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    Tag: Search Engine Optimization

    What are the benefits of integrating SEO with PPC?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    how to market an online business

    How to market an online business has evolved significantly over the last couple of decades, making it harder and harder every day to prove more advantageous than your competition. In fact, today search engine algorithms are faced with cut-throat competition between various brands who’re fighting amongst each other to reach a strong, organic reach as well as top in search rankings. However, not all hope is lost! We’re here to tell you that SEO and PPC is a match made in heaven for those seeking help with their digital marketing strategy. So, let’s learn how to market an online business by integrating SEO with PPC! 

    What are the benefits of this integration? 

    Since every business wants a prime location on Google Search, the best way you can beat out your competition in this vying world is to push them out by combining your SEO and PPC practices. Following strategic SEO practices means that you’re able to increase the quantity and quality of the traffic coming to your website through the use of organic keywords that are researched for your industry. Whereas PPC marketing practices follow an internet advertising model that only pays the publisher if the ad has been clicked on. Both digital marketing tactics increase your chance of conversions and when combined, have the ability to add value to each other.   

    How do the two intertwine?

    Let’s say that you’ve discovered some effective keywords based on researching your industry and you’ve taken the time to rewrite stronger content (using these keywords) within the product copy and pages of your e-commerce site, good job, you’ve been following vital SEO practices. Now, your target audience is able to find your website easier. So, now you can combine these efforts with PPC. To achieve that, PPC is able to offer you a form a remarketing that pre-occupies ad spaces in websites within Google’s network. This means that you’re able to reel in your audience using SEO strategies and re-target them later with PPC’s remarketing feature. It’s the perfect combination to encourage customers to complete their purchase. 

    Still asking yourself how to market an online business? Consider consulting with a professional digital marketing agency if you want to start utilizing SEO and PPC integration. BAM! Take that competition.

    How else do you boost your digital marketing efforts? Drop your ideas below to share with our readers. 

     

    How does digital marketing provide business flexibility

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    the benefits of digital marketing

    In a world where the benefits of digital marketing are ever-growing with wide-spread technological developments and the growth of online users, it only makes sense to promote state-of-the-art products and services through e-commerce websites. For decades conventional marketing was the only way to get the word out, but now businesses have the option to advertise electronically across various online mediums. The question is, how is it that internet marketing is continuing to offer entrepreneurs advantageous flexibility while placing classified ads are slowly becoming a thing of the past?  

    Digital marketing allows you to make changes

    Traditional marketing comes in many forms — billboards displays, newspaper advertisements and even TV and radio endorsements — but one of the main disadvantages is that there is an inability to make tweaks to the campaign it has been launched. After all, it isn’t cheap or easy to take down a billboard and whip up a new one if something is spelled wrong, so, naturally, no one wants to have to throw away their publication. That being said, digital marketing has the ability to be a lot more fluid when it comes to fixing errors, allowing business owners to change around the text and image after publishing. Even social media posts, search engine optimization copy and curated blogs are able to be edited at a later date. So, this means that if you happen to make a careless error or a simple misprint, chances are that it can be fixed quickly and effectively.

    Digital marketing allows you to attach links

    Humans are visual creatures which means that a high percentage of our society processes things better through the help of visual aids. So, if you’re hoping to teach consumers about your products and services, linking your content will allow them to easily access what you’re selling, the reviews and other helpful sources that articulate your point. Not to mention links give potential customers a choice when it comes to clicking and viewing rather than a more forceful approach. The public can’t choose their radio advertisements, but they can choose which emails they open. So, having the choice to click and read through the use of helpful links is one of the many advantageous benefits of digital marketing, giving consumers an added element of control.

    Narrows your focus to the right audience

    While a traditional marketing advertisement is announced to the public, in a newspaper ad or in the form of a commercial, digital marketing is a more focused endorsement, only advertising to more narrowed group of willing subscribers, those who have searched for a specific key term or simply people who have liked the business’ social channels. While traditional ads do have the power to be geared towards a certain audience (advertising a sporting goods business on an all-sports channel) it doesn’t have the same opportunities to reach customers. The narrow focused of digital marketing has a greater chance of targeting an interested audience.

    How have the benefits of digital marketing helped grow your e-commerce business? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.

    How to digitally market your cannabis business?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    buy weed online

    Legalization in Canada and many American states have set a blaze of accessibility to those seeking herbs or hemp-infused topicals both medically and recreationally. That being said, while the cannabis industry is booming with new, innovative sectors, such as politics, finance, health, wellness, cosmetics and even fashion, marketing cannabis to people looking to buy weed online can still prove to be quite difficult — especially if you are trying to use Google Analytics or paid advertisements through social channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. That being said, if you’re a cannabis connoisseur who’s wanting to grab your slice of the “edible” pie, then it’s about time that you learned the ins and outs of marketing cannabis.

    What is the advertising roadblock for cannabis?

    While Canada as a nation has legalized recreational cannabis, most the world, including 19 states in the U.S., have made little-to-no progress in legalization. This means that social and advertising platforms have to limit their cannabis-related content and advertisements to appeal to places where it remains illegal. While marijuana prohibition is a real thing, there are things that you can do as a business owner to overcome these hurdles.

    There is a way to find organic reach

    Just because there are restrictions when it comes to advertising that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways that you can get the word out digitally for people to buy weed online. Since cannabis-related brands are hitting a block on paid advertising, they’re able to also try other digital marketing strategies such as posting organically through various social media, taking advantage of the old-fashioned ways of public relations or using SEO methods to get broader exposure.

    Cannabis marketing on Instagram

    Instagram is not only a platform for posting the most aesthetically pleasing travel and food photos, but it has also transitioned into an exciting digital mall. While most cannabis retailers aren’t allowed to cash in on this opportunity, that doesn’t mean that they can’t build their audience organically.

    Here are some Instagram tips:

    • Focus on your organic reach by establishing visually appealing photos and using popular/branded hashtags.
    • Be quick to respond to your customer concerns and comments.
    • Work with an influencer to create a word-of-mouth marketing scheme.
    • Utilize the stories feature to highlight promotions and unboxing events.

    Cannabis marketing on Facebook

    While Facebook possesses a stricter policy on the promotion or sale of drug-related products, they’re still some ways that you can market your cannabis business.

    • Organic is always the first place to start, just keep at it on a regular schedule to create traction.
    • Use the messenger feature in order to enable a fast response time to your current and potential customers.
    • Promote exclusive deals and offers through your business page and your messenger app.
    • Use Facebook stories to highlight your products.

    What are the rules on the other popular channels?

    • Twitter: No paid promotions are allowed on Twitter but you can start conversations through the use of trending hashtags.
    • Pinterest: Probably one of the strictest platforms, Pinterest does not allow the promotion of anything THC-related.
    • LinkedIn: Some paid promotions are allowed because it serves as a platform to report industry news. Although be sure to use strong visuals in order to grab your audience’s attention.

    Do you use social media to find a good place to buy weed online? Drop a comment below to let us know.

    How do you successfully strategize your SEO campaign?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    marketing strategies for SEO

    While there are many branches of digital marketing that are vital in helping businesses grow, search engine optimization holds a next level advantage. SEO has the power to utilize top search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, through the use of organic and paid advertisements. This means that you have an opportunity to research relevant key terms in your industry and use them strategically on your website in order to have your business appear on an organic, online search. And, if it’s within your budget, you can also pay a marketing company to manage your SEO, allowing them to work on getting your website to the top of various search engines. However, while these marketing strategies for SEO have the power to bring success to your business, there are a couple of other ways that you can devise your SEO campaigns to bring your products or services a little extra traction.

    Update your content 

    In order to reap the benefits of your SEO strategy, it’s important to flag your target audience in a larger way. That’s where content marketing can come into play. While you can easily include industry-specific key terms on your home page or services description, if you’re hoping to have your business appear at the top of more search engines, applying this method to the entirety of your website will only prove to be more beneficial. Start by selecting a few popular products to target and then proceed by finding out which words people are using to search for these products online. The next thing you want to do is re-write the meta descriptions and copy for your chosen topics. This will help your organic ranking on popular search engines by allowing customers to find your website with ease.

    Google AdWords is your friend

    If you’re determined to have your business appear at the top of Google search rankings, then you will need to utilize Google Adwords to get you there. While we mentioned the power of keywords when creating your content, Google Adwords allows you to bid on these industry-relevant terms in order to have clickable, paid ads that appear above the organic search rankings on a Google search. So, while you will have to pay Google when potential customers click through to your website from these ads, you’re giving yourself the best opportunity to get noticed without having to pay for social media or more traditional forms of advertising.

    While these marketing strategies for SEO have the power to drive customers to make purchases, there are many other digital marketing methods that could also benefit your company. Contact a member from our team to learn how email marketing, social media marketing, PPC advertising or blogging services could benefit your business.

    How did you learn about the importance of marketing strategies for SEO? Drop a comment below to let us know your thoughts.

    What is Google shopping and how does it work?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Google Shopping

    While there are many digital marketing tools that business owners can use to find advertisement opportunities online, investing in Google Shopping is a very advantageous way to display your product right at the origin of a customer’s search. After all, since many people use Google as their primary search engine when they’re on the hunt for a particular item, it seems like an appropriate way to get ahead of your competition. Needless to say, although Google Shopping is incredibly popular, it’s crucial to understand how this tool should be used to drive sales, leads and overall website traffic.

    What is Google Shopping?

    Google Shopping is a service that’s provided by Google which allows customers to search for, view and compare product pricing. It’s powered by two platforms, Google Merchant Center — where your product feed lives — and AdWords — where your shopping campaigns live, as well as where you set your budget, manage your bids, gain insights and make optimizations based on the performance of the campaign.

    What makes it so unique?

    Google Shopping is quite a bit different from traditional text ads. The setup and management that triggers your ads are determined by the feed, the site, and the bids that you make. While there are some strong similarities to SEO, success in the field of Google Shopping boils down to the following areas.

    • Feed creation and optimization: The diversity of your product data, product images and the price are all included in this area. After all, the more relevant your ad is to the searched keyword, the more likely that Google will display your product on that given search.
    • Bidding: If you bid too much your campaign will not work efficiently, but if you bid too little it will not be able to gain traction. When considering the amount that you’re going to spend consider the price of the product, your profit margin and the e-commerce conversation rate. Keep in mind that you want to make a profit, so, it’s important to find a sweet spot where you’re able to slowly increase your bids over time as they prove to be profitable.
    • Monitoring and Optimization: An added benefit of Google Shopping is the ability to keep tabs on your campaign performances. It’s important to monitor your data frequently so that you’re able to make adjustments to your strategy throughout the cycle of the campaign.

    How does Google Shopping work?

    The best part about Google Shopping is that initially, you don’t have to pay anything. Once a Google user searches your key term, if they happen to click on your product ad a payment will then be made. Following the click, the user will be directed to your online store in the hopes that they will follow through with a purchase.

    How can you set up Google Shopping?

    Before you’re ready to start promoting your products on Google you will need to set up an AdWords account and follow a series of steps to launch your campaign. If this sounds too complicated for you it’s best to speak with a digital marketing team that’s experienced with campaign management so that they can set up, launch and manage your Google Shopping campaign moving forward. Best of luck!

    Are there any disadvantages with Google Shopping over other digital marketing advertisement methods? Please drop a comment below to start a conversation.

    Why great websites should include an SEO plan

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    search engine optimization

    You can have a beautifully designed website and a stellar marketing team backing up your products and services on social media but if your businesses website is lacking search engine optimization it won’t be getting the attention that it deserves. Needless to say, if you understand the importance of SEO implementation, you’re well on your way to creating the right traction to get noticed in your niche industry.

    Why do so many e-commerce businesses lack SEO?

    There are many reasons that a startup e-commerce business may lack an SEO strategy:

    • They don’t have the extra income: There are a lot of costs that go with operating an online business and it’s possible that when a company is just getting off the ground, they won’t have the extra funds that are needed for search engine optimization.
    • They don’t have the time: While this point is only applicable if they’re doing their own in-house SEO, if you’re a business owner who is juggling multiple tasks it’s possible that SEO is something that can and will be forgotten.
    • It’s hard to keep up with the progression: An SEO specialist has the incentive to follow what’s changing in the landscape of the industry, whereas a business owner may find it hard to know all the grooves of search engine optimization.
    • You don’t have the resources: Small businesses aren’t able to invest enough into the tools that may be needed, such as better analytics, keyword research, reporting tools and conversion optimization tools. 

    Design your website with SEO in mind

    Regardless of whether you already have a fully functioning web design or if you’re in the process of starting one from scratch, just keep in mind that there are always ways you can keep your design SEO-oriented. That being said, the most important thing you can do is to build a plan for how your target audience is going to notice you. Creating brand awareness should be an essential part of growing your business and your SEO strategy is crucial when it comes to generating leads. So, if you want your website to flourish, considering content marketing. Content marketing entails many digital marketing elements, such as blogging, creating videos and sharing social posts across your channels. Consider using this as an opportunity to flaunt your SEO knowledge and use industry keywords within all of your content to increase your chances of being ranked organically on various search engines.  

    So, why should you invest in SEO?

    You already know that there are tons of companies out there that are competing with you that also have products just as innovative and budget-friendly as yours are, so, why wouldn’t you want to invest in the opportunity to stand out from the competition? SEO allows you to design and create content using industry-specific keywords. Then you’re able to start attracting traffic from people who are already interested in what you’re selling. After all, they typed in a particular set of words and BAM there was your site conveniently awaiting their future click. So, now instead of only being an information portal, your website is a place where people can come to find exactly what they’re looking for.

    Do you have any positive experiences with search engine optimization? How has it changed the ranking of your business? Tell us in the comments section below.

    Why You Shouldn’t Overlook the Power of Pay per Click Advertising

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    PPC advertising

    There are so many methods available to market your online business. While blogging, sending newsletters and spreading the world on social media all prove to be effective cranks turning the wheel towards audience awareness, one of the most advantageous marketing techniques is pay per click (PPC) advertising. Not only does PPC advertising take a close look at your current business objectives, but it will also determine which media channels you’re getting noticed on and will target how to reach your buying consumers. After all, doesn’t it make more sense to pay for an advertising technique that only charges you once a customer has actually noticed your endorsement?

    What is PPC advertising?

    Also known as cost per click, PPC advertising is an internet advertising model that is used by marketing companies to direct traffic to websites. The best part is that the advertiser will only pay the publisher if the ad was clicked on. So, essentially, it’s a way of buying visits to your business website, rather than trying to obtain those visits in a more organic way.

    Search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC advertising because it allows advertisers to bid for ad placement in the search engine’s sponsored link section. This is determined by selectively choosing relevant keywords that are related to the business or product offering. By getting ahead of organic search results you’re asserting your position as a leader in your industry.  

    What is Google Ads?

    Formally known as Google AdWords, this PPC advertising tool enables businesses to create ads that will appear on Google’s search engines. It operates as a pay-per-click model, which means that every time a search is initiated, Google will pull a few winners from their database to appear in the ad space in the search results. The winners are chosen based on a combination of factors, including the quality of their chosen keywords as well as of amount that they bid. It’s basically an auction to determine which businesses will be seen first.

    Why should you take advantage of PPC advertising?

    • Budget-friendly: Full-on ad campaigns can be expensive and require money allocation before they roll out. PPC advertising allows you to set a small to medium budget and then analyze how your campaign is performing. If you’re starting to create traction and making money, then you can slowly start investing more into your marketing budget.
    • Keywords: PPC advertising helps you determine which keywords are appearing in your industry and allows you to use those words to also create organic traffic.
    • Targets your audience: PPC advertising has the power to help your conversion rates by targeting the audience that’s actually interested in your product or service to click-through to your website. If they click, chances are you’re drawing in the right people.

    Are there any other ways in which PPC advertising is beneficial to business owners? Share your comments with our readers below.

    Starting off the year with a few hotel digital marketing tips

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    digital marketing for hotels

    Digital marketing for hotels is constantly evolving with the times. This ever-changing online landscape requires business owners and their marketing counterparts to constantly tweak their strategies in order to remain edgy and up-to-date within their niche. With an emergence in social media technologies it’s always important to have your eyes on new trends, but it’s even more essential to focus your energy on the marketing tools that will empower you to entice your target audience to click and share. Start by trying out these tips when it comes to developing digital marketing for hotels.

    Optimize your website

    It’s paramount to ensure that all of your content possesses strong SEO (search engine optimization) in order to engage with a far-reaching crowd — this will help your hotel appear organically in the search engines of potential customers. Start out by performing an online audit to ensure that you understand your current online marketing efforts. If you do not know how to do this, a professional digital marketing team can assist you by recommending designs and approaches that will increase your ROI (return on investment).  

    Ask yourself questions. Is your site easy to navigate? Does your copy have clear call-to-actions that assist potential guests through their booking journey? All these of pointers help you to fill your website with clear, concise and advantageous information that makes it not only invaluable to book on, but also a positive experience.

    Understand that hotel digital marketing is competitive

    Once you ensure that your website is up-to-speed in terms of design, development and content then you want to start setting achievable goals for yourself as a business owner. It’s meaningful to understand that you’re in a very competitive industry and although your website now performs great, will it compare to more recognizable hotel booking web pages?

    Know who your competitors are and visit their websites periodically in order to compare how they engage with guests. Use this as an opportunity to see where they may be failing to connect with them and try to find ideas on how you can outperform them in the future. Ask yourself, “how do our digital marketing efforts differ?” and try and adapt your strategy to its fullest potential.

    Use social media marketing

    The power of modern-day social media, especially when it comes to anything travel related, is a huge means for businesses to reach their target audiences. Hotels create a message, that message is shared on various social media channels, consumers receive the message, consumers relate to the message, consumers feel empowered to book and the customer lifecycle repeats itself. Just make sure that your social media interactions are delivered in a way that makes your customers feel valued in order to increase their awareness with your hotel brand.

    Other marketing methods

    Now that you understand the world of digital marketing for hotels, you can try these other tips as a means of promoting your business.

    • Embrace your specialization: What makes your business so special? Maybe it’s the location, the fact that it’s an older building or it is surrounded by breath-taking views?
    • Target your niche: Although you’re running a hotel, maybe there is a niche that you develop on to promote your digital marketing?
    • Reward customer loyalty: Perhaps once your guest has checked out, you can send them an email requesting a quick review of their stay. This gives them an opportunity to provide you with rewarding feedback and maybe, in turn, you can give them a special voucher to use during their next stay.

    As always, if you need help in the field of digital marketing for hotels, remember to reach out to an agency that will help you keep on top of the latest hotel trends and campaigns.

    How do you keep on top of your digital marketing? Tell us in the comments section below.

    Why Is It Important to Have a Blog on Your Company Website?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    importance of having a blog

    Have you ever asked yourself, “what can blogging really do for my company?” A regular blogging calendar can give you the opportunity to create and share relevant content that your consumers may find interesting. It can also be used as strategic marketing tool that has the ability to drive traffic back to your website.

    Needless to say, if you think of a blog as a giant advertisement, then you are in the business of writing ads and not blogs. Crafting innovative blogging content allows you to research your niche and formulate topics that your audience is passionate about.

    Reasons you need to blog:

    • To drive traffic to your website
    • To increase your SEO/SERP
    • To position your brand/voice as a leader in your industry
    • To develop better customer relationships

    Blogging should be an integral part of your online content marketing strategy, regardless if you are a small business or multinational company.

    Issues that matter  

    Humanizing your brand is one of the most important ways to reach out to your community. For example, let’s say a local school is in danger of closing down and the public is outraged. Taking action by blogging about the news can help your business connect to what’s going on and possibly even boost your website traffic in the process. Since the topic would already be trending online, sharp coverage within all your social media channels would bring attention to your service or brand and show support within your community.

    Promote a product without actually promoting it

    Blogging is an amazing tool that allows companies to promote their products using a more indirect approach.

    If you are an instrument company that focuses your energy on selling guitars, it is important to be unique when you are formulating new content for your blog. Promoting sales and new inventory all the time can become boring and outdated quickly. Instead, focus your efforts on discussing famous musicians who use a specific brand or model of guitar that you are wanting to promote. Then you can organically place links to your products or comments about your product stock throughout the article.

    The strategy here is to not always make your post an advertisement. If you focus on putting together more engaging content, audiences are more likely to read and potentially share it across their social media channels.

    The goal is to use created content as a way to connect with your audience without always bombarding them with an expectation to purchase.

    Crafting the perfect blog post can be a time consuming is task. If you’re too busy managing your business, leaving little time to write engaging content, Trek Marketing can help launch your blog. To find out how we can help, contact us at [email protected].

    How has your company benefited from blogging? Tell us in the comments section below.

    How to write SEO friendly content that attracts audiences

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    SEO friendly

    Have you ever wondered how certain content appears at the top of your Google search? In short, Google uses mathematical algorithms to give each website a score. That score determines the rank of each website and where it is placed when someone types keywords into google search.

    “Think of the algorithm like a collection of empty buckets. One bucket gives you a score for the quality of your site, one bucket gives you a score for how many sites link to you, one bucket gives you a score for how people trust you. Your job is to fill up more buckets in the algorithm than any other website.”

    So what is SEO?

    It’s tough for content to get noticed on the web. Using SEO friendly keywords is a smart and reliable way to improve your website traffic.

    SEO is a shorthand term for Search Engine Optimization. Basically, it is a measurable, repeatable process that is used to send signals to various search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) to show that your page is worth displaying on the Google index.

    SEO friendly content allows your website to show up more often, get more clicks, shares, likes and more overall engagement.

    How do you create SEO friendly content?

    Now that you understand a few details behind how SEO works, here are a few tips and tricks behind writing SEO enhanced content.

    • Use descriptive headlines and sub-headers
    • Add lots of links to supporting/previous content
    • Optimize the length of your article
    • Choose your keywords wisely
    • Pick clickable photos
    • Make your content shareable
    • Write quality over quantity (high quality content is much more audience friendly then extra words on a page)

    Do you know any other SEO tips that we didn’t touch on? Let us know in the comment section below.