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How To Craft An SEO Strategy for Your Website

by Rachel, posted in Uncategorized

Driving traffic to your website is essential to increase the visibility of your business and brand. Appearing at the top of search engine results can help to bring in the traffic you are looking for, but to get these results, you need a great SEO strategy. At one point in time, keywords were the quintessential element of search engine optimization. Search engine rankings hinged on using the right keywords in the right frequency. Though keywords definitely still matter today, there are other factors that affect your search engine rankings. Read on to learn more about how to craft an SEO strategy that will drive the traffic you need.

Why SEO Matters

As a marketer, you want to make your brand as visible as possible. Optimizing your site for search engine visibility means adding elements to your site that tell search engines that you’re a trusted resource, providing people with the information they’re looking for. It’s a search engine’s job to help people find what they need as quickly as possible, so it’s up to you to prove to the search engine that you have that information.

SEO is key to staying competitive in a tight marketplace. A solid strategy gives you a leg up on other businesses and can increase your leads and sales. It may seem like a challenging topic to tackle, but really, it’s all about knowing what works for your site. With a little research, you can start incorporating SEO elements into your website to improve your traffic.

How SEO Is Changing

At one point in time, SEO focused mainly on keywords. However, SEO strategies have begun to change as users refine their search engine habits. For example, the number of searches containing the words “nearby” or “near me” have been on the rise. People are using search engines to find local businesses on the go. Also, more people are conducting voice search, so your SEO strategy should focus less on keywords and more on using natural language. It’s important to stay relevant by considering the following factors.

  • Content – your content is still key, however, there’s less focus on keywords, and more focus on content that flows in a natural, informative way. Although it’s still necessary to include keywords in your text, focus less on the density of the keywords and more on creating informative, easy to read content.
  • Link structure – backlinks are still important as long as they’re from a relevant and trusted source. Google has learned to pick the bad links out from the good and will rank you in part based on that. Keep track of how many links you have in your content and the quality of the links. Remove links that are spammy or poor quality.
  • Mobile-friendly layout – around half of all web traffic is viewed on mobile, and it’s likely that stat will keep increasing, so it’s absolutely essential to have your site optimized for different devices. If your website isn’t optimized, it’s going to be hard to view on anything other than a regular computer monitor so Google will rank your site lower.
  • Reviews – reviews are an important factor in search engine rankings. Not having any is nearly as damaging as having bad reviews, so encourage customers to leave reviews of your business or service on sites like Yelp, Facebook, or Google.
  • Other factors – alt tags, heading tags, images, anchor text, and site encryption are also elements you should consider. If you’ve tried all of the other suggestions on this list and still aren’t seeing results, it’s time to look at the back end of your site and adjust the above elements.

A Strategy That Works For Your Business

Finding an SEO strategy that works for your business doesn’t have to be a headache. Start by really analyzing the content that’s already on your site. Is it structured in a way that makes the content easy to navigate and read? Have you included important keywords?

Create Excellent Content

Creating the type of content that customers want to read is important, and be sure to research before you write. Don’t assume that you know exactly what your customers need and want. You may be an industry expert, but using jargon instead of the words that people are actually searching for can be detrimental. Keyword research can help you determine the keywords that your potential customers are using. From there, you can start to craft informative and effective content, while being sure to release it consistently. Be sure to freshen things up at least once a month, as consistency is key.

Topic Clusters

It’s important to consider the rise of the topic cluster model. Topic clusters are pages that are structured around a central “pillar page.” The pillar page usually focuses on a wider topic and then links to individual pages that delve deeper into different elements of the topic. For example “Healthy Eating” may be your central pillar page’s topic,  and then “Healthy Recipies For Kids,” or “How To Eat Healthy While Traveling,” might be two individual pages that link back to the central page. This type of SEO tends to align more with how people are using search engines. Because voice search has become more common, many searches are more conversational, which means that your content has to have the same quality.

Know Your Competition

Check out how your competition is ranking on Google. If you see that they’re ranking higher, they must be doing something correctly. Take a close look at their content to see what they’re doing differently. Is their site structured more clearly? Do they produce more regular content? Read their reviews and study their social media engagement to see what their customers are saying about them. Keep these elements in mind when redesigning your site or creating new content.

 

How to Ask for Donations Through your Website

by Rachel, posted in Marketing, nonprofit

Donations are essential to keep your nonprofit running, but organizations are always wondering about the best ways to obtain contributions from their constituents. With new technology constantly on the move, the internet is becoming a better way to solicit donations. Asking for a donation on your website is easy, but knowing the best practices for how to actually get people to follow through and donate can take a little more research.

Make It Easy

First, make sure the structure of your website is easy to navigate so visitors know where to go if they’d like to make a gift.  The actual donation page should be found at a simple URL, like http://www.yourwebsite.com/Donate. A link like that is easy to remember, easy to write out, and easy to share. Some nonprofits hide their donation pages deep within their websites, making them difficult to find, and not friendly for search engine optimization.

On your donation page, don’t hide the donate button under a wall of text. Keep it simple with a nice, big button at the top of the page, along with a bold call to action. If people want to know more about your organization or what it does, they will visit other pages on your website. Users come to the donate page simply to donate, so the primary goal of the page is to allow people to donate easily, not to inform donors of your mission.

Social Proof Works

When one person takes an action, it’s more likely that others will take the same action, and that’s social proof at work. As an organization, you can use this to your advantage. After people make their gift, they can be taken to a landing page where you can encourage them to share their donation on social media. Many people like to show off their charitable giving, and in turn, that gives you free publicity, so it’s a win-win situation.

Profile donors in your newsletter or on social media. This not only puts your biggest donors in the spotlight, it can show others how great it can be to give.

 

How Emotion Influences Purchasing Habits

by Rachel, posted in ecommerce, Marketing

Everyone likes to feel like they’re in control of their emotions and decisions. But there’s one truth in advertising that is sometimes overlooked – emotions can overpower logic quite easily, and ads that make us feel something will end up making us buy. Think about the ads that got you interested in a product – they make you laugh, feel nostalgic or warm, or may even trigger a feeling of urgency. Whatever they make you feel, it undoubtedly works. Read on to learn more about how emotion plays a role in advertising, and how you can use it to your advantage in your marketing strategy.

Connect with Customers’ Desires

You can’t relate to potential customers very well if you don’t know what they want. Think specifically about what your customers need from a product or service, and also consider their long-term goals. Tap into both your customer’s sense of inspiration and aspiration, and help them make a decision with their hearts.

Many people see brands as having personalities, just as people do, and are looking for a brand that connects directly with their own personality. So when you’re advertising, use language that they’re familiar with, use attractive images, and communicate who you are with a narrative. For example, if you’re a business who wants to attract customers who care about the environment, tell them how you as a brand care about the environment too. Tell customers how your story directly relates to them, and how you can help them attain their deepest desires and loftiest goals.

Use Emotions to Evoke a Reaction

According to research from the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Glasgow, humans experience four core emotional states: happy, sad, afraid/surprised, and angry/disgusted. You can use all of these states to your advantage when crafting a marketing campaign. If you create an ad that makes people feel happy, like a funny skit or an energetic and lively song, they are likely to share it. A sad story encourages people to take immediate action. That’s why animal shelters use pictures of sad looking dogs or cats to encourage you to donate. People who are afraid or surprised by an advertisement will usually try to cling to something familiar, encouraging brand loyalty. And anger or disgust, like sadness, can stir people up to take action. This is why anger or disgust are so often used in political advertising.

Be Bold

A key takeaway here is that if you aren’t adding an emotional element to your advertising, your ads most likely won’t be as effective as they could be. But some marketers may be afraid of coming off as fake or cheesy. The easy solution to this is to simply be honest with your audience, and keep an eye on their responses on social media. Take a look at what types of posts get the most likes, shares, and engagement and go from there. A survey for your customers could help too.

Looking back, some of the most effective ad campaigns of all time were the clearly most emotional. For example, think of the De Beers company, who, in 1947 decided that they wanted to sell more diamonds, and came up with a timeless marketing campaign. The slogan “A Diamond is Forever” invoked emotions like love, trust, and commitment, and people still remember and use that phrase more than 70 years later.

Once you know your audience inside and out, it’s easy to learn what they want and need, and what emotions you can use to get them to take your desired action. It may sound a bit manipulative, but your product or service can help your customers achieve their goals and dreams, and build lifelong brand loyalty for you.

3 Steps For Creating A Responsive Website

by Rachel, posted in web development

You know that having a web presence is essential for any business or organization, but just having a simple website isn’t always enough to get the job done.  When people land on your site, you want them to have a great experience from the second they enter, and you want to make sure they find exactly what they’re looking for. A difficult to navigate or confusing site can turn visitors off, and make them bail before getting your message, so it’s important to make sure your website is responsive. A responsive website will respond to the device, browser size, platform, and orientation that your visitor is using. Read on to learn how to create a responsive website from the ground up.

Do Your Research

Before you start building your website, it’s necessary to know who will be visiting it, and how they’ll be accessing your site. In the past year, more than half of all web traffic was mobile, which means you want your site to look great not only on desktops and laptops but on tablets and smartphones as well. Tools like Google Analytics can give you some insight into how people are accessing your site, as well as how they use your site, and how traffic flows through your pages. This data can be useful when it comes to creating a site that flows smoothly and meets your users’ needs. Take a look at the data available, and ask yourself what steps you want visitors to take when they land on your site. From there, make it as easy as possible for them to follow those steps. Give them clear calls to action, make your site simple to navigate, and lay out your content in a visually appealing and concise way, without confusing them with too much text, too many images, or multiple messages.

Choose the Right Platform

Choosing the perfect content management system for website development is key in creating a beautiful and responsive website. Many of the content management systems available today (Drupal, WordPress) are free, open source, and allow for customization of nearly everything on the site, from font to color, to layout. But the most essential element to look at when choosing a CMS is optimizing content and pages to display properly on all devices. A website that isn’t optimized for mobile may lose out on customers, but a website that displays well in every type of browser and on desktop and mobile is appealing and useful. Making sure your website functions great on all platforms can make or break your conversion rate.

Focus on Experience

When it comes down to it, though, creating a responsive website is all about the experience that the user has when visiting your site. You want your site to be usable and easy to navigate so that users can find what they’re looking for in just a few clicks. A stellar experience will pull in clients and leave them hungry for more! Technology is constantly changing and new developments are happening every day, so keeping your website up to date is an essential step in good user experience. A sleek, stunning, informative website is what your customers want, and that’s where your focus should lie.

 

The Easy Way To Monetize Your Blog

by Rachel, posted in ecommerce, Uncategorized

The internet is a great platform for anyone looking to sell products. If your blog has a strong following, you may be interested in making a little money selling some branded items like t-shirts, mugs, hats, or stickers. Or maybe you want to compile some of your best blog content and sell it as an ebook on your site. But setting up an e-commerce store can be a complicated process, especially if you don’t know anything about programming or web framework. In order to have a usable store, you’ll need to list your products in a clear and organized fashion, and have the ability to take credit card payments, and store customer data securely. While this may seem like a daunting task, using WordPress to set up an e-commerce site is a quick, easy and user-friendly way to get your business going, and you don’t have to be an expert!

Can I Add A Shop To My WordPress Blog?

WordPress was originally set up to function as a platform for bloggers to easily create custom websites to house their blogs. Over time, it’s developed into a popular content management system. In other words, you can create and control a powerful website that can do almost anything even function as an e-commerce store. Using WordPress for your shop is a great idea because you’ll have full control over all aspects of your site. If you’ve been using WordPress for a while, you already know how customizable it is. You can build out detailed product pages, and make your store both beautiful and functional.

WordPress is perfect for starting small and will grow with you. You’ll need just a bit of technical knowledge, but it’s not anything that will take you more than a few days to get the hang of. Using other e-commerce platforms like Shopify can include fees, but using a WordPress site won’t charge you for transactions or bill you for any monthly fee, so it’s perfect if you don’t have much of a budget to keep your shop going. In addition, your fanbase already knows and love your blog, so hosting your shop on your existing site makes sense.

Getting Your Shop Up and Running

To start, you’ll need a domain name and host for your site. If you have a blog on your own domain, this is already taken care of. While large e-commerce sites tend to need a lot of storage space, since some shops offer hundreds or even thousands of products, if you’re starting small with just a few products, you won’t need to worry about increasing your storage space just yet.

Next, you’ll need to find a WordPress e-commerce plugin. Another great thing about WordPress is that there are plugins that can add just about any function to your website. Your site needs to have product pages, a shopping cart function, and a checkout that can process payment. A great e-commerce plugin should feature all of these. The most popular one is WooCommerce, for good reason. WooCommerce is easy to use, versatile and has a helpful and active community of users. In addition, it’s great for search engine optimization (SEO). It’s a free plugin, but if you want to add some advanced functionalities, you’ll need to pay for extensions. However, if you’re just setting up shop for the first time, the free plugin should be all you need. Of course, there are tons of other e-commerce plugins, but WooCommerce has stood the test of time, and consistently gets the highest marks.

In your WordPress site’s dashboard, navigate to “Add New Plugin.” From there, simply search for WooCommerce, and then install and activate WooCommerce by WooThemes. You’ll be prompted to install the plugin with a wizard that will set up the initial settings. Walk through the setup and choose the appropriate choices along the way.

When setting up the payment option, the easiest way to get started is by using PayPal (you’ll be given this option during setup). You can explore other payment options later, but PayPal is quick and easy, and your store will be up and running sooner. From there, you may need to install a new theme on your site. If you have chosen a theme that is more relevant to blogging, you may need to find one that’s compatible with WooCommerce, and use one that works better with the functions of your shop.

Within the plugin, you’ll be able to design product pages with descriptions, pictures, and prices. It’s important to include really high-quality photos of the products. The better the pictures look, the more people will want to buy! You can also sell virtual products like ebooks, online courses, etc. WooCommerce is customizable, so you can easily choose settings like where you are located, which countries you can ship products to, and enabling tax calculations.

Start by creating a test product, just to see how the page looks and feels. If everything  functions smoothly, you can start adding real products. Because you set up PayPal earlier to handle payment, you will be able to start selling immediately, and you will be able to accept both credit card and PayPal payments.

If you are a blogger who already has a solid following and are considering monetizing your blog, selling products is a great option, and can also help to get the word out and market your blog. You know people already love what you have to say, so offering up an ebook or another digital document is a great way to start selling. If you’re feeling creative, it’s easy to get your logo or branding printed on different products that you can sell. Since you already have a WordPress site, it makes a lot of sense to simply add a shop to your existing blog, instead of hosting it on an external site, and plugins like WooCommerce make it easy to start selling with just a little setup time.

Are Keywords Still Relevant For SEO?

by Rachel, posted in Uncategorized

At one point in time, keywords were the quintessential element of search engine optimization. Your search engine rankings hinged on using the right keywords in the right frequency. Though keywords definitely still matter today, there are other factors that affect your search engine rankings. Read on to learn more about these elements and how to use them to your advantage.

Keywords Matter, But…

SEO strategies have begun to change as users refine their search engine habits. More people are using tech like voice search to find what they’re looking for. So instead of searching for “Mexican restaurants in Philadelphia,” users may ask their digital assistant “What should I eat tonight?” Optimizing your content for these kinds of searches may mean a few changes in your SEO strategy, but it’s important to stay relevant by considering the following factors.

  • Content – your content is still key, however, there’s less focus on keywords, and more focus on content that flows in a natural, informative way. Although it’s still necessary to include keywords in your text, focus less on the density of the keywords and more on creating informative, easy to read content.
  • Link structure – backlinks are important as long as they’re from a relevant and trusted source. Google has learned to pick the bad links out from the good and will rank you in part based on that. Keep track of how many links you have in your content and the quality of the links. Remove links that are spammy or poor quality.
  • Page structure – the latest SEO trends point towards higher rankings when you use the “topic cluster” model. Topic clusters center around a pillar page, which highlights a high-level topic, and then each of the linked topic cluster pages delves into an aspect of the pillar page.
  • Mobile-friendly layout – around half of web traffic is viewed on mobile, so it’s absolutely essential to have your site optimized for different devices. If your website isn’t optimized, it’s going to be hard to view on anything other than a regular monitor so Google will rank your site lower.
  • Reviews – reviews are an important factor in search engine rankings. Not having any is nearly as damaging as having bad reviews, so encourage customers to leave reviews of your business or service on sites like Yelp, Facebook, or Google.
  • Other factors – alt tags, heading tags, images, anchor text and site encryption are also elements you should consider. If you’ve tried all of the other suggestions on this list and still aren’t seeing results, it’s time to look at the back end of your site and adjust the above elements.