Blog
Unlike Fashion Trends, Websites Do Not “Come Back into Style”
Bell-bottom jeans, leisure suits, and broad-shouldered women’s suits might come back. Retro and vintage are all the rage right now. Reviving old styles is not a new thing in the fashion industry. When designers need inspiration, they stage comebacks from past trends and set the stage for people to follow. While this practice is effective in the fashion industry, this is a terrible mistake for website developers.
Why SEO? Why NOT SEO?
A primary purpose for a company’s online presence is to gain more customers. But a website attracts customers only if it appears among the top search result pages; because people rarely go beyond the first search engine results page. If you have a website, you might have heard of search engine optimization (SEO). Promising to rank a website among the top search results, SEO is the unparalleled leader of search engine marketing.
SEO, PPC, and other TLAs
In the world of online marketing, there are many TLAs (three-letter abbreviations) flying around and for the uninitiated, they can add to the confusion when attempting to learn about website promotion and marketing.
The biggest TLAs in online marketing are SEO and PPC.
Online Checklist for the New Year
The beginning of a new year is a good time to review your company’s goals for the coming year. Company goals for growth and sales can be better met with a solid online presence. Even if you do not sell merchandise via your website, a website can be an excellent way of attracting new customers. However, having a company website is not all that is required to have an effective online presence.
Website + SEO = Growth
While no formula guarantees success, there are things you can do for your business that will increase the likelihood of success. Maybe we should first define success. For some businesses, success is simply staying in business another day and being able to pay all the bills and payroll with something left over for the owner (profit). For others, success is determined not only by revenue but also by growth.
Optimistic Companies Should be Doing SEO
Some businesses are so unsure of the future that they have suspended their business growth and marketing initiatives. Other, more optimistic firms have not only continued their marketing efforts but have increased them. Does it make sense to increase marketing and growth initiatives during such uncertain times? An investment in company growth is for the future.
Computers are a Pain in the…
Did you ever spend a long time working on a spreadsheet or entering data or writing a manual or document only to watch it all disappear before your eyes when your computer froze or crashed? Or, how about the time when you clicked on a link by accident and your computer got wrecked from a virus? And then there was the time when ransomware chewed up all your files and you could not get them back without shelling out loads of bitcoin cash. Computers can be a pain in the, well… but they don’t need to be!
Get Found or… Get Lost!
There are a variety of internet search engines, but the number 1 search engine is Google. Your potential customers are using Google to find the services and products you offer. There is no question about that. The big question is, “Will they find your business, or will they find a competitor’s?”
The answer to that question might also be the answer to the second question, “Which business will still be around in 5 or 10 years?” Get found or… get lost.
Why Your Business Needs a (New) Website
Your small business needs a website. If it already has one, it may well need a new website. Small business owners are rightfully absorbed in the daily routine of running the business and they often do not afford themselves the luxury of thinking about a new website. Some think since they launched their website a few years (or, perish the thought, many years) ago that there is no need to give more thought to the website.
Is SEO Worth the Expense?
Some small businesses advertise by way of local business listings or diner placemats or local mailings. These are relatively low-cost options. They also have an exceptionally low conversion rate. That is, the number of people who respond and call or email from these low-cost options is small. Think about how many people will be spilling their soup on your diner placemat ad before one responds to the ad by calling or emailing. These types of outbound marketing techniques are still appropriate for some businesses but for many more businesses, leveraging the power of the internet will yield many more leads; and the leads will be better.