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Why Your Business Needs Assistance From Digital Media Consultants

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Are you looking to take your business to the next level? Times have changed. 

The internet is now the leading way to recruit new customers and solidify relationships with past clients. If you aren’t sure about your online appearance, chances are you’ve already fallen behind.

Digital media consultants are on the front lines of this new frontier. These marketing experts help to ensure that budding companies have all they need to capture consumer attention. 

If you’ve never worked with a digital marketing consultant before, read on. We’re here to cover a few of the many topics that they can help you improve. 

What’s Up With Your Website?

One of the first mistakes your business may have made? A poorly designed website. Think of your website as your online store.

Are the shelves messy? Is your location poorly stocked? Is it visually stimulating?

While having a website with limited functionality can be permissible, it’s only true for a handful of businesses that aren’t selling products online. If your business is a talent agency, for example, you may choose not to include a client list online.

In this case, some simple features like an “About Us” section and a contact form may be all you need. For e-commerce websites, however, you’ll want to include more.

Potential customers are savvier than ever and often do their research before making a purchase. Does your website include product and return information? Do you have reviews listed?

If you primarily sell on large e-commerce platforms like Amazon, you may choose not to offer your product for sale on your website. Instead, you should be sure to include active hyperlinks to where the product can be found. 

Is Your Website Optimized for Mobile Devices?

Another common mistake is having a website that isn’t optimized for mobile use. Because so many potential customers will use their mobile devices to do product research, you’ll want to make sure that your website looks good on a smartphone or tablet.

Try opening your website on your mobile device to preview the site. Does it have limited functionality? Does the formatting look strange? You could be losing customers because of it.

Social Media Matters

Social media isn’t just about scrolling pictures of your ex. Social media is a cash cow for the businesses smart enough to use it to their advantage.

Businesses smart enough to get in early have used social media and influencer branding to take their online presence to new heights. Here’s a case study of a brand making money moves: Can you name the brand that turned a handful of small shopping mall locations into one of the most recognizable brands online?

Here’s a hint. Through a strong social media strategy, this brand partnered with a wide array of influencers to bring their social media following to an audience of over 16 million. 

Today, this brand dresses top female talent like Cardi B and Kylie Jenner. Proof in point that influence matters. 

Getting Started with Social Media

Your online presence should say something about your company. Creating an online presence means creating an image that falls in line with your brand. It should express the mood of your company and your company values.

If you’re selling high-end furniture, you won’t want to include poorly shot photos on your Instagram feed. In this case, you’ll want well lit, professionally shot photos that cater to your clientele. In this case, you may want to focus on spending your social media budget on a professional photographer. 

Working with influencers can present additional challenges if your product is too large to send through the mail. In this case, you may want to search for influencers who regularly post from locations near you.

Additionally, you’ll want to ensure that the influencers you work with have an authentic following. Before agreeing to any paid partnership, you should ask to see the analytics for the account you’ll like to partner with. 

This information will give you additional insight into the influencer’s audience. This information should include top cities, gender, and age group statistics.

Don’t Throw Away Money

High-value items can often garner in-kind partnerships. So before you make an offer, consider the value of the item you’d be offering. While macro-influences will most likely require money and product in exchange for a post, micro-influencers may be willing to work with you for in exchange for the product.

Don’t just throw money at influencers or advertisements. Digital consultants can help you determine which campaigns will work for you before you throw down your hard-won ad dollars. By recruiting a marketing specialist, you can save yourself money in the long run by ensuring that your ads pull their weight.

Bottom line? These experts will help to ensure that the audience viewing your advertisements is the demographic you want to reach. If you’re selling car-seats for infants, it won’t matter if a million people see your advertisement if they don’t have children or live outside of your shipping range.

Why Hire Digital Media Consultants for Your Business?

In the internet age, there is more white noise than ever. Oversaturation can place your business at risk of becoming just another online brand. 

By working with skilled digital media consultants, you can assess the shortcomings you may not have otherwise detected and help your business rise to the top.

Working with a digital marketing consultant may not come cheap, but chances are your best competition already has media consultants working on their side. If you believe in your business, you owe it to your future to carve out your slice of online traffic.

Want to learn more? Contact us today. We can offer helpful information to make your business stand out in the digital age.

Bad Branding: 7 Mistakes That Are Undermining Your Company’s Image

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When it comes to your company’s reputation you don’t want to let bad branding mistakes affect your image. Your brand is very important for every aspect of your company. Good branding can make your company go far and look great for potential and current customers. 

The problem is that many business owners either underestimate or neglect their brand when it comes to their image. If you have a great product but a bad brand, then, unfortunately, you may not find the success that you deserve. 

Keep reading to find out seven mistakes that you should avoid when it comes to branding and your company’s image. 

1. Not Listening to Your Audience

One of the biggest mistakes you can make for your brand is not listening to your audience. Your target audience is the people you want to sell your products to so they’re the ones you should be listening to. When it comes to your product you need to figure out who will be purchasing it. 

Branding for your company is all about making connections and catering towards your target audience. You need to decide if your audience likes a brand that uses comedy or if they’re more straight forward. 

For example, if your target audience is millennials, then they may be more attracted to your company if you use humor for your brand. But if you’re geared more towards the baby boomer generation, then they would prefer content that is precise and grammatically sound. 

2. You Don’t Have a Brand Voice

Another huge mistake that you can make for your brand is not having a brand voice. This also goes along with finding your target audience. Your brand voice needs to be geared towards your audience and what they can relate to. 

The language of your brand must be consistent across all of the platforms you use. Whether it is digital media, your website, social media or even printed marketing materials. Consistency is key and if not used correctly this is where brands fail. 

A digital marketing consultant is a great resource that can help your brand find its voice. They can take your social media accounts to the next level and help them get recognized by your target audience. 

3. Relying Too Much on Trends

Keeping up with trends is a great way to show that your company is fresh and modern. But if you rely too heavily on the next big trend, then this could be a huge mistake for your brand. You aren’t really creating your own identity if you’re using trends to market yourself. 

Another thing to think about is that trends come and go, sometimes very quickly. If you rely too heavily on one trend, then your brand could look outdated very quick. To combat this mistake, you should try to gather inspiration from current trends while also remaining true to yourself and your brand’s core. 

4. Don’t Make the Wrong Connections

Your brand is essentially the face of your company and everything it stands for so you don’t want to connect it to things that don’t make sense. Branding is very strategic and important when it comes to defining your company. If you’re geared towards one thing, then doing something completely out of the ordinary won’t look good for your brand. 

For example, if your brand sells toothpaste and dental hygiene products then you probably wouldn’t partner with a soda or candy company. You don’t want to partner with a company that has different values than yours. Making the wrong connections just because it may make you money is a bad brand mistake that could cost you a lot of potential customers. 

If you do decide to create a partnership or co-brand with another company, then you will want it to be successful. For example, Red Bull partnered with GoPro to help promote their products. These brands are both lifestyle brands that center around action, fearlessness and fun so it makes sense for them to team up. 

5. Slacking On Customer Relationship

When you started off creating your brand you probably devoted a lot of time in building customer relationships. As your brand gets larger and more popular you need to keep up that same drive in making your customer relationships a success. Your customers are people too and if they feel recognized by you and your brand then they are more likely to give you more business. 

Being friendly and having good customer service are two traits that will help to benefit any business no matter what niche you’re in. If you care about your brand’s image, then you will want to engage with customers on social media in a positive way or respond to emails about questions and concerns they may be having. You should make it a goal to respond to all customers within 24 hours of them initially reaching out. 

6. Rebranding to Try and Fix Things

There are several occasions when rebranding your company works out for the better. But the majority of the time, rebranding is not going to fix the things that you think are going wrong within your company. Before jumping to rebranding, you should give it your best effort to work on the things that aren’t doing so well. 

If you do decide that rebranding is your best strategy, then you need to plan out a way for it to be a smooth transition. Not having a solid brand plan is a huge mistake that can hurt your image. Rebranding whenever things go wrong will not help fix them unless you have a brand new plan. 

7. Forgetting About Social Media

In the world we live in, people are glued to their phones and social media pretty much all day. So if your brand doesn’t have social media presents then this mistake could be detrimental. Social media is a huge outlet to present your brand and it is completely free. 

You should make sure to devote time to build your brand on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or any other social media platform so you can stand out in your niche. It will be easier for your target audience to find you if you gear your social media towards them. 

Avoid Bad Branding at All Costs

Your brand is what everyone thinks about when your company is brought up. Bad branding can ruin your image in more ways than one, especially if they’re silly mistakes that could have been avoided. 

Contact me today to find out how I can help your brand stand out from the crowd. 

Filed Under: SEO

The Future of Digital Marketing: 10 Trends to Look Out For in 2020

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Technology and its advancements continue to take marketing to new frontiers. With 2019 already in its second half, you may wonder what is in store for digital marketing next year.

One of the best ways to keep in step with the changing times is following the latest trends. Businesses who follow the trends to determine if they are on the right track. They improve the way they engage with their target market.

What are the upcoming trends to watch out for? What are the things that will shape the future of digital marketing in 2020 and beyond?

Continue reading below as we tackle some of them.

A Glimpse at the Future of Digital Marketing

With the dynamic world of digital marketing, innovations arise more often than ever. To stay in pace with changes, you need to know what is happening. You should know what companies are anticipating over the next few months.

Here are 10 digital marketing trends that you should incorporate in your strategies.

1. Emotion Analysis

Artificial intelligence continues to change the world of digital marketing. By next year, expect to see more companies using analysis of emotions. This pertains to the analysis of keywords that people use when expressing sentiments.

Companies only need one keyword to perform an analysis. If you comment the word “excellent,” artificial intelligence (AI) will study your comment. It will determine if your post is positive or negative.

From there, they can make the necessary adjustments in their products and customer services.

2. Voice Search

Another trend that uses AI is voice search. More companies will likely incorporate voice input. This means that customers will send in their requests by voice search.

You will likely see a similar approach in online maps. More establishments and online stores will use online maps. This will help customers locate them faster.

3. Chatbots

Chatbots is another trend to watch out for in 2020. Chatbots provide instant responses to customers via chat. They can answer all of the customers’ queries 24/7.

Companies also use chatbots to introduce new products and services. Today, about 70% of websites use chatbots. But the quality is not yet at its optimum.

Furthermore, surveys reveal that 63% of consumers prefer connecting with a brand by messaging a chatbot online. By 2022, experts project that chatbots will help save businesses $8 billion per year.

4. Intense Personalization

Despite the internet playing a crucial role in the way people transact, consumers prefer more personalization when it comes to content. Marketers will produce more personal messages to their customers.

They will also deliver these messages on time. Studies reveal that 63% of consumers do not appreciate generic advertising. Moreover, 80% say they prefer dealing with brands that give them personalized experiences.

Some companies already upped the ante in terms of personalization. Cadbury launched a video campaign wherein they matched their Dairy Milk flavor with certain customers.

They used the customers’ data like their age, location, interests, and details from their Facebook profiles.

5. Shoppable Posts

Expect to see more companies using shoppable posts. These are posts that allow consumers to purchase the product directly from the picture or video they are viewing.

By simply hovering their cursor over the image or video, they can click on a “Buy Now” option. Once they click the link, the image will redirect them to the product page. This feature significantly reduces the buying time the customers.

Today, Pinterest and Instagram are shopping destinations for millions of online users. These social media platforms integrate the images with links directing consumers.

6. More Interactive Content

People will look for more interactive content in 2020. They will ask for more online quizzes and polls. They will also crave for more 360-degree videos.

Interactive content will give consumers a reason to go back to the company’s website. It will also give them the power to share the content with their network. It creates opportunities for brand awareness.

7. Social Messaging

The year 2020 will also showcase more people using social messaging apps. Facebook Messenger alone is home to over 10 billion monthly message exchanges.

But beyond the personal exchanges, people will use these platforms to connect with companies and vice-versa. More businesses will use social messaging to strengthen relationships with existing clients.

They will also use them to educate their target market about new products. They will also extend their customer support through social messaging apps.

8. Mobile Optimization

Marketers will put more focus on mobile OS optimization. This is because Google is now prioritizing mobile-first indexing.

Moreover, marketers may need to look into new mobile ads network. This is for possible use in their in-app ads.

Additionally, more people will realize the benefits of mobile transactions. They will prefer to buy online than visit physical stores.

9. Focus on Psychological Variables

Companies will put a premium on psychological variables. They will take this route to focus more on the individual instead of a broader audience. Through this, they will gain more access to behavioral attitudes and demographics.

They will also use tools like heat maps. This will enable companies to understand their customers and the reasons they visit their websites.

10. AR/VR Marketing

Last but not least, AR and VR marketing will continue to shape the future of digital marketing. More companies will launch AR and VR marketing initiatives. These immersive technologies easily excite consumers.

They give people something new to look forward to.

AR and VR marketing enhances the overall customer experience. It entices them to try products and buy them eventually.

Between the two, however, AR will likely outpace VR. This is because AR is much easier to implement when it comes to marketing.

Be a Step Ahead in Digital Marketing

Getting a glimpse of the future of digital marketing should excite you for next year. But excitement alone is not enough if you wish to stand out from the rest. You need to build a solid digital marketing strategy using the right knowledge.

I invite you to experience our consulting practice. I help companies improve their digital marketing capabilities.

I provide workshops to teach you the essentials. I formulate marketing projects to help you implement your strategies.

Send me a message and let me know what you need. Let’s take you a step ahead through topnotch digital marketing.

Online Marketing for Law Firms: Tips and Strategies Every Law Firm Should Follow for Success

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Did you know that the average person currently spends around four hours a day on their phone? And a lot of that time is spent searching the web and browsing various social media websites to entertain themselves. 

Because we live in such an online-based society, advertising to the masses via the internet is slowly replacing traditional advertising platforms like radio and television. And if you’re in charge of creating a marketing plan for a law firm, you may be curious as to which online marketing strategies are worth investing time and money into.

Well, we’ve got good news! In this article, we’ll give you a few tips and tricks about online marketing for law firms that are sure to help you take that business to the next level!

Now then, let’s get started!

Create a Website

At the center of every online marketing strategy should be a professional website that looks and functions properly. It’s important to establish a place online where potential and existing clients can find all of the need-to-know information about you or your firm with relative ease. 

When designing your website, it’s extremely important that you create a site that is easy to navigate. A good rule of thumb? If it takes more than three clicks to find something on your site, your navigation is just too complicated. 

It’s also a good idea to take the steps necessary to ensure that your website is SEO-friendly, as well as mobile-friendly. This will not only give users on your site a much better experience but will help you rank higher on Google for different search queries, too.

Use Your Website Properly

Once you have a professional website set up, and everything looks and works properly, you shouldn’t just stop there. Using your website the correct way can go a long way in helping you get the results you’re looking for.

For instance, creating a blog on your site filled with articles that cover various legal-related issues is a good way to drive traffic to your site and land new clients.

Live chats are also popular right now, and for good reason. Having the ability to get help at any time is attractive to potential clients, and live chats are relatively easy to set up, too. Even if the live chat is only enabled during business hours, that quick and easy access to your firm can help you stand out amongst the competition. 

Utilize Social Media

It’s important to remember that around 70% of adult Americans are active on at least one social media platform. 

That’s why it’s wise to put forth an effort to create a large presence on as many social media networks as possible. Sites like Facebook and Twitter give you an opportunity to easily reach new potential clients in an environment that they’re already comfortable in.

Facebook, in particular, offers a review feature, meaning current and past clients can leave reviews about your firm. That means, if the reviews are good, you can build up a legit reputation online that new clients can see and feel encouraged by.

YouTube is a good platform to utilize frequently as well. If you create helpful, 5-10 minute videos, you can not only reach new clients via YouTube, but you’ll have more content to put on your website, too.

Get Listed on Google Business

We’ve all done this before. You’re looking for a contractor or a nearby food spot to try out, so you Google a vague phrase and take a quick glance through the results that pop up.

Google shows you those results based on your location, as well as review scores, helping you quickly and easily find the right choice for you in your area. Well, you can do this for your law firm, too, and thus get easily connected with potential clients in your area.

Getting listed on Google Business is free, not hard to do, and can help any business grow in a short amount of time. Also, be sure to encourage clients to leave Google reviews for the law firm, so you can climb up those rankings and get noticed easier.

Advertise Yourself via Google Ads

Have you ever Googled something and then seen an ad related to that Google search on a random website hours later? Well, that’s pretty much Google Ads in a nutshell. 

Google Ads uses cookies to present ads that are of interest to users on sites to increase the chances of that ad getting clicked. This is targeted online advertising, and it can work for a law firm, too.

Setting up a marketing plan with Google Ads is cheap, and again, you’ll be reaching folks who have already shown Google interest in needing legal help or advice. You can use this to promote your firm to an audience that actually is interested in your services, all while reaching a large audience in a short amount of time.

Online Marketing for Law Firms

Well, there you have it! Those are a few tips and tricks about online marketing for law firms that you can use to reach a larger audience online. Remember, tons of people are on the internet every day, which is why it’s worth investing a large portion of your advertising budget to online marketing. 

Create a website and use that as the pillar for your online marketing strategy. Get on social media, as well as Google Business, and don’t be afraid to become a content creator, either.

Looking to get some help creating an online marketing plan for your brand or business? Contact us today, we’ll be glad to assist you! 

How to Structure Your Digital Marketing Plan for Success

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Are you in need of a digital marketing strategy? Are you looking to launch a product or service and wondering how best to support it? Or maybe you have an existing marketing plan that could use a refresh?

Defining a strategy means taking a top-down approach, ensuring that you’re covering all the bases. To be effective, you need all your efforts to work in support of each other in a strategic, cohesive role.

Even if you have an existing strategy, it pays to review it from time to time to make sure it’s performing successfully. Some strategies become less effective over time as digital platforms respond to what does (and doesn’t) work. 

Keep reading for more information on how to structure your digital marketing plan for success.

The Purpose of a Digital Marketing Plan

Before going further, it’s important to detail what importance a digital marketing strategy has. After all, it will require time and resources, so it’s essential to understand why it’s worth the effort.

What a digital strategy offers is a comprehensive guide to assessing what your marketing goals are. It shows what actions are necessary to achieve them. It’s a roadmap that easily communicates what paths and approaches will be taken and what their intended results are.

Included in a marketing plan are:

  • A list of targets and goals for the short-, medium-, and long-term
  • Strategies for achieving those goals
  • The actions needed and channels to use
  • A list of timelines actions should be completed by
  • Allocation of investments and budget

Strategies will be specific to each case, so the above list may include more or different points. The important thing is that every angle is examined as accounted for.

Structuring a Plan

Now it’s time to take these concepts and apply them to develop your marketing strategy. The path will start with an assessment with where your business is and will lead through the implementation of your plan, through to an examination of its effectiveness.

Assess Your Current Situation

Before planning ahead, you need to know where you stand now. Doing an assessment of your current status will reveal the insights that will help guide your approach.

A SWOT analysis is a great way to understand your current situation. Standing for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, it reveals what’s both in and out of your control.

Set Your Goals

Once you’ve established your SWOTs, you can start laying out a plan that will help you exploit opportunities, eliminate threats, minimize weaknesses, and capitalize on strengths.

The SMART action plan is an excellent guide for developing your plan. If you’re unfamiliar, SMART stands for:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Timely

Using this guide will help you keep focused on what needs to be accomplished to succeed. It’s a sequential approach that helps establish the effectiveness of your plan.

Know Your Audience

It’s likely that you already have a pretty good idea of what your audience looks like. However, it pays to spend a bit more time to define precisely who they are.

The better you define your audience, the better you can market to them. The more specifically you can define them, the easier it becomes to target them.

Establish Your Position

Now that you know exactly who your audience is, it’s time to brand yourself. You need to position yourself as an expert on what it is they’re looking for so that they turn to you when they have a want or need.

Included in this is determining what channels you’re going to use to reach your audience. There’s a fine balance to be found here. You need to meet your audience where they are. But it can actually be more harmful to try and force yourself into an area that doesn’t come naturally to you.

An example of this would be how you utilize social media. It may feel like you should have a presence on all the major platforms. However, it’s more effective to focus on just the one or two your most comfortable on. Audiences know when something is inauthentic. If your presence is unnatural, they’ll notice.

Plan Your Content

You know who your audience is and you know where to find them. Now you need to deliver to them what they’re looking for.

The format your content takes depends on the type of your business. If informative articles or technical documents make sense, create a blog page on your site. If graphics or videos are a better fit, take to Instagram or YouTube.

Whatever the medium, you have an obligation to develop the most relevant and informative content. It’s only by offering them the best materials that they’ll begin to recognize the value that you bring.

Keyword planning is a great way to generate content ideas. By seeing what your audience is currently looking for, you can brainstorm ideas that are relevant to them. Keyword research is also essential to your SEO.

Finally, you’ll need to establish a release schedule. You’ll want to ensure a steady release of content, but it’s important to be consistent. Don’t over-deliver at the start, only to taper off when the ideas become harder to find.

Determine a reasonable, sustainable release schedule and stick to it.

Measure Your Results

You’ve assessed your business, developed a plan and executed on your strategy. Mission accomplished, right?

Not so fast. The final step in any marketing strategy is to review the results and assess its effectiveness. Did you meet your goals? Did the timelines make sense? How realistic was the budget?

By evaluating what did and didn’t work you gain valuable insight. You may discover some surprising quirks that will allow you to build an even better marketing strategy.

Final Thoughts

It’s important to recognize that a digital marketing plan needs to be fluid. Dramatic changes to online platforms can quickly occur. Being able to respond immediately will help you achieve success.

Incorporating the above principles allows you to understand what a strategy requires and how to adapt it. It sets you up to recognize challenges and arms you with the ability to turn them into opportunities.

For more ideas on growing your business online, visit our blog!

What Is Local SEO and How Can It Help Your Business?

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When it comes driving traffic to your site, SEO is the name of the game. If you don’t have an online presence, then you might as well not exist.

The fact is that 93% of all traffic comes from a search engine. So optimizing how you rank is vital in securing more business.

If you’re a local business, there’s a good chance you’re interested in clients from around your area. This is where you need to focus on local SEO.

In this article, we’ll dive into what local SEO is, how it can help your business, and which strategies you can put to use today. With a little elbow grease, you can improve your rankings starting now.

Let’s secure those consumers and up your local SEO game. Read on!

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is the art of marketing your business within a geographic area to consumers searching for your product/service in real time. The beauty of local SEO is that you are effectively positioning yourself in front of customers that are already searching for a business like yours.

The five major components of local SEO are:

  • Localization
  • Citations
  • Google My Business
  • Reviews and ratings
  • Backlinks

By mastering these, search engines will recognize and respect you. Later in this post, we will go through them one at a time in detail.

But before we get into how to use local SEO, let’s first understand why we need it.

How Can Local SEO Help Your Business?

The great thing about the internet is that you have access to thousands of businesses with a single click. The problem with being a business in this world is that you want to get your business in front of the right consumer.

By putting some local SEO strategies to use, we can ensure you’re getting the eyes you want. The stats behind local SEO are impressive. 50% of consumers who do a local search on their smartphone visit a store within a day.

Local SEO has the highest conversion levels of all local advertising channels. You can forget about printed ads, commercials, and flyers when you have powerful SEO.

Because the strategies behind local SEO are targeted and timely, you are getting your business in front of a consumer who is already searching for you. There is no wasted exposure, which leads to a greater ROI.

With those kinds of results, local SEO proves to be both efficient and cost-effective.

Seven Local SEO Strategies You Can Use Today

It’s clear that local SEO is the way to go for a small business. But how do you go about increasing your rankings?

Earlier, we mentioned the five components of mastering local SEO. The first five strategies are essential to climbing the Google ranks, but we’ve included two more tactics you can also apply.

Check out these seven local SEO strategies that you can start incorporating into your marketing plan today.

1. Localization

If you’re a local business, you want to mention your city, county, or region within your website naturally–but often. This allows search engines to connect your business and keywords with your target geographic location.

When people search for a business nearby (for example, pet grooming), they often add the area they are searching for “dog grooming south Philadelphia.”

2. Citations

Get your business listed in various local online directories such as:

  • Yelp
  • Foursquare
  • Angie’s List
  • ThinkLocal
  • Citysearch

When registering your business with these sites, you will give your business name, address, phone number, website URL, hours of operation, services offered, credentials, and the options to post photos.

Double check this information and keep it updated across as many directories as possible. This is a huge step in securing a web presence.

3. Google My Business

In regards to directories, Google My Business (GMB) is the most important one to optimize.

If you are among the 44% of businesses that haven’t already claimed your business, do so immediately. This helps with local searches, maps, and Google + pages.

Best of all, it’s completely free.

4. Reviews

When customers look into local businesses, they want someone reliable, trustworthy, and efficient. They can easily find all of this information out by viewing the ratings on your directory pages.

Gathering honest and genuine reviews and well as the authority behind the review sites are paramount in how search engines view and rate your business.

Not only that, but 88% of local consumers put their trust in online business reviews and use them to decide who to give their business to.

5. Backlinks

One of the most difficult parts of SEO is obtaining quality backlinks from well-regarded authority sites. Search engines like to see links from other businesses, bloggers, and news sites linking back to your business.

By mastering these five components, you’ll rise in the ranks and see an influx in web traffic–and hopefully customers.

6. Produce Local Content

If you’ve surfed the net, you’ve realized that a lot of sites have a blog section. This is where they produce high-quality content about their business.

When writing content, be sure to understand your ideal customer and include relevant keywords accompanied with your location. Publish content often and promote across different channels, as we will discuss next.

7. Social Media

If you still think that social media is only for millennials, think again. With even our President tweeting, you should realize that it is a huge way to broadcast your message.

From Twitter and Facebook to LinkedIn and Yelp, promoting your content within the community is important to boost your online presence and authority.

Social media is a brilliant business tool, as you can target specific demographics and geographical locations.

Which Strategy Will You Use First?

At this point, you’ve probably realized how important local SEO is to your business.

Unfortunately, this article only scrapes the iceberg of what local SEO comprises. It can be hard to keep up with Google’s changing algorithms and stay on top of the newest SEO trends, especially when running a full-time business.

No need to worry–I’m here to help. For insights, consulting, or questions regarding your digital marketing needs, contact me here.

Filed Under: SEO

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