Unleash the Power of SEO with This One Simple Trick: Weekly Original Content

Want Great SEO? Content is King! Generating original weekly content is crucial for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for several reasons. Here are the main ones:

  1. Fresh Content is Valued by Search Engines: Search engines, such as Google, prioritize fresh and original content in their rankings. Regularly publishing new and relevant content shows search engines that your website is active, up-to-date, and providing value to users. Fresh content also increases search engine rankings (SERPs) and traffic as well as getting quality links from other sites. If there’s not enough relevant content for your brand or business, it pretty much defeats the purpose of having a website in the first place.
  2. Improves User Engagement: Fresh content can also improve user engagement by keeping them interested in your website and encouraging them to spend more time on it. Increased user engagement signals to search engines that your website is relevant and valuable, which can improve your search rankings.
  3. Increases Website Traffic: By providing valuable and engaging content, you can attract new visitors to your website and increase traffic. More traffic to your website can also lead to increased visibility, which can improve your search rankings.
  4. Boosts Keyword Rankings: When you publish new content regularly, you have the opportunity to target new keywords and improve your rankings for those terms. This can help you reach a wider audience and attract more qualified leads to your website. Add a few keywords that sum up your article theme and target audience. Don’t spam keywords.
  5. Provides Opportunities for Backlinking: By producing high-quality content, you may also receive backlinks from other websites, which can help boost your website’s authority and search engine rankings.

72% of marketers report that content creation is their best-performing SEO tactic. (OptinMonster)

If you lack the resources for generating content, outsource to an agency or freelancer for help. The basic purpose is to create content and try to post at least 2-3 times per week. Content is scalable and you can add as needed or when more resources become available. Content Marketing is important! Without it, you’re going to struggle to attract the attention you need to collect leads and convert them into sales or clients!

Generating original weekly content is a critical component of an effective SEO strategy. By producing fresh and relevant content, you can improve your search rankings, attract more traffic, increase user engagement, and ultimately grow your online presence.

“Proof of Work” when Hiring a Digital Marketing Firm

The term “proof of work” originally came from decentralized consensus mechanism that requires members of a network to expend effort solving an arbitrary mathematical puzzle to prevent anybody from gaming the system. More recently, Proof of work is used widely in cryptocurrency mining, for validating transactions and mining new tokens..

However, you can also apply this “proof of work” example when hiring a digital marketing agency. For example, when evaluating a digital marketing agency firm (bid) for your business, request the following:

  1. Industry experience. Agency experience in your particular field (niche). Ask for client (roster) names list and testimonials. Review agency clients website layouts, content (blog), social media accounts, etc. Drill down on Agency clients and look for website rankings, social media follower counts, blog content quality.
  2. What results are they promising (vision and strategy)? Ask Agency what their KPI’s (metrics) are with clients and did they meet them (KPIs)? If Agency guarantees  SEO rankings on first page, that’s a red flag. SEO top rankings takes years to achieve and its a “long game” strategy.
  3. What tools are they using (website & blog building, Slack, Social Media, Google apps, email, CRM, etc) with clients? Id the tools aren’t industry leading, and you never heard of them that’s a red flag.
  4. Size of agency? How many heads (resources) will they allocate for your marketing effort? How do they communicate (daily, weekly, monthly)?
  5. Agency website. I needs to be elite. An Agency website needs to look clean, flow well, images top rate, mobile optimized, call to actions (CTA), and downright pleasing to look at. Anything short of that, don’t bother hiring them.
  6. Communications. Do they speak well on the phone and in person (trust is crucial)? Make sure there is chemistry between you and the Agency’s team. If you feel a conflict in the first meetings (chemistry-wise), move on and don’t bother hiring them. Ask them for an initial audit (free of charge) of all your digital resources (website, blog, social media, etc). Most digital marketing agency’s will send you a quick audit and feedback/strategy when vying for your marketing dollars!

An outsourced Digital Marketing Agency should show you “proof of work” and a strategy on how to best achieve your business success in the digital world.

 

Content Marketing Strategy Takes Time

It takes time, organization, and creativity to grow a successful content marketing strategy. If your business doesn’t have the resources to meet your goals, reach out to freelancers for help! Freelancers are a great low cost, effective source of helping any type of content marketing effort.

Online Marketing Juice

Can Your Product or Service Reach Escape Velocity in 2022?

Category power, Company power, Unmatchable offerings. Google comes to mind. Google Search and Google My Business that is. Make sure you register your website with Google Search Console and Google My Business. Submit your website sitemap thru Google Search Console for indexing! No matter whether you’re using Shopify, WordPress, Wix or Squarespace, adding your website to this service is the starting point for good SEO and will ultimately help sell your products or service through increasing traffic.

Registering your site with Google My Business should be #1 priority (particularly if you’re starting a brand new business). Doing so can give your business a quick win by helping it appear in relevant geographic search results — within just a couple of weeks. Industry stats show that people who see your “Google My Business” listing will click through to your website, and will call your business directly. Google My Business listing can also drive local SEO success for small businesses, pretty much guaranteeing visibility on Google Maps and Google Search. Make it easier to reach product or service escape velocity with the power of Google search and Google My Business.

Mobile Responsive Web Design Challenges in 2022

RWD major challenge these days is testing your content on all Mobile browsers and provide a seamless user experience. The desktop side of RWD that will fit and scale inside a desktop browser is relatively easy as there are no more that 3-5 different types of browsers.

On the mobile side, its entirely a different story as there are 10 + mobile browsers out there in the wild (default + installed). The user might view the website appropriately in the desktop version, but when the same website is viewed through his mobile phone, it’ll look odd and janky. What you need is a “device” plan of attack. Know which device classes you intend to support before you start to code and create content.

Have both your lowest common denominator devices and your high-end device designs before you begin to code. Try to visualize a way to create both versions from one code base and Test on different mobile devices from the beginning to the end to ensure that your incremental work will display correctly in the intended devices. Its good to have a small design lab where you can set up all these mobile devices and test your content. Designing and supporting multiple mobile displays takes time and patience. Responsive Design includes the use of CSS3 Media Queries, which is supported by almost all modern browsers and it reactively determines the screen size of a device and then renders the content appropriately on the screen layout. With a set of media queries, you will be able to display different layouts on different devices.

After successfully making your website responsive, you need to perform responsive test online on multiple devices like Mobile Phones, Tablets, Laptops, Desktops to ensure the responsive web design and that content and images are adapting themselves as per the screen size in which they are being viewed on. A good plan is half of your success. This is why planning ahead every little part of your responsive website design is crucial.

How To Set Up Your Small Business on Pinterest in 2022

Pinterest offers businesses a fairly unique proposition. Like other social media networks, it’s a place to connect with friends and influencers. If you sell physical products, one of the most obvious ways to use Pinterest is to share images of those products. Your photos can feature different variations of colors and styles and even photos of your customers using your products.

When you’re ready to get started with Pinterest, start with a business account. First, create a business account. Start with an eye-catching profile. Start here – pinterest.com/business/create

1. Verify your website (business website).
> Go to your profile and click on the pencil in the bottom-right corner of the name box. Don’t see the pencil? Go to the menu in the upper right corner, select Settings, and go to Step 2.
> Enter your web address in the Website field, then click Verify Website.
> Follow the instructions on the next page. You can verify with an HTML file or a META tag.
> Once your website’s been verified, you’ll see a checkmark next to it and will have access to your web analytics when you’re logged in

Add the Pin It button to your site. Make it easy to Pin from your website or blog. Go here for directions.

2. Get creative. Make your Pinterest board stand out in the crowd. Use high quality .png images. Example, If your a clothing boutique, take digital pics of all your new inventory (clothes) hanging in your store. Images sell. Your selling your store, your style, your products, your design. High quality digital pics drive customers to your store. Think about it being an online mall your walking through. Create a range of boards that showcase your store’s personality and taste, and make sure each board has enough pins to make it feel substantial. Remember that people can choose which boards they want to follow, so not every board has to appeal to everyone. Pinterest users have been more heavily female (about 65%), so keep that in mind as well.  If your customer base is mainly men, Pinterest might not be right for you just yet.

3. Publish high resolution photos of your product. The ideal image dimension is 736 pixels wide. Pinterest will display your image at it’s maximum size up to 736 pixels wide. As long as its 736 pixels wide, Pinterest will adjust the dimensions. Also, highlight customers using your product. Ask them to submit pictures. Acknowledge them and give them a discount coupon for this content.
> Make sure you have your Pin logo up on your website that will allow online traffic to click over to your Pinterest page.
> Use rich pins to automatically include information like prices, availability, ingredients and reviews with your pins. All you need to do is add some meta tags, keywords, and #hashtags.
> Learn and keep checking your Pinterest Analytics dashboard! Pinterest Analytics dashboard shows you which pins are most popular with pinners and which ones are driving the most traffic to your site. You can also see what boards your stuff appears on, how the pins are described and what people pin along with your stuff. All of these insights will help you make smarter choices about your merchandising, product development and pinning strategy.

4. Motivate people to pin. The more people pin your content, the more discoverable it becomes. To encourage more pinning, make it easy to pin from your website and email marketing, and promote pinning in your social channels Like Twitter & Facebook, packaging and advertising. Push people to your Pinterest website and in turn they will visit your actual business website and store in real life. Be sure to add links to your company website and Twitter page on your Pinterest profile. You can also bring users to specific web pages by adding the URL in the pin description.

5. Pin at least once a day so your followers get fresh content in their home feeds. Just like with boards, thoughtful descriptions will make your pins more inspiring and searchable. Never Pin inappropriate material. Keep your personal Pinterest account separate from your business account. What makes a good pin description? Check out these tips:

  • Recipes: Describe the main ingredients of the dish and how to cook it
  • Fashion: Include what kind of clothing, the designer or season to wear it
  • Travel: Tell people the local on and the kinds of things you can do there
  • DIY: Describe what it is, how you make it and what materials people need
  • Photography: Name the photographer, year, subject or publication
  • Design: Mention the designer, medium, publication, etc

Last Pinterest tip: Once you are on Pinterest, add the Pinterest follow button to your social media pages and even your printed materials. This is a good way to jump start your Pinterest presence. A great Pinterest marketing article for small business (SMB) in 2021 is here.

Online Marketing Juice on Twitter

Online Marketing Juice is on Twitter! Get your daily original digital and social media blog post updates…as well as added “curated digital marketing” with a Financial Advisor & #FINTECH specialization. Head over to the Twitter platform here: @Online_Juice

I cover digital marketing and social media strategy. Keep you up to date on the latest in SEO, Financial Advisor Marketing, Social Media, Digital Marketing & Tools, Website Design & Optimization, Landing Page tips, Content Strategy, Automation, #FINTECH, and much much more!

 

Landing Page Optimization Tip: White Space Improves User Experience

Make sure there is white space in your landing page (optimization). This improves the user experience and makes your call to action stand out. White space (negative space) is any portion of a page that is left unmarked — the empty space on a page. In design terms, white space can be defined as the space between text, margins, columns, graphics, and any other page elements. White space increases readability, Improves focus, and again…enhances user experience.

Your call to action button (link) should be 20% larger than your logo (depending on the size of your logo). Place button at top of page (left). Web readers tend to track through content in a rough “F-shaped” pattern. So format important images flush left. Display the secondary action below the primary action. Make it obvious which button to click to complete an action. By using white space in your copy, you’re able to de-clutter the text, allowing the visitor to have a more enjoyable reading experience. Finding the right balance of your white space is key to converting website visitors into paying customers or new clients.

 

Pinterest Business Tips for Success in 2022

  1. Publish high resolution photos of your product. The ideal image dimension is 736 pixels wide. Pinterest will display your image at it’s maximum size up to 736 pixels wide. As long as its 736 pixels wide, Pinterest will adjust the dimensions. Also, highlight customers using your product. Ask them to submit pictures. Acknowledge them and give them a discount coupon for this content.
  2. Make sure your website is set up to be shared socially on Pinterest. Make the social sharing buttons on your content pages easy to find and use.
  3. Repinning. Repinning isn’t like “retweeting” on Twitter. You’ll want to be sure to update the caption on a repinned pin to make it your own.
  4. Make sure you “verify” your website by Pinterest! Show pinners you’re a trustworthy source. Directions and steps here.
  5. Connect your Instagram, YouTube, and/or Etsy accounts. Doing so ensures pins from these sites will be attributed to your business. Plus, you’ll also be able to track related analytics.
  6. Optimize for Pinterest SEO. Just like any search engine, keywords are the basis for content discovery on Pinterest.
  7. Target the right Pinners with ads. Drill down and target your product audience.
  8. Develop a powerful content. High-resolution images, infographics, creative sticky content.

Pinterest the perfect place to showcase your brand, business and products to an engaged marketplace with plenty of spending power. Think of creative ways to feature your products and services in tutorials or other content, and it will work much better than simply pinning your latest advertisement.

 

Basic Content Creation Strategy for Financial Advisors in 2022 (updated)

Keep it simple but make sure its thorough! Content Strategy Answers the Question ‘Why’ You’re Publishing Content.

  1. Understand your firm and how it works. Clients and brand considerations. What do you specialize in? Retirement? Wealth Management? Trusts? Client demographics. The specialization (client persona demographics) will dictate the kind of content you should plan to generate.
  2. Collect data. Competitive analysis, Keywords, Customer (client) research.
  3. Audit your website. Google Analytics. Traffic data. Conversion and bounce rates, etc. SEO metrics.
  4. Prospect company’s key influencers and where your customers or potential live online. Do they live on Twitter? Facebook? Do you think they would gravitate to you via another platform such as YouTube if you made instructional financial videos? or maybe subscribing to a Podcast?
  5. Create useful, exceptional content (blog posts, landing pages, contact forms, eBooks, videos, infographics, case studies) according to steps 1-4. Rank them in importance and create content accordingly. Ensure that editorial standards are being followed. Make sure the content is compliant if you are a Financial Advisor. Pictures and videos should be high-resolution.
  6. Measure content performance. Google & Social Media Analytics. A/B testing, etc.

If you lack the resources for generating content, outsource to an agency or freelancer for help. Content strategy is the foundation on which successful content marketing is built. Content marketing is the journey towards success, content strategy is the blueprint that directs it.