by Charles | Apr 24, 2017 | Digital Tips
There are literally hundreds of factors that go into Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Unfortunately for digital marketers, we aren’t given a handbook that lists each one in a nice format. A lot of the SEO work is done in visible ways on your webpage. Design, content, and keyword research are just a few major factors that determine the search engine ranking of your website. However, there are some behind-the-scenes factors that no amount of written SEO work can fix.
Here are 4 common technical issues that can ruin your website’s SEO.
1. Site Speed
When a business sets up their website, they normally go with the hosting company that is reliable and within budget. What business owners and managers don’t realize is one of the biggest questions you should ask a hosting company is about speed. The longer it takes your website to load, the worse your ranking will be. Google has confirmed that site speed is one of the critical factors in SEO, and they also state that mobile users don’t wait longer than 3 seconds for your site to load before they move on.
2. Penalties
Has your website had spam issues or been previously hacked? Did you pay a company to provide you with a bunch of backlinks? Google is quick to penalize websites that they deem as spam or unsafe websites. When your website gets a penalty, your SEO ranking is cratered. Your digital marketing expert should monitor for this, and resolve any issues ASAP.
3. Poor Mobile Experience
As discussed in site speed, if your website isn’t optimized for mobile, your ranking will greatly decrease. Mobile-optimized websites respond better and generally are looked at as better by Google and other search engines. Especially with Google moving to Mobile-first Indexing, your mobile website has never been more important.
4. Crawl Issues
When Google and other search engines index your website, a bot “crawls” through and indexes every bit of content. However, if your website isn’t optimized for this, Google will realize it, and your website ranking will suffer. Making sure your sitemap and Robots.txt file are in good order will ensure that when Google indexes your website, everything will run smoothly and there will be no issues.
If you are unsure about any of these issues regarding your business’ website, give us a call. We can perform a complimentary SEO audit to see how your website is ranking, and if there could be any improvements. If you have spent a lot of money on web design and marketing, but aren’t seeing any results, this could mean that your website is suffering on the back end. Debra Lopez Public Relations can help!
by Charles | Mar 7, 2017 | Digital Tips
So, you’ve decided to take digital marketing seriously for your business, and you’ve decided to hire a digital marketing agency. Great! Now comes the tough part – choosing the right agency.
With all sorts of digital marketing buzzwords and different agencies making lofty promises, it can be a real chore deciding which agency is the best fit for your business. At DLPR, we pride ourselves on transparency and honesty, and that’s why we’re sharing the 5 tips that can help your business decide which agency is right for you.
1. Understand your goals
Before you speak to any digital marketing agency, it’s important to have clearly defined goals. What are you hoping to achieve with a digital marketing agency? Obviously, you want more clients and customers, but are you hoping to increase your social media presence? Do you want your website to show up in more search engines? Are you looking for a great paid ad campaign? Or maybe you are starting from scratch and need all of the above?
Understanding your digital marketing goals can help steer the conversation when talking to agencies. You know what’s important to you, and you are hoping to find an agency that can help with your specific wants and needs. Digital marketing agencies love this because it helps narrow the focus just a little. Digital marketing is a HUGE field and having specific goals helps.
2. Do your research
Choosing a digital marketing agency isn’t the same as buying a TV. Just because you know exactly what you want doesn’t mean you can just hunt for the best price and move along. Your business is unique, and all digital marketing agencies are unique as well. Some pride themselves on specific tasks. Are they focused more on social media? Do they just make web sites? Or maybe they focus entirely on marketing for car dealerships and you run a bookstore.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for about the agency online, feel free to ask questions. Ask for their strengths. Know which industries they work with primarily. Maybe they’re pretty well rounded, but too large and won’t give you the personal touch you’re hoping for.
3. Is their “voice” right for you?
Like the previous tip, it’s worth reiterating that not all digital marketing agencies are created equal. Some agencies are very buttoned-up and professional. Some are fun, outgoing, and unique. Maybe you want a large agency where you know exactly what to expect, or how about that upstart agency that is going to give you that additional personal touch?
The answer you may have is different for your business than another business. It’s important that you find the best “voice” for your business. The agency will do the content creation and probably a little design as well. You want their work to best represent your company.
4. Spend wisely
Chances are, once you’ve decided to hire a digital marketing agency, you aren’t 100% sure how much budget you want to give them. When you speak to a potential agency and receive their quote, it is just the beginning.
Negotiate wisely and make sure your quote includes everything you need. Don’t be afraid of the low price either. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re getting the lowest amount of service. Likewise, don’t assume the higher price means you’re receiving top of the line marketing.
If the price quoted is out of your comfort zone, for whatever reason, ask more questions!
5. Always remember the agency works for you
At the end of the day, this is your business and your marketing dollars. Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions. Don’t be afraid to be straightforward about your goals.
The first step to ensure this process goes smoothly is to work with your agency to build a marketing plan. Make sure this marketing plan aligns itself with your own business plan. And if there are hiccups along the way, don’t be afraid to talk about them.
by Charles | Feb 7, 2017 | Client News
When businesses decide to take the important step on paying for search engine ads, most only think of Google. The search engine giant dominates searches with almost 70% market share in searches. However, Google should only be one part of your paid digital advertising plan. Don’t forget about Bing. With recent news, it’s much easier now than ever before to integrate Bing into your Digital Marketing Strategy.
Why choose Bing?
There’s no denying that Google is the biggest search engine around. However, over 30% of searches happen using Bing/Yahoo. That’s almost one-third of all searches done by potential customers and clients that your business isn’t advertising to.
With Google dominating digital search advertising, there’s also much less competition on Bing. This translates to a big increase in click-throughs for your ads, which lead to more business. Don’t forget, Bing isn’t just partnered with Yahoo. They also are partnered with many different smaller search engines where competition is even less.
It all boils down to quality over quantity. The money spent on Google might lead to a greater number of people seeing your ads, however, with a quality ad on Bing, you are looking at more bang for your advertising buck.
Adding Bing to your marketing strategy is simple!
As a business owner or manager, it can sound daunting adding yet another piece to your digital marketing strategy. Not to worry! Google AdWords and Bing work very well with each other. The ad copy you use for one, can easily be transferred to the other. Budgets and keywords being used in AdWords, can be applied to Bing as well. There’s no reason to avoid using Bing Ads anymore.
If you had the chance to put your TV commercial in front of everyone watching TV, you’d take it right? Incorporating Bing Ads (and they’re many partners) into your digital marketing strategy, along with Google, gives your business the opportunity to advertise in front of almost 100% of potential clients and customers performing searches.
Contact DLPR with all your Digital Marketing questions!
by Charles | Jan 5, 2017 | Digital Tips
Where do you do most of your Google searches?
The answer to that question has changed greatly over the last 5 years. There was a point, not that long ago, when web searches happened over desktops. Consumers would sit at their computer and do research about businesses. With smartphones and tablets becoming so prevalent, searching has turned mobile. Whether you’re walking around or sitting on the couch at home, when you need to do a web search, you grab your phone or tablet.
Google knows this, and their search rankings are going to reflect this. Over the next year, Google is going to roll out a new way to index websites. They’re going to look at mobile sites instead of desktop sites. This is big news for businesses who hope to rank high in those searches.
Why is Google going “mobile-first?”
For years, smart digital marketers have been preaching the importance of mobile-friendly websites. If your company’s website is desktop-only, you’re missing a huge number of potential customers due to the inability for them to navigate your website while on a mobile device. Whether you implemented a mobile-specific version of the website or you went with a responsive design, creating a mobile-friendly version of your website is critical.
Now, it’s becoming even more important as Google has said they’re going to ONLY look at the mobile versions of websites when ranking them. Google recognizes that a vast majority of their web searches are occurring on mobile devices, so it wants to steer their users to websites that are mobile-friendly. This isn’t completely new, as Google has previously said they give better rankings to those sites with mobile-versions, but this is further proof that if you don’t have a mobile-friendly site, you will be left behind.
How does “mobile-first” affect your business?
So, now that Google is beginning to implement this change to their indexing, what does that mean to your business? It’s quite simple. Either you have a quality mobile-friendly website or your ranking will suffer. If you have already implemented a mobile-friendly website that has the same info that is found on your desktop site, then you should be okay.
However, keep in mind, it’s crucial that you update both versions of the site to have the same content. Easiest way for this to happen is to adopt a responsive design for your website. Responsive websites are easier to maintain and can provide peace of mind that your website is ready for this mobile indexing.
Is your business prepared for mobile-first indexing?
As a business owner or manager, you only care about what’s best for your business. With that in mind, you need to know if your website is up to date and ready for this change. Even if you’re pretty sure your business is prepared, it’s probably a good idea to contact a Search Engine Optimization Expert to do a website audit.
At DLPR, we pride ourselves on being the best Digital Marketers in the Milwaukee area, and would love to provide a free consultation today! Contact us if you have any questions!
by Charles | Dec 1, 2016 | Digital Tips
Every business owner likes to think they’re using a good marketing strategy to try to bring in customers and grow. Twenty years ago, this strategy included print ads in a newspaper or magazine, television ads on their local networks, radio ads, and, just maybe, a monthly mailer sent to prospective clients. Sure, some of these, specifically TV ads and print, are still valuable tools for marketing depending on the industry. However, marketing strategies have to adapt to the times, and right now, everything is digital.
So, how does your business stack up on the digital marketing front? Are you doing everything you could to grow your business in the 21st Century? Here are 6 questions to ask yourself, and afterward, a way to grade your overall digital marketing strategy:
1. Do you have a social media strategy?
This seems obvious to most businesses, but for some, it’s difficult to run a business AND worry about social media. Normally, social media is put on the back burner or given to a family member to run. Doing this is HURTING your business.
2. Do you have a quality website?
Sure, your business has a website. Most do. Your competitors surely do. But, have you updated it recently? Is it optimized for mobile viewing? Is there a blog featuring information you won’t find elsewhere? A quality website is more than the look and feel. It’s the CONTENT.
3. Is your website search engine optimized?
Most business owners aren’t even aware that search engine optimization (SEO) exists. However, SEO is probably one of the most important elements to any digital marketing strategy. If you are unclear about what this means, or are not sure if your website is optimized, then this is a big red flag!
4. Are you advertising through Pay-per-click ads?
We have all seen those ads on social media and in search results. Sure, they seem annoying at first, but do you realize they are a great way to get qualified customers to you website? These ads are relatively inexpensive and, if done correctly by experts, can result in amazing returns.
5. Are you monitoring online business reactions?
Business reviews are all over the Internet. Yelp, Google, Facebook, etc. all have ways for customers to voice their satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with your business. It’s important to monitor those, and if there are unhappy customers, you need to ensure they’re problems are resolved.
6. Do you have an email strategy?
Email marketing sometimes gets a bad name. People can see emails from businesses as spam, and if done incorrectly, can have a negative impact. The truth is that quality email marketing is an instant way to reach your customers wherever they are. If you have a great email campaign, you can engage with customers in a way you’re unable to do with traditional marketing.
If you’ve answered “Yes” to all those questions, then you’re on the right path, congratulations! However, if you’ve answered “No” to at least one of those, maybe it’s time to reevaluate your strategy and see where you are deficient.
Lastly, if you answered “No” to two or more of these questions, don’t fret! That’s normal. Unfortunately, there are many businesses that struggle with their digital marketing strategy. There is hope!
Contact Debra Lopez Public Relations today, and get a free consultation and find out where your business could be improved through a quality, detailed digital marketing strategy!
