Google Ads For Local Business: 7 Tips & 3 Mistakes

8 May 2020 by Taylor Reaume

Did you know that 76% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours, and 28% of those searches result in a purchase? As a local business, it’s a top priority for your ads to be seen and used. But to do that, they have to reach their target audience. They also have to be so appealing that they lead that audience straight to a purchase. So how can your business use Google Ads to benefit your customer and sales growth? Here are 7 of the best practices and 3 mistakes to avoid for local businesses using Google Ads.

Local Google Ads Tip - Increase Your Local Reach Radius

1) Increase Your Local Reach Radius

When you’re trying to get a bigger reach for your Google ads, but still want to reach your local customers, make sure your Google location target setting is on “People in, or who show interest in, your targeted locations.” This setting is recommended by Google and will help your business reach an audience that might not be permanently residing in your location. It also can help your ads reach nearby cities.

While Google Ads can help increase online sales, increasing your local reach radius also can increase off-line sales. Start “Geo-fencing” or learning how far your customers are traveling to visit your physical business. This way, you know how far to set your Google Ads map radius. Consider setting up surveys in your newsletters or receipt emails that ask the area code of your customers. You can also create a system of asking for area codes with physical purchases.

Google Ads For Local Businesses Article Graphics

2) Take Advantage of All Google’s Location Campaigns Types

While making a campaign is simple, there are several ways you can use campaigns to reach different audiences. For example, if you have a candy shop, you might make a campaign that looks like “candy shop near me.” This campaign will attract anyone within a your set radius.

Consider using both of the campaigns below:

[business type] near me

[business type] in [state, city]

Keyword phrases such as “near me” and “on sale” have increased 250% from 2016-2019. On the other hand, specifically mentioning a city or state is key for getting your business’ ads to pop up for non-locals. This group of people may be tourists, travelers, other businesses, and general visitors. Using both of these types of campaigns can greatly impact the response you get from your ad.

Tip: When preparing a Google Ad campaign, be sure to take advantage of Google’s geo-targeted ads, which allows you to pinpoint a target audience that’s as large or small as you want.

3) Include Location Extensions

If you’re targeting a local audience, be sure that your ad can take viewers to a map of your business. After all, your ad may reach thousands of people, but if people don’t go to your store or website, the ad is pointless. By including a Location Extension, you allow the ad to connect viewers straight to Google Maps. This practice is especially useful for the many people who are using their cell phones to search for local businesses, as it will help them navigate easily to you.

To add a Location Extension to your Google Ads, simply go to your Google Ads Dashboard and click on the Extensions tab. You’ll then see the option to add Location Extension.

You can also add an Affiliate Location Extension (located directly below Location Extension in the same place). Affiliate Location Extensions showcase affiliates that carry your products. If your products are located in businesses such as Amazon and Target, be sure to add that information here.

Utilizing the Affiliate Location Extension greatly benefits businesses that don’t have their own storefront. By channeling purchases through affiliates, you can increase your audience and sales.

4) Optimize Bids For Target Location

You’ll want to ensure the bulk of your bid is focused on the areas closest to your business. There are already several aspects of your ad that is set-up to reach a larger radius. Spending your money on the local area ensures that the people who have the most potential to get to your business see your ad. It also ensures that the closest people have the most consistent exposure to your business.

To customize your bid, go to the Location Extension to your Google Ads, on your Google Ads Dashboard. From there you can click your target audience and increase the percent your keywords are optimized for viewers. Select multiple ranges of targets (5 miles, 10 miles, 15 miles), and steadily decrease your bid for each level.

5) Create Deep Links for Your Ad’s Site Link

While it’s important to make an eye-catching phrase for your ad’s site link, it’s also important to link deep into your site. For those who haven’t deep linked before, it makes sure your audience isn’t led to the homepage, but another page on your site. By deep linking, you drive customers straight into what they’re looking for. Try deep linking to contact pages, sales or events pages, or service pages. If your business sells products, also add an Amazon-style buy button to your deep linked page that will increase your conversation rates by 14%. This way, customers will be led straight to an easy way to buy your product. You could even use this for your business’ services by styling the page’s button after the Amazon button.

If driving in local customers is your goal, be sure to include keywords that would indicate your business is local. Create a landing page that includes positive and local testimonials. Viewers will automatically be able to see the impact you’ve made on the community and become potential customers.

Tip: Google’s artificial intelligence can automatically generate phrases for your ad’s link, but consider writing your own to match your deep link landing page. Just make sure they are interesting and engaging.

6) Utilize Local Search Ads

Including browsing, researching, and buying, 98% of global consumers shop online. But you also want your potential customers to find your physical business quickly. Instead of taking viewers to your website, Local Search ads lead your audience straight to Google Maps. This feature is especially useful if you need a large influx of local customers quickly. Be sure to enable Location Extensions first (see #3) and optimize bids (see #4). After these two steps are complete, you’ll want to make sure your Google My Business page is updated and correct. If you’re looking for a simpler way, there is also the option to automate your bidding by setting up specific rules.

Another way to increase your business’ presence in the community is by partnering with local organizations and events. When people search for these events and places, they will also be exposed to your business. By making sure your Location Extension and Business Locations are correct, you ensure that potential customers are able to see your location on Google Maps or visit your website.

7) Keep Track of How Ads Perform and Adjust Accordingly

If you see that one of your ads is doing poorly, don’t be afraid to remove it. While it’s been said that any exposure is good exposure, your money should be reserved for the best performing ads. Use Google Ads to keep track of the number of clicks your ad gets, the revenue generated, how many qualified leads your ad attracts, and more. You can also utilize Google Ads’ Keyword Tracker to see which keywords are attracting the most traffic. Then you can delete the keywords that aren’t generating clicks. At the end of the day, you want to keep what works best for your business and get rid of the rest.

If you are not getting the results you want for the money you’re investing, it may be time to re-evaluate the type of paid ad you’re using.

Learn the 3 biggest mistakes to avoid when setting up Google Local Ads:

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Which of these tips will you put into practice?

Comment and share below!

SEO Marketing | Web Marketing

The Impact of GDPR on Digital Marketing

10 January 2020 by Taylor Reaume

The Impact of the GDPR on Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a multidimensional industry that utilizes a vast amount of consumer data.

As a result, a well-implemented regulatory framework is required to ensure that consumer protection remains a high priority. Measures such as the California Consumer Privacy Act have been established in the local and global legal community to necessitate the urgent need for data privacy and protection in the digital marketing process.

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was enacted and made applicable on 25 May 2018. This regulatory framework’s main aim is to protect an individual’s right to protection of their data, and it clarifies the process that companies need to follow to safeguard the rights of an individual who is a data subject.

There are many surprising benefits that compliance with the GDPR can bring to businesses.

For instance, it can provide enhanced cybersecurity measures because, since its implementation, GDPR has propelled digital businesses to enhance their data privacy and influenced the development of their security systems and practices.

Moreover, when companies adapt their data protection regulations, they can naturally build customer trust and loyalty.

But has the GDPR achieved its purpose? And if so, what new developments have been made since its inception into the digital business market in 2018?

Keep reading this article to find out more about the importance of this piece of legislation, the impact of the GDPR particularly in the digital marketing industry, and new developments in cross-border data transfers that could change the face of digital marketing.

Why Is the GDPR Important for the Digital Marketing Industry?

GDPR has provided digital marketing with core benefits that have ensured to improve its overall performance by making it more efficient to personalize its product offering by providing customers the consent to allow businesses to utilize their data for marketing purposes.

The rules that are outlined in this regulatory provision require companies to comply with data audit processes that are essential to creating compelling and more personalized offers.

This has ensured that companies align with data-driven marketing strategies. As a result, more companies are raising their marketing profile by taking the lead towards developing the culture of data privacy that is required by the GDPR.

By providing consumers with the option to opt into and out of their data being used for advertising, companies have more opportunities to enhance the data collected to communicate with their most valuable customers as well as prospective customers.

Having customers that are already engaged, ensures that sales get more qualified leads which benefits these companies by eliminating time spent on chasing leads, which inevitably increases productivity and sales.

The Impact So Far

Individual user data has been utilized as a part of contemporary marketing strategies that rely on the use of personal data as a primary revenue source for digital marketing companies.

This increase in the use of personal data to generate leads and sales contributed to the implementation of the GDPR.

There are key principles that include lawfulness, fairness, and transparency that are set out at the beginning of the GDPR that require compliance as a fundamental component for the use of data. The main responsibility that digital marketing faces lie in the initial process of collecting data.

Before its enactment, companies could collect data without consent and use it for their marketing purposes. However, since the GDPR was enacted companies are not allowed to collect data as they please due to key issues that impact this process such as legal bases for the processing of data, obtaining consent, and the opting-in and out option.

Consequently, when companies use data to target sales, this data has to be collected and processed by the provisions of the GDPR particularly the seven key principles that are outlined in this piece of legislation. This has impacted the digital marketing industry by necessitating a legal basis for data collection by requiring companies to provide established privacy policies.

An evaluation report conducted and published by the European Commission in 2020 highlighted that the GDPR has met the majority of its objectives and that it has provided essential security solutions in unforeseeable circumstances that have forced the world to rely on data to propel businesses towards the digital economy.

More businesses have developed a compliance mechanism and utilize robust data protection as part of their competitive advantage strategy. Additionally, more consumers are aware of their data protection rights and use the opt-in and out option to preserve their data privacy rights.

What New Developments Can the Digital Industry Expect?

The untimely pandemic in 2020 brought about many changes to the world of data protection regulation for the digital marketing industry.

The most notable of these developments was the California Consumer Privacy Act that was enacted in January 2020 which resulted in the ruling that the EU-US privacy shield was invalid rendering it unenforceable to maintain a free flow of data between these countries.

This ruling has highlighted that the transfer of sensitive consumer data is a high priority that needs to be adhered to by all parties.

Many countries are embarking on adopting and reviewing their cross-border privacy policies to ensure that they are compliant with the standardization and regulatory requirements as prescribed by the GDPR.

The European Data Protection Board has published draft recommendations containing rules that companies should abide by to lawfully transfer sensitive data information.

These developments are set to impact the manner that international companies collect and process data from EU citizens and uphold strict regulations for compliance with cross-border transfers.

The developments envisioned for data privacy protection will ensure that many countries enforce privacy laws and that they are in line with the new cross-border standards that are set out by the GDPR.

What Are the Similarities with the CCPA?

These two pieces of legislation have similar principles and expectations when it comes to the protection of data subjects by providing them with the right to obtain and view personal data that companies have collected from them.

They both require businesses to disclose how they utilize personal data from subjects and cybersecurity security measures that provide data subjects with the option to have their collected data deleted from the archives.

Even though some businesses are not obliged to comply with both laws, failure to comply with one of these regulations can institute civil penalties.

The Bottom Line

GDPR and other regulatory frameworks such as the CCPA have provided data subjects protection of their fundamental right to privacy by ensuring that companies comply with key principles such as transparency when collecting data.

Similarly, digital marketing has acquired a myriad of advantages aimed at defining its competitive edge. Compliance with GDPR requirements and taking appropriate measures that are designed to protect consumer data promote meaningful customer engagements and drive traffic of valuable prospects to your business.

So, if you are having trouble with maneuvering the drawbacks of these regulations, it would be in your company’s best interest to understand the core principles and advantages of incorporating the rules as set out in both the GDPR and CCPA to enhance your business strategy into the future success of your brand.

What are your thoughts? Tell me in the comments below.

Blog Marketing | Email Marketing | Web Marketing

How To Write The Perfect Email Subject Line

3 January 2019 by Taylor Reaume

Email subject lines make or break your campaign open rate. Learn how to write email subject lines, and how to write them efficiently.

How many emails are sent to your inbox every day? 100+ maybe 500+? If you’re like me (and many more people), you probably have hundreds lying in your inbox unread. About 105 billion emails are sent daily, and in this time of countless information and mailing lists, one thing stands out: the subject line.

The subject line is what lies between an email being opened and being ignored. It is what helps you click on a particular email and perhaps overlook the rest. So much so that 47% of marketers assess email subject line to improve the email’s performance.

So, whether you’re a sales team trying to capture a potential client’s attention, a regular blogger trying to get more clicks, or want your email to have that extra kick, here are ten tips to help guide you on how to write the perfect subject line.

1. Write the Subject Email First

Although most people compose their subject email right before hitting send, the subject line is the first thing a reader comes across in their inbox. So contrary to most practices, start with your subject line. Beginning with the subject line puts you in your reader’s point of view and also helps with the layout of the rest of the email.

2. Start With Action-Oriented Verbs

Subject lines are similar to calls to action in that the wording used should entice readers to click. Subject lines that begin with action verbs are much more appealing, and adding a lively verb to the beginning of your emails will make them much more clickable.

People would be more likely to click on your email if the subject line conveys urgency and enthusiasm. For example, ‘Bend it like Beckham this Saturday’ instead of ‘Play football with us this weekend.’ The first subject line places the reader in that position where their skills might even be at a professional level instead of a more common and less actionable email.

3. Create an Overview of What’s Inside

A subject line can also be just like the blurb of a book. It gives a summary of what to expect but also entices the reader to keep reading. Therefore, creating a brief overview of what the reader will expect when reading the subject line is important because the chances are higher if they have been on the lookout for something in particular.

A great way to do this is when delivering promises via email. If your visitor has downloaded an offer and you’re sending it to them by email, it’s a good idea to use a subject line that says something like, ‘Your new e-book inside!’ or ‘Your guide is waiting for you!’ This is preferable to a plain “thank you” in the subject line because it indicates that something is waiting inside the email.

4. Personalize it and Keep it Special

Everyone likes to feel special, and this applies to emails as well. You must know who you’re emailing, and so they will realize that it’s about them or a topic that piques their interest. One way to do this is by using their name or company name. For example, ‘Increase your online traffic Company X.’

The correct phrasing also gives that extra personalized feel as they will feel like you wrote the email with them in mind. A few generalized phrases that are not specific but will make your reader feel special are:

“Only for our esteemed clients.”
“A special deal for you”
“This is my gift to you.”
“You are cordially invited!”

5. Be Clear and Specific

The subject line should clearly state the purpose of the email so that the recipient can prioritize its importance without having to open it. Please don’t keep the reader guessing what the email could be about because chances are, they won’t assume and will probably leave your email unread. Avoid subject lines like, ‘Give us a second of your time to let you know…’. Instead, specify what the email entails. For example, if your email pertains to applying for a new job, include your name and the position you are applying to be considered.

6. Keep it Short and Sweet

Approximately 77% of emails are opened via mobile email apps, so chances are the subject line is cut off often. It is recommended to keep your subject line to fewer than 50 characters to avoid this.

Avoid phrases that the reader might also not find helpful. These include numbers and letters that may not make sense, like ‘Order 5467463 is ready for collection.’ The reader may not understand the numbers and may find it hard to distinguish one order from another. Instead, a subject line like ‘Your package is ready for collection from Address X.’

7. Create Importance

When phrased creatively and strategically, communicating urgency and scarcity in an email subject line will help motivate readers to click (or act). However, it is essential to use this kind of subject line sparingly as you don’t want to be known as the brand or person that raises people’s anxiety levels all the time by using phrases like ‘Act Now!’

8. Use Keywords

You may feel that using fewer than 50 characters and keeping it clear and specific might narrow down what you may want to express in your email. A tactic that you may want to implement is keywords. Keywords efficiently convey what points you need to put across without being too wordy and still capturing the reader’s attention at the same time.

9. Avoid capitalization of words and exclamation points

Email subject lines that overuse caps and exclamation points are frequently seen as spam mail and are often overlooked or even blatantly ignored. An example of such is ‘OPEN NOW AND GET A FREE GIFT!!!!!!’. Although there is a promise of a gift by opening the email, chances are the reader will not take it seriously and might think that the email belongs in the junk mail folder. Use lower-case in your subject lines. Chances are, your email will be taken seriously.

10. Use this inbox preview tool

Use this free tool that I created. I personally scripted an email subject line visualization tool to give both myself, and my clients a better idea of how the email subject line will look on mobile phones.

In mobile view, less characters are visible on the screen, hence, consider using that virtual real estate wisely!

Click the banner below to use the tool.

Finally, if your emails aren’t being opened, they aren’t being used. You’ve got great material to share; now it’s up to you to prove it in the subject line!

Social Media Marketing | Web Marketing

Taylor Reaume To Speak At Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference

20 June 2018 by Taylor Reaume

For Immediate Release – Santa Barbara, CA – June 20, 2018: Taylor Reaume, president and founder of Search Engine Pros (SEP), a full-service web marketing company in Santa Barbara, CA, will be a member of a panel discussing “Navigating the Amazon: Building Your Author Platform” at the upcoming Santa Barbara Writers Conference. This prestigious conference brings together writers from around the world to meet with fellow storytellers, celebrate well-known authors, and network with publishing professionals. The 46^th Annual Santa Barbara Writers Conference will be held at the charming, beachside Hyatt Centric from June 17-22 for a week-long journey through the exciting world of writing.

The panel discussion in which Reaume will participate will be held on Friday, June 22 at 4:00p.m. in Vista III. With over a decade of expertise in e-business and marketing, he has developed over 600 websites and online businesses, built 30,000+ inbound links to his client’s web sites, and published over 10,000 pages of content on the web. Reaume holds a B.S. in Marketing and Economics, promotes the ideas of social business, and demonstrates how search marketing can help spread awareness for businesses, nonprofits and authors.

“Writing a screenplay or book, and building a platform to bring attention to that work are two different skill sets. At the panel, I’ll be sharing tools, tips and websites that will help writers create an effective web strategy which builds appreciation for their work,” commented Reaume.

Other members of the panel with Reaume include moderator Marla Miller, author Janet Randall, screenplay writer Cathy Byrd, author and noted screenplay writer Eric Edson – whose web presence was built by Search Engine Pros. This session will be open to registered conference attendees as well as the public, for only $10 at the door. The conference also includes substantial networking opportunities, five days of workshops, five keynote presentations by successful authors, book signings with author-speakers, and optional one-on-one manuscript consultations.

About Search Engine Pros: Search Engine Pros is a full-service web marketing agency located in Santa Barbara, CA. The company provides web marketing services, including social media consulting, WordPress web design, customized WordPress plugins, web programming, and internet marketing strategy. Visit the website at https://TheSearchEnginePros.com for a complimentary Google rank analysis. “Like” the Facebook page for regular insights on WordPress SEO. Writers can call 800-605-4988 to learn more about using online marketing to build their author platform.

Social Media Marketing | Web Marketing

Top 10 Restaurant Marketing Ideas for 2019

2 March 2018 by Taylor Reaume

Innovative marketing is essential to the success of any restaurant. Whether you’re launching a new eatery or have been running a successful bistro for years, you should never overlook fresh advertising concepts. So, check out these top 10 restaurant marketing ideas to get diners talking about your business and bring customers through the door.

1) Produce a professional website

Your restaurant website is the most important online marketing tool you have, so make sure it’s functional, attractive and professional. One of the best ways to do this is by selecting a top pre-made restaurant theme that you can customize to suit your business. Look for a theme that has:

A simple drag-and-drop page builder function
The ability to add menus
Contact forms and table booking systems
Review/testimonial functions
Slider galleries to show personalized images of your food
Ability to add a blog
Mobile-friendly functionality

Make sure you use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques throughout your site so that it ranks in search engine results. If you’re struggling to create your website, hire a professional to help.

2) Get reviews on Yelp

Word-of-mouth has long been known as the most powerful marketing tool. Recent surveys show that word-of-mouth reviews influence purchasing decisions for 74% of consumers and 88% of people trust online reviews as much as recommendations from personal contacts. Yelp, which ranks businesses according to customer reviews, is one of the best tools for word-of-mouth marketing. So set up your Yelp business profile today and always remember to personally respond to customer reviews.

3) Interact with customers on social media

You can’t ignore the power of social media in today’s internet-obsessed world where two billion people spend over an hour and a half every day on social networks. Plus, having a social media presence makes it easy for customers to find and connect with you. So, if you haven’t already, set up your profiles on key platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest and integrate them with your website. Next, take the time to really connect with your customers on social media; share relevant content and news with them, reply to comments and run special offers. Social media can also be a useful tool for gathering customer feedback, so don’t forget to ask your followers questions so you can improve your restaurant experience.

4) Localize your SEO

Make sure your website ranks highly on Google when people search for restaurants in your local area. For example, if you run a Mexican restaurant in Santa Barbara, you want your website to show up when people type: top Mexican restaurants in Santa Barbara into Google. Here are a few ways to do this:

Use the free Google Keyword tool to find out exactly which phrases people are searching for related to restaurants in your area, such as: where to eat in Santa Barbara, or best Santa Barbara restaurants. Include keyword findings on your website in title tags, H2 tags, meta descriptions, content and alt tags.
Make sure your business is listed on Google Places by signing up to Google My Business.
Add your business NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) to every page of your website. Make sure this information is consistently listed and formatted across all social media platforms and review websites.

5) Create a blog

Produce an engaging blog for your website to increase organic traffic, restaurant bookings and boost your search engine rankings. Make sure you update your blog consistently with original content including plenty of personalized images and videos. Use your blog to share restaurant news such as seasonal dishes, write about topical food subjects, and post recipes and ideas. Promote all of your articles on social media and ask food bloggers to guest post on your site. Make your blog easy to navigate and ensure readers can comment on posts and share your content with the click of a button.

6) Engage with local food influencers

Find out who the biggest local food bloggers, Youtubers and Instagrammers are in your area and invite them to dine at your restaurant for free. They’ll photograph, review and film the experience to share with their food-obsessed followers, which is marketing gold dust. Recent studies show that collaborating with social influencers has become one of the most powerful ways to reach customers and over 80% of companies who’ve already tried this strategy say it was successful. You can also partner with food influencers by rewarding them to mention your restaurant or one of your promotions on their channels.

7) Grow your customer database

Build up your email database by placing call-to-actions across your website asking people to sign up to your newsletter for special offers. Send out tailored deals to encourage bookings or share news about upcoming events. You can also email out your latest blog articles, top monthly dishes and advertise current contests. Run a special meal discount for all new customers in exchange for signing up to your newsletters. Remember not to spam your subscribers and only email them useful and engaging content. You can take this tactic a step further by collecting the phone numbers of local customers to send them offers via SMS.

8) Run social media discounts and contests

Reward your loyal customers and drum up extra business via your social media channels. Make eye-catching graphics to promote time-limited discounts and offers especially for your followers. Get creative with your deals and run social media contests and sweepstakes with prizes. This will create excitement around your brand and keep customers coming back to both your social media pages and your restaurant. Give your campaigns an extra boost by promoting them in a Facebook Ad for maximum exposure.

9) Host events at your restaurant

Draw a crowd by hosting exciting events and entertainment at your restaurant. Think live music every Thursday, monthly comedy nights, or speed dating evenings. Get involved during key holiday seasons by offering special menus for Thanksgiving and Christmas or sponsoring the local Halloween parade, for example. Publicize all your special events on your social media channels, website, and e-newsletters.

10) Run Google Ads around the holidays

Give your business an extra boost around key holiday periods by running time-limited Google Advertising campaigns. When you use Google Adwords you’re paying to have your restaurant show up on the first page of the search results, along with your address and contact information. Adwords allows you to send out geo-targeted ads to people in your local area and easily reach mobile customers. The great thing about Google Adwords is that you can easily control your campaign budget and analyze its results.

Which of these top restaurant marketing ideas will you try? Share your comments below.

SEO Marketing | Web Marketing

IMAGE SEO & How To Correctly Name Your Photos

11 May 2017 by Taylor Reaume

SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION) – THE PROCESS OF OPTIMIZING A WEBSITE TO GENERATE THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ‘ORGANIC’ (NON-PAID) VISITS FROM SEARCH ENGINES.

THE CORRECT WAY TO NAME YOUR PHOTOS FOR IMAGE SEO

The question on many photographers’ lips these days is: How do I get seen in a sea of similar websites?

Correctly naming your image files for optimal SEO, is a great way to start. Google can’t analyze the actual content of an image to tell what it is depicting, and whilst this technology is most certainly on the way, it’s nowhere near ready just yet. Instead, they rely on several indicators on a web page to tell them what the photo is all about. One of these is, as you might expect, the filename of the photo. You should never upload photos to your website with the standard camera-applied filename, like DSC_9764.jpg! This tells Google nothing at all and its content.

When Google knows more about the content of your image, it can include it in Image Search (click the image tab at the top of a Google search page), and sometimes the top images even show right at the head of a regular search page. Not only does it help people find your photos directly, but it also helps Google understand the content of the page that you posted the photo on, helping that page show up higher in regular search results for the subject.

DASH OR UNDERSCORE?

Instead of the default filename, you should be describing the contents of the image in 3-8 words. Importantly, you should be separating the words in your filename with a dash (hyphen), and not an underscore!

(THESE-ARE-DASHES)

(THESE_ARE_UNDERSCORES)

The inner workings of Google’s search engine algorithm are a closely guarded secret, but every now and again we get a little snippet of detail from one of their representatives on the Google Webmasters blog. For some reason there’s a lot of misinformation circulating around the web on this topic, but Google’s Matt Cutts, has clearly stated that dashes (hyphens) are the way to go on this one. Whilst Matt Cutts does say that the SEO difference between the two is relatively minor, that means there is a difference.

STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH – DASH NOT UNDERSCORE!

EXAMPLES

– WRONG -> DSC_9807.jpg

This tells Google nothing at all.

– WRONG -> blackcat.jpg

Blackcat is not a word.

– WRONG -> black-cat.jpg

Whilst this technically does describe the image (assuming it is actually a black cat), have a think about how many photos of a black cat you’d be putting yourself up against on the internet? Millions, I would imagine.

– WRONG -> a-black-cat-under-a-red-car.jpg

There’s no need to include stop words in your filename (a, the, it, to, etc.). Keep it short and simple.

– WRONG -> black_cat_under_red_car.jpg

Nope, the underscore isn’t a recognized word separator. To Google, this just reads as blackcatunderredcar.jpg! No good.

– CORRECT -> black-cat-under-red-car.jpg

Now we’re getting somewhere! Descriptive, and with the correct separators and no stop words.

USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Since the filename helps Google understand the content of the page that the photo is on, you can use this to boost your search rankings for specific topics.

EXAMPLE

You are a wedding photographer from San Francisco and on the About page of your website, there is a headshot of you next to your biography.

WRONG -> joe-blogs-portrait.jpg

CORRECT -> joe-bloggs-san-francisco-wedding-photographer.jpg.

SHOULD YOU RENAME EXISTING IMAGES?

If you’re using a photo portfolio service like Photoshelter, SmugMug (get a 20% discount here), or Zenfolio, with hundreds or thousands of images, there’s little point renaming all of those files to make the names descriptive. There are obviously some organizational benefits to a photographer’s standard archive file naming scheme when photos are hosted in large volumes. Hopefully with these kinds of online portfolio archive services, you’re making use of all the other SEO options to optimize them.

The ideal setup is to use a blogging platform like WordPress, to create a new blog post every time you upload a new collection of images to your archive or online print store. In that blog post, you include a few of the images from the collection, and those are the images that you optimize with a proper name for SEO purposes. With properly optimized page content, and images, you’ll rank higher in more search results and bring people to the blog post. That’s when you can let them know that a full collection can be viewed on your archive site, or prints purchased from your print store.

But what if you’ve got existing blog images that weren’t correctly named? WordPress doesn’t natively offer a way to rename images, but you can use the plug Media File Renamer. What you have to remember, though, is that the filename is part of the direct URL to that image. If you do decide to change the filename, you’ll be altering the URL and it will reset any SEO juice that this image might have already gathered over time.

If you already have images that show up often in Google Image searches, you definitely don’t want to go renaming these ones. Choose wisely when tackling this question… my thought is that if you have a relatively new blog of only a few months old, you can rename the files with this plugin and probably get more long-term benefit from it than a short-term disadvantage. For older blogs, it’s probably not worthwhile.

Facebook Marketing | Social Media Marketing | Web Marketing

Is Facebook advertising the best way to boost your business?

9 March 2017 by Taylor Reaume

The world of advertising is transforming. In a society saturated by information, it’s harder than ever to grab the attention of potential customers. So, just how do you get people to take notice of your business? Try reaching them through social media. Facebook has nearly 1.8 billion monthly active users, so advertising on its platform could be the answer. Learn more about how Facebook advertising works and find out how Search Engine Pros can help you harness its power to boost your business.

Why use Facebook advertising?

Here are the key reasons why Facebook advertising wins over traditional ad formats like print, billboard, radio, TV and even Google Adsense:

Facebook ads are far cheaper in terms of cost to reach 1,000 people. For example, Buffer app found that spending just $5 per day on Facebook adverts bought them 9 likes, 1 click to their homepage and 787 new views. Moz claims that spending $1 per day on Facebook gets your brand in front of 4,000 people.
Facebook ads run on pay-per-click or pay-per-day impressions, similar to Adsense. That means that you’re in control of your budget and can set daily caps or limits on the total campaign.
Facebook ads are highly visible because they’re placed directly in users’ news streams.
You can target specific audiences with Facebook ads based on a number of factors including interests, age, behaviour, connections, languages, gender, location, religion, politics, marital status and occupation.
Facebook allows you to find existing customers using contact lists, web traffic from your site or activity in your app. This allows you to remarket to an audience who has already visited your site and has some interest in your business.
Once you have a converting audience you can use the Lookalike Audience feature to reach new people who have similar profiles.
You can test and track the success of your advertising campaigns in real time with Facebook Analytics and adjust them using the Adverts Manager tool.

Exactly how does Facebook advertising work?

Facebook has made over $6.4 billion in advertising revenue in the second quarter of 2016 alone. The social network has become a key leader in the ad field by creating the most sophisticated consumer profiling ever. Here’s how it works:

When you’re logged into Facebook, it tracks everything you do on the internet. This allows it to build a profile of your lifestyle including what brands you like, your hobbies and interests, favorite foods, music, films and so much more.
Facebook knows where you live and uses your electronic device and location settings to figure out key information about you.
The company also uses consumer data that has been sourced by credit companies and research firms like Experian to build a fuller idea of your lifestyle habits.

This might sound pretty scary for consumers, but it’s a dream for advertisers who can use this information to target very specific audiences. Plus, if they wish, Facebook users can adjust their privacy settings using the Ad Preference Tool to avoid being tracked.

What makes Facebook advertising even better is that it has 10 different ad methods which cater to different business aims:

Boost your posts to a wider audience.
Promote your page to get more likes.
Send people to your website.
Increase conversions on your website.
Get people to install your app.
Increase engagement in your app.
Reach people who live near your business.
Get people to attend an event.
Get people to claim an offer, such as a discount on next purchase or enter a sweepstake.
Generate video views.

How can we help you with Facebook advertising?

Whether you want to drive sales or increase brand awareness, with a little bit of time, money and testing, Facebook ads can provide a real boost for your business. If you need assistance setting things up, Search Engine Pros can help in the following ways:

We can work with you to assess your advertising needs.
Set up your Facebook advertising account
Test various adverts and analyze what works best.
Set up a regular advertising budget and schedule your Facebook ads.

SEO Marketing | Web Marketing

Increase Web Site Traffic with SearchEnginePros.com

2 February 2017 by Taylor Reaume

Increase Web Site Traffic with TheSearchEnginePros.com

A webmaster seeking to increase web site traffic faces many challenges in the age of the search engine — especially when attempting to find web marketing services to match his or her CMS system. Implementation of SEO for CMS based websites can be highly challenging. It is important that we find a reliable SEO Campaign Management Specialist to implement SEO for your websites.

Santa Barbara, CA – Today website development costs have reduced dramatically and launching a website has become just a breeze with all the free tools and open sources systems that are available. One of the latest open source systems that meet most requirements is Joomla. This is one of the most powerful and sophisticated open source systems. Businesses can launch robust websites in a matter of few clicks using the built-in tools available with Joomla. This saves a lot of development time to launch highly professional websites with fraction of the cost, and a webmaster can immediately increase web site traffic by deploying simple yet sophisticated Joomla plug-ins for additional site functionality. Besides the cost and time advantage, there are number of other advantages in using Joomla. However, along with these advantages comes an undeniable and critical disadvantage. There are many complications in terms of implementation of SEO for Joomla based websites.

Since the cost of website development has come down drastically and there is a great need to launch websites to promote one’s business online. Every day thousands of websites are launched. In such circumstances, one can easily get lost in the competition. Therefore, businesses need to promote their websites and increase website traffic, and one of the best ways of gaining visibility online is to implement search engine optimization. As noted already implementing SEO for Joomla-based websites presents special challenges. It requires a great level of experience to optimize Joomla-based websites. Not all web development companies are capable of developing an SEO Friendly CMS; only a company with search engine optimization experience can create SEO-friendly systems. Web development companies will be more concerned about creating functionally robust systems rather than being preoccupied with creating SEO-friendly CMS. Therefore, it is crucial that website owners find an SEO Campaign Management Specialist who can assist with Joomla Search Engine Optimization. Web marketing services capable of handling CMS natural search optimization are surprisingly rare given the popularity of such software.

One of the best places to go for Joomla Search Engine Optimization Tips and for SEO assistance is SearchEnginePros.com. They offer specialized web marketing services that will cater to all your search engine optimization needs and help you increase website traffic. They have the needed expertise to deal with Joomla Search Engine Optimization. They offer all types of web marketing services that will increase online popularity and targeted traffic to websites. There are hundreds of web marketing services online that promise to get website top rankings in Google and in other major search engines. Among these, only a fraction of search engine optimization companies meets their promises. This caused a lot of distrust among the website owners regarding SEO and web marketing services. The nature of web marketing is such that one cannot so easily guarantee results because there are too many variables that decide a website’s ranking and popularity. Only companies such as searchenginepros.com that have mastered the SEO concepts can produce the desired results. For more information on reliable SEO services visit,

searchenginepros.com

Google Marketing | Web Marketing

Google Seller Ratings: Demystified

19 January 2017 by Taylor Reaume

Have you noticed the gold stars next to some Google ads? Or perhaps you’ve heard the term ‘seller ratings’ but have no idea what that means or how to get your business rated? Then we’re here to demystify the whole process for you. Read on to find out exactly what Google seller ratings are and how they can dramatically increase the performance of your online ads. We’ll also tell you how to get great Google seller ratings for your business.

Google seller ratings help online shoppers make informed purchasing decisions. The automated extension collates information from independent review sites to create an overall rating for your business. This is displayed in the form of gold stars beneath your Google ads, which provides an instant, visual snapshot of how customers rate your business on a scale of one to five.

Google seller ratings appear across all browsers and platforms and are free for businesses; you don’t pay if a customer clicks on your star rating. Let’s take a look at some examples of Google seller ratings from around the internet:

Travel

Retail

Why do you need Google seller ratings?

Great Google seller ratings can really boost your business, here’s how:

Ratings increase the performance of your ads. Google seller ratings increase the click-through rate (CTR) from adverts on average by 17%.
Positive reviews matter to consumers. This report shows that 92% of customers read online reviews and 88% of online shoppers take reviews into account when they’re making purchasing decisions.
High Google seller ratings encourage customers to trust your business; 68% of people questioned in the above survey said positive reviews made them trust a business more.
Star ratings are proven to be the most influential ratings factor, says the same report. They provide an eye-catching visual component to ads.
Seller ratings are useful if you don’t have a strong, well-established brand yet or work in an industry where many of your competitors don’t have reviews.

How exactly does Google create your seller rating?

Google aggregates independent customer reviews from these sources to produce seller ratings:

A list of 31 independent review sites such as Trust Pilot, PriceGrabber, ResellerRatings and Shopper Approved.
Google Trusted Stores, which is a certification program for online businesses. Customers can rate their shopping experiences through the program.
The results of Google shopping research.
StellaService, a third-party company that measures the quality of customer care for online businesses.
Google consumer surveys, which collect data about businesses and domains.

Google filters out reviews which it considers are suspicious or untrustworthy and may not show reviews for items or services unrelated to your Google ad. You can choose to disable the seller ratings function if you wish.

How do you get Google seller ratings?

To be eligible to receive seller ratings on your Google ads, your business has to meet the following criteria:

You must have at least 150 reviews from the last 12 months.
You must have an average star rating of 3.5 or higher.
In your AdWords account, you need to set your campaign type to: ‘Search Network with Display Select,’ ‘Search Network Only,’ or ‘Search and Display Networks.’
Seller ratings will only be displayed when searching from: google.com, google.co.nz, google.co.uk, google.nl, google.com.au, google.de, google.co.jp, google.fr, or google.com.br.
At least 10 reviews must be in the same language as the searcher’s Google interface. For example, if a searcher finds you through Google New Zealand then 10 reviews must be in English for seller ratings to show up. If they’re searching from France, 10 reviews must be in French.

In addition, make sure that all shopping and review sites you use list your correct business name and URL to allow Google to accurately aggregate your rating.

Which review websites should you use and how much do they cost?

The best way to get Google seller ratings is to join a review site that has the following features:

It must be listed as one of the 31 Google licensed partners.
The site should allow you to monitor reviews and respond to negative feedback.
You should be able to email previous customers to request a review.
The site should verify your reviews by only allowing users to leave a review after they’re actually bought something from you.
The site should allow you to share your reviews on your social media channels.

Rating and review sites usually charge a monthly membership fee and you often have to submit an enquiry to get a tailored quote. Here are some prices and features for the most popular rating sites which Google uses to produce their seller ratings:

Trust Pilot

Trust Pilot verifies reviews by asking for proof of purchase such as receipts and order confirmations. You can easily contact past customers for reviews and use Hootsuite to share your reviews on social media. Trust Pilot allows you to submit one response to each review.

Price: monthly packages start at $599.

Shopper Approved

Shopper Approved has a ‘pay-as-you-grow’ pricing model with a free trial. You can easily collect and share reviews and it even allows reviewers to submit video testimonials. Shopper Approved alerts you to negative reviews and allows you to respond in private; the customer is later given a chance to update their review.

Price: starts at $99 per month.

Reviews.co.uk

Reviews.co.uk shows which reviews are verified with invoices or order IDs and which aren’t. The site also allows you to reply to reviews and flag any that are suspicious. You can share reviews on social media and customers are able to attach review photos and ask you direct questions through a Q&A interface.

Price: costs between $29 and $199 per month.

ResellerRatings

ResellerRatings is the biggest review site but it doesn’t have a transparent pricing system and has a few bad reviews itself. The site shows which reviews have been verified and which haven’t; you can respond to reviews and share them on social media.

Price: costs vary per month according to ResellerRating’s independent algorithm.

Yotpo

Yotpo displays both verified and unverified reviews, which you can respond to and share on social platforms. Customers can attach review photos and you can import existing customer reviews from other outlets.

Price: start from $400 per month.

Tips for gaining more seller reviews

So you’ve signed up to a ratings site, but how can you encourage customers to give you a great write-up? Here are some quick tips for gaining more seller reviews:

Ask previous clients to review you.
Provide an awesome service so customers feel compelled to leave positive feedback.
Request feedback at the right stage of the customer journey; send shoppers an email straight after the transaction has been completed or even add a survey form to the confirmation page. Test the placement of your review requests to see what works best.
Make it easy for customers to leave feedback, don’t ask them to log-in or navigate through multiple pages. Instead, make sure all they have to do is simply select a star rating and leave space for any comments they want to add. Ensure that your review request system works on all browsers and across all platforms, especially mobiles.
Monitor your reviews and respond to negative feedback. This will allow you to resolve problems and show potential customers that you care about the service you deliver and want to rectify issues.
Bear in mind that once you have over 150 reviews, you may have to wait a few weeks for this information to be indexed by Google before your star seller ratings start showing on your ads.

So now we’ve demystified Google seller ratings for you it’s time to go out there and boost your business by collecting your own golden stars.

Local Marketing | Web Marketing

Top 10 WordPress Themes for Restaurants

19 December 2016 by Taylor Reaume

It’s not enough to just serve great food these days, every restaurant needs an engaging website to be noticed. Customers like to check out menus, read reviews and have the option of booking a table online before they visit. Luckily, you don’t need to be a design pro to create beautiful, user-friendly restaurant web designs, as there are plenty of great WordPress themes that will do the job for you. We’ve put together a list of the top 10 options.

Top 10 WordPress Themes for Restaurants

Sage

Not sure how you want your website to look? Then Sage is a great option for you as there are over 40 demo sites to choose from covering everything from Seafood, Vegan and Thai to Bakery, Brewery or Tea House designs. Once you’ve selected a demo you can use the theme options panel to easily customize the design to suit your restaurant.

Top Sage Features

Four free ad-ons
Ability to set up an online shop with WooCommerce
Drag-and-drop menu builder
Six-month customer support and one-click install

Price – $59

More info/download Sage

Food Truck

This is the ideal theme for street vendors, food truck owners or small food businesses. Food Truck incorporates simple page and menu builders and is easy to tweak, including nearly 90 custom shortcodes, 10 widgets and over 600 Google Fonts. However, this theme’s key selling point is its truck locator map, which allows customers to find you easily.

Top Food Truck Features

Truck locator map
Events listings
E-commerce capabilities
Six-month customer support and one-click install

Price – $59

More info/download Food Truck

Resca

Resca is one of the top restaurant website themes and looks great on all devices. Choose from one of the demo sites and make it your own by selecting from hundreds of colors, skins, fonts and icon options. Resca’s star attraction is its events calendar which will keep your customers in the know.

Top Resca Features

Events calendar and countdown clock
OpenTable reservation and booking
Ability to set up an online shop with WooCommerce
Six-month customer support and one-click install

Price – $59

More info/download Resca

Tavern

Tavern is one of the most popular WordPress themes for pubs and restaurants. It includes well-known plug-ins like Revolution Slider, Essential Grid and Visual Composer, all of which allow you to create any site layout. You can drag and drop pre-built features to customize your design and improve the user experience with a reservation/booking system and online shop.

Top Tavern Features

Translation feature
OpenTable reservation and booking
Ability to set up an online shop with WooCommerce
Six-month customer support

Price- $59

More info/download Tavern

Luigi

If you’re in the fine dining sector or run a high-end eatery such as an Italian Bistro, then Luigi is the classy restaurant theme for you. The theme boasts a Hero Block feature which allows for full-width images and customizable titles, text and fancy call-to-actions. Luigi also has an online table reservation system, event organizer and GoodReviews plug-in so customers can let everyone know how great your food is.

Top Luigi Features

GoodReviews plug-in to display customer reviews and ratings
Event organizer
Reservation booking system
Classy, image-heavy design

Price – $79

More info/download Luigi

LaCuisine

LaCuisine is a clean, ultra-responsive theme suitable for any type of eatery. Start with one of their stylish demo sites and edit to suit your style with the hundreds of fonts, colors and layout options. LaCuisine’s key features include sharp, retina-ready graphics and an engaging menu builder which allows diners to click on dishes and leave a review or pre-order them.

Top LaCuisine Features

Engaging menu builder which enables diners to leave reviews
Restaurant Reservations plug-in
Ability to set up an online shop with WooCommerce
Six-month customer support

Price – $59

More info/download LaCuisine

Nuvo

This is an extremely visual theme that offers unlimited color, layout and sidebar options. Nuvo will help you create a site full of Parallex full-screen images and video backgrounds; you can also choose from a huge range of animations and typography. Nuvo is easy to personalize and works well for restaurants, cafes and bistros, however, the theme does looks better on larger devices.

Top Nuvo Features

Stunning, image-heavy design
Event management section
Restaurant booking capability
Six-month customer support

Price – $53

More info/download Nuvo

Dalton

Dalton is a multi-purpose, corporate theme that works well for restaurants as well as other types of businesses. It has six unique homepage designs to start with and over 55 customizable page builder elements, as well as stunning Parallex and retina-ready visuals. This theme uses the Slider Revolution plug-in for smooth scrolling, perfect for websites with lots of images.

Top Dalton Features

Image-friendly
Integrated with WooCommerce to create online shops
Highly customizable with extensive theme options
Six-month customer support and one-click install

Price – $59

More info/download Dalton

Piquant

Piquant offers a simple, bold design and six homepage styles. There are customizable menus, clever call-to-action buttons and awesome image galleries. The stand-out feature of Piquant is its blog function which has six different post templates, so if you’re serious about engaging with your customers and updating them on new dishes and events, this is a great theme to choose.

Top Piquant Features

Blog function with post templates
Reservation and booking system
Compatible with WooCommerce to sell products online
Six-month customer support

Price – $59

More info/download Piquant

Rosa

Rosa is great for restaurants, cafes and bakeries and is a popular bar website theme. If you want to focus on high-end images Rosa is a great choice as you can create stunning galleries, Parallex visual effects and video. The theme also has handy booking and e-commerce capabilities.

Top Rosa Features

Ideal for image-heavy sites
Reservation and booking system
E-commerce capability
Six-month customer support

Price – $59

More info/download Rosa

Investing in a top restaurant theme for your website is one of the smartest moves you can make. Rather than battling with web coding, save time and hassle by choosing a ready-made theme and simply modify it to reflect your restaurant’s unique personality. Don’t forget to make use of your theme’s special features to improve user experience, including table booking, e-store, and online review plug-ins. Build a stunning menu and pack your site full of enticing food images and your restaurant will be buzzing in no time!

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