by Courtney Dobson | Jun 28, 2019
Below is the roundup of some of this week’s MarketingBitz articles and blogs. MarketingBitz publishes digital marketing articles, videos and slideshows written to address the needs of small businesses.
Quick Guide: How to Market Your Small Business with Pay-Per-Click (June 27, 2019)
MarketingBitz: “Small business online marketing is all about driving more leads to your business, building your online presence, and ensuring a consistent brand experience for everyone who comes into contact with your enterprise. But, setting up a paid search campaign with Google AdWords or Microsoft Advertising can be overwhelming — where do you start, exactly?”
Just a Few Statistics That Show the Importance of Online Reviews (June 25, 2019)
MarketingBitz: “Online reviews are as relevant as ever, with 88% of consumers trusting them as much as personal recommendations. And the nature of those reviews could be the difference between someone visiting your business or opting for a competitor instead.”
Google Ads Introduces New Ways to Promote In-Store Sales (June 27, 2019)
Search Engine Journal: “Google Ads is rolling out new ways for local businesses to advertise in-store sales. According to Google, searches for “on sale near me” have grown by 250% over the past two years.”
Local Search: How Google My Business Can Improve Local Rankings (June 26, 2019)
Business 2 Community: “Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is dominating the internet for businesses when it comes to ranking on Google. It may seem impossible to get your business to appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERP), but in reality, it just requires putting time and effort into your Google My Business listing.”
Five tips to create an SEO-friendly FAQ page (June 24, 2019)
Search Engine Watch: “Search engines and people love the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pages. Having a well-written FAQ section on your website is a great way to show online customers that you care about their experience and get you found from outside your website, directly responding to the needs of your audience and their search queries.”
by Courtney Dobson | Jun 25, 2019
It’s Friday night and you’re trying to figure out which new restaurant you should check out, or your car is making a funny noise and you’re trying to choose a service shop to take it to. In most cases, where are you turning to for information to help you make these decisions?
Well, according to Invesp, 90% of consumers are reading online reviews prior to visiting a business. And there’s no shortage of places they can go to look, though some of the more popular platforms include Yelp, Google, Facebook and TripAdvisor
Online reviews are as relevant as ever, with 88% of consumers trusting them as much as personal recommendations. And the nature of those reviews could be the difference between someone visiting your business or opting for a competitor instead.
BrightLocal’s 2018 Local Consumer Review survey revealed that positive reviews make 68% of consumers more likely to use a business. Conversely, negative reviews make 40% of consumers not want to use a business.
Positive reviews are invaluable. Consider the following:
- 13% of consumers will contact a business after reading positive online reviews
- Consumers are willing to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews
- 50% of prospective customers will visit a business’s website after reading positive online reviews
Star ratings matter a lot for consumers as well. Nearly half (46%) say that four out of five is the minimum start rating a business must have in order for them to use them. Consumers also don’t necessarily believe all ratings are accurate. They admitted to requiring an average of 40 online reviews before believing a business’s star rating.
The more positive reviews that you have, the better your star rating will be. This can lead to a lot of benefits, such as brand awareness, leads and even sales. In fact, according to a paper from Harvard Business Review, a one-star increase in Yelp rating leads to a 5-9% increase in revenue.
All of these statistics highlight the influence that online reviews have on the average consumer’s path to purchase journey. Small businesses looking to stay ahead of the game and capture the attention of these online consumers need to make sure that they have a strategy in place for gaining and responding to online reviews.
by Courtney Dobson | Jun 21, 2019
Below is the roundup of some of this week’s MarketingBitz articles and blogs. MarketingBitz publishes digital marketing articles, videos and slideshows written to address the needs of small businesses.
5 Google My Business Features You Should Definitely be Using (June 20, 2019)
MarketingBitz: “If you really want to create an impact on your local SEO, and develop a stronger presence on Google, there are several others features within GMB that you can and should be using.”
Social Media Best Practices for Posting on Twitter (June 19, 2019)
MarketingBitz: “Twitter is different from other social channels in that you’re only allotted 280 characters to create short, creative messages called “Tweets”. This setup makes your posts easy to read and digest but provides an increased difficulty in getting your point across.”
8 Social Media Tips for Small Businesses (June 19, 2019)
Search Engine Journal: “The small business world can be a grind working in and on the business to reach goals and milestones and grow. Owners and employees wear a lot of hats and often excel at filling a lot of roles. The day-to-day requirements of sales, operations, payroll, invoicing, service, and fulfillment take a ton of time and energy.”
Complete SEO Checklist for Your Business Website (June 18, 2019)
Business 2 Community: “Search engine optimization as a practice is strong as ever despite notions among expert groups who believe SEO is dead after Google’s Panda & Penguin updates. SEO, in retrospect, evolved from a singularly-focused practice aimed at boosting ranking to a unique art form that involves branding, keyword research, content creation and promotion to attract traffic to a business website.”
The ultimate guide to strengthen your local SEO strategy (June 17, 2019)
Search Engine Watch: “Every business should have a local SEO strategy if they don’t want to miss out on high-intent qualified leads and this is especially crucial for local businesses who need to target people in their city or region.”
by Courtney Dobson | Jun 20, 2019
Having a local business presence on Google is more important than ever. Why? Because it’s where your customers are, and it’s where they are searching to find more information about your business. Consider that 72% of consumers who conducted a local search visited a store within 5 miles, and that 82% of smartphone shoppers conduct “near me” searches.
Consumers want local information quickly and easily, and in order to appear in the local searches they are conducting, you need to have a claimed and optimized Google My Business (GMB) page. Google My Business is essentially a listing for your business that’s hosted on Google. It holds all of your relevant information, like address, phone number and hours of operation, but it also offers much more than that.
If you really want to create an impact on your local SEO, and develop a stronger presence on Google, there are several others features within GMB that you can and should be using, here are a few of them.
Q&A
Most businesses have a list of FAQ that they come across regularly. Imagine having all of those questions, plus more, present in a single location, where all of your potential customers can easily access them? Google’s Q&A feature allows for this, as users can ask questions directly within the business listing. They can ask you about a specific product or service, whether you’ll be open on a holiday or what your pricing looks like.
When a question is asked, you, the business owner, can login to your GMB account and answer the question directly. This ensures that the answer is accurate and up to date. This feature can really help you educate and inform your customers about the different components of your business.
Business Descriptions
This simple feature can go a long way in telling consumers about your business. However, keep in mind that you only have 750 characters to create a description. You can use this feature to help build your brand. Don’t forget to be unique and creative in your description, all the while informing consumers about what exactly it is that you offer.
Posts
Similar to a social post, this feature allows business owners to create mini posts within their GMB listing. Posts can include images, call to actions or a URL to your website. These can be used to promote upcoming events, special offers or discounts, or even a new product. Here’s what they look like in the listing:
Booking Appointments
If you’re a service business, this GMB feature allows visitors to book appointments directly from your listing. You just need to input a URL that directs the user to the booking site, whatever that may be. There are plenty of online booking provider options, and Google will give you the option to choose once you implement the feature. Additionally, you’ll be able to track all incoming bookings and view the analytics.
Service Areas
Earlier this year, Google announced an update that allows service-area businesses to share their offerings and other pertinent business information through Google Maps and Search. With this feature, rather than listing a specific address like many businesses do, you can instead add the various service areas your business covers by including postal codes or cities. This alerts consumers of whether or not your business is an option for them.
by Courtney Dobson | Jun 19, 2019
Last week, I published the first of several posts discussing best practices for posting on various social media channels. This week’s post will focus on Twitter and how to best engage your audience on this particular platform
Twitter is different from other social channels in that you’re only allotted 280 characters to create short, creative messages called “Tweets”. This setup makes your posts easy to read and digest but provides an increased difficulty in getting your point across.
However, when your strategy is executed correctly, Twitter is a great platform for validating your expertise in your industry and interacting one on one with your customers in real-time. You can also build your brand, gain valuable exposure and educate customers about the ins and outs of your business.
If you’re considering making Twitter a part of your social media strategy, here are a few best practices for posting on the platform.
Keep it Simple
As mentioned earlier, Twitter only allows 240 characters per Tweet. Make sure your Tweets are focused on a single topic or message, rather than trying to include several and confusing for your followers. If there’s some form of longer content, like a website page, report, or something else that you’re trying to bring followers to, simply link to it within the Tweet.
Incorporate Visuals
Because the post length is short, people often tend to scroll through Twitter quickly and scan what’s present on their feed. One way to capture their attention is to add visuals to your Tweets. Adding visuals can tremendously increasing your chances of drawing engagement, like Retweets, Likes and even responses. It also helps build your brand personality. If you’re unsure of which photo or video to post, you can post up to four within a single Tweet.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags provide a great opportunity for engaging with current conversations, as well as starting new ones. Utilize hashtags that are relevant to your business model. You can even search for these hashtags to see what other people are saying about that particular topic.
Additionally, they work great for events or special promotions that you have going on. By encouraging users to use your hashtag, you’ll be able to see all of the engagement that’s taking place and get involved in any relevant conversations. Keep in mind that Twitter recommends not using more than two hashtags per Tweet.
Create Polls
Consumers like knowing that their opinions have been shared and heard. Twitter allows businesses to create polls where they ask their followers questions. This provides a great opportunity in learning your followers wants, needs, likes, dislikes and more. Simply create a poll and ask a question to learn more about them in a quick and easy fashion.
Retweet and Reply
One of the great opportunities Twitter provides is interacting with others easily. Rather than focusing solely on your own posts, you can get out into the Twitter world and join the conversation. Discover content that’s relevant to your business, and that you believe your followers will find interesting, and Retweet it to them.
If a customer leaves a positive comment, or someone provides helpful feedback on a question you’ve asked, Retweet and/or reply to it and let them know their feedback is appreciated. This will also help build your business’s credibility and show that you value your customers and their input. Be prepared, as feedback will not always be positive, but you must be ready to respond to any and all comments that come your way.
Twitter offers analytics of your posts that will help you gain a better understanding of your audience. By analyzing these results, you can better adapt your content to accommodate the wants and needs of your followers.
