3 Things You Should Know for Creating A Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign

3 Things You Should Know for Creating a Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign

Social Media continues to be one of the most powerful tools currently available to explore and acquire new customers, and the most efficient way to promote services and products.

Even though the majority of business owners run Social Media campaigns and reach their targets, SMM has turned into an exhausting process for many due to the lack of a concrete strategy, knowledge of good practices, and most of all, brutal usage of resources in gaining popularity.

The list of reasons why SMM campaign can go wrong is endless because each campaign is unique and requires an individual approach for each business. To help you avoid mistakes and gain more from your Social Media Marketing campaign, we have identified the top 3 things that you need to know before, while and after running an SMM campaign.

1. Ensure You Have Quality Content

Before you even starting running a campaign on Social Media, the first thing you need to do is make sure you have the right content for both your website and social network pages.

This means that the content should look attractive, be informative, be real and deliver a clear and coherent message. The content needs to have a logical connection between the title, image(s) and text.

Depending on your business, the content may be represented by a single image with text that’s applied directly to the social network site, or a blog post on your website, in each instance, you need to ensure that you have covered all of the components previously identified before you post on any social media network.

By following the first choice, you have ready to use information delivered directly to the potential client, and there is no need for them to click further.

However, if you want to connect your social media activity to your website, then the second choice is probably a good way to do it. Typically, this option is used when you are confident that more valuable information can be found on your website, and the social network presence is there only to serve as a prompt.

Remember two things, firstly any of the content that is added to your social media pages needs to be both high quality and engaging so it encourages the visitor to scroll down 2-3 times. Secondly, only post content on social media, after you have identified your target group, defined the profile of your potential client and all other marketing materials have been created.

2. Use Paid For Social Media

Once everything has been set up, including having the right quality content and understanding who is your target audience, you might consider creating a paid-for social media campaign as a way to increase your brand, product or service in the market.

But, before starting a campaign, you need to understand there are multiple options and platforms that you can use, and these include

- Web site
- Social Media Page
- Specific Products or services
- Articles/Blogs

So, what should you promote first?

Based on our experience across various industries and businesses, we would suggest you set priorities as follows:

1. Social Media Page

2. Products

3. Web site

4. Articles/Blogs

Whilst, this may not always be the right hierarchy for all types of businesses, it is in the majority of cases. If you use your social media page first, then you have the opportunity for the potential customer to view all your products, articles, and be guided to the website for more information, also by doing it this way you can start to build brand awareness and a healthy critical mass.

By promoting your products next especially top reliable products or services that you provide, you have the opportunity to build on the critical mass you have created during your brand awareness campaign.

Whichever way you go about using your social media you should always look to direct traffic to your website as this helps to engage further your brand, product or service with the potential target audience, this is particularly relevant if your website has been created as an e-commerce site.

In order not to lose a single potential customer interested in your products and services, you must use rich keyword in any articles or blogs which you are using to capture your audience’s attention and grow your chances of converting them into leads, buyers, consumers.

3. Maintain Diversity and Grow

To accomplish long term results and create a rock-solid base for your brand, it is always good to explore alternative ways of maintaining your presence on social media and this is where you may need added creativity that not only includes new content and customer appeal but also supports what you have previously achieved by your use of social media pages.

In this instance, it probably makes sense to appoint a specialist SMM agency that can help you not only develop the required creative work but also help you extend your business reach.

The key to achieving a successful SMM campaign is understanding your market’s demands, be flexible, act precisely and not to be afraid to use creativity as a way to improve your business offer.

September 18, 2020October 22, 2020

7 Questions to Ask Before You Appoint Your SEO Agency

Many business owners understand the importance of having a professional SEO agency on side but don’t always know how to go about finding the right fit.

Any agency worth their salt won’t be offended when you ask questions: if anything they’ll welcome them. As it gives them a chance to shine compared to the competition, to brag about their past successes, and to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they know their stuff, can help you achieve your online goals, and why they are absolutely the right choice.

By getting them to answer the following seven questions you’ll know if you’re getting a top-notch SEO agency that has the tools, experience, and knowledge to get your website to the top of the search engines.

Question 1: What was your favourite creative solution for helping a client?

While the same general strategies are going to apply in some way or another because of different niches, different competition level, and just some seeming randomness from Google’s Algorithm, there are always going to be examples of a time when the SEO agency had to do something creative or different to get that authority, to build trust, or to get those all-important backlinks.

This can be an extremely illuminating question because it shows you their ability to adapt, to try new things, and that they fully understand search engine optimization enough to tackle rankings from another angle if one method doesn’t get the results they were originally looking to achieve.

Question 2: Which previous or current client will vouch for you?

Any experienced SEO agency will seek permission to use client testimonials, and most clients are happy to do so – as it’s a reflection on them and confirms that they made the right choice. If the agency can’t provide you with multiple references, then it’s a clear red flag. Client’s know how important good testimonials are and, will usually be more than happy to give an outstanding reference if they have been truly helped out. This is especially true with things like advertising, marketing, and SEO.

Question 3: Can you guarantee me top ratings in Google?

If the answer to this question is an unequivocal yes, then it’s probably time to grab your coat and head for the door. Any serious SEO specialist knows that there are over 200 different factors that go into determining rank, and no matter how much testing is done no one is ever going to know 100% of what makes one website rank #1 versus #10.

Yes, SEO agencies can be confident they are going to get you results and they can be confident that they will make you competitive, but as far as outright guarantees, no one in their right mind can give you that unless they plan on doing something suspicious – and that always gets caught and the website gets punished, leaving the webmaster worse off than before.

Question 4: Do you have your own PBN?

This is an interesting question to ask because several answers can all be a positive response. PBNs (Private Blog Networks) is a bit controversial. Poorly hidden or developed ones can be a hazard to ranking while other SEO agencies who take the proper steps to develop a legitimate portfolio of websites may be h4 (header tags) believers in providing quality backlinks.

The most important thing is you want an answer that shows thought and adjustment. If the agency has its own sites or PBNs, but are quick to assure you theirs are built correctly, get traffic, and have never been penalized by Google, then that’s a good answer.

If the agency says they always want to fall on the better safe than sorry route so they never use PBNs but still gather good links through social media strategies and guest posting requests, that’s also a good answer.

Question 5: What would be your main strategy to help rank my website?

The right answer needs to be some form of “multi-disciplined strategy” There are both on-site and off-site factors that need to be considered, there is also the need to build trust and authority, a social footprint, and linking both off-site and getting links to your website. That means a truly good SEO campaign is going to tackle multiple areas of concern all at the same time.

Question 6: How are you going to keep me with what you’re doing to rank my site?

Straight off the bat; there are no “secret” SEO methods. The exact URLs for linking, or the exact strategies for getting social media attention might vary, but the same general processes are always going to be the same. That means that on any level the SEO agency should be able to provide weekly or monthly reports to let you know what works and what is being done in helping your website rank higher in the search engine rankings.

Question 7: How does traffic break down on the first page?

This question does two things: firstly it makes sure that the agency you’re talking with understands some very basic things about SEO, and secondly, it helps you figure out whether the agency is straight and honest or are trying to extort you for as much money as possible.

The answer is never you must be number1. Generally speaking, being on the front page will get you far more traffic from any position, but anything 5 or below is around 10% of traffic. The top three spots are far above all others with numbers being as high as 50% for spot one and 20% to 30% for spots two and three.

The first page always gets well over 90% of all search engine inquiry traffic, but space one is a lot different from space three and space ten. An honest assessment will explain this general setup.

Bonus Question: Who owns any additional blog posts or optimized content if/when the contract ends?

This is a great closing question and one that tests if the agency sees you as a partner or simply a cash-paying client because, for the amount that any business needs to pay for good SEO work, the client should always still own any blog posts on their on-site blog or any optimized content on their website.

Some SEO agencies will claim that they own the content and have the right to take it back if the contract is broken. Which isn’t a good policy for any client – so make sure whatever happens, you always maintain ownership of the content.

The Last Word

If you ask these seven questions (or eight if you include the bonus), and you receive honest, open responses you’ll truly have all the information you need to go ahead make the right decision on a great SEO consulting agency.

September 10, 2020October 22, 2020

Our Top 10 Countdown of SEO Mistakes to Avoid in 2020

Despite the vast amount of information online about how to rank a website safely using Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it’s amazing just how many websites are still making silly mistakes.

There are over 200 different factors that go into how Google ranks a website, some are more heavily weighted than others, and while you can focus on as many of those factors as you want, if you make any of the mistakes listed here in our top 10 countdown it won’t matter, because if there’s any competition at all your SEO campaign will disappear without a trace.

10. Copying someone else

Plagiarism is totally unacceptable, admittedly not everyone can be a creative genius, but it doesn’t take much to come up with an original idea. By copying other people’s content on your website not only are you not being true to your brand or service, but it’s also a sure-fire way of making certain none of the pages rank for any of their targeted keywords.

9. Linking out to bad communities

Receiving links from “bad communities” such as gambling websites, adult websites, spam websites, etc. Is a commonly known way to get downgraded in the search engine rankings, likewise, it’s the same if your website links out to any websites that are in those categories, or even connects (links out) to many websites in the same field, this is an area that you need to pay attention to as it works going in both directions.

8. Keyword stuffing

Shoving as many SEO keywords on to a page as physically possible to try and manipulate a page’s ranking is such a common mistake because, while it might have some positive short term effects, it is one of the dumbest ways to ensure that you don’t rank for the keywords you want to rank for, rule of thumb – keep it below 2% and use a lot of synonyms instead if you want to see good results.

7. Failing to link internally

Linking blog posts and web pages to one another within your website is such a huge benefit to SEO practices and helps search engines know what you think each page should be ranking for. As long as your website is in good standing, internal linking is extremely powerful, failing to do so is probably about as passively a self-destructive SEO strategy as you can get.

6. Not claiming your online listings

This is such an effective way to make sure a small business website never ever gets found. Local SEO has different ranking factors, and by not letting any of the search engines know a local business exists is the perfect way to make sure that a website listing stays buried.

5. Don’t bother to create a mobile-friendly website

Don’t want to rank, then don’t create a mobile-friendly website, it couldn’t be simpler. Today, aside from the fact that well over half of all searches are now online, Google has made it abundantly clear that they expect every website that makes front-page rankings to have a mobile version.

However, this can be a separate mobile-specific version of a website or a responsive theme that automatically changes what the website looks like depending on the device being used. Ignoring this part of the ranking is by far the perfect way to make sure that your website never ranks.

4. Use poorly written content

Google has said content is king for years, even before that was 100% true. If this is their mantra, and they want it to be true, then the best way to screw up your website is to do the opposite.

Using poorly written content is one of the most sure-fire ways to sabotage all other SEO efforts. There are loads of FREE, easy to use online tools available to help you. There is no excuse for poor use of grammar or English as a second language syntax, likewise using copied content or boring “puffery” that doesn’t really mean anything.

3. Have the same meta tags for every page

While meta tags don’t help you get ranked, don’t fall into the trap of having the same ones copy and pasted on every page as not only will this get you penalised, by using minimal effort it’s also a great way to nullify all of your other SEO endeavours.

2. Use keywords anchored backlinks

One or two of these showing up is fine and with a much larger website in a niche market, it might even be expected. However, don’t think Google isn’t smart enough to know what your website is about and by using a lot of keyword anchored backlinks it is seen as gaming the system, and gaming the system is going to get your website rankings hammered down.

1. Spam with massive backlinks

There was a time not long ago where the sheer number of backlinks you managed to get pointing to your website was the single biggest overriding factor in whether or not you were at the top of the search engine rankings.

But, my friend those days are long gone. Today, if you get caught mass-producing keyword anchored backlinks to your website you might get a big ratings boost for one or two weeks, but then your website is going to be penalised big time and possibly even blacklisted.

The Last Word

We all know that a resilient SEO Strategy is by far the best way to appear at the top of the search engine results page – the more search visibility you have, the more qualified traffic you can direct to your website. But, if you make or continue to make any of the mistakes we’ve listed in our top 10 countdown you can be guaranteed that your website will begin to sink like a stone.

It doesn’t matter what other techniques you are using, these 10 mistakes are absolute SEO killers and if you want to rank, you need to avoid them with a passion.

September 4, 2020October 22, 2020

There’s a reason why cheap SEO is CHEAP

There's a reason why cheap SEO is CHEAP

It’s really easy to be tempted by offers of first page SEO rankings for as little as a few hundred bucks per month, but, as the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, you can bet your life that it is.

Why Good SEO is never cheap

The problem that many business owners don’t get is just how much hard work and detail goes into developing a comprehensive SEO strategy.

And, truth be told, why should they – after all, isn’t that the reason why they hire an SEO agency in the first place so that they don’t have to spend time understanding the technical details of it, focusing instead on their day-to-day business operations, while the agency does the SEO work for them.

When an SEO company promises super fast results at an incredible price, far to often the business owner is tempted to believe that SEO is an automated process, after all, isn’t it just a case of putting some keyword-stuffed content on a website and using software to build some low-value backlinks – easy to do, those ‘big, greedy SEO companies’ are just trying to scam him by charging thousands for a similar service?

And, to some extent, that might have been the case a decade ago, but today after the recent Google updates, all websites that relied on these kinds of second-tier SEO approaches have suffered a huge blow to their rankings.

You can’t cheat Google

Today, there simply aren’t many tricks left to exploit when trying to ‘cheat’ Google and rank higher for relevant keywords. The only viable long-term strategy for achieving and maintaining the rankings on search engines is to actually dig in and do the legwork, and do it consistently.

This means doing long and in-depth keyword research – finding out what the competitors are ranking for, what keywords have the most potential, what keywords might be easiest to rank for and many other pieces of data.

It also means producing top-quality content, that will not only be relevant in terms of topics and keywords but will also provide engagement and real-time value to the readers, that will lead to backlinks occurring naturally, in all the correct places.

Finally, ensuring that the website is properly optimised, mobile-friendly, fast-loading and convenient to use, also takes a considerable amount of tweaking and fine-tuning.

So when you consider just how much time it takes to do all of these tasks properly and consistently, it soon becomes apparent that it’s not something that can be done for just a few hundred dollars per month.

In fact, because of the huge amount of competition in this market you could argue that even at a higher price range, any SEO company that’s truly worth its value must be established and proven to be considered trustworthy as good resource management is required to achieve tangible results, even on a higher budget.

Still Not Convinced?

Hopefully, now you can see just how much work goes into quality SEO, and why cheap search engine optimisation prices almost always mean disappointing results.

But, if you still need persuading, here are three reasons why cheap SEO can not only do little to help your business, they can also have devastating long-term effects on your business:

Bargains Rarely Work

It’s human nature to look for bargains – there’s a certain thrill of knowing you were able to get something for less than it should or could be worth.

However, there are some areas where even the most shrewd folks don’t budge to spend whatever’s necessary.

For instance, imagine that you had a medical emergency and needed help from a surgeon. Would you trust your life in the hands of an inexperienced medical intern if he would offer to do the operation for a fraction of the cost? Surely you’d rather pay for a top professional to perform the surgery, even if the price is daunting.

The same should apply to your business.

Would you risk years of building a reputation, both offline and online, just so that you could save a few bucks? It just doesn’t make sense, but sure enough, many people still choose to put their online marketing efforts at risk by trying to cut costs in the short-term.

Cheap SEO Costs You Money

It might seem like a contradiction, but paying for cheap SEO is costing you money. You might think that you’re saving money hand over fist when you’re paying just a few hundred dollars for SEO services, but in reality, you would probably be better off setting fire to your money – at least you would be warm for a minute or two.

Remember the whole purpose of investing in SEO is so that you see returns in the form of Google rankings and, in turn, a steady stream of new clients. Well, with cheap SEO, it’s pretty unlikely that these results will ever come.

So while expensive SEO packages might appear to be costing you more in the short term, they are an actual investment because you are paying to grow your business for the long term.

Cheap SEO Can Hurt Your Online Rankings

When cheap SEO providers don’t have the means and/or the recourses to run comprehensive SEO campaigns, they try to compensate by engaging in risky and even back door SEO techniques to try and get short-term results for their clients.

And, while they do some time short term success, inevitably, as the search engines catch on, your rankings quickly disappear, and worst still, Google can penalise or even blacklist your website for the shady activities, making it very difficult to ever climb back up in the rankings.

So, while there will always appear to be quick-fix schemes for tricking Google and other search engines, they are not a viable strategy for a serious long term business growth strategy.

Successful SEO tactics have remained more or less the same throughout the years – clearly define your target audience, produce quality content and get it shared in relevant places is still the key to any long-term SEO strategy.

SEO success only comes through hard work and effort

The most successful SEO campaigns stand out from others, not by some hidden knowledge, but by good old-fashioned effort, hard work, as well as thoroughness.

More often than not, the company that spends the most time doing research, implementing the data and then tweaking for best results is the one that can gain a significant edge over the competition

Month: September 2020