With the rise of social media, some of us may wonder if it is still worth including email marketing into our digital marketing strategies. Our answer – it very much is!
We established in a previous blog article that email marketing has been used since the late 1970s as a form of direct marketing, whereby businesses communicate various bits of information with their customers – so why is it still relevant?
Well, some of the biggest companies in the world continue to use email marketing to communicate with their customers, as this form of digital marketing can have a number of benefits when producing a successful Digital Marketing Campaign.
Email Marketing software enables senders to insert hyperlinks into their email template, which readers can then click on and be automatically directed to the company's website. In doing so, customers are presented with an easy way to visit your website as they can just click on the link and go straight to the page they want, rather than typing in the URL themselves.
With so businesses communicating with people online, it can be easy to become drowned out – especially as a small business. With the help of email marketing, you can reach your target audience on a regular basis, which in turn, helps drive awareness of your brand.
Email marketing allows you to reach a vast amount of people for very little cost. In fact, towards the end of 2022 HubSpot announced that email marketing produced an ROI (Return on Investment) of $36 for every $1 spent.
Due to the fact that Email Marketing is a form of direct marketing, this method allows senders to create content that is a lot more personal to their readers, meaning those receiving the email will not only feel special but also valued by your brand. Whereas because social media is a form of mass media, its content can be very generalised, due to the number of people it is trying to target.
People who sign up for an email newsletter do so because they are interested in your business and want to stay up to date with the latest news. This means that content being produced in an email campaign is very likely to be effective.
For example, if a popular clothing brand is having a sale and sent out an email to promote it, then it is likely that the reader will buy into the promotion as they like the brand and enjoy buying their products.
Email Marketing allows you to directly tell your customers about the latest offers, news, events and company updates. This helps keep customers engaged with the brand, which in the long run helps support the development of brand loyalty.
Email Marketing can also be used to communicate with customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while. A lot of successful brands do so by offering their customers a free gift or discount to encourage them to make a purchase and reengage with the brand. This is also a good way to remind customers of your brand's presence.
Email Marketing is a great way to increase brand recognition and secure more sales. For example, whenever a business runs a promotion, or has a new release, email marketing provides you with a quick and easy way to directly send this information to your customers, as well as links that allow them to make a purchase. You can also send follow-up emails to those who have made purchases from your store, as well as target potential customers.
Email Marketing platforms will provide you with useful insights into how effective each campaign was through open rate and click rate. This allows your business to see what is and isn’t working when communicating with your customers.
For example, certain times of day may be better than others to send out content or you may find you receive a higher level of engagement from customers on a weekday, as appose to a weekend.
So if you’re thinking about neglecting email marketing from your digital marketing strategy – think again!
Don't miss out on the opportunity to leverage the power of email marketing for your business growth. Contact us today and let our expert team create customized email campaigns that drive results and boost your ROI. Take action now and unlock the full potential of email marketing for your brand.
When looking into Digital Marketing, you may have come across the term ‘Email Marketing’. Since its birth, email marketing has become a powerful tool within an organisation's digital marketing strategy, hence why it still proves to be a vastly popular choice for digital marketers.
To help you understand the concept of email marketing further we will take a closer look at what email marketing is and where it is used.
In 1971, Ray Tomlinson sent the world’s very first email. Not long after in 1978, Gary Thurek, who at the time was working as a Marketing Manager for Digital Equipment Corp used email to directly communicate with his company's customers about a new product. This was the very first commercial email from a corporate company and is said to have resulted in $13 million worth of sales. It is this level of success which gave birth to what we now know as Email Marketing.
Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy that involves sending commercial messages to a group of people via email. It aims to promote products or services, build customer relationships, and drive engagement and conversions. By leveraging personalised content and targeted campaigns, email marketing helps businesses reach their audience directly and nurture leads.
When we talk about Email Marketing we are referring to a form of direct marketing, as well as digital, whereby businesses promote their products or services via email.
Sometimes, businesses may take on a softer approach, whereby they use email marketing to educate their audience on the true value of their brand to help keep them engaged between purchases. An example of this may be sending an email to customers about charity work the company's employees have been involved with or a climate pledge they have recently made to show how they are doing their bit to help the planet.
Email Marketing can also play an important role in customer lead generation, brand awareness and building strong relationships. This is why many successful brands implement email marketing into their digital marketing strategy, including Ted Baker, ASOS, Boots, Tesco, Pizza Express, Travelzoo and many more.
To help give you some idea of where email marketing is typically used, we’ve gathered up a few examples from popular brands to showcase how email marketing is used as a tool within a company's digital marketing strategy:
The frozen yoghurt company Pinkberry used email marketing to help reengage with customers who held a Pinkcard, but hadn’t ordered from them in a while. They did so by offering them a gift to encourage them to make a purchase.
This method not only got their customers to go onto their account and order additional products to go alongside their gift, but it also helped remind them about the brand’s presence and the tasty products they have on offer.
This campaign helped Starbucks showcase some of the benefits of holding a Starbucks membership. The image was used as a moving graphic which presented the reader with a number of different drinks they could get for a discounted rate if they held a Starbucks membership.
Since this email wasn’t just a static image, it helped make the campaign fun, while stressing the importance of exclusively for Starbucks members.
One of the great things about email marketing is the ability of personalisation – something which Spotify did very well with this email campaign. The subject line was “Olivia Rodrigo made you something special” which only went out to fans of the artist.
This meant that readers were very likely to click the ‘Buy Cassette’ call to action button as the email was not only relevant to their interests but helped make them feel valued by the artist.
At our digital marketing agency, we take a strategic and results-driven approach to email marketing, focusing on business growth and maximising return on investment (ROI) for brands and companies. Firstly, we conduct thorough audience research and segmentation to ensure that each email campaign reaches the right people with tailored messaging.
Secondly, we craft compelling and engaging content that not only promotes products or services but also adds value and solves customer pain points. Additionally, we optimise email deliverability and open rates through effective subject lines, personalised sender names, and proper list management practices.
Furthermore, we employ sophisticated email automation techniques, such as drip campaigns and triggered emails, to nurture leads and guide customers through the buyer's journey. Lastly, we track and analyse key metrics, such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and revenue generated, to continuously refine our strategies and achieve measurable business growth and ROI for our clients.
Don't miss out on the powerful potential of email marketing to boost your business growth and ROI. Contact us today and let our digital marketing agency unleash the true potential of your brand through effective and impactful email marketing strategies.
Social media has revolutionised the way businesses advertise their products and services, allowing them to reach a vast audience with ease. With the growing popularity of platforms such as Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok and Twitter, social media advertising has become an essential part of any successful marketing strategy.
Each platform offers its unique advertising features and capabilities, making it essential for businesses to understand how to leverage them effectively. In this article, we will dive into the world of social media advertising and explore what you need to know about Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok Ads and Twitter Ads.
One of the most significant changes in marketing in the past decade has been the rise of social media advertising. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn have become major players for brands looking to reach consumers with targeted messaging. The trend is driven by increasing usage of social media platforms.
Social media ads offer a range of benefits for businesses. They can target specific demographics based on factors like age, location, interests and behaviours. This allows companies to create highly tailored campaigns that will resonate with their ideal customer base. Additionally, social media advertising can be significantly cheaper than traditional forms of marketing such as television or print ads.
The rise of social media advertising has also led to new types of content creation and delivery strategies. Brands are now creating more video content specifically designed for social media platforms and investing in influencer marketing campaigns to reach new audiences through trusted sources. As our reliance on technology continues to grow, it's clear that social media advertising will continue its upwards trajectory as one of the most effective ways for brands to connect with consumers online.
Social media ads are an effective way to reach a large and diverse audience. Social media ads also offer cost-effective advertising options for businesses of all sizes. Unlike traditional forms of advertising such as television or print ads that require significant budgets to reach a broad audience, social media ads allow businesses to set their own budget and only pay for clicks or impressions received.
Moreover, social media platforms provide detailed analytics on ad performance. Ad managers can track metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates and engagement levels in real-time. This data helps advertisers understand which campaigns are most effective and make necessary adjustments to optimize future campaigns for even better results.
Different social media platforms have their own unique ad formats, targeting options and placement strategies. Understanding these differences is crucial to create effective campaigns that meet your business goals.
Moreover, measuring the success of your social media ads is not a one-size-fits-all approach either. While some platforms offer robust reporting features like conversion tracking and attribution models to measure ROI (return on investment), others might require using third-party tools or custom analytics solutions. Therefore, knowing how each platform works will help you allocate budgets effectively while maximizing performance metrics.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is one of the largest social media platforms in the world. It has a vast reach that makes it an attractive advertising platform for businesses. Meta's ad platform allows businesses to create ads and target specific demographics based on factors such as age, location, interests and behaviours.
The ad creation process on Meta is straightforward and user-friendly. Businesses can choose from various types of ads such as image or video ads and carousel ads. Additionally, they can select their ad objective from options like brand awareness or lead generation. The targeting options available on Meta are extensive and allow businesses to reach their desired audience effectively.
One unique feature of Meta's ad platform is its ability to retarget users who have shown interest in a business's products or services but have not made a purchase yet. This feature helps businesses generate more sales by reminding potential customers about their offerings while they continue browsing the internet.
LinkedIn is a professional social network that allows users to connect with other professionals in their industry or line of work. It is considered the top platform for business networking. LinkedIn's advertising feature provides businesses with an opportunity to showcase their brand, products and services to a highly targeted audience.
With LinkedIn ads, companies can target specific demographics such as job title, company size, location and more. This level of targeting ensures that businesses are reaching the right people who are most likely to be interested in their offerings. Companies can also use LinkedIn ads to promote events or job openings on the platform.
LinkedIn is an excellent tool for both individuals and companies looking to expand their professional network. Its advertising feature provides businesses with a unique opportunity to reach a highly targeted audience while allowing them to build brand awareness and drive sales leads. LinkedIn is a valuable platform for those looking to advance their career or grow their business within their industry.
TikTok is a rapidly growing social media platform that has become increasingly popular among younger audiences. The app allows users to create and share short videos set to music, with various special effects and filters available. TikTok's user base has grown significantly in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic as people have spent more time at home.
One of the ways that businesses can take advantage of TikTok's popularity is through advertising on the platform. TikTok Ads offers a range of options for businesses looking to reach their target audience, including in-feed ads, brand takeovers and sponsored hashtag challenges. In-feed ads appear in users' feeds as they scroll through the app, while brand takeovers allow brands to display full-screen ads when users first open the app.
Sponsored hashtag challenges are another popular option for businesses on TikTok Ads. These involve creating a unique hashtag around a particular theme or idea and encouraging users to create content using that hashtag. This can be an effective way for brands to engage with their audience and generate user-generated content that promotes their products or services. As TikTok continues to grow in popularity, it presents an exciting opportunity for businesses looking to connect with younger audiences through innovative marketing strategies.
Twitter's ad platform supports different types of ad formats that allow businesses to advertise their products or services on the social media site. The platform is designed to help businesses reach their target audience more effectively by targeting specific demographics such as location, interests and behaviours. One ad format available on Twitter is Promoted Tweets, which appears in users' timelines and search results; this type of ad can also be retweeted, liked or replied to like standard tweets.
Businesses looking for effective advertising solutions should consider using Twitter Ads given its extensive user base as well as its robust targeting options. By leveraging these features, they can ensure their marketing messages are delivered to the right audience at the right time and increase engagement with potential customers.
Harnessing the power of platforms like Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Twitter is essential for any modern marketer. These advertising giants offer a multitude of opportunities to connect, engage and ultimately convert your target audience.
However, navigating the ever-evolving landscape of social media advertising can be a daunting task. That's where Smarter Media comes in—the guiding compass that helps steer your ad campaigns towards success. With our expertise and industry know-how, we provide a comprehensive range of services tailored to elevate your social media advertising game.
At Smarter Media, we understand that each platform has its nuances, intricacies and best practices. Our team of seasoned professionals stays up to date with the latest trends, algorithms and audience behaviours, ensuring that your campaigns are not only on par with industry standards but also ahead of the curve.
Whether you're looking to conquer the vast user base of Meta, tap into the professional network of LinkedIn, ride the wave of creativity on TikTok or join the fast-paced conversations on Twitter, our team is equipped with the knowledge and skills to unlock the full potential of each platform.
We go beyond the basics, crafting compelling ad creatives that capture attention and drive action. With meticulous campaign optimisation, we continuously refine and enhance your ads' performance, maximising your return on investment.
Smarter Media goes the extra mile to provide comprehensive analytics and reports, giving you valuable insights into your campaign's impact and areas for improvement. We believe in transparency and collaboration, working closely with you to align our efforts with your business objectives.
So whether you're a small startup with big dreams or an established brand seeking to solidify your digital presence, Smarter Media is here to help you conquer social media advertising. Let's elevate your campaigns to new heights, captivate your audience and achieve remarkable results together.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of the best methods for adverts that have been tried and tested by experts for years on end.
SEO is the method that digital marketers use to boost your website's rankings to appear as one of the top results when inputting specific keywords. There are various types of SEO and many techniques under the strategy, including local SEO.
Local Search Engine Optimisation is a branch of ESO focused on providing the best results based on local search queries.
Overall, local SEO is an excellent strategy to get your website to appear on the first page of Google's search results, right at the top.
Are you interested in learning more about how local SEO can boost your business' websites? Keep reading to find out more!
Before we can delve into local SEO techniques and how your business can use it to your advantage, we first need to understand what local SEO means and why it's essential to have.
Local search engine optimisation is a sub-category of SEO that involves queries trying to find anything related to location. It is a strategy that helps businesses become more visible when users search for local search results on Google. For example:
The typical SEO strategy involves content, on-page optimisation, and link building. On the other hand, local SEO focuses on ensuring that potential local signals on Google's search landscape are consistent and correct.
If the information about your website or page is incorrect, it could affect how the results show up for those searching for a service or product.
Unlike regular blogs, local SEO provides a more customised search experience for users looking for specific information on Google.
This all seems vague so let's break it down using a practical example:
You are driving around, looking for a restaurant to eat in because you're hungry and craving for a good, juicy, American style burger. Unfortunately, you can't spot any, so you go on your phone and search for "American burgers near me." Four restaurants pop up with burgers on their menu. They all contain the description of the burger, how much they cost, where the restaurant is, the restaurant’s contact information, and how long it will take you to get there. It even displays customer reviews through starts and comments so you can fully evaluate your options.
Thanks to Google and local SEO, you were able to select the restaurant that suited your price range and cravings the best.
Local SEO is a way for businesses to be found, including all the pertinent information for you to reach out and avail of their products or services. Without the information provided by local SEO, users would not find your business at all.
Local SEO is like a standard Google search except more personalised to provide the best answer to a user's query. This means that Google uses a different set of ranking factors to determine the best result.
Here are some direct benefits of local SEO:
Local SEO is what you see when searching for a restaurant or store that has a physical location. It contains their address, contact information, reviews, ratings, and other pertinent information such as, "dine-in" or "takeaway" options.
Below the local SEO, you’ll find the normal search results that come up when searching for a blog, for example.
With local SEO, you can view your options, how far away they are from you, and you can directly place a call to connect with the location in question. You can even view how past customers or clients found their experience in that restaurant or store through the reviews and rating section, to be able to make a fully informed decision.
Here are some ways Google ranks local SEO:
So, Google would display the top options for a search such as "best hair salons near me" and the typical search results underneath.
Are you looking to set up your website to cater using local SEO? Set an appointment with us at Smarter Media for more information about how you can appear first on local Google search pages.
Although all companies and businesses can benefit from local SEO, some companies and individuals get better results. So if you have a physical location, you will benefit from local SEO. These include:
To be clear, businesses without physical locations can still benefit from local SEO due to the reviews and contact details features.
If it's not clear at this point, local SEO is an essential part of any business that wants to be found on the web - which should include everyone.
In today's digital age, everyone can be found online, specifically, on their mobile devices. Follow your audience by going where they browse using local SEO.
Here are some of the benefits of local SEO for businesses:
Are you confused as to how to use local SEO? Here are ten ways to start optimising local SEO today.
Using SEO is not an easy feat - it takes a lot of effort, patience and expertise, and is definitely something that cannot be done alone. In order to fully appreciate and take advantage of the benefits of SEO, it's best to work with an expert in digital marketing.
Experts in the field know how to use SEO and customise it to the way you want your results to be. They can also help track and monitor your webpage to keep it fresh and up to date with the latest strategies in the field, ensuring you the top spots on the Google search engine.
Are you ready to embark on an SEO journey to business success? Get the expertise of Smarter Media today by booking an appointment with us.
Boost your local SEO today!
Smarter Media is a digital growth agency using our Smarter Approach to help your business grow digitally. Working side by side with our clients, we use our 'Smarter Way' Process to create a plan that delivers results and our 'Smarter Promise' to do what we say we will. For a more comprehensive look at SEO, or to find out how you can achieve a better ROI with SEO & Paid Media working side by side, set an appointment with Smarter Media today!
Digital marketing can be a cost-effective and successful way to boost customer acquisition and retention rates and increase your profitability in the process. With so many methods of digital marketing, however, it’s important to find the right solutions for your business.
To learn more, take a look at these top methods of digital marketing to use to general leads and find out how they can enhance your lead gen strategy now:
Ranking highly for relevant search terms on search engine results pages (SERPs) can increase the volume of traffic getting to your site but, crucially, it can bring in more hot leads too. When users input a search query, it means that they’re actively looking for related content. Due to this, they’re likely to be further down the sales funnel than users who may see untargeted ads or branding.
For SEO strategies to pay off, you need to ensure that you’re targeting the right keywords. As well as researching which keywords are most relevant to your business and your users, you’ll need to assess the investment required. Keywords with high levels of competition may take longer to rank highly for, for example.
Once you know which keywords to target, you can begin optimising your online content for maximum SEO performance. This means increasing page loading speeds, verifying that your site meets relevant security standards, publishing value-driven content, writing insightful, relevant, and accurate metadata and alt tags, securing high-quality backlinks, and much, much more.
While executing an effective organic search strategy requires expertise and experience, increasing your SERPs rankings for high-priority keywords can drive warm and hot leads directly to your site.
Ranking highly for relevant search terms on search engine results pages (SERPs) can increase the volume of traffic getting to your site but, crucially, it can bring in more hot leads too. When users input a search query, it means that they’re actively looking for related content. Due to this, they’re likely to be further down the sales funnel than users who may see untargeted ads or branding.
For SEO strategies to pay off, you need to ensure that you’re targeting the right keywords. As well as researching which keywords are most relevant to your business and your users, you’ll need to assess the investment required. Keywords with high levels of competition may take longer to rank highly for, for example.
Once you know which keywords to target, you can begin optimising your online content for maximum SEO performance. This means increasing page loading speeds, verifying that your site meets relevant security standards, publishing value-driven content, writing insightful, relevant, and accurate metadata and alt tags, securing high-quality backlinks, and much, much more.
While executing an effective organic search strategy requires expertise and experience, increasing your SERPs rankings for high-priority keywords can drive warm and hot leads directly to your site.
Everyone knows how important social media is for today’s businesses, but are you using it effectively? With almost half of the world’s population active on at least one platform, you have tremendous potential to increase brand awareness and generate leads when you use social media. Of course, the flip side is that you’ll need to use savvy digital marketing techniques to reach your target demographic amongst so many users and find innovative ways to boost social engagement.
Most people associate paid search, or PPC advertising, with search engines, like Google or Bing, but you can use paid ads on social platforms too. In fact, they can be a highly effective way to reach users and nurture leads. Again, you’ll have a wide variety of options to build your ideal audience, so you can decide what type of users see your content. The introduction of social transactions and purchases means that you can even use social ads to sell products and services directly, without users having to leave the site.
Each social platform has its own ad solutions, but you can use a combination of text, images, and videos when advertising on social media. If you want to launch a new product, images can be a great way to showcase your latest release. Alternatively, ‘How To’ videos can give users an insight into your brand and provide them with valuable information.
Despite the use of spam filters, email marketing is still a highly effective way to nurture leads and transform them into confirmed sales. Once you’ve secured a user’s permission to send marketing content, you can impress them with creative emails that reflect your brand’s personality and provide them with a seamless way to access your website instantly.
Email marketing can be an effective way to increase personalisation and provide users with content that’s most relevant to them. Incomplete transaction reminders and product suggestions based on a user’s previous online behaviour are just two simple yet successful ways of nurturing leads and increasing sales.
The rise of automation also means that setting up email marketing and retargeting campaigns can be easier than ever. With segmented email lists, for example, you can set rules for when certain marketing emails should be deployed and ensure that users receive content that’s tailormade for them.
Devising Your Next Digital Marketing Campaign
As you can see, there are numerous methods to use if you want to establish lead generation funnels via digital marketing. Although the methods cited above are distinct, it’s important to remember that there is some crossover when it comes to digital marketing.
Content marketing refers to the content you create, publish, and share online, for example, yet it’s a core part of other methodologies, such as SEO, PPC, SMM, and email marketing. After all, your content needs to be insightful, impactful, and intriguing if you want to persuade users to engage with it!
Due to this, it’s vital to take a comprehensive and holistic approach to digital marketing. As well as making sure that the technical aspects of your campaigns meet best practice standards, a creative, original, and innovative strategy will set your brand apart from its competitors.
Experts in Digital Marketing
With analysis, strategy, content, and engagement, we convert users into customers and transform your dreams into real-world campaigns. To discuss an upcoming campaign in more detail or to find out more about our digital services, contact Smarter Media now on 01793 292 171 or email us at hello@smarter-media.co.uk.
The internet is a strange and unpredictable place. With the frequent algorithm changes, Google updates and endless information on what to and what not to do, it can become seriously confusing. Not to mention those calls and emails from companies telling you they’ll get you on page 1 of Google.
Here we take a look at some of the intricacies of SEO, what it can mean for your business growth and the benefits of using an agency to manage your online presence.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, increases web exposure and drives more traffic to your site, improving the chance of you being seen for the products and services you provide. It’s an important part of the online marketer’s strategy but it doesn’t happen by chance; instead you have to invest time, budget and effort in order for it to work properly.
Do I need SEO support?
There are many benefits to using SEO support if (like many organisations) you don’t have the in-house expertise, just choose carefully. There are agencies out there who will promise you the moon when trying to sell their services but fail at delivering, or even damage your online reputation via practices such as inflating rankings for money.
With a reputable firm, you’ll have a team of experts constantly working behind-the-scenes researching, optimizing those keywords and constantly monitoring the results. They will take the time to understand your growth plans and offer full support and advice. Their long-term goal revolves around helping you reach yours.
The benefits of working with a good agency
Many organisations find that hiring an SEO agency is better than trying to do it on their own, because they get quicker results and more expertise. Plus, its another arm to your business, a good agency will tick away in the background and align the work they do with your campaign focus and close the visibility gaps you have online.
Here are some of the headline benefits you get from working with a good SEO agency…
If your budget doesn’t allow the expense of a full-time digital marketing role, an agency can provide tailored strategies, expertise in different areas like on-page optimization or link building, as well as analytics reports for every project they undertake.
On-Page SEO
On-Page SEO is the most important aspect of an digital marketing strategy. After all, what good is your website if people can’t find it? The content on your site needs to be optimized for keywords and shouldn’t have any typos or errors that would discourage visitors from staying. An expert On-Page SEO specialist will analyze titles, meta descriptions, header tags etc., in order to improve rankings – luckily there are companies like ours who specialise exclusively in this field!
On Page Search Engine Optimization (SEO) describes the ways you can upgrade your page’s rank with search engines by making changes such as optimizing pages for certain key words.
Off-page SEO
Off-Page SEO is an often overlooked aspect of search engine optimization but can have a huge impact on your website rankings. It includes activities such as building links and improving reputation and online branding. Your agency should have SEO copywriters that create blogs, press releases or magazines that make it easy for the engines to understand what you’re about. The advantages don’t stop there; agencies also help their clients carry out link campaigns which are proven time and again in helping websites rank higher than before.
The Importance of having an SEO strategy
An SEO strategy is a plan designed to achieve certain goals over time and it typically consists of three stages: short term, mid-term, and long-term. A good example of this would be planning for an event in 3 months by first setting out the date then deciding on a theme.
SEO Goals
Your goals are the end results that you want to achieve from your SEO. This can be described as specific, measurable, realistic and time-bound (SMART).
The goal will typically relate back to a specified objective for your company’s website in search engines’ organic listings pages or other applicable places like Google Ads. It usually has 2 main parts; keywords you would like your site/page(s) to rank for among search engine users and reporting on how those rankings change over time. Achieving these objectives gives you targeted growth because your products or services will start showing higher up in the rankings.
In order to achieve your SEO goal, you need to be aware of actions that will help you along the way. We provide our clients with a list of tasks or steps they can take in order to reach them. These activities can consist of anything from technical changes on their site to improving content quality for better rankings; an expert would be able to tell which action was best advised depending upon how each individual website performs.
By following these steps and utilizing an agencies expertise, you’ll see tangible results with your website traffic and the conversion through to that all important sale. If you need some help getting started or would like more information about working with an agency, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team.
Content optimisation has more to it than you think.
To understand how to optimise your content, we first need to understand how optimisation works. It’s the key to any problem, really – see how it works, so you know how to tweak it to your advantage.
Let’s start with the fact that it is easier and simpler to explain what optimisation is not. Optimisation isn’t simply throwing in tons of keywords here and there and hoping someone clicks on it. And it is not pushing out hoards of hastily-written content either.
So what is optimisation? How can a writer use it to their advantage? How can it be done efficiently?
The simple answer: Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.
The more complicated answer is as follows; when you know what steps to take, writing becomes more than just a string of words but instead clickable content optimised for SEO. Adding an SEO stage when creating content for the web is great and will be beneficial for website performance today and in the future.
Learn more about how you can optimise your content through this guide.
SEO-friendly content is a text written in an artful way that search engines love. By love, we mean understandable by an algorithm.
It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t, we swear.
To put it simply, SEO-friendly content helps the search engine connect a question to an answer. The question is usually something searched on Google. So if someone searches, “What is the best Italian restaurant near me?” or “How to build a shed?”, SEO helps a search engine find the best answer to these questions. The search engine then displays the most relevant information by placing it at the top of the page.
And because the article is the top search result, people are more likely to click on it than say an article on the 10th page of the site.
Using this to your advantage, SEO can help you be at the top of the search engine, so traffic will be directed towards you.
It’s a pocket-friendly way of advertising!
The key metric to measure the success of your content is organic traffic. Once you have that, your website will most likely be performing positively.
Where does SEO come in?
SEO comes in to help push organic traffic even further. It helps readers find the article in the first place and stay for as long as possible to, hopefully, click on one of the links on the piece of content. And by optimising your content, you are able to reap the benefits of the text written.
Here are some of the many benefits SEO-friendly content can do:
Now that you know the benefits, are you convinced that SEO is the way to go? We sure do hope so! Keep reading to find out how to optimise your content and have SEO-friendly text.
In this article, you will get a run-down of how to create SEO-friendly content to bring more traffic over to your website ano bring more value to the audience you’re catering to.
What is keyword research?
Research is the foundation of any job or technique and SEO isn’t any different. Keyword research should be the start of your SEO process and is the key to successful organic content distribution.
What are keywords?
Keywords are the phrases or words people enter into search engines to find an answer or more information about anything under the sun.
Although not the end-all-be-all of SEO as others may think, understanding the keywords people are searching for helps you:
To start, ask yourself what a user might search to find your content.
Choosing a primary keyword
When writing a piece of content, it’s tempting to shove every single keyword you find to fully optimise the text. Sadly, this is not how things work and can lead to unreadable and less comprehensive content.
To avoid this, select a primary keyword and use that as a focal point for your article. It becomes the main focus of your article, so to speak.
Select secondary keywords
Additional keywords can be used to optimise your content further and should be closely related to the chosen primary keyword. In this way, you can insert more keywords without compromising the focus of the article.
Now that you have identified the keywords, you can now plug them into your work. Writers have different methods of doing so but a general rule of thumb is to put keywords where they seem natural and never out of place.
If the keyword doesn’t fit in the paragraph, remove it!
What is search intent?
Search intent is what users are trying to accomplish with searching through Google or any other search engine. This means, if a user is looking for an answer to a question, a search engine’s algorithm helps the query along so the user finds their answer immediately.
So as someone optimising SEO, your text should convey the correct search intent for a keyword. Search intent can be:
Some indicators can help when identifying the keyword, such as featured snippets, people also ask, site links, and various types of ads.
Once you’ve figured out the search intent, you can now angle your article to the search’s purpose.
Once you’ve written your article, you now need to figure out your meta title.
An article always has two headings. The first is your H1 tag that serves as your title and shows up on the page, and a meta title or description that is viewed as a snippet of the article when viewed on a search engine.
Both tags should have your primary keyword, even though they aren’t identical.
For H1 tags, they should be catchy and unique! Differentiate your title from others on similar search pages.
Although H1 tags are important and should be eye-catching, meta descriptions are integral for SEO. This is because the meta title acts as an introduction to the content of your article. So if your meta title isn’t great, your audience will most likely not click on it. In essence, these descriptions are the primary piece of information that determines whether or not a person will click on your article and visit the website.
Here are some basic rules for meta titles to incorporate into your work:
These are the basics of writing compelling SEO articles. With this guide, you will be able to optimise your articles to the best of your ability.
With all the details you need to remember for titles, meta descriptions, keywords, and finally the content itself, its essential to remember to keep the article fun and creative. At the end of the day, people will want to read fun, informative articles.
Smarter Media is a digital growth agency using our Smarter Approach to help your business grow digitally. Working side by side with our clients, we use our ‘Smarter Way’ Process to create a plan that delivers results and our ‘Smarter Promise’ to do what we say we will. For a more comprehensive look at SEO, or to find out how you can achieve a better ROI with SEO & Paid Media working side by side, set an appointment with Smarter Media today!
Still unsure which SEO Management Company to work with, you can talk to an SEO expert at Smarter Media about it. If you are ready to ask serious questions and take the definitive step towards online business success, feel free to get in touch on 01793 292 171 or hello@smarter-media.co.uk today.
Your teachers in school tell you that plagiarism is wrong and is a sanctionable offence. The same principle applies with web content – only your website traffic is ultimately affected, even when you’re doing the plagiarism.
But wouldn’t it be so much easier to write an article, copy-paste it onto other URLs, and reap the benefits? It does make sense to assume that a potential client will view the more submissions you have, the more likely your content.
Although it’s much easier to simply copy and paste web content onto ten different websites in the hopes of gaining a click, duplicate content actually does more harm than good.
In this article, you will be learning about how duplicate content in SEO works, its benefits, the adverse effects, and how to avoid doing so. There is more to it than meets the eye when it comes to web content, and the same goes when duplicate content is in question.
Interested? Keep reading to learn more!
Is your website struggling with producing original content? Contact us for more information about how you can push out unique content on the web.
Duplicate content is any type of text or content that appears on a Google search engine or anywhere on the internet in more than one place.
So if you have two different unique website addresses (URL) with the exact same content on them, you have got yourself an example of duplicate content.
While Google doesn’t necessarily penalise it in the ways of the law, copy and pasting content onto various web pages, or duplicate content isn’t the best when it comes to search engine rankings. When there are similar pieces of content, which Google describes as “appreciably similar,” search engines have a challenging time deciding which content to push to the top of the results page.
You might be thinking, it takes more effort to write new articles with the same content than it is to duplicate the content, right?
The answer is complicated: yes in the short run and no in the long run.
Let us tell you why.
Here are some reasons why duplicate content is not the best practice for SEO and why it should be avoided at all costs.
Search engines
Ultimately, if the search engine doesn’t know which content to push out, there is a risk of them overlooking the content instead.
For site owners
When it comes to duplicate content, site owners risk low rankings and traffic losses. There are two main problems with duplicating content:
Are you still confused about how duplicate content can negatively affect SEO? Let’s put it this way:
In the Harry Potter series, Voldemort decides to split his soul into seven parts, which he called Horcruxes, as he thought it would make him invincible. Although it made him harder to kill, it ultimately became his weakness as Harry and his team were able to hunt his Horcruxes down, piece by piece to end his terrible reign.
This analogy works well for duplicate content because it works the same way – spreading the same content across multiple websites makes the text weaker.
In most cases, website owners don’t intend on creating duplicate content. But there are cases where this is true; in fact, 29% of web content are actually duplicates!
Although writers and SEO experts might think of it as a cheeky way of getting more content out on the world wide web, as we have said above, it does more harm than good.
Here are cases where you can watch out for duplicated content in order to avoid it:
URL variations
URL parameters like click tracking and analytics can create unexpected duplicate content. This isn’t because of parameters per se, but the order these parameters appear on a URL.
HTTP vs HTTPS or WWW vs non-WWW
Some websites have separate versions. For example, if “www.webste.com” and “site.com” are the same websites, and the same content is available on both variations, duplicate content exists. It’s like self-sabotage in a way.
Copied content
Scrapers are slimy individuals intentionally taking your content and republishing them on another website, most often their own, as a shortcut to get the text for cheap (in this case, completely free).
Besides not being able to write unique content, e-commerce websites also run into the issue of duplicate content.
Since there are websites that sell similar and exactly the same items, every re-seller uses the exact text that the manufacturer used to describe their listings. So, identical content ends up on multiple websites all at once.
If remained unfixed, duplicate content can be detrimental for a website that wants to build organic traffic.
How does one go about fixing the issue?
Thankfully, there are multiple ways to fix duplicate content,it and it becomes more accessible with the help of a professional.
When you find duplicated content, it should be canonicalised for Google’s search engine. There are five methods to accomplish this:
1: 301 redirect
The best way to solve duplicate content is to set up a 301 redirect from the copy page to the original website. When you have multiple inbound links leading to the same website, in this case, your original page, it creates a positive impact on the original page. Ultimately, this results in high rankings for the page.
2: Rel=”canonical”
If the redirect isn’t enough, another option is to use the rel=canonical attribute.
This means the search engine will be informed that a particular page is merely a copy, and therefore the ranking of the page should be lower.
3: Exame content and tags
Web content usually repeats certain words or phrases, especially if they’re keywords. Although it’s okay to have phrase repetitions, anything more than that will harm your page.
So be sure to check, double-check, and triple-check your own website for duplicates of the same paragraph or chunk of text to avoid running into duplicate content problems.
4: Apply noindex
Another way to solve duplicate content is through the noindex tag.
This is a type of HTML tag that allows any search engine and its web crawlers to “crawl” duplicated content. So the copies won’t show up as a search engine result. Instead, only the original copy of the content will be seen.
5: Continuously check for duplicated content
Since you never know who has used your content, it would be best to check for copies every now and then. If you do discover that someone has plagiarised or lifted your website content, give Google a shout to let them know.
In this way, you are assured that you won’t be accused of stealing content!
Besides being sure about keeping your content fresh and unique, there is a sure-fire way to keep duplicate content out of your sights forever.
How?
Through SEO professionals who have decades of experience in the field! With professional assistance, you can effectively eliminate existing duplicate content on your website or those that are on other websites.
More than that, seeking the expertise of an SEO professional helps you consistently and continuously monitor for duplicate content as it happens in real time.
Smarter Media is a digital growth agency using our Smarter Approach to help your business grow digitally. Working side by side with our clients, we use our ‘Smarter Way’ Process to create a plan that delivers results and our ‘Smarter Promise’ to do what we say we will. For a more comprehensive look at SEO, or to find out how you can achieve a better ROI with SEO & Paid Media working side by side, set an appointment with Smarter Media today!
In the online world, there is a lot of competition. The same is true when it comes to your e-commerce enterprise. You might agree that standing out, or even surviving in your niche is a bit of a struggle. That is why you should consider a marketing tactic that will ensure the stability of your online presence and success.
For many years now, search engine optimisation has become a necessity for e-commerce entrepreneurs; online businesses won’t be able to survive if they can’t reach their target audience.
When customers look for something, they often use search engines and if you are nowhere to be found on the first page of the SERP results, your online presence is not strong enough to sustain you in the long term.
Here are a few reasons why you should consider SEO for your e-commerce enterprise today.
You might think that opting for SEO services is another expense on your part. This is hardly true. Consider it as an investment that will help you reach your business goals. As an entrepreneur, you already understand the importance of investing to get more exposure and receive high returns as a result. This is just one of the benefits of SEO.
Once your website or webpage starts to rank on the first page of search engine results, you will get more visitors and buyers. If that is something that you want, then SEO is a must for you.
If you want fast results, you can invest in advertising and Google Ads but the results of these methods are not long-lasting. They will only work as long as you will pay for them. SEO, on the other hand, does not work instantly but it works for the long run.
In SEO, you need to decide which keywords or key phrases to want to rank with. For instance, if you are selling T-shirts in your online shop and you are located in Swindon, you might want to get a high ranking for the T-shirts and Swindon keywords and the T-shirts in Swindon key phrase. SEO will help improve your rank at a steady pace and organically, as long as there is no spam activity on your online shop.
When it comes to SEO, it is best to delegate this task to the experts. An SEO agency will help you accomplish your business goals and so much more.
Your main goal should be increasing website traffic, website visibility and website ranking. According to some statistics, more than 30% of the clicks go to the pages on the first page of search engine results while the first 5 listings on the search engine results get more than 70% of the clicks. If possible, aiming for the top position of the search engine results is your ultimate goal.
Although the concept of authority is somewhat new in SEO, this benchmark is increasingly gaining traction due to its importance to web users. If your website has authority, it means that it is relevant, trustworthy and of high-quality. The higher your authority ranking, the better your SEO ranking will be. This will result in more leads, sales and brand confidence.
On top of that, an SEO agency will help you create a better buying experience for your customers. If your website is user-friendly, easy to navigate, compatible with mobile devices and capable of loading completely within a few seconds, your visitors will gain a positive website experience. The happier they are, the longer they will stay on your website, which will eventually lead to lesser bounce rates and higher conversion rates.
If you have already implemented SEO strategies for your website, the next viable thing to do is to identify what will come next. This is where SEO auditing comes in. An SEO audit will serve as your guide on the steps you need to take. The SEO agency will provide a checklist for you every time your website needs to be updated. The audit will lean your focus on the strategies that work for you so that you will not waste time on things that give no results. Regular SEO auditing will also allow you to monitor the progress of your website and finetune any existing tasks or strategies.
E-commerce SEO Company
What else can SEO companies do for your e-commerce enterprise? They can actually help you pinpoint your weaknesses in SEO. Having no SEO strategy is one. If you already have one, not implementing regular SEO audits is another. For instance, you may not know that putting the physical location of your business at the bottom of your website has an adverse effect on your SEO ranking. To address this issue, the SEO company will create a webpage that files your current business address.
There are many things that SEO companies can do for you. Aside from helping you identify your competitors, they can improve your organic search visibility and conversion rates by analysing your site speed and backlinks. Hiring an SEO company will give you a firm understanding of your current search engine ranking and they will assist you to achieve your goals.
Business growth is your ultimate goal and SEO services can help you achieve that. Aside from improving your search engine rankings and online presence, SEO can help you build a better relationship with your target audience, increase your online authority, drive more people to visit your website, improve the buying experience of your customers, enhance your conversion rate and give you an edge over your competitors. This will result in gaining more loyal customers and overall business growth.
If your aim is to increase your sale and revenue, SEO can help you generate leads and make more sales. As soon as your search engine ranking will improve, your online presence will improve, your web traffic and sales will increase.
So, if you are ready to take the next big step for your business, talk to the SEO experts of Smarter Media on 01793 292 171 or hello@smarter-media.co.uk today.
