyone manages to maximize the usage of these platforms and end up being disappointed by the results they get. As you plan your social media strategy, it’s best to consider the appropriate platform where your main market often hangout and boost your content promotion in there.

Competition is tough in any industry, but this should not be a reason for you to shy away from the idea of making your product public. Reassess your initial plan and see if there are areas in need of strengthening.

Also, if you need professional help such as promoting website articles and making it rank higher on search engines, hiring a third party service like an SEO company in the Philippines might be a good call. Just make sure you choose well the people you plan to work with.

The post Online Marketing for Startups and Small Businesses appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

Why is it difficult to offer SEO guarantees?

Very few companies offer such. In fact, if you are going to search for the term, Google will display results that mostly tackle reasons behind why SEO experts in the Philippines and elsewhere, for that matter, don’t offer guaranteed SEO. Below are some of these reasons.

1) It’s very risky

If the SEO company wasn’t able to pull in rankings and traffic at least two months before the contract ends, the tendency is to resort to black hat strategies. That is, if the company is not yet doing such strategies in the first place or if the company is doing all white strategies but aren’t returning at par results. And, this could be the riskiest part since gray to black hat strategies often result in a penalty.

2) The algorithms are changing

Google constantly rolls out Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, and Pigeon updates. Some updates are announced while some are unannounced, and even when Google announced the update, they do so after weeks or months after going live. With each update, the SEO world is shaken and them specialists need to come up with new strategies albeit not purely white hat to live up to Google’s expectations.

3) The SERPs are changing

The search engine results pages (or SERPs) of today are very different from the SERPs that we know some three years ago. Although the results depend on the type of search you are doing, they now include rich answers, carousels, and knowledge graphs. Each of these eats up a position in the top ten results, which means showing on the first page of the SERP is more challenging than ever.

What must be done if a company offers SEO guarantee?

Honestly, can you blame those SEO companies who offer guarantees? These companies are so confident in their strategies, tactics, and practices that they can offer such guarantee, knows every nook and cranny of SEO that they are ready and willing to game Google’s system although not advisable, know what they are doing, or just plain lunatics. Come to think of it, they won’t offer such guarantee if they cannot perform and deliver.

Perhaps, what you (prospects and clients) should know is what the guarantee entails. It’s safe to say that these claims and promises may vary from one company to another. And, you also must know that “no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” If that’s what the company is guaranteeing, then that’s another story. On the other hand, if a company guarantees the following, it is worth looking at. If a company cannot guarantee any of these, what’s the point of engaging in a contract?

• Higher ranking and traffic
• Increased organic traffic
• 100% white hat strategies
• High-quality contents
• Fully-optimized website
• Exhaustive keyword research
• Increased quality leads
• Increased bottom-line

Even Rand Fishkin of Moz says that is it all about setting the right expectations from the start. Here’s the Whiteboard Friday video where he tackles the proper way to avoid unrealistic SEO expectations. Indeed, it is completely unethical to guarantee a ranking especially the #1 position, but if the website is already ranking for a particular keyword, wouldn’t it be okay to expect a higher ranking for such a keyword or additional leads from the landing page that targets such keyword? That’s how expectations are set.

As a client, you’d want [great] returns on your digital investments. You’d want a company that delivers the highest value of money. If there are no guarantees of any sort, there is also no guarantee that you will be getting your money’s worth. So, don’t be afraid if an SEO company chose to offer guarantees. You just have to know what these guarantees are and what you can actually expect from each.

The post Guaranteed SEO: Is There Really a Way Through It? appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

Recap of Part 1:

STEP ZERO – Understand the target market

STEP ONE – Set up actionable goals

STEP TWO – Match the ad message with the landing page

STEP THREE – Evaluate the first impression

Andrew Grant said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Indeed.

Do a simple search of your best performing keywords on Google. Click on the landing pages of your competitors. No, this is not about copying what your rivals are doing with their landing pages. Observe their landing pages. Can you immediately tell the first impressions that your rivals are trying to make?

Now, compare your landing page with that of your competitors for the same keyword. How do you feel? Look at your landing page? What impression is it trying to make? Is this the same first impression that you have when you are creating the page? Your answers are important.

See, it only takes less than a second to make an impression. In fact, our brain can process images in 0.013 seconds. This means a user can form his or her opinion regarding your landing page in just 0.05 seconds! Such an opinion will inform the user whether to stay in the page or move out and proceed to the next available landing page.

Strong first impressions are the main reason why message matching is vital in creating a landing page. Also, this is the same reason there should be an apparent degree of familiarity.

STEP FOUR – Determine the emotional resonance

Apart from building a profile of who your buyers are (buyer personas), there should be emotional triggers. These emotional triggers are what will resonate with the readers of your landing page.

Emotional triggers are very different from first impressions. First impressions are about the perceived level of familiarity, at least in our context, while emotional resonance is about enhancing the familiar elements for them to build momentum, hook the user and draw him or her deeper into the landing page.

Joy, horror, shock, pleasure and surprise are just some of these emotions that you can design the page for. After picking the mood, you can start incorporating colors, fonts, images, etc. Of course, you should not deviate from the brand’s color palette.

If you haven’t had a color theme, you can refer to this as your guide. Remember that the overall mood of the landing page is mostly about the coordination of the elements on the page.

STEP FIVE – Craft a compelling value proposition

Value proposition is what sets you apart from the competition. Focus on your product and service offerings and how they can improve the quality of life when prospects use any of them.

The value proposition should directly address the target market. It should include information on what can your product or service do. Tell them why your brand is unique. Show what the direct benefits are.

After reading the dominant headline of the landing page, the user will decide whether to continue reading or not. The first question is: Can this site solve my problem? There are just two answers: YES and NO. If your site doesn’t have the solution your user is looking for, he or she will look elsewhere.

Truth hurts, but what hurts more is when your site has what the user needs and yet the user still looked elsewhere. This is the reason value propositions must be direct and precise and answer all the questions a user have in mind. When this happens, you have a higher chance at keeping the interest of the user down to the last line of the page.

STEP SIX – Reinforce the message through images

In the same way that you cannot just pick any color or font that you want, you cannot just put images onto the landing page. Speak directly to your target market by selecting, designing or capturing images that strongly reinforce the mood of the page.

Images must be representative of the brand’s target market. Beyond that, however, the goal is selling the emotional value of the product or service especially those that your customers will get post-conversion.

There are basic journalistic rules where to place images (pyramid, inverted pyramid, etc.). Nonetheless, they should be utilized to hack the user’s natural viewing pattern. Some images can be also used in directing the user to where he or she should look next.

Bonus: Landing pages may also include explainer videos only when static images and texts cannot deeply explain the benefits of your products, for instance. Explainer videos are great if the product requires demonstration to use properly.

It is rather easier to create an image-rich landing page. What is more difficult is to build a landing page that will resonate with the readers emotionally, drawing them closer to devising a favorable first impression. There lies the challenge for the optimizers.

Source: Search Engine Journal | MOZ | ConversionXL

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