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.

The year 2018 looks bright and positive the tech industry ended the year with a bang. New devices,   improved face and voice recognition, different interfaces, and bitcoin gives digital marketing Philippines a lot of catching up to do. On the other hand, us user don’t have to wait another year to find the functions we long in apps. Here are three apps we wished we had back then but are available now.

1. Samsung’s Weemogee

Samsung’s Weemogee screen

Recent years, we had text-to-speech. The rise and development of voice recognition algorithm and voice user interface (VUI) led to the birth of Weemogee.

Weemogee, a chat app developed by Samsung, translates phrases or conversations into emojis. Each symbol bears weight as emojis are somehow a language of their own. The app is useful if you struggle with written words. No idea with how to drop the bomb to a crush? Type in what you want to say and let the app do the work for you.

Unfortunately, emoji-speak is an informal way to converse with others. Avoid sending an emoji-filled conversation or to clients unless you plan to get fired. On the bright side, people with aphasia can benefit from the app. Aphasia is a neurological disorder that prevents a person from producing and understanding speech.

Hence, the app isn’t complicated to use. It has the same predictive text features from other favorite messaging apps, such as iMessage and Facebook Messenger. It’s currently available for Android users. The iOS version is still in the works.

2. Curated Coffee Guide’s Filtru

TIME Magazine’s Best App List

We don’t have to fuss over stale coffee, hire a barista or get in a line of our favorite coffee shop. There’s now an app that guides us through the art of brewing the best cups of coffee in town. Curated Coffee Guide created Filtru, a brewing coffee timer that tracks your caffeine intake as well. That way, you won’t exceed the recommended amount of caffeine intake each day. You can access this feature by connecting to HealthKit – available to Apple users.

The app allows you to connect to one of four supported Bluetooth-enables digital scales for a fantastic coffee experience. It features a timer signaling the best time to pour, stir and wait for the brew. It also covers water flow speed. (How cool is that?) The steps to various brewing methods are under the timer along with other details to prepare the drink

There are nine recipes in the app:

• Chemex
• AeroPress
• Hario V60 (Pourover)
• Bonmac Dripper
• Beehouse Dripper
• Kalita Wave (Pourover)
• Moka Pot (Espresso)
• French Press (Cafetiere)
• Siphon

Most of all, it allows you to sign up for a free account. The account enables you to share your favorite brews with friends and other caffeine enthusiasts.

3. LogMeIn’s LastPass

Screenshot of LastPass app

Nowadays, it’s essential to have various online accounts to be on top of social circles. The accounts also help us to have updates on the activities around us. The creation of each account comes with a personalized username and unique password. Thinking of a password is hard enough, but how about remembering them?

That’s what LastPass is meant to do. It is web-based password manager that provides a secure and organized way to manage all your online accounts. It’s also useful for generating hard to guess passwords. The app features a vault for safe-keeping passwords, notes, credit card information and other information about each account. Besides safe-keeping, it also has auto fills password forms on mobile browsers and other mobile apps. The feature is ideal for those who wish to spend less time on typing as well as for lazy bums. Since it contains several sensitive information, the vault requires a master password for access. It also has fingerprint scanning and a time limit on how long you wish to keep it running.

The sharing and sync properties of the app add to the convenience of the users. You can share passwords straight from the app. You can also export and send a folder of passwords when you upgrade to LastPass Premium. When you apply any changes to any information on the accounts, the user having access will also get updates on the changes.

Most of all, it has an Emergency Access Feature. All it needs is a designated contact. All of these features are available as long as you can log in to your LastPass account.

Got some time to spare? Download these apps to your smartphone now! Try them out to make the wait worth it.

The post Apps We Wish Existed are Alive and Kicking This 2018 appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

If you think of the Internet as a huge market, there are lots of consumers out there. The lot is a potential market which can boost sales and brand popularity. Finding a way to reach the untapped market is what’s left to do.

When you engage with people, you put yourself out there. You let them know you are open and willing to listen as well as establish a relationship. It’s essential for a writer to know these things as they know the content piece well enough to explain them to end users.

2018 is the year and age of digital engagement. Here’s how writers become marketers during and after creating an engaging content piece.

1. The blog is a free and creative outlet.

Bloggers are modern-day poets while writers become digital strategists. Some of them set up a blog or two to express their thoughts no-holds-barred and share their interests. Others have one to further their online presence. A blog is a great avenue to attract new customers and set up a loyal base of followers. It’s also useful for widening a brand’s reach.

Use it as much as possible. Set up an account and make use of free hosted platforms. Most blog accounts have built-in comment sections. There are also share buttons and settings allowing you to boost your content to other platforms. Utilize all of them by replying to comments and publishing your content to the social profiles you have.

2. Baiting becomes a habit.

Online marketing has one goal – user engagement. The person who sees your content must be interested in the topic to click on the post. This part is where writing skills become handy. Writers must no only write for their satisfaction. They must also peak the interest of end-users, encourage them to explore the content, and consume it until the end.

Thus, you must create an attention-grabbing title and body to retain the users on the site. Click-baiting becomes a hobby especially when you prioritize search engine and social media analytics. However, baiting isn’t an invitation to create spammy and fraudulent content. A viral material can be a blessing or a curse. Consider your next steps wisely before settling on a decision that may disrupt your digital marketing campaign.

3. There are two options – serving the people or serving Google.

Choosing Google means SEO writing. SEO writing means using keywords and delving into topics that interest a group of people. Hence, most written pieces optimized for search engines are part of a niche or a target industry. An SEO company hell-bent to provide fast results so they end up with static and technical content.

If you want to earn the sympathy or organic traffic, you must also write for the people. Try not to avoid users from awkward keyword anchors and repetitive or outdated content. To hit two birds with a stone, take the customer service route. Write with the needs and queries of people in mind. That way, you bait the right people and make them loyal to the brand without sacrificing the keyword.

4. You take a lot of personalities and responsibilities.

Due to the broad topics under your wing, you take a lot of personalities. You become sweet and direct when creating a piece about Korean skincare. Other times, you take the long route to cover the basics of Google Analytics. Sometimes, you become a storyteller. The personalities you take on depends on the piece you are currently working.

Consequently, it becomes your job to publish the content piece. It also becomes your job to create a content plan. Most of all, you stretch your creative juices to come up with graphics, photos, and videos.

The style of writing, flow of words, and readability all influence users to consume a written content. Meanwhile, the visuals make their stay worth-while. All of these can result in a sale, an offer or a referral.

Online writing in the 21st century doesn’t center on words, grammar, and ideas. Content creation through writing has more to it than meets the eye. You have to maintain a blog, see that people visit the blog, and ensure they take corresponding actions.

The post A Writer Becomes a Marketer: Digital Engagement in the 21st Century 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.

GIPHY

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.

GIPHY

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.

GIPHY

 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.

GIPHY

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.

1) Mobile focus

Image source

Apparently, this year is all about mobile-friendliness. And why not? Google required that all websites must be mobile-friendly by April. Even without mandating it, the number of mobile users is growing by the day. In fact, some people are using a minimum of 2 to 3 mobile devices cause you never know when any of such devices will be handy. Not to mention, what you can do on a laptop computer, you can now do on a mobile device.

So, if your website is not yet mobile-friendly, then you are lagging behind the industry. Did you know that 67% of the consumers would purchase on a mobile-friendly site than on a non-mobile-friendly website? When it comes to mobile usage, there are 90% of people who uses multiple device screens subsequently.

2) Interactive scrolling

We’ve also seen web designs that consider having fun and interdependent features. One of these features that users can’t get enough of is parallax scrolling. It is originally a 2D video game technique that shows the depths of movements of the background images to emphasize the foreground images. Visually appealing as it is, it engages users through the use of layers of images for creating a 3D effect.

Parallax design allows developers to show a particular product or trails of products in 3D, which captures every single detail of the product. It is done meticulously by following a well-thought-out and carefully charted process. With this kind of technique, it automatically catches the eye of a website visitor that will most likely lead them and engage in a call to action on your website.

3) Flat design

Minimalist web design still works in 2015. Flat design, or the interface design without any stylistic elements such as the use of drop shadows, gradients or any other textures, is one of the lingering trends. The design focuses merely on simple elements, typographies, and flat colors, leading to a clean, polished look website that works seamlessly with responsive designs. The best part is it loads faster than websites with 3D effects, and it can be resized easily without compromising its high-definition screens.

On the other hand, a survey of web designers reveals that 68% of them believes that flat design is here to stay so we can expect more of such in the coming year. Only 9% said that flat design is only a fad that will pass anytime soon.

4) Single page

From the name itself, a single page website displays all the elements and contents in just one page. It is composed of a condensed and scannable content with all the necessary information on the same page, which can easily be navigated by the users. We’ve seen several websites embraced such a trend especially those sites that prioritize storytelling through visuals. Some websites use one-pages for product promotions, portfolios, brief announcements, etc. because they do not have much content.

What drives the brands and thus, the web developers to implement a single page website is the short attention span of the users. An adult user has an attention span of 8 seconds, and if you fail to capture his or her attention within that period, that’s an opportunity you lost to your competitor. Concise and objective contents yield better usability by up to 124%.

Evidently, the emphasis of these trends has a clean and straightforward layout that puts high-quality at the core while dismissing unprofessional-looking websites. When we say high-quality, it pertains to a user-friendly experience that the users deserved. Strategically, each web design has its own purpose and function. One might need to use a particular design to fit perfectly to the brand.

The post 4 Web Design Trends of 2015 appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

Online, there is a plethora of discussions about the benefits of responsive design. Nonetheless, there are only a few that tackles the benefits of putting responsive videos on responsive websites. This article aims to contribute to the meager literature regarding such.

The problem of unresponsive videos

If you think a responsive website makes all other elements such as images and videos responsive, you are wrong. There are instances when images appear ‘cropped’ thus the users only see a small portion of the image. The same goes with the embedded videos where only the play button is visible.

Simply, specific elements do not necessarily resize and fit the already limited screen space of the device used. An example of this element is iframe which is required to use when you embed video contents from external sources, for instance, such as YouTube, Vimeo and Vine.

By default, embedded videos are given fixed heights and widths. The videos are prevented from responding to the browser-related changes. The most important aspect of a responsive design is ensuring that all elements within the page are adapting gracefully to various screen sizes.

The benefits of responsive videos

Responsive design exploded in 2012, and 2013 was hailed as the year of responsive design. However, 2014 has seen more improvements that firms can manipulate at their disposal.

Below are some of the benefits of putting responsive videos on your website.

1) Reduce bounce rate

Mobile websites suffer from high bounce rates specifically when there is an evident inconsistency. Users will leave your responsive website if there are obtrusive videos, heavy video files, videos that are not playing, videos that cannot be view in full screen, etc. Google interprets high bounce rates as an indication that the website is not trustworthy enough and has irrelevant contents albeit videos, leading to a significant drop in ranking.

Responsive designs combat this as it presents all-responsive contents on the website. In putting responsive videos, for instance, there are no room for compromises on the choice of contents that the website displays. This means visitors are receiving the information that they are looking for in the first place, and thus keeping them on the page.

2) Enhance user experience (UX)

Going responsive is all about giving the users the experience that they want and prefer when interacting with websites. With this, responsive websites must still be user-friendly regardless of the size of screen that they are viewing your responsive website from.

Videos that fail to perform do not contribute in making the experience a pleasant one for the users. Designing for the users also means putting responsive elements that will work just perfectly.

3) Rank better and higher on SERP

SERP stands for search engine results page, or simply the Top 10. Google loves responsive design. In fact, Google is the biggest advocate of responsiveness in targeting mobile users. The search giant favors mobile-optimized websites when it presents results particularly on an inquiry made through a mobile device. Your responsive website will appear on SERP.

On the other hand, if anything on the website like the video is not responsive, Google might find difficulty determining whether the website is 100% mobile-optimized or not. Although mobile bots are not as sophisticated as the present algorithms, who knows, Google may not be able to crawl the entire page because of responsive-prohibitive elements.

Responsive design helps in appealing to modern users or those users who traverse the Internet using a mobile device. Call them millennials, if you want. The bottom line is they expect that a responsive website contains elements that are also responsive. As such, putting responsive videos is a surefire way of making most of the mobile-browsing experience.

Sources: Designers.Hubspot.com | SmashingMagazine.com | CSS-Tricks.com | SearchEngineJournal.com | KISSmetrics.com

Image credit: TheJTSite.com

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