St. Patrick’s Day is for the wearing o’ the green. While we like that, Search Engine Pros believes in the making o’ the green when it comes to implementing search marketingstrategies for clients. We always tell clients that great SEO marketing isn’t a matter of luck. It’s a combination of knowledge, dedication, and persistence. As a web marketing agency, we’re providing these six lucky tips to help improve your search engine optimization:
Relevance: What you write on your blog must be relevant to the searcher’s keyword. Content optimization builds your site’s relevance. In addition to providing interesting content, it must be posted using meta tags, alt tags, headings and intrasite links.
Longer Content: Despite supposedly shorter attention spans, longer content of 1000-2000 words shows up well in search engine rankings and also serves to demonstrate your authority. The only caveat is that the piece must be of high quality, or you will waste your own time and that of your readers.
Back links: Search engines look for pages and sites that are connected to one another through links. This can be done by testimonials, reviews, blog comments and social media shares that let the search engines know that your site is respected by other web denizens.
Social Media Marketing: Your marketing plan should interweave SEO and social media to expand your online reach. Social media posts which point to relevant website information or blog posts increase the amount of shares and “likes” for existing content.
Build Relationships: Increase your trust factor by showing that others respect what you have to say. Over time, you will become more well-known by the company you keep in your link-building and social media strategies.
Authority: Good content attracts attention, but being relevant builds authority. With a high search engine ranking and high number of links, prospects will tend to trust your online business presence more.
Don’t just select one point and focus on that. Each of these must be combined into an all-in-one, connected, online marketing plan. Each area needs to be functioning smoothly so that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. You won’t need the luck to improve your SEO when you have Search Engine Pros as your marketing expert.
Can you believe it? The holiday season is here, though it seems like 2014 just started. From the team here at Search Engine Pros, we’d like to take a moment to wish you a happy Thanksgiving, and a prosperous and safe holiday season.
For the companies out there, you likely know that it’s time that you start planning for holiday marketing. With an economy that is finally back on an upswing, it’s expected that this could be a record quarter for sales as we finish out the year. That is why it’s important that your business has a dedicated web presence this holiday season. If you don’t, then you’ll be missing outon valuable clients and an increase in customers during a golden time of year to do so.
If your current online campaign is leaving you with something more to be desired, then there is no time to waste. With a search marketing team on your side, you’ll be able to get back in the game and earn more recognition for your company.
When it comes to working with a web marketing company for the first time, you may not be familiar with what to expect. Here are some of the services that an online marketing team will provide you with.
A Personalized Website = 24/7 Employee
First impressions mean everything when it comes to your online presence. That is why it’s imperative that you have a fully personalized website that makes a lasting impression on your clients.
In order to implement a personalized website, you’ll need a marketing group that can provide you with top web design ideas. Your web design needs to be something that works best for you and that really shows off your company’s personality.
In addition, your website should also be optimized for future growth as well. The internet is always changing and the way people look for information is as well. Therefore, your web marketing approach should include a strategy to ensure that your site will last for years to come.
By building trust with your customers through your website, your marketing plan will be much more effective to build from.
A Diverse Marketing Plan
Having just a website isn’t going to be enough to get the type of sales that you are looking for. It’ll help, but you’ll also need a diverse marketing plan that uses a variety of different methods.
With an SEO marketingplan, you’ll be able to rank higher in search engine results provided by Google, the largest search engine on the web. With social media marketing, you can target customers on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and more. Email marketing and list building are also essential elements to your long term success. The more that you build as an online presence, the more successful your marketing approach will be. Keep this in mind as you look for a marketing agency to assist you, and make sure that they have a comprehensive approach.
Diligent Customer Care
Working with a marketing service that you can trust will hopefully go well right out of the gate and everything will be smooth. But because we all know that business has plenty of variables, you never know what’s going to happen. That’s why it’s important to work with an agency that promises diligent customer care. There is no telling what obstacles that you may come across, which is why it’s vital that you work with a team that is ready to take on additional challenges with you. A reputable marketing company will evaluate what is working and what is not, and then help you make adjustments accordingly to better implement your strategy.
As the year comes to a close, we’ve had the chance to look back and realize how grateful we are and how much we appreciate everyone who has supported the growth of Search Engine Pros over the years. Many, many thanks to our wonderful clients for your continued trust in our team. Thank you to our dedicated staff for your exceptional focus, drive and determination. Your contributions make a real difference every year.
Q: Why is web marketing more important than traditional marketing during the holidays?
A: Black Friday was once thought to be something that was worth going out for in order to get great deals on things. However, with so much chaos that ensues every time, people are now starting to opt for more online purchases. That is why you need to ensure that you are online for people to find when they are looking for ways to beat Black Friday madness.
Q: Why is web marketing a better investment than physical mailers or advertisements?
A: When you use web marketing, you are building multiple different avenues to keep in contact with your clients. With an investment into online marketing, you can build email lists and social media accounts, which then will make for even more cost-efficient marketing in the future.
Q: How long does web marketing stay relevant?
A: It doesn’t look like the internet is going anywhere, so it’s safe to say that your online marketing approach will be relevant for years to come. By getting a head start on your online marketing, you’ll be able to get ahead of the curve and stay relevant for years to come.
Step 1. Design a site that captivates, informs and motivates customers to action. Step 2. Develop a content publishing plan detailing specific steps to success. Step 3. Delegate execution to a team with a strong track record for success.
Ready to get started? Fill out this form to receive a free website analysis and rank report.
Steamling your SEO campaigns is a bit like solving a Rubik’s Cube…
If you have visited Google’s home page today, you’ve seen that they replaced their logo with a rendition of the mesmerizing Rubik’s Cube. According to Wired Magazine, Google is celebrating the iconic puzzle’s 40th anniversary with an interactive Doodle.
At Search Engine Pros, this got us thinking that SEO (search engine optimization) is like a Rubik’s Cube. SEO is complex and requires an integrated, all-in-one approach to solve it. Getting one area perfect does not complete the picture if other puzzle pieces are incomplete. Instead of colors, here is what we’d put into an “SEO Solver’s Cube”:
Great Web Design: This part of the puzzle helps all the others fall into place. An old, outdated, or ineffective website can hurt your marketing strategy and keep you from achieving your goals. Our web marketing agency can help put your website to work. We can develop a web design plan, execute that plan through top web designers, and implement a branding strategy.
Blogs: Our professional SEO company can constantly publish high quality content on your behalf. Our marketing agency takes advantage of the best WordPress plugins, SEO tools, and top WordPress themes to make your blog capture the audience’s attention. A well-written blog also increases the opportunity for SEO optimization by providing content that generates back-links.
Newsletters: Newsletters and email marketing can sometimes be the forgotten cousin to the sexy blogs, but they keep your business in touch with prospects and current customers. While blogs usually focus on one topic, newsletters help you communicate to a wider audience on several topics. As a marketing consultant, we believe that the best marketing strategies should incorporate a newsletter component.
Social Media Marketing: In today’s connected world, it’s crucial to keep in touch through social media. Our Santa Barbara social media services can improve your exposure on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Our social media agency can develop a Facebook marketing plan that provides a mechanism for engagement, interaction and two-way communication.
Public Relations: Not only can a high quality press release communicate specific points about your business, it can also get picked up by many online news outlets, adding even more to your internet marketing and SEO effectiveness.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Use our PPC services to capture attention at the very moment a prospect is searching for your product or service. Ask us for a PPC campaign proposal.
Put it all together in a concise marketing plan and you’ve found the solution to your online marketing puzzle. Our Santa Barbara marketing group can help you with all aspects of online marketing, web marketing, social media marketing, SEO marketing, and PPC marketing.
Search Engine Pros is an ethical SEO company that stands ready to help you reach your online marketing goals. So stop playing with the Rubik’s Cube on Google and start working on your SEO strategy!
Step 1. Design a site that captivates, informs and motivates customers to action. Step 2. Develop a content publishing plan detailing specific steps to success. Step 3. Delegate execution to a team with a strong track record for success.
Ready to get started? Fill out this form to receive a free web site analysis and rank report.
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” – John Wanamaker
Let’s face it – you’re still not happy with the results your website is generating for you. You’ve changed designs, updated copy, and added new photos, but it still doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction. At Search Engine Pros we offer personal and ethical search engine optimization that utilizes the latest, most effective online marketing strategies. Based on our experience, here are some reasons why your web strategy may not be providing a strong return on your investment:
Lack of an Overall Strategy: Over 81% of consumers make buying decisions on the internet, and your business needs a total strategy to attract their attention. A sexy website alone isn’t enough to do the job. Your strategy must include all elements from “The Strategic Circle” for website marketing success.
Consumers Can’t Find You: A website that just talks about your business without any search engine optimization (SEO) will not appear in search results.
Nobody is Linking to You: Search engines look for websites that have links to and from other sources as a way of establishing credibility and topical relevance. Back links are online referrals for your business.
Not Functional on all Devices: Consumers are now accessing the Internet from PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Websites that don’t translate well to all devices are missing out on potential traffic.
No Social Media: Your customers like to stay in touch and are using social media to do it. Be sure to have links to your Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages and keep them updated, too. Have a constant stream of outgoing information, try to link up with online influencers, and respond quickly to requests for information.
One Language Limitations: In a bi-lingual and multi-lingual world, a website that only provides information in English excludes a significant portion of the buying public. The key to International SEO is optimizing a page for foreign language natural search.
Not Driving Customers to Your Site: Sometimes a little extra push is all a consumer needs to be motivated to visit your site. Properly worded and placed pay-per-click (PPC) Google Adwords can provide just the right touch at the moment of decision.
As online marketing professionals, our role is (1) to help you gain a better grasp of what is often a complex maze of decisions; (2) to help ensure that decisions you make are carried out; (3) to keep your strategies up-to-date.
Our clients include small business owners, financial professionals, lawyers, doctors, and corporations – people who struggle for time to carefully focus on their online marketing goals. The Accelerator Plans we offer are advanced marketing plans designed to optimize your internet presence and grow your customer base. All project related information is stored in the project center. Google Analytics and Get Clicky tracking software are utilized to fine tune efforts each month.
As your marketing partner, we’re experienced enough to be proactive, not reactive. Working with a marketing agency should be fun, not annoying, and tiresome. We handle all the time-consuming details in a cost-effective way for you. Remember that the true cost of working with our company is ZERO when considering year-end business growth figures. Inaction is much more expensive in terms of lost market share and lost revenues.
Does sex sell? Many marketers think it does. Just ask the editors of Sports Illustrated whether having images of bikini-clad models on their cover helped sell any magazines! Consumers want to be associated with products, services and brands that help them feel good about themselves. Your company may be able to increase its sales by having a website that plays into this need for self-appreciation. Your web site needs to be sexy to convert visitors. Even the greatest SEO marketing strategy will do no good if it draws traffic to your site only to bore the visitor.
At Search Engine Pros we offer personal and ethical search engine optimization that utilizes the latest, most effective online marketing strategies. We have helped clients in every type of industry improve the appearance and sexiness of their websites without sacrificing SEO strategies or content. Based on our experience as web site conversion optimization specialists, here are some suggestions you can use to make your website sexier:
Smashing Design: Start with a dynamic website design that pops out, invites visitors to stay, and leads the eye on a coherent journey through the information you need to impart.
Looking Good: Closely inspect the graphics you use to draw attention to your website. Photos should have attractive people that will appeal to the visitor’s eye. Graphics should be clean and classy, with a feel of elegance and sophistication.
Beautiful Buttons: Most web designers fail to focus on the little things that can make a web site more attractive. Those “submit, cancel and download” buttons don’t have to be just a dull gray square. Use some color, beveled edges and gradient fill to really make them pop.
Social Sharing: You want visitors to let others know about your site, so it’s important to make it appealing to share on social media. Make sure your social sharing buttons look great, load quickly, offer choices that will help your SEO, and fit with the overall feel of your page.
Relevance: Nothing is sexier than finding out what visitors want and providing it. It’s the online equivalent of “I hear you.” Is your website screaming “It’s all about me, Me, ME!” or is it saying “Here is how I can help you achieve more in your life.” If your content doesn’t live up to the hype, no sexy photos can help make a sale.
Need our help? Call upon the professional web design conversion experts at Search Engine Pros and we’ll help you design eye-catching banners and embed powerful calls to action which will lower your bounce rates, boosts conversions, increase the time people spend on your site (which will increases rankings and doubles your sales).
If you’d like to learn more about how a website marketing strategy can help your company grow, visit our booth at the 2014 Santa Barbara Business Expo at The Fess Parker DoubleTree Resort, 633 E. Cabrillo Boulevard on Saturday, April 5 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Search Engine Pros Founder, Taylor Reaume, will be presenting from 9am-9:30am on “How To Rank Your Web Site by Helping Others First”. Add yourself to the SBBE Event page, Click LIKE on the fan page: https://www.facebook.com/BusinessExpoSB to stay up to date. Download the event flyer here
If your business isn’t increasing its customer base each month, you might have an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) problem. SEO is how your company gets found on the web. At Search Engine Pros we offer personal and ethical search engine optimization. Over 81% of consumers make purchasing decisions online. What that means to your business is that SEO is no longer optional.
When consumers use keywords to search for products or services similar to yours, your company will benefit by appearing at the top of their results. With that in mind, here are some of the hottest SEO tips for 2014 you can use to help your business grow:
Using The Three “Pillars” of SEO: According to Entrepreneur.com, effective SEO has three pillars – links, content and social media. Content attracts the attention of your target demographic, social media gets the word out to a wider audience about what you do, and links from other sites help build the credibility of your business. These elements must be incorporated into an ongoing SEO strategy that is consistently working to keep your website fresh, relevant, and dynamic.
Mobile Optimization is Rising: As more and more consumers turn to mobile devices to perform their search functions, businesses will need to have a responsive website as well as a mobile content strategy.
Social Matters: Google is increasing its monitoring of social networks to look for mentions of your brand, product, service, or content. Having Facebook posts and “links” that circle back to your blog will help to capture Google’s attention.
It’s All Relevant: Businesses can’t just increase the amount of content and social media they use to promote their brand; it must be relevant to members of their target audience in order to make them take notice, click, share, or visit the website for further information.
Search Engine Pros offer a wide range of quality online marketing solutions, all designed to give your business the very best possible return on investment. We can provide an All-In-One Plan to cover every aspect of your SEO process or help with specific areas with our PPC Pro (pay-per-click), SEO Writer Pro, or Social Media Marketing Pro.
Curious to learn more about your business that can benefit from a cutting-edge web strategy? Search Engine Pros Founder, Taylor Reaume, will be presenting at the 2014 Santa Barbara Business Expo which will be held at The Fess Parker DoubleTree Resort, 633 E. Cabrillo Boulevard on Saturday, April 5 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Although marketing is a year-round endeavor opportunities sometimes come along that you shouldn’t miss. Associating your business with a holiday can increase your chances of search engine optimization. Many consumers are searching for variations of “St. Patrick’s Day” key phrases on Google, and this presents a unique opportunity to catch their eye and lead them to your web site. Social media tie-ins can be used by both B2B and B2C marketers. Here are some tips for marketing your business with social media on St. Patrick’s Day:
Expand Your Reach: Don’t stop at posting a nice blog about how your business ties in with the holiday. Post a Facebook update and photo with a link to your article, Tweet about it, send it to your Google+ circle, and find a great picture to link to it on Pinterest. Social media content that includes mention of a holiday helps increase engagement with your target audience, and don’t forget the hashtags!
Make It Relevant: Social media is a conversation that should not just be about your business. Make it relevant to your target audience. Offer a useful tip, insider info, or short piece of news that helps your audience use your product or service more effectively and you will increase engagement and improve the potential for sharing.
Build on What’s Happening in Your Community: If your target market is in a community that has a big St. Patrick’s Day parade or celebrates the holiday in some other way, try to find a way for your marketing to build on that. For example, a sign company could post about the best signs in the St. Patrick’s Day parade or a florist might write about the perfect flowers for a St. Joseph’s Day table.
Content Marketing Works: A constant stream of relevant information is required from your business to stay top of mind, generate top search engine results and drive website traffic. Be straightforward, encourage sharing, and tell audience members what action you want them to take.
Social Media Works for B2B and B2C: Don’t think that your business can’t use social media because of who your customers are. Although it might seem more obvious for B2C to work ideas around a holiday, that doesn’t leave out the B2B marketers entirely. Think about what the holiday represents and how it ties in with what your customers need. Sending holiday greetings with valuable information is both powerful and effective. Most businesses are leaving out the “valuable” part – make sure you are adding value with your content.
In order to rank well on the internet’s largest search engines, your social media sites must contain informative, original content that contains the relevant keywords from which you’d like to capture traffic. Part of the success of your business depends on your ability to generate top ranks on Google and other major search engines.
Successful businesses today are creating remarkable content for their blog, and re-purposing the content to their social media channels. By consistently adding value to your target audience, you’ll stay top of mind, and increase loyalty levels.
Search Engine Pros can help your company utilize social media more efficiently to achieve its internet traffic and revenue goals. Marketing your business effectively with social media will increase the number of coins in your pot o’ gold!
You’ve heard of newsjacking, but are you familiar with holiday-jacking? If it isn’t an official marketing term, it definitely should be. The bigger the holiday, the larger the interest among consumers and the associated volume of search on Google.
By effectively targeting your marketing materials to upcoming holidays, you can capture the interest of consumers who are attuned to the season. According to the National Retail Federation, a record 170 million Americans say they’ll celebrate Halloween this year. Halloween is the second highest grossing commercial holiday after Christmas and spending in the United States this year is estimated to reach $6.9 billion.
The Halloween market is bigger than ever, and adults are having just as much fun as kids. There’s a huge opportunity for your business to join the celebration with some seasonal online content and clever Halloween social media marketing.
7 Halloween Marketing Tips:
1. Hold A Halloween Contest A fun Halloween contest could be for the best jack-o-lantern, the best costume, the best recipe – you name it. Ask your customers to post pictures of their entries, and don’t forget to offer a prize; a free e-book, gift card, or coupon would be perfect.
2. #DoAHashtagContest Setting up a hashtag can help your Halloween contest or promotion get seen by a wider audience. Even those who don’t participate could retweet it or mention it on Twitter getting you on more timelines and generating more buzz.
3. Engage Facebook fans with images Images are a proven tactic for attracting attention to your website, Twitter timeline or Facebook page. On Facebook specifically, with the new timeline for brands, images pop on your news feed and engage visitors, often earning more likes and comments than other posts.
4. Write A Halloween-Themed Blog Post This idea is truly limited only by your imagination. Relate Halloween to some aspect of your business and run with it. Do you have a pet supply business? Blog about tips for keeping your pet safe when trick-or-treaters flock to your porch. Run a home improvement website? List your top ten scariest DIY mistakes made by homeowners. This is also a good place for “awareness” topics like child safety or drunk driving on Halloween.
5. Make A Halloween Video Dress up team members in Halloween costumes and make a promotional, entertaining, or educational video. Halloween tips are a good place to start for inspiration. Tips for applying Halloween makeup. Tips for examining your child’s trick-or-treat candy. Exercise tips for working off all that Halloween candy. The witch-filled sky’s the limit.
6. Do a tweet-vote A tweet-vote can help you earn new followers and engage your current ones. For Halloween, you could have followers vote on the costume contest you held in your office, which has the added bonus of humanizing your brand.
7. Host a Halloween (social) event Making your event social can help you not only generate buzz and attract attendees before it starts – it can also help you engage followers and fans during the party and after it’s over.
Fun Things to do in Santa Barbara on Halloween:
Downtown Halloween Safe Trick-or-Treat October 31, 2013 Times: 3-6PM Location: Downtown Santa Barbara Address: State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Phone: call 962.2098 ext. 24 Downtown businesses get into the spirit of the haunting season by welcoming hundreds of costumed children with treats, stickers, coupons or other Halloween goodies.
Halloween Bash at Carr Winery October 31, 2013 Times: 7:30PM-11:00PM Address: 414 N. Salsipuedes Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103 Phone: 805-965-7985 Venue: Carr Winery Join us in the haunted wine cave! Sip wicked wines and jam to music by Tommy & the High Pilots. Georgia’s Smokehouse will be serving up their frightfully delicious BBQ. 21+, Costume required. A Halloween party you will die for…Get on the list before the event sells out.
Voodoo Lounge 2nd Annual Canary Rooftop Halloween Dance Party October 31, 2013 Times: 9PM-1AM Address: 31 West Carrillo St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Phone: 805-895-3402 Venue: Canary Hotel VIP Access 8:00 – 1:00 am $75 in advance, space is limited – Enjoy Bubbling Brews and Bewitching Bites- 8:00 – 9:00 pm – VIP Entrance to the Party – Two complimentary drink tickets to be used at the Voodoo Lounge Party – Access to VIP bar General Reception 9:00 pm to 1:00 am General Admission $40CURATED COCKTAILS WITH ASCENDANT SPIRITS October 31, 2013 Times: 5:30PM-9PM Address: 653 Paseo Nuevo Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Phone: 805.966.5373 Venue: Paseo Mall MCASB partners with a new local mixologist every Thursday in October from 6-8 pm to offer unique $5 MCASB signature cocktails. Visitors can enjoy music from DJ Emtpy Priest and guided tours of the current exhibitions: Call For Entries and Bloom Projects: Ro Snell, All that is left.
Google Reveals the highest searched terms for Halloween costumes of 2013:
Thinking of dressing up as a Minion for Halloween this year? Judging by recent searches, you aren’t the only one. Both Google and Yahoo agree that Minion costumes – from the “Despicable Me” movies – are the top trending costumes of 2013. With Halloween less than a week away, here’s a look at the top 5 costumes people are searching for most this year:
1.) Minion – from the movie “Despicable Me” is popular with both adults and kids 2.) Breaking Bad – searches are up nearly 3x vs. last year for the popular AMC series, which just saw huge ratings for its series finale. 3.) Fox – supposedly inspired by Ylvis’ viral video “The Fox”. 4.) Duck Dynasty – searches are 3x higher this year vs. last year; search volume is highest in Texas. 5.) Miley Cyrus – not surprising following her post-VMA performance and latest “look at me” antics.
Join us at Lunch & Learn e-Marketing Tomorrow Time: Fridays 12:30pm-2pm Location: 532 State Street (Next Door Joe’s Cafe) Join The Facebook Event
Lunch and Learn e-Marketing is a web marketing seminar presented by yours truly, Taylor Reaume, Fridays 12:30pm-2pm at Verde Restaurant @ 532 State Street. I would like to welcome everyone to this new venue for our e-marketing discussions every week. VerdeSB.com is a new mexican cuisine restaurant located on lower State Street. At this lunch meeting you will have a unique opportunity to share online marketing secrets with other business owners. Learn online marketing and social media marketing strategy on the web. One lucky attendee will have their web site analyzed live by the lunch group and feedback is provided, to help optimize online presence.
Expand your knowledge of web marketing and learn advanced search engine optimization strategy. COST is $20; Includes lunch, a drink, e-marketing discussions with local business people – GREAT BUSINESS NETWORKING. Discover valuable web marketing secrets that will help you outrank your competition on Google. Bring your questions, business cards and laptop (optional). Leave with a full stomach and clarity/sanity on 2013 web strategy and web marketing options. Attendees participate in a live web site review and offer constructive feedback as part of the group. It’s educational. It’s informative. It’s delicious. Find out if your web site is winning the race to the top of Google. Open to everyone!
NOOZHAWK.COM – SANTA BARBARA, CA – 4/8/2013 – The Santa Barbara Business Expo brings together the brightest local business minds. Attendees will learn about the latest marketing trends, business tools, emerging web technologies and best practices in business. Speakers will provide valuable, practical insight about efficiency, purpose and direction.
Local marketing strategist Taylor Reaume is wearing several hats this year as the expo’s website designer, social media director and speaker.
“Many business owners are resistant to change,” said Reaume, owner of Search Engine Pros, a Santa Barbara Internet marketing firm. “However, neglecting a business marketing strategy is the kiss of death, as invariably those businesses will be outranked by competitors, while those who adapt to the future will thrive.”
In 2013, marketing companies have started broadening the scope of their marketing services to include SEO and social media. With Google being such a large part of the marketing mix today, marketing agencies whose core focus is SEO marketing are emerging as particularly attractive to business owners.
“Business owners are finding that they must execute swiftly, all at once, on a series of complex writing tasks to be successful with search marketing,” Reaume said. “Bewildered business owners are arduously blogging with little traction because their web strategy lacks a ‘connected’ approach. The cost of hiring and teaching an in-house employee is simply not cost-effective for most businesses. The number of hours required to learn this stuff is staggering.
“A connected, well-rounded web strategy over a one-year period will earn those rankings from Google, naturally. It takes time and focus. Search engines are the new yellow pages and rankings are the holy grail of marketing today. We explore the subtle nuances of your brand, USP, how you’re different, and promote you carefully and consistently every month. The highly custom blogs, press releases, Facebook posts, social media links, local directory submissions, email newsletters, etc., are all pivotal for a successful strategy.
“Our Accelerator e-marketing plans offer a winning strategy that combines the best of the best, highly effective, lowest-cost Internet marketing tactics today. The 2013 marketing battlefield is even fiercer than last year. Let’s coordinate and launch our marketing arsenal to protect and increase your market share. Book a lunch date with me by connecting on my personal Facebook page.”
According to Taylor, building a business today is a matter of time and human resources, working smarter not harder. There are dozens of zero-cost ways to build a business through the internet, and it is simply a matter of knowing how to tie them all together into a unique strategy. Finding the time to learn, and then finding the time to execute consistently is proving difficult for most businesses. It is crucial to stay consistent with your marketing every month because success builds exponentially, and consistency is the secret sauce for brand building (and strong ROI).
As a premier sponsor of the event, Reaume will be speaking at the event and offering live website critiques. Reaume walks the talk and has built a successful Santa Barbara marketing company through educating and empowering locals at his weekly Santa Barbara Web Design and SEO Workshop (offered Thursdays from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 629 State St.). Reaume covers topics such as Google Adwords strategy, WordPress design, search engine optimization (SEO), SEO campaign management, branding consulting and social media marketing.
“Web marketing and social media are the lowest-cost tools for building a business today,” he said.
The Santa Barbara Business Expo will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 20 at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort, 633 E. Cabrillo Blvd. Click here for more information.
Valentine’s Day is one of our favorite holidays at The Search Engine Pros. V-Day presents a unique opportunity for businesses to get creative with their email and social media promotions.
Small efforts can pay off big
If you don’t have the time for a full scale digital marketing campaign, the simplest thing you can do is update your Facebook and Twitter status, and wish your followers a Happy Valentine’s Day. You may also wish to update your Facebook cover page to celebrate the spirit of this romantic day – keep the images eye-catching and use a call to action. Ditto for Twitter – a V-day Twitter header image and background, in combination with a compelling message about your offerings – can encourage followers to take the desired action.
Got V-day Marketing Automation?
For a more serious direct marketing approach, consider planning ahead. All great marketing requires great planning. But planning is not enough. Nowawadays, you need the help of a good friend named ‘marketing automation’ to stay competitive. Doing things manually is not cost effective and will likely land you in the therapists office.
How consistent is your marketing?
Businesses with automated email marketing systems stay front-and-center in customers’ and leads’ minds more easily than those that don’t. Email continues to be a powerful medium for customer engagement. So, if you have a V-day special offer, it makes sense to implement a drip email campaign that serves as a reminder of the big day, delivers useful information (how to woo your spouse/girlfriend) and follows up with your specials/promotions.
Something like this:
Last week of Jan – focus on V-day awareness, gift ideas, subtle sales message(s)
First week of Feb – launch your promotion, present incentives and make an impression
11th and 12th Feb – create a sense of urgency about gifts and continue with promotion
13th Feb – offer tips to those late to the V-day party on gift ideas or planning surprises for their partners
15th Feb – Solicit testimonials actively, encourage customers to share V-day stories, make this the highlight of your social media conversations; pictures and infographics can go on Pinterest, videos and articles on Google+, Twitter and Facebook.
An optimized press release is also a great way to get the message about your V-day specials across to your audience. Don’t overly promote; cushion your sales message with tips and advice. Keep it interesting and worthy of reading.
These tips will also come in handy come holiday time. Put on your thinking cap and make the most of your digital media campaigns!
All of us at The Search Engine Pros would like to extend a Happy Valentine’s Day for you and your sweetheart. We strive to offer the absolute best web strategy at the best prices with customer service that is unrivaled. Our business depends and grows based on word of mouth and we never forget that. Thank you again for all your past support and we look forward to serving you in the future.
