Retail To Go Is The Future

Retail To Go Is The Future – Is Your Store Ready?

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There’s no denying the novel coronavirus has changed all businesses, but small businesses have been hit especially hard. However, some relief is in sight, if you’re ready to handle the new temporary normal of retail to go.

As of April 24, 2020, retailers in Texas can reopen their stores, but in a different way than normal. What does this mean for our local small businesses in McKinney, Allen, Frisco and other areas?

It’s time to make some immediate changes to keep your small business not just hanging out, but growing while also creating loyal customers. It might seem hard at first, but this is a major step towards future-proofing your business.

The New Normal Is Here

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is ready to start reopening Texas. However, this means a new temporary normal as COVID-19 isn’t gone just yet. Abbott issued several executive orders on April 17th, but the one most important to small businesses is you can reopen, just in a retail to go capacity.

Social distancing is still necessary, which is the reason for the restrictions. While you can open back up, you must be able to provide products to customers safely. This means offering curbside pickup, home delivery or some other form of safe delivery.

In McKinney, Frisco and Allen Texas (among all towns in Texas) here are the rules:    Curbside Pickup | McKinney Texas

  • Employees are required to wear face coverings, work at least six feet apart and must be screened for symptoms before entering the building.
  • Purchased items should be delivered by the employee to the back seat or trunk of the customer’s vehicle whenever possible to minimize physical contact.
  • Employees must wash or sanitize their hands after each interaction with a customer. Whenever possible, they must disinfect any item that came into contact with the customer.

 

As you might have noticed, this new normal doesn’t just allow customers to flood back into your store. You’ll be selling your products at a distance, which isn’t exactly the norm for many smaller businesses, like those Mom and Pop stores we all love. But, don’t give up hope. You just need to make a few changes.

Going Digital To Stay Competitive

The coronavirus has drastically changed retail for the foreseeable future. In fact, curbside pickup could easily become something customers expect from all businesses, even after this pandemic is over. They love the convenience and it’s a new way for businesses to stay competitive in this changing economy.

What can you do right now to prepare for Friday’s reopening? It’s time to go digital. If you don’t think Americans have changed their views on shopping that much, consider these recent shopping survey results – 90% of Americans remain hesitant to shop in stores. Having a digital presence helps your brick-and-mortar store continue running during a time when 94% of customers feel online shopping is important right now. Online shopping trends are likely to increase, mainly because customers are still going to be fearful even after things return to normal.

The great news is customers want to support small businesses, but they can’t do that if you’re not offering safe shopping options. Since they can’t browse in-store, you need a website now more than ever to serve as your online storefront. The quicker you get your site up and running, the easier it’ll be to conform to the new retail to go guidelines, while showing customers your current inventory from the safety of their homes.

Adjusting To Customer Needs

It is a huge adjustment if you’re a small business that never felt like you really need a website before. You may not even have a social media presence. The face of retail is changing, though and it’s vital to start adjusting to customer needs now, rather than later.

BOPUS is now the ideal business model, which means Buy Online Pick Up in Store. Customers love the ability to browse stores online, both small and large, buy what they want and then pick it up at your store. Customers get to support local small businesses without fear for their health and safety.

It might be hard to think of investing in a website and digital presence right now, but it’s the best way to maintain your customer base and thrive during one of the most difficult economic times in our history. It’s also a great time to invest in digital marketing. To avoid sinking instead of swimming to success right now, ensure you’re giving customers the following:

  • Plenty of inventory and correct inventory numbers online
  • Free shipping or low-cost shipping
  • Free curbside pickup (customers will drive to your store versus having to pay shipping)
  • Great customer service, online and off
  • Fast and easy to use website

Welcome to the new normal. Adapting now can save your small business. Are you looking forward to April 24th and diving into the retail to go model?  Call us today at (214) 938-2364 to discuss options on serving your retail customers.

 

 

Use Digital Marketing More Now Than Ever

5 Reasons You Need To Use Digital Marketing More Than Ever

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The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the world seemingly overnight. With businesses closing up temporarily or asking employees to work from home, is now really the best time to use digital marketing?

Yes! In fact, it’s important to use now more than ever before. With people staying home, you can’t rely on conferences, events and other face-to-face marketing strategies. Your customers are remote, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach them.

Whether your business already focuses on digital marketing or you’re just getting started, putting the time and effort into mastering digital marketing right now will pay off immediately and in the future.

1. Remain Relevant

If your brand suddenly disappears, your audience might move on to your competitors who have chosen to use digital marketing to stay relevant. Instead of hiding away or waiting to go back to other methods, businesses are transitioning to a mainly digital approach.

Why? They want to remain relevant. They want to continue conversations and building relationships with their audience. Show your audience that you can continue engaging with them throughout the coronavirus crisis and remain relevant in their daily lives.

2. Reach People Where There Are

The truth is every business needs a digital marketing strategy anyway. There are currently over 4.5 billion Internet users globally. In North America alone, 94.6% of the population uses the Internet at least some of the time.

If you want to reach people, go where they are – online. Build a website so they can find you via Google. Build an active community on social media. Make sure you’re creating a presence where people can find you where they hang out. During COVID-19 stay at home and shelter at place restrictions, even more people are staying online, so now is one of the best times to use digital marketing.

3. Generate Leads Digitally

Many industries are suffering during the coronavirus, especially any business that typically relied on generating leads through mailers, face-to-face meetings and local events. You don’t have to stop generating leads. You just have to switch to a digital strategy.

Continue meeting new people, but do it through social media. Add a contact form and/or live chat option to your website. Even if your physical business is closed right now, digital marketing helps you build up leads and answer questions until you can open back up.

4. Offer Connections Virtually

There’s a common misconception that virtual connections aren’t effective. Live streaming is growing for a reason – people like it. It’s convenient. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s also a great way to stay connected while staying safe.

Businesses and brands all over the world are switching to live streaming as a form of video marketing. Businesses that would usually be closed are staying connected and bringing their audience together. For instance, clubs are hosting cloud clubbing events. Gyms are hosting fitness classes. Real estate agents are increasing virtual tours.

Virtual connections keep you engaging with your audience, which will make them more likely to do business with you after this is all over. Plus, it’s a great way to build brand trust and loyalty.

5. Invest Now To Stay Competitive

Whether you use digital marketing regularly or this is a whole new world, now is the best time to invest in digital marketing to stay competitive. Digital is the best way to reach your audience during COVID-19. Businesses that adapt to digital now will have a distinct advantage after the pandemic passes.

Businesses that put more into their current digital marketing strategy will weather the storm easier. With digital being your best bet right now, why wouldn’t you use it to reach your audience, interact with them and grow your brand throughout the coronavirus outbreak and beyond?

With so many digital marketing options, explore what works. Just stay connected and your audience will appreciate it.

marketing-during-the-coronavirus

6 Must-Read Tips For Marketing During The Coronavirus

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The coronavirus pandemic, or COVID-19, has turned the world upside down in a matter of a few months. For many, changes happened in just a few weeks. One common challenge for businesses – marketing during the coronavirus.

Many businesses are temporarily shutting down, but numerous others are able to let their employees work from home and stay open. Some online businesses are even seeing an increase in business.

The right marketing strategy right now can help keep your business running. It’ll even help it keep growing once this pandemic is all just a distant memory.

1. Focus On Customer Service

Excellent customer service is an often overlooked marketing strategy. Instead of using social media marketing to push a new product, try to make life easier for your customers. Give them insight into how your brand is responding to the crisis.

Be available to answer questions, such as explaining shipping delays. Taking the time to focus on what your customers need in terms of support builds customer loyalty. In fact, 86% of customers are more likely to repurchase from you after a great support experience and 77% are likely to recommend you to others.

2. PPC Is Your Friend

Pay-per-click ads might not seem like the best strategy for marketing during the coronavirus, but millions of people are quarantined right now. They’re working from home. Kids are being homeschooled. That’s millions of more people spending hours more every day in front of screens.

Focus on ads that help people in some way. Promote useful digital services, such as anything that might help parents with homeschooling. Advertise helpful articles, such as not going stir crazy. With a bigger audience looking for things to do online, PPC is a good investment.

3. Content Marketing Is Critical

Once again, more people are online right now. While some are just searching for coronavirus details, most are looking for entertaining, engaging and/or educational content to occupy them while they’re stuck at home 24/7.

Some companies are putting a hold on their content creation strategy right now, but you shouldn’t. Content marketing during the coronavirus is the perfect way to stay connected with your audience. It’s even ideal for jumping ahead of your competition by showing you’re there for your customers no matter what’s going on.

4. Use The Right Hashtags

When it comes to social media marketing during the coronavirus, it’s all about using the right hashtags. This doesn’t mean tag everything with #coronavirus. Instead, try to keep things relevant and light-hearted.

For example, a popular hashtag right now is #JOMO. Joy of missing out was born as a parody of #FOMO, or fear of missing out. Of course, #socialdistancing, #stopthespread and #flattenthecurve are all popular options too that seem much more positive.

Ensure you’re using these to spread messages on social media that help people. Don’t use them for blatant marketing or it will backfire.

5. Show How You’re Being Responsible

Customers are increasingly preferring socially responsible businesses. In fact, 87% of consumers said they’re more willing to buy from brands that show they care about relevant social issues.

Take this time to market your business as socially responsible. Blog about what you’re doing during this time to help your employees and make lives easier and safer for customers. Promote your commitment to doing your part in saving lives versus pushing products and services.

Customers will see you actually care and support their views. As a result, they’re more likely to purchase from you.

6. Optimize Everything

If you’ve been putting off optimizing your blog, website and even social media posts, your brand will suffer more than others right now. With so many people searching for information online due to being stuck at home, an optimized website is one of your top marketing tools right now.

Plus, when this is all over, you’ll be well ahead of your competition. You’ll have developed a great SEO strategy, which is a long-term marketing tool. Invest in optimizing your site from the ground up. It’ll keep your business running throughout this pandemic and ensure customers are able to find and interact with you.

Marketing during the coronavirus will help you reach more customers. Just be empathetic and pay close attention to what your customers want and need right now.

Why Dentists Should Hire A Digital Marketing Agency

Why Dentists Should Hire a Digital Marketing Agency

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Many people are now beginning their search for a new product or service online, including a new dentist. When you hire a digital marketing agency, you’re making it easier for new patients to find you.

Many people don’t have a regular dentist, or they may be new in town. Others might only consider the dentist when they’re experiencing pain or after an accident. Of course, people still value word of mouth referrals. However, everyone has been disappointed by poor service at a place that was well recommended by a friend.

Besides, consumers achieve a certain satisfaction from hunting down a new service provider on their own. Digital marketing experts can get your message out on a variety of platforms and target the right customers for you.

SEO is Better than Advertising

The benefits of getting SEO when you hire a digital marketing agency

Of course, you can spend money on print, radio, or even Google Adwords, but many consumers view advertising as inauthentic. Getting your dental site on page one of Google means more to customers than seeing a Google Ad.

While both websites paid for their appearance, the organically appearing site earned its position through quality content. Once again, organic methods trump ads. Your customers understand that you’ve put a lot of effort into your website, and that kind of dedication is impressive. Investing resources in dental SEO has been yielding dividends for years. Trying to do all of this on your own can be difficult. When you hire a digital marketing agency, they handle the marketing so you can focus on your practice.

Quality Dental Information

High-quality Google SERPs happen for a reason. Google analyzes your site for relevant and original information that would be interesting to the person performing the search. Using a quality digital media company makes sure that your website is optimized to educate and inform someone curious about your area of expertise. Google directs them to your page because you have the information that they’re seeking.

For instance, someone in your city wants to get their teeth whitened. They enter a typical series of words that your dental SEO company has already researched. They ensure that a professional writer inserts these terms strategically throughout their original article on the subject. You may rest assured that these articles are well-researched from the most up to date and well-respected online publications.

It’s not just about getting him to your site. He’s also learning more about his condition or desired procedure. By educating him, you earn his trust. You build a bond with a potential customer, and it’s only natural that he comes to you for treatment.

Social Media

Besides your website, a quality digital marketing agency gets your message out through all of the popular social media platforms. Strategic messaging on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others helps get and keep your brand in front of the eyes of potential customers.

Your brand is how people regard your company. An expert digital marketing agency can help dentists develop a name and a reputation in their community. Lucé Media has developed its own proprietary and patented algorithms. These keep you well-informed of the progress its campaign has made in disseminating your message.

Today’s media marketing agencies won’t limit your brand to SEO content marketing. They can also develop an email and video marketing program for you. Video, in particular, is emerging as one of the most powerful messaging tools available. However, video’s just one part of a great marketing strategy.

Anyone with a smartphone can shoot a video and post it on YouTube. However, it takes marketing expertise to use it to drive customers to your site and generate sales. Lucé Media has an eclectic team of experts with a wide array of experience. In today’s competitive online environment, you need the very best talent to develop your brand in the community.

Today’s dentists are learning the long-term value of digital marketing agencies. Call Lucé Media today and set up an initial consultation!

Picture of Blog Post on Laptop Computer

How to Turn a Single Blog Post Into a Month’s Worth of Content Marketing

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Creating high-quality marketing content on a regular basis is tough for any business. Here’s how to create a month’s worth of it from a single blog post.

CREDIT: Getty Images

As an already-busy entrepreneur running the day-to-day operations of your business, it can get easy to neglect one of the most important aspects of your brand’s long-term success: online marketing.

When it comes to the online marketing world, the success or failure of the entire operation relies on you creating amazing online content (in some way, shape or form), and then making sure relevant people consume that content.

Why create content in the first place? 

The short, raw answer is that all of your competitors are doing it. In fact, creating quality marketing content has become a prerequisite as opposed to being a competitive advantage. So, if you don’t get a head start on SEO and social media marketing now, five years from now you’ll risk being as far behind your competitors as brands that thought websites were a “just a fad” back in the early 2000s.

On top of that, it’s been found that 88 percent of customers today start their buying process by researching brands online before making a decision, proving just how integral content marketing, and having a solid online presence, is to your company’s bottom line.

Here’s the problem though: creating high-quality content is very time consuming – and as a business owner, you’ve already got enough to worry about. That being said, if you strategically plan your content and get the most from it by creatively republishing it across multiple platforms, you can save yourself massive amounts of time and headaches. Here’s how to do it.

How to repurpose like an expert.

  1. To start, write an in-depth blog post answering a question your industry would love to know the answer to. Because you’ll be posting less often using this strategy, the article should be very in-depth, so aim for a word count, longer than 1,500 words.
  2. Next, share the blog post in your email newsletter. As a brand, no matter how strong your social media or web presence is, you should always have an active email newsletter sent to your subscribers. Social media platforms come and go, search engine algorithms change single year, but email addresses change far less frequently.
  3. Once you have your post, you have tons of social content at your fingertips with Tweets alone – particularly with quote tweets, which simply copy and paste pieces of the post into Tweets along with a link back to the article. Space these Tweets out across the month. Additionally, to ensure everyone gets the chance to see and read it, share your blog post across all your social media channels one to two times per week throughout the month
  4. Using the information covered in your blog post, create an eye-popping infographic to share on Pinterest and Instagram, where this type of content does very well. Not an expert graphic designer? Don’t worry – try using a tool like Canva, which has tons of pre-made templates for graphics and icons, which can help make creating killer graphics a whole lot easier.
  5. Throughout the process of creating your blog post and infographic, document the journey with behind-the-scenes footage using Instagram Stories. This can be unfiltered material like your first whiteboard session, a screen capture of you pressing “publish” on your blog or something else related. 
  6. After that, create a how-to, tutorial style video using your blog post as an outline. Then, post it to YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. If you want to take it a step further, you can break the video down into small segments and publish those clips across Instagram as well.
  7. Last but not least, you can bolster viewer engagement by hosting Q&A sessions using live video on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. The sessions can give your audience the opportunity to ask you any questions they have on the material you covered in the blog post.

And there you have it – a month’s worth of content created from a single blog.

Finding time for creating content in your already-busy schedule can be difficult and overwhelming. Yet, by following the repurposing strategy laid out in this article and being intentional with every move you make, you’ll be able to consistently create social media content with minimal effort. Best of luck.

This was posted originally at: https://www.inc.com/dakota-shane/how-to-turn-a-single-blog-post-into-a-months-worth-of-content-marketing.html

Digital Marketing Tips to Help Grow Your Business

4 Tech-Savvy Ways to Stay On Top of the Latest Digital Marketing Trends

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To thrive in business, you need to stay ahead of the latest digital marketing trends. Here’s how to ensure you’re getting breaking marketing news delivered to your devices daily.

Image emphasizing the importance of keeping up with the latest digital marketing trends.

Staying on top of the latest marketing trends can feel like a full-time job in itself. Just when you started to get the hang of the newest social media platform, creating cool geofilters for Snapchat, or tweaking your newsletter design to reflect the latest trends you read about, it can seem like you’re falling behind on five more marketing approaches your competitors just mastered.

The predictions are out: 2019 is going to be a huge year for digital marketers and savvy business owners. And you need to be aware of the next-gen platforms that will reach your audience.

Here are some quick and easy ways to stay on top of the latest marketing initiatives–so you can determine if they’re a good fit for your small business (or if you should spend your focus and dollars elsewhere).

Get them in your inbox

I like reading the Content Marketing Institute’s free print magazine Chief Content Officer while commuting, but in between quarterly issues, I sign up for their daily e-newsletter to read blogs, research and infographics. I also find that it’s a worthwhile expense to subscribe to Digiday to stay on top of industry trends. Other free newsletters I skim weekly include those from SmallBusinessTrends.com, Inc.com (of course), Mediabistro.com, and SocialMedia.org. Sign up for Masthead Media‘s email newsletter where we’ll send you our take on the latest marketing trends.

Follow the right people on social

Could your Twitter feed be working harder for you? Create a list with the best online marketers relevant to your business and set it up as a stream you scroll in Hootsuite, TweetDeck or whatever social networking platform you use to schedule posts and track social media trends. Some of my favorite Twitter feeds to follow for marketing know-how include: @SMExaminer, @techcrunch, @digiday, @CMO_com ‏@adage @adweek, and more. People I love to follow include @jamioetting, @sminero @marketingprofs @jaybaer (Follow me @AmandaPressner to see which marketing news and trends I’m sharing).

Search social using the right hashtags

While you’re building your ultimate Twitter list, search your favorite social media platforms with a few key hashtags so you’ll see the latest news and trends on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. My favorites to use in social and conduct searches include: #content marketing, #marketing, #socialmedia, #content, #digitalmarketing, and #smallbusiness.

Sign up for Google’s news alerts. Make your Google news feed work harder for you by following certain topics. My favorites include: “marketing” “content marketing” “marketing strategy” “freelancer” and “small business.”

Rely on an outsourced marketing expert or team

If you don’t feel like your time is best spent searching the latest content marketing news or engaging in social media chats, you could hire a third-party team or individual to stay on top of the trends that would be most useful for your business.

An external marketing company stays ahead of the latest trends and can offer strategic insights as to how your company should implement some of them. Outsourcing your marketing can also save you the stress and headaches of hiring an individual specifically for that role in your company, particularly if you aren’t sure it warrants a full-time position.

Consider hiring a virtual assistant that specializes in marketing to get your feet wet and see if you might want to look into hiring a larger marketing team in the future.

The bottom line? As co-founder of Masthead Media, I need to be aware of marketing initiatives and industry trends but can’t block out an entire day of work each week to read up on them. That’s why I rely on these practices to stay in the know.

This Post Was Originally Posted at: https://www.inc.com/amanda-pressner-kreuser/4-tech-savvy-ways-to-stay-on-top-of-latest-marketing-trends.html

Generate More Leads From Your Website

5 ways to increase leads from your website

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In case you are wondering why your website is not driving any traffic or generating any kind of leads, even after having the best interface, design and even the best integration for chatbox, then you’ve come to the right place. The reason can be that, you are not focusing on the digital marketing aspect of your website. Good traffic is always needed to build a strong client base and it will also help in building the leads as well.

Driving traffic will include concentrating on various aspects like SEM, SEO, Email Marketing, Social Media, etcetera. Therefore, you need to know what kind of strategy will fit your business the most. There can be either free ways to do it, or paid ways as well. Thus, the following list of tips and tricks will help you to generate leads for your website and also the traffic as well.

  • SEO on-page performance: You have to make sure that the SEO on every page of your website works brilliantly in order to create traffic and leads. This is very important in moving your website on top of the search results. You also have to keep in mind about the changing algorithms as well. There are various factors connected with on-page SEO, like keyword density, keyword research, external and internal links, etcetera.
  • Using social media: Even if your website has top-notch content, then it will be of no use if people cannot find it. You have to promote your content. And there is not a better way to do it, than using social media. With the use of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, you will be able to create profiles, post content, pictures and videos as well. In case using social media is not your cup of tea, you can always hire an agency.
  • Use video marketing: Videos are a great way to increase engagement among your followers and customers. Consumers love watching videos and therefore you can use video channels like YouTube and Vine, and use it for promoting your website. It will not cost you huge amounts of money as well. This is because 70 per cent out of 100 per cent wants to watch a video over reading a blog.
  • Indulge in guest blogging: Even though some people might say that guest blogging is getting out of fashion, it indeed helps a lot in creating traffic on your website. You can always use proof to invite people who are subject matter experts to write on your website, on niche subjects. With a guest blogger, you can also contribute to their blog or website by adding a website link.
  • Marketing via email: Email marketing should not be ignored at all, because the cost of running email marketing is very less and it is also effective as well. The returns will be huge if your email marketing reaches success. Therefore, this method is highly recommended and effective as well, without a doubt.

This Post was Originally Scheduled at: https://www.techiexpert.com/5-ways-to-increase-leads-from-your-website/

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5 ways to improve your small business rankings in Google for 2019

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For many years, McKinney small businesses have understood the power of strong rankings in the search engines.

Indeed, achieving a strong page 1 ranking on Google can boost the number of customers for any business with an online presence.

But how exactly do you score a great ranking in Google?

With more and more small businesses in McKinney, TX turning to Digital Marketing, there is a growing need to understand the power of strong rankings in the search engines. The tactics have evolved from what they were just a few years ago. Let us outline 5 important strategies for small businesses trying to improve their exposure online.

Technical Onsite SEO

5 or 6 years ago, SEO was more of a technical exercise. Today this is still an important component of a small business SEO strategy. In fact, many of the same components are used. 

Overall, you will not rank for a keyword that is not physically on your website. We know this sounds obvious, but many small business owners don’t have strong content on their homepage, and can’t figure out why they don’t rank well.

Keywords needs to be strategically placed in the Title Tag and H1 Tag. If you don’t know what these are, learn them. It isn’t rocket science. This will also make you better able to communicate with your developer. Or if your website is on the WordPress platform, you can adjust these yourself with one of many SEO plugins available.

Having a website that looks good is important. Many people believe that Google is monitoring bounce rates and dwell times as indicators of user experience. An outdated website or one that is just confusing will repel users, and may hurt rankings. 

Ensure that your website is fast. Google explicitly tells us it does not like to rank slow websites. This hurts user experience, and rankings too.

Also build a mobile-friendly website. More and more users view websites on mobile devices. The latest stats available indicate that 58% of website traffic comes from a mobile device. Your business needs to be well represented on any digital device platform.

Google My Business 

Google presents a map for many keyword searches. They do this for keywords they believe to have local searcher intent, where seeing the business in a map is more helpful. The catch here is that Google is not presenting the business website itself, but rather the Google My Business page listing for that business.

Because of this dynamic, it is important that small business owners claim their business listing and ensure all the information is accurately updated. Business phone numbers, addresses, hours and other relevant information is critical. The way this information is entered in the Google database has been shown to impact rankings. 

Additionally, the number of times the phone number on file with Google My Business is seen by Google’s spiders around the internet has been identified as a ranking factor. These are known as citations, and sometimes NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number). To give your business an edge over the competition, post your NAP everywhere you can. There are also numerous services that can help you with this SEO process known as Directory Listing Services. Luce Media can submit your NAP to dozens of different directories and get you quickly ranking. Click here and scroll down to Online Visibility.

Strong Content

At Luce Media, we know that Google has a strong preference for long-form, well-researched content. For this reason, it pays to write very long blog posts on your website. However, the content needs to be informative and helpful for users.

Many small business owners claim they will have time to write blog posts themselves. However, after a month or two, they stop blogging (if they ever started in the first place). This is a critical mistake. If you can’t produce the blog yourself, hire a service to do it for you. Luce Media provides blog writing and content marketing in McKinney, TX.

Content published on the website needs to be visually appealing as well as well-written. This means many pictures and graphics – sometimes called visual assets. These visual assets should give the reader a visual representation of the main concepts of the blog post. This will help keep lazy readers engaged.

Many of the top bloggers recommend something visual to break up the words between every fold of the screen. This technique is strong because readers have something appealing to look at as they get tired of reading.

Backlinks

For many years, backlinks have been known to be a critical ingredient in search engine ranking success. This is no less true in 2019 than it was a few years ago. Great content will not rank without strong backlinks to the content from highly authoritative and relevant websites.

Backlinks are key to ranking higher in search engines.

Adam Stetzer, Ph.D. has been in the SEO business for 10 years and says: “Backlinks are one of the hardest concepts for small business owners to understand and execute. They understand on-site SEO and writing great content. They have a hard time committing to a great backlink building strategy because of the mathematical and conceptual nature of backlinks in the Google algorithm. Nonetheless, there are great places on the Internet to earn backlinks for free.” 

Search engine optimization experts generally agree that there are 2 major components of a backlink that determine if it will help you rank: Authority and Relevance. 

A backlink is considered to have authority if it comes from a domain with high Domain Rating or Domain Authority. These factors are easily queryable using free SEO analytic tools. In generally, you want a link from a high domain authority website. 

Furthermore, the backlink will help you more if it is on a specific page on that website that also has strong authority. Several years ago, Google started distinguishing which pages on a particular website were the strongest. This, again, is determined by how many backlinks are feeding into a specific page on a domain. So while a link from a high authority domain is good, a link placed on the strong web page on that domain (usually the home page) is the best.

The second criteria for a backlink is the relevance of that link. You want links from websites that are about the same subject matter as your website. If you are trying to rank a website about cars, a link from another automotive website would be much more valuable than a link from a foodie website.

How to weigh the relative importance of categorical relevance vs domain authority nobody can really answer except the engineers at Google. Most SEO’s go for relevance over authority. Both is ideal.

Relationships and Reputation

The final parts of the small business strategy are relationships and reputation. This is a very important part of any SEO strategy as negative reviews often rank very highly in Google. Additionally, the more relationships you have the stronger your ability to earn great mentions, reviews and backlinks.

Many small business owners overlook the idea that building relationships will help their online presence. Indeed, it feels old fashioned. However, human relationships are at the heart of all business, and it is humans that place great backlinks into powerful stories online. Understanding the importance of online reviews is critical for the business owner in McKinney, TX.

Small business owners need to be active in their communities, regularly attend meetups and maintain ties with those who can mention them online.

Conclusions 

Earning a top position for your small business in McKinney, TX on Google will bring in customers. Because these positions are so coveted, they are also extremely competitive. The 5 strategies outlined in this article represent an outstanding opportunity to move search engine rankings up and get the phone ringing.

This Post was originally Posted at: https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/marketing/5-ways-to-improve-your-small-business-rankings-in-google/

Instagram with the Instagram icon

24+ Instagram Statistics That Matter to Marketers in 2019

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Instagram MarketingAre you using Instagram to connect with your audience?

And if not, should you?

Okay, that’s a loaded question.

Statistically speaking though, it makes business dollars and sense.

Scan these Instagram stats that show its breadth and depth worldwide. Then use them to shape your Instagram marketing strategy.

Instagram user statistics

Who’s using Instagram? So nice of you to ask.

Well, over an eighth of the 7.6 billion people on the planet (and counting). A look at some Instagram user statistics to keep close to your marketing cuff.

1. 1 billion people use Instagram

Of the social networks, only Facebook and YouTube have more people logging in. With 500 million of them using Instagram—every day. Want some of them to like your business? Click here to for some tips on how.

2. 80% of users are outside the U.S.

That’s a whole lot of global ad revenue for your products and services. With estimates of almost $7 billion in mobile ad revenue in 2018. Interested in doing business in India, Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia and Japan? Go for it. Tens of millions of active users for your global products.

3. 39% women, 30% men, for U.S. Instagrammers

Women more than men are using this photo sharing app. But the gap has decreased slightly the past couple years.

4. 59% of U.S. users are under 30

…between 18 and 29 years old. Conversely, 33 percent of Instagram users are between 30- and 49-years-old. Another thing, 70 percent of U.S. users have a post secondary education. Now go slice and dice your marketing campaign accordingly.

5. 72% of teens use Instagram, every day

Only second to Snapchat. Yet, 63 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds use Instagram daily, compared to 54 percent for Snapchat. Less users, more engagement on Instagram. All there for you to influence these young-uns with your t-shirts, bracelets, songs, videos, or whatever they like these days.

6. 95% of U.S. Instagrammers use Youtube

…followed by Facebook at 91 percent, and Snapchat at 60 percent. So what, you say? Tell a coherent story for your brand across these platforms. A nice bundle waiting to hear from you.

7. 35% of online adults use Instagram

…with 28 percent of them in the U.S. And they have money to buy your stuff. The right products for the right income earners. For those adult Instagram users:

  • 30% earn up to $30K/year
  • 42% earn $30K – $50K
  • 32% earn $50K – $75K
  • 42% earn $75K+

8. Quick view stats

Quite a few user stats so far, eh? Some more, consolidated. To keep things simple.

  • 34% of Instagram users are millennials
  • 22% of all Instagram users log in at least once a day
  • 38% of users check Instagram multiple times a day
  • 25% of smartphone owners use Instagram

Speaking of statistics… want to see what your business’ Online Visibility looks like? Click here to do Luce Media’s free online visibility test.

That’s some of the who’s, now on to some of the how’s…

Instagram usage statistics

How are people using Instagram? Another great question.

Let’s learn some of the hows with these Instagram user statistics.

9. Under-25-year-olds use Instagram 32 minutes a day

Compared to 24 minutes per day for 25 and older. This is more than before. Why? Instagram stories. They make it easy to add a creative flair to any photo or video. You can do the same for your business.

10. Users ‘like’ 4.2 billion posts per day

…making Instagram the happiest place on the internet. And that was in 2016 when there were only 500 million Instagrammers. Is your brand feeling lonely? Get on the ‘like’ band-wagon to make new business friends.

11. 95 million posts per day

And that was in 2016. Surely, a (large) portion of that action is open to your products. What are you waiting for?

12. 400 million Stories a day

Up from 300 million in October 2017. Most brands (2 million of them) are telling their stories with Stories. Over 50 percent one month in 2017. With a third of the most viewed Stories created by businesses. It’s pretty obvious Stories work for brands unless you’re not telling any.

13. 80% increase, year-by-year, for videos

…while the number of videos created each day quadrupled from 2017. Yup, users love their video posts, right from the start. When they launched in 2013, 5 million videos were uploaded in the first 24 hours. Create and run a campaign to feed these video-carnivores.

15. Quick view stats

More quick mentions for how people are using Instagram:

  • 72% of users have bought a product they saw on Instagram
  • Facebook bought Instagram for $715 million
  • Users spend on average 53 minutes a day on the Android Instagram app

Instagram for business statistics

Why use Instagram for business? Because it’s already proven to be business-worthy. As noted by these Instagram business statistics. Whether for the global enterprise, or for your mom-and-pop business.

16. 71% of U.S. businesses use Instagram

…edging out Twitter, which has plateaued. But not Instagram. Things are still and will continue to heat up for this personal and business platform.

17. 25 million business profiles

And over 200 million users visiting at least one business profile every day. From clothing to concerts, lingerie to linguine. Including fashion brands, 96 percent of them are on Instagram. Got something to sell? Instagram has people to target.

18. 2 million monthly advertisers on Instagram

This is a great opportunity for businesses to connect with their audiences, whether on-the-go or in the moment.

19. 80% of users follow at least one business

They ain’t shy about following brands. Yet another stat proving Instagram means business.

20. 60% of users discover products on Instagram

More reason for B2C companies to get on the platform.

21. 75% of users take action

…like visiting a website after looking at a brand’s post. Got good looking products? Instagram is the place to show them off.

22. 70% more likely to buy via mobile

Over a third of Instagram users have used their mobile to purchase a product online– making them 70 percent more likely to do so than non-users.

23. Instagram has 2.2% interaction rate

…dwarfing the other networks, including Facebook with its 0.22 percent rate. Instagram is the engagement king.

24. 90% of the top 100 brands are on Instagram

How many more reasons do you need to hear, to engage on Instagram? Don’t answer that. Rhetorical question.

Other Instagram statistics

  • 50% of businesses on Instagram have produced a Story
  • 50% of Instagrammers follow brands, making them the social networkers who are most likely to do so.

If your business needs help with social media marketing in McKinney, TX. and Frisco, TX., please call us at (469) 907-1057.  Luce Media has deep expertise in Digital Marketing, B2B Marketing, Internet Marketing and is a well-established Digital Media Consultant in McKinney, TX.

Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to continue learning.

This information was originally posted here.

Paid Social Media Marketing

For 2019 – Some Simple Concepts to Deliver on Paid Social Media

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Social media marketing is a very odd thing. On one hand, social media is a medium which enables brands to dazzle and delight users, in an effort to build trust, loyalty, and evangelism. On the other, it’s the most sophisticated aggregation of data for marketing purposes in human history. The dichotomy between “warm and fuzzy” and “tactical business value” is a difficult thing for most brands to comprehend.

From our experience, the scale usually tips too far to one side or the other, and when that happens, social media marketing often disappoints in terms of business results.

Paid Facebook Ads Since I’m a firm believer in using the ‘fun’ aspect of social media to support tactically driving business, social media advertising fascinates me.

With the right strategy, social media advertising can help support almost any business goal, for almost any industry, however a few key, fundamental elements have to be correctly put in place. And while they aren’t overly complicated, each is immensely important – here are four critical elements of a successful s

1. Targeting

Knowing who you want to reach with social media advertising is the first piece of the puzzle. Studies show that 76% of U.S. consumers have purchased a product they’ve seen in a brand’s social media content, and with the right targeting, you can make sure you hit the most valuable audience at the right time and with the right message.

There are a few key targeting parameters to be aware of when crafting a social media advertising campaign:

  • Age – Obviously you can target users by age range.
  • Gender – You guessed it! You can target by gender as well.
  • Interest Data – Interest data is aggregated based on what users interact with on each respective social channel – if a user frequently engages with content from wine brands, for example, they’ll be bucketed in the “Wine” interest category.
  • Behavioral Data – Behavioral data is aggregated based on what users do, both on and off the social platforms. Through data partnerships, you can target users based on buying habits and other actions.
  • CRM Data – CRM data is essentially your email list. You can upload your email list to almost every social channel and target users via their email address. This is a no-brainer, as long as your list is healthy. People tend to give fake email addresses to brands. Be careful.
  • Website Activity – Through the magic of pixels, you can target people based on the actions they’ve taken on your website. This could includes pages they’ve visited, content they’ve consumed, you can even find audiences that look and behave exactly like your website visitors (lookalike audiences). This is great for prospecting.

Unlocking the power of social media advertising begins with using the right targeting parameters. Be sure to research your target audience as much as possible when building out your targeting.

2. Creative

Once you know who you’re going after, the next step is to consider what kind of social media creative you can use to make them stop scrolling in their feeds long enough in order to absorb your ad messaging. This is critical, since the average human attention span is roughly eight seconds.

Your creative needs to be intriguing, engaging, and enticing if you want users to stop browsing other content and spend some time with yours.

Sounds easy right? Wrong Getting social media ad creative right is tricky – here are some best practices:

  • Demonstrate Context – Use the visual/s in your ad to show people in situations in which your product or service comes in handy. This can help users relate to the messaging, especially if the targeting is accurate.
  • Use Color – As you scroll through your feed, you’ll notice a lot of photos from your friends and family mixed in with images from brands. If you add bright color to your social ad creative, it can help your content stand out a bit more against the rest of the material in the feed – a pop of color can win attention.
  • Have Clear Calls to Action – Social media users are familiar with ads, and what to do when they see one that interests them, however having a clear call to action is always a great idea. The reminder will nudge users to act.
  • Add a Value Proposition – Why should anyone click on your ad? What are you offering them? What does the user get out of the interaction? Be sure to clearly state whatever value you’re bringing to the table in a clear and concise way – remember, you have approximately eight seconds, so don’t waste time. Tell people about your offer, discount, free shipping – whatever it is that your brand is offering, and do so quickly.

When you layer the right social media ad creative onto the right audience targeting, magic happens. Be sure to test different images and videos to see exactly what performs the best.

3. Landing Page

In talking about social media advertising, the discussion about landing pages is almost always forgotten, which makes no sense, considering the landing page is the place where the users you paid good money to target will convert.

Without an effective landing page, optimized for conversion, you’re wasting time, money, and effort with your social media advertising.

Many brands think sending ad traffic to their home page is sufficient, however, doing so is not ideal. Here are a few tips to ensure your landing page complements your social advertising campaign:

  • Consistency – Ensure that your social ad creative has a consistent message, look, and feel which aligns with your landing page. This will help users confirm that they’ve been sent to the right place, and will find what they were promised in the advertisement. This means that, ideally, your campaigns should have unique landing pages whenever possible.
  • Simplicity – The landing page you send traffic to should be simple and easy to understand. Make sure that the information promised to users is there, as well as other relevant, snackable content pieces for users to interact with if they aren’t ready to convert at that time.
  • Design – Keep the important information above the fold (the point at which the user must scroll to get more information), including conversion points, unique call-outs, and calls to action. Place everything users need to know front and center so it’s easy to see.

4. Tracking

Now the fun part – what good is a social media advertising campaign if you don’t have proper tracking in place?

We recommend ensuring that your site, and all relevant landing pages, have Google Analytics set up, social pixels installed (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), and as many of the lower-funnel standard events and custom conversions established as make sense.

If this sounds like a foreign language, don’t worry – while implementation of such tracking can be tricky at first, it’s fairly straight-forward once you’ve gone through it a few times. And by setting up these tracking tools, you’ll be able to register how many people have interacted with your social media ads, what they’ve done on your landing pages, and if they ended up converting on a subsequent visit.

The more data, the better – here are the recommended social media advertising key performance indicators (KPIs) you should be tracking:

  • Clicks  – The amount of people who click your ad
  • Page Visits  – The amount of people who actually load the landing page
  • Impressions  – The amount of times your advertisement was served to users
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR)  – The rate at which users who see your ads click them
  • Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)  – The cost of 1,000 impressions
  • Cost Per Click (CPC) – What you pay every time your ad is clicked
  • Time On Site – The amount of time users spend on your website or landing page
  • Pages Per Visit – The number of pages a user visits when on your website
  • Conversions – The amount of last-click goal completions or conversion actions users make
  • Assisted Conversions – The amount of conversions that come from a subsequent action or website session

Easy peasy, right? Running a social media advertising campaign the correct way does take experience, some patience, and a willingness to undertake a certain amount of risk. However, when you’re tracking the right data, you can almost always find your way to a winning campaign that drives results.

Hopefully these tips will help you in your 2019 approach.

This article first appeared here.