Archive for SEO – Page 4

Posted by DBC Digital on
 June 21, 2012

Reduce Marketing Expenses with Inbound Marketing

Where Should I be Spending My Marketing Dollars to Get the Best Return?

As the key decision-maker in your company, whether it’s a start-up operating on a shoestring budget or an established firm seeking to increase its profit margins, inbound marketing will help you save money while maximizing your results.

 

With Inbound marketing, time management skills are essential, as is wisdom in deciding which  tools and social media forums will work best for you. Is Facebook right? Twitter? LinkedIn? (And just WHAT is Pinterest anyway?) Do you blog? Should you? In addition to your website, are there other venues that are appropriate for your business? Newsletters, whitepapers, videos, ebooks…

How much is all this going to cost?!

Actually, not as much as you may think.

 

Re-allocate Expenses

Since most of the Inbound marketing tools are available at little or minimal cost, budgets that have been previously dedicated to significant advertising costs can now be re-deployed towards other company objectives, without losing the benefits of advertising. In fact, since effective inbound marketing is so eminently shareable, it even creates a Word-Of-Mouth buzz that can be instantly shared. Now that’s real Top Of Mind presence!

With social media, it is possible to create an entire community of followers and spread your message through your marketing at almost no cost other than your time (which, of course, IS a cost). Not only can your followers communicate with you directly, but they can also speak with each other through forums you establish.

You might even consider a webinar to bring everyone together at the same time. What a great way to stay in touch with the needs of your customers…and to increase both sales and profits for your business!

 

Traditional Marketing Still Has a Place at the Table

Here at DBC Digital, we’re not suggesting that you completely dispense with traditional marketing. There is still great inherent value to it. Direct mail, brochures and catalogues can still be employed effectively and profitably. It is our contention, however, that a company can now be much more strategic in its placement of these traditional marketing approaches. Most of these, if not all, can be “re-purposed” online. In today’s economy, it’s good to know that these traditional costs are no longer obligatory.

You Can Compete with the “Bigs” in Many Ways

You had a vision of success when you began your business. You may not be able to afford to produce cable TV commercials on your budget, but you can compete with the bigger companies in areas of social media and webinars.

You can now reach the entire globe or simply your local Denver neighborhood, all with a minimal investment in inbound marketing.

 

In Denver, inbound marketing is our passion. We want to hear from you wherever you are. Please let us know about your experiences in the comments section below.

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Categories : INTERNET MARKETING, SEO, SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING, STRATEGY
Posted by DBC Digital on
 March 12, 2012

Inbound Marketing: Using “Hot” Trending Keywords

 

Maximizing “Trending” opportunities

Here’s a quick tip for Denver-area marketers to get some extra mileage out of hot “trending” topics for your inbound marketing efforts.

Hot, hot, hot!

All major search engines favor content that is fresh and that focuses on highly-trending keyword phrases.  You can use this search engine focus to help grow your website’s popularity and your blog’s visibility.

For example, let’s say you are a natural green grocer and that a famous movie star loses 45 pounds on a diet solely of mixed greens.  The story hits the newsstands, and suddenly everyone is searching for “mixed greens diet”.

If you knew that, you could add a few articles to your website and blog about the mixed greens diet.  The search engines would see that you are providing content about that trend and quickly move you up in the rankings.  You’d get a nice burst of traffic.

If only there were some way to check on trending phrases…  hmmm

Using Google Trends

Oh, but wait, there is!  It’s called “Google Trends.” Go to http://www.google.com/trends/ Type in any phrase and you will see whether search volumes are rising or falling for that phrase.  The report even shows specific new stories and whether they affected search volumes.

The top part of the graph you will see is the Search Volume Index, the rise or fall in searches for that phrase.  The bottom graph is the News References Volume, which tells you the amount of online media mentions for the phrase.

 

You can get more advanced reporting at www.google.com/insights/search/ (including seasonality, geography and categories).

You can also see the list of the top 100 hot phrases by clicking the “More Hot Searches” link.

Other Media

It also pays to stay current on TV, radio and print news.  If a relevant story seems to be gaining a lot of ground, work it into your website and blog.

 

For instance, if you see on the news that Frank Bigstar is the movie star who lost 45 pounds on the mixed greens diet, you could mention his name here and there in your blog.  Chance are that other readers watching the news will remember Frank’s name and diet, but probably not mixed greens.  If you show up for “Frank Bigstar diet,” you’re set.

A word of caution: Be sure you look at whether the keyword phrase you are considering is really relevant to your business.  For example, while mixed greens could mean for salad, it could also mean mixed green paint.  After you identify a keyword, test it by putting it in Google and see what comes up.  Make sure you don’t see a bunch of equally correct but totally irrelevant meanings ranking higher in the search results.

At the same time, remember that no keyword is 100 percent relevant.  If more than half of the resulting “long-tail” phrases using that word are relevant to your business, you probably have a winner.

 

Categories : INTERNET MARKETING, SEO
Posted by DBC Digital on
 February 13, 2012

5 Great Tips to Get the Most out of Twitter for Business

5 Great Tips to Get the Most out of Twitter for Business

As most everyone knows, Twitter is a social media micro-blogging tool.  What many Denver-area businesses don’t know is that Twitter can be very useful to business and marketers becuase it helps “break the ice” with potential customers, and engage them in (hopefully long-term) relationships.

It works because it offers marketers a way to build a foundation of trust and authority well before any transaction takes place.

Getting to know your customers through Twitter is a smart marketing strategy.  And, with a limit of 140 characters, it’s the perfect complement to mobile.  So, you can reach these people anytime, anywhere, even on the go.

If you’re interested in Twitter for marketing, have a plan!  A social media service in Denver makes it easy to develop the strategy that’s right for you.  First, let’s get you started:

Set up an account.  This is as simple as adding some basic information.

  • Hashtag.  This is your “handle”—for example, @dbcdigital.  People use this to find you, so keep it simple, as close to your business name as possible, and leave out dashes and numbers.
  • Photo.  A logo or photo of the team works well.
  • Company bio.  Hours, contact information, who you are and what you do.  Link to your site here.

Post information.  These are your daily or weekly updates, or “tweets”.

  • Blogs.  If your company has a blog, have it fed automatically to your Twitter account so that followers can see each post as soon as it’s live.
  • Links.  Post a short intro phrase, then a link to anything that you think your followers might find interesting.  Use a URL shortener such as bit.ly to condense link addresses.
  •  Comments. You can do more with 140 characters than you might think.  Contribute short, engaging comments frequently, to maintain reader interest.  Skittles is one brand that does this very well.

Build a following.  This is the community of people interested in your company.  Keep adding fresh content, engage with people by following their Twitter accounts, comment on their content, and gradually build your following.

Once you’ve gotten started, consider using a Denver social media company to help plan your overall long-term strategy.  Here are some ways to find success:

1.  Involve the executives.  We’ve talked about social media and the C-Suite.  People want to hear from your higher-ups, so get executives actively involved with the Twitter account.  Emphasize how quick and easy it is to participate.  If they can send a text message, they can tweet!

2.  Promote content.  This includes not only your own content, such as the latest blog post, but also relevant content from other sites.  Linking to interesting articles, sites and videos turns your business’ Twitter account into a resource for useful information.

3.  Keep it updated.  In fact, live updates are best.  Do you have a booth at an industry trade show?  Did you just launch a new product line?  Followers want their information fresh and hot, so shoot out a tweet the moment something interesting happens.

4.  Maintain contacts.  Follow other bloggers and industry leaders, comment on their posts and invite them to comment on yours.  It’s faster, easier and more convenient than emailing or calling them.

5.  Monitor your brand.  As with any marketing campaign, you want to constantly check for customer/follower feedback.  With the help of a social media service in Denver, it’s a simple process that helps you engage with followers and keeps your reputation intact.

Twitter offers many advantages for business.   It allows each member of your team to directly engage with customers.  It expands your reach.  And, it can be used anywhere, wherever you are.  It is an agile marketing tool that just about anyone can utilize for knockout results.

What other beneifits have you found using Twitter for business?  Let us know in the comments section!

 

 

Categories : SEO
Posted by DBC Digital on
 January 26, 2012

Inbound (Internet) Marketing Success for 2012

 

Inbound (Internet) Marketing Success for 2012

Okay, Denver-area marketers!  Did you develop a marketing action plan for 2012?  If you did, have you been implementing it (or is real life getting in the way)?

It’s not too late to re-focus and re-commit.  Let’s get to work!

Here are the most important actions you should be taking during 2012 to grow your Internet (Inbound) Marketing success:

Provide new, original content on an on-going basis, supported by your SEO strategy. 

We consistently talk to our Colorado clients about how important providing fresh, new content for your website is. For inbound strategies to work, you need to be committed to creating new content regularly, and your content needs to be supported by a well thought-out SEO strategy.

Your first step is to have already researched which of your keywords going to be the most effective by using keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword Tool or HubSpot’s Keyword Grader.  Also, focus on long tail keyword phrases, which make up 70% of natural search traffic and are easier to rank for, allowing you show up on top of your competitors in search rankings. 

2. Be an agile inbound (internet) marketer. 

Be sure you are regularly reviewing your web analytics so you are ready to make ongoing improvements. Being able to move quickly is one of the biggest advantages you have over larger competitors.  You should be using A/B testing tools to test everything in your marketing program, giving you the information you’ll need to know what is working and what is not with your readers and prospects, and then be able to improve your plan little-by-little every day.

3. Have a social media personality. 

Since many larger competitors often have to work within a company structure that restricts their social media policies, you can leap these competitors and use social media like it was intended to be used and as you want to use it.   Be helpful. Write like you would to your neighbor. Build your own “voice” in a sincere, positive way that encourages people to want to talk with you and ask you questions. Using these approaches, you can make the most out of your efforts and see a level of success your larger competitors cannot.

4. Recognize and fill your weak spots. 

If you are a smaller firm, you are probably doing many of the day-to-day inbound marketing tasks yourself.  Look honestly at what you are doing well and where you are weakest.  Hire a freelancer or a part-time employee to help you in the areas that are not your strengths.

For instance, if you need help writing a blog, there are many companies that will do this task for you (including us a DBCdigital) with your content at a much lower cost than you might imagine.

5. Invest time every day into learning something new. 

This is how most small companies become big companies.  Their founders and leaders force themselves to take time each day (whether on their drive in to wok, at breakfast or lunch) to learn something new by listening to podcasts, reading a blog or signing up for a webinar that helps them stay ahead of the curve and their competitors. 

6. Spend time building your “opt-in” subscribers list. 

Focusing your time on finding ways to grow your subscriber list are some of the most important actions you can take.  Building great content and offers and then putting them behind landing pages that readers can sign up for is a great way to nurture readers and prospects.   You should constantly monitor your and fine-tune your email marketing strategy so you learn what types of information is attracting not only readers, but the kinds of prospects you have targeted.   As grow your list of followers in email and social platforms, you’ll get better at nurturing your list and you’ll benefit from a shorter sales cycle and start to see better revenue growth from each client.

7. Invest in the right technology. 

The right tools help you do your job more effectively. Software and other automation tools can help you be more efficient and effective as you grow your business.  You know that your competitors (in and outside Colorado) are using technology to help them automated certain parts of their marketing strategies, but perhaps aren’t using them as well. That means you have a chance to use inbound marketing software and automation tools in the way they sere intended from the beginning, and, as a result, you will have the time to do the other things that require your personal attention, like social media and data analysis.  

8. Have a legitimately good product and service. 

Don’t underestimate the importance of quality. Quality products and services are essential to long term growth.  The irony of an excellent inbound marketing program is that you will attract visitors to your site.  If you are not offering compelling or quality products and services when a prospect finds you, you will have squandered your time and money.

If you remember this at all times, you’ll grow a loyal base of clients that will stay with you and help you grow.

Go get ’em!

 

 

 

Photo credit: Bellatcqtpie

 

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Greg Sherwood is CEO of DBC Digital, a marketing agency based in Denver, Colorado.  With over 30 years of marketing experience with traditional and inbound (internet) marketing, Greg helps mid-sized businesses get a better return on their marketing dollars.  

You can reach Greg at (303) 357-5757 or at dbc@dbcdigital.com

Categories : SEO, STRATEGY
Posted by DBC Digital on
 January 16, 2012

Double Your Click-Through Rates By Using These 4 Tips

The click-through rate is also known as CTR.  It’s the name of the game in Internet (Inbound) marketing, and a measure of how successful you are at:

1.  Getting eyeballs on your site (through ads, calls to action, etc.)
2.  Compelling those eyeballs to act

It’s a fact—that all the web advertising in the world, whether on your site or elsewhere, is useless if nobody is clicking.  According to Google, the average click-through rate for AdWords is around 2%.  Could you be doing better?  Getting the click rates you want requires attention to a few important factors:

1. Know your target audience
Web users don’t mind ads—as long as those ads are for goods and services they’re interested in.  The question is: are your ads designed for your audience?

Identify your target market.  Why?  Targeting brings with it two important advantages over non-targeted advertising:  it reaches the customers you want to reach, and it gives you the ability to design ads and calls to action specifically for certain groups.

Studies show that targeted ads outperform non-targeted ads by about 2 to 1, so it’s worth doing a little extra homework.  If you don’t have the time or expertise to do it yourself, an experienced Internet marketing agency in Denver can help you find and reach your specific audience.

2. Create engaging copy
More than ever, content is key to making the sale.  Internet marketing relies on how well you can grab attention through clear, concise and compelling copy.  Identifying your market is a first step toward knowing what motivates these buyers—the next step is to make sure that the content for your ads and calls to action really pops.

Ask the question they’ve been asking themselves.  Encourage clicks with positive action verbs.  Customize copy for geographical areas.

  • “Do you want more from your Internet marketing service?”
  • “Click here for a special offer for our Denver customers only!”
  • “Limited time only!”
  • “Download your free trial!”

You get the picture!

3. Test with A/B splits
A fancy way to say that you should create more than one design for each call to action, so that you can test which one works better.

Many factors influence which ads perform better than others—color, font, graphic design, size and copy all play a part.  You won’t be able to increase click rates until you know which combinations people are most drawn to.

You can do A/B testing yourself, or leave it to a Denver Internet marketing service (Like DBC)  to determine which ads and calls to action garner the most clicks from your audience.

4. Don’t ignore analytics
Daily, weekly and monthly analysis gives you the data you need to fine tune your ad campaigns and optimize your site’s calls to action.  Which ads are working?  Which need to be discarded?  Let’s face it—your marketing budget only stretches so far, and you can’t afford to waste it on efforts that aren’t producing results.

Better click rates are the ticket to better Internet marketing results!  Get people to click, and you’re on your way to increased leads and conversions—not to mention greater online visibility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What have we missed?  Do you have other “white hat” techniques for increasing your click-through rates?  Let us know!

 

Categories : BRANDING, SEO
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