Consumers Are Changing the Landscape of Search-Based Advertising
Search. We all use it. Whether you’re on Google’s homepage or in your Facebook toolbar, searching for exactly what you want is something we do without even thinking about it. Believe it or not, search is changing and improving drastically every day because of the consumer’s application of the search feature. But what does that even mean? Well, when I searched SEO on google, I got a pretty great definition: search is the bridge between intent and the experiences the world wide web has to offer. (See what I did there? Search, the unsung hero of internet advertising).
Let’s get to the nitty gritty here, why does this matter? Everything I’ve talked about in 2016 plays into this idea. Digital assistants are the new hotness; Siri, Cortana, Echo allow consumers to essentially have a conversation with the internet. Consumers don’t want to type a word or two into a search engine and hope for the best anymore. They want to express their specific question/desire and get specific, direct results. An example: when you type into your search engine “6 month old toys” your search engine intuits that you want to know about toys for a 6 month old child, not toys that are 6 months old.
BUT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?! One possibility is movement away from keyword search focus and toward a more interactive search that is more specific and more targeted to YOUR needs, desires, goals, etc. As a business owner this is significant as you work to build that theoretical bridge between potential customers and your site. Marlin CS is working to stay ahead of the game in this exact way, maximizing our clients’ exposure to search engine users. This game is changing every day and we’re here to keep you at the forefront!
Bing Tests Linking Search Engine Ads to Social Media
We are always discussing social media integration in advertising your small business. Bing has taken it to a new level. If you look at the graphic above, note the “Find more” that’s circled. When your ad comes up on Bing, a potential customer will be able to see your Facebook page, Twitter handle, Instagram, or whatever social media you prefer to use for your business.
Why does this matter? Bing is looking to bridge the gap between traditional web advertising and business’ use of social media to appeal to potential customers. If you are active on social media, this could significantly impact your access to new clientele. Consider the benefit of direct traffic to your Facebook page where you regularly update photos, interact with customers, and build relationships. It is an opportunity to streamline your advertising and social media in the hopes of increasing your visibility on both mediums.
This is truly in the test phase, and Bing users are encouraged to contact Bing if they are interested in joining the social media link test. They’re also soliciting feedback so if this is something you’d like to see become permanent, let them know!
What’s Coming in 2016 – Rising Advertising Costs
Advertising will always be the name of the game. And competition is the name of the advertising game. Combine those two and you know what we have? Demand, increased cost, and willingness to pay it. In the grand advertising scheme, online ads are at the lower end of the cost spectrum but these continued increases in price will likely force some small companies out. Online advertising historically has given small businesses an opportunity to get their name into the conversation while staying within their limited budget. If costs continue in this fashion, small business will struggle to stay in the game. Getting the most out of your money will become more and more important to your advertising budget and Marlin will be here to help you navigate the landscape.
What’s Coming in 2016 – Siri & Cortana
If you watch television or have an Iphone, you know Siri. You may talk to her a lot, ask her questions, or use her to maximize your hands-free smartphone use. But do you know Cortana? Cortana is Microsoft’s answer to Siri. It allows non-Iphone users to experience the same digital “personal assistant” as Siri. Let’s take this a step further, let’s talk about Amazon Echo. Echo is a standalone piece of technology that looks like a little wifi speaker. But it is so much more. The Echo is aimed at creating a smart home. Seriously! You can ask Echo questions just like Siri or Cortana, play your music library, turn on and off all compatible electronics with your voice, or even play an audio book.
What does this mean to you? As a small business owner with a web presence, why should you care about Siri, or Cortana, or Echo? Because part of these new technologies is their ability to utilize search engines when you ask them a question, and just like us, these “assistants” are looking for the best, fastest answer. That’s where we come in. We spend a lot of time discussing search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising here at Marlin. They are two of the best strategies for internet marketing and a major focus in our work. Building on these established strategies, Marlin is ensuring your web presence remains at the forefront of internet marketing. The difference is how we do it: we make sure your business information is easily accessible for these digital “assistants” rather than blindly funnel people to your website. Let us take your website into the new realm of internet search engines.
What’s Coming in 2016 – Mobile Domination
The smart phone/mobile revolution leaves me feeling like a broken record sometimes but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s happening! According to Google mobile traffic overtook desktop traffic in TEN countries. We’ve been pushing for our clients to ensure their websites are mobile friendly for a long time and now it’s crunch time.
Desktop traffic is dropping and mobile-focused online marketing is taking the lead. Last year Google ran an algorithm update that got the catchphrase “Mobilegeddon”, essentially pushing non-mobile friendly websites to the bottom of their search results IF they showed up at all. While the end of the world apocalypse warnings didn’t quite come to fruition for non-mobile friendly sites, it doesn’t change the fact that they have fallen behind the times and are quickly losing ground in the advertising arena.
Obviously we want your website to dominate the search engines for anyone in the market for your product. That’s where Marlin comes in. This is our business. We work to make your website the absolute best it can be and the most accessible it can be to any person in the market for your product. Let’s get started!
Mobile Presence: A Brave New World
Happy New Year! For my last post of 2014 I thought I’d touch on one of the most ubiquitous pieces of technology in our world today: the smart phone. It feels like we’re being overrun by mobile devices, from smart phones to tablets. Today’s smart phones are running such high level operating systems they have become one of the best places for businesses to reach out and interact with their customers. Web design companies have a new level of importance in this mobile friendly world. Your website must translate to smart phone internet surfers in order to maximize your footprint. In fact, large companies have made this jump quite smoothly and quickly. Small businesses have lagged behind on this technology leap.
Statistics show the number of smart phones GLOBALLY is growing at unprecedented speeds. Keeping in touch with people is now just a small part of our mobile phone usage. Think about what you can do with your smart phone: make purchases in a store, get on an airplane, deposit checks, take pictures and load them to social media (the selfie. Who saw that coming?) Along this new line of thinking is the opportunity to communicate with your clientele. Many of our clients utilize email newsletters for their customers. Have you considered text messages? One of my favorite sushi restaurants in Jacksonville texts out their specials at least once a week. And it works. I have changed my plans more than once for them.
Regular websites don’t just magically work on a smart phone. It’s critical that your web design company is capable and prepared to develop your mobile site in addition to your regular computer-based site. There are so many opportunities created simply by developing your mobile-friendly site. Research has proven users are discouraged from a company if their website is difficult to navigate from a smart phone. Another unexpected benefit to a good mobile site? Improved search engine rankings. When someone conducts a search on their mobile phone search engines will provide them first with sites that will work on their smart phone.
I can’t overstate how important your mobile presence is in today’s smart phone world. From search engine optimization to online purchases to dinner reservations, the mobile world is becoming a larger and larger part of the web design business plan. Start 2015 with a bang and get your website ready for mobile users! Give us a call and Happy New Year!
Source: MarlinCS Blog
Why does your business need an engaging web presence?
Believe it or not, the World Wide Web has been around for decades now but a surprisingly large number of small businesses don’t think that they need to have websites. People running small businesses give all sorts of excuses to avoid creating their own websites. However, the benefits of an online presence should not be ignored. Contracting the services of a web design company is guaranteed to change the way an entrepreneur carries out his business.
Business owners should know that buyers today pre-qualify businesses they might work with later. They do this by simply visiting the business website of a company. According to a study done by Hubspot marketing agency, a whopping 78% of internet users find out about products online before initiating a purchase transaction. This figure also applies to people looking for local businesses.
Think about your own purchase transactions. How many times have you searched a product or business online before going ahead to buy something? The Internet is a free source of information which influences consumers. Not having an online presence therefore hurts businesses whether they know it or not. Making your presence felt on the web is not as difficult as it used to. A business in Florida for instance can contact a Jacksonville Webdesign Company to make its name on the Internet. With a website a business will no longer miss out on the most crucial part of business which the getting found part.
Don’t let your competitors get ahead of you
More and more web-savvy companies are coming up and there is a good chance that one of those companies is your competitor. If your competitor is more active than you on the web, you are going to miss out on business. Companies whose products might be worse than yours understand that people are quick to judge a book by its cover. Therefore, if their website kicks your website’s butt, consumers will end up buying from your competitor. You must be picky when choosing a web design company. A local, plugged-in, experienced St Augustine Webdesign firm is better than an obscure company operating from God-knows-where.
Control the conversation
Whether or not you have a website, there are likely some conversations on the Internet regarding your business. Even if you have never hired a Jacksonville Webdesign Company to make a website for you, your web presence is already there thanks to your customers. People now leave reviews of businesses on websites such as Google review, Trip Advisor, and Yelp. Social media is another place where you cannot prevent people from saying whatever they want about your business. Even thought you can’t control what people say, you can respond to things said about you and potentially develop or improve relationships with your customer base. You can respond to reviews about you and introduce product improvements to fix previous negative feedback. You can only do such things with a website of your own. Let Marlin help you break out of the crowd and create your new website today!
Source: MarlinCS Blog
What is Social Media Marketing, and How Can it Help My Business?
Social media marketing is one of the newest and fastest growing mediums through which to build your business. In the last ten years it has revolutionized marketing, particularly for small businesses. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are very well known, but YouTube can play a role in your marketing, particularly if you provide a service and can offer videos and how-to’s for your clientele. Interactive blogs are a great opportunity to teach and inform as well as gather information from consumers.
Increased brand awareness
When you enter social media channels, your brand will appear in search results across the Web not just in search engines. Many social media channels, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, feature “group” functionality, which allows users to search for topics in which they are interested. Furthermore, social media channels facilitate the process of instantly sharing information with a large number of contacts. So if a reader finds your content useful or interesting, they can share it with their contacts quickly and easily, creating organic exposure for your brand.
Gives your brand an organic, human feel
Participating in social media brings your brand closer to existing and potential customers. Your voice defines your brand image and separates it from a distant entity to a hip, trendy, “in-the-know” brand. Think about what Apple did with its famous “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” commercials.
Allows you to tune into what’s being said about your brand
You may not know it, but your customers are saying lots of things about your brand. Social media channels like Twitter and Facebook make “brand buzz” readily available. If you’re not tuned in, you could be missing out on crucial information about your target market.
Facilitates word-of-mouth marketing
There is no stronger marketing message than an endorsement from a friend. Social media facilitates word-of-mouth marketing by making it quick and easy to tell your friends about your positive experience with a brand. More importantly, social media doesn’t just make it easy to tell a single friend; it makes it easy to tell all your friends what’s on your mind.
Medium through which to communicate with your existing and potential customers
Twitter and Facebook have become the default customer-service media for many companies and more are hopping on the bandwagon each day. By using these channels to reach out to your customers, you project an image that shows that not only do you listen, you care.
Increases customer loyalty
One independent study published in the March 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review, found that Facebook pages increase customer loyalty by 36%. The study also found that customers connected with the brand’s Facebook page had higher emotional attachment and greater psychological loyalty toward the brand.
Builds consumer trust
The transparency inherent in social media builds trust with potential consumers. Social media allows you to build and nurture a relationship with your clientele without visiting with each of them on an individual basis. Used correctly, this is an invaluable tool.
Social media has become one of the most popular and trusted ways to reach out to consumers. If you take the time to create a strong footprint in the social media arena you will see the benefit in your bottom line. Good luck!
If you’re looking to improve your website’s ranking, contact Marlin Consulting Solutions today. We can help you maximize your online visibility and reach your target audience.
Source: MarlinCS Blog
“Mobile-Friendly” Labels In Mobile Search Results Officially Launched by Google
After lots and lots of testing, Google has just officially launched the mobile-friendly label in the mobile search results.
What does this mean? Well in an effort to help mobile users have a better experience on their devices. Google has rolled out a way to know which sites are mobile-friendly versus which ones are not, Google has added a text label under the URL in the snippet that reads “Mobile-friendly” as the first part of the search result’s snippet.
Google’s Staff has said it can be a “frustrating experience for our mobile searchers” to end up on a web page that is not mobile-friendly, thus they are adding the label to their mobile search results to communicate this to the searcher.
In addition to the mobile-friendly label, Google is experimenting with a new ranking algorithm for mobile friendly web sites.
Here is what the mobile-friendly label is officially launching with, note, it may change in the future:
As you can see in the search results it is rather easy to see. These tags appear if you use the Google App as well as in a mobile browser search that returns Google results.
How do you qualify to show this label for your web site? Google said it depends on if GoogleBot detects the following criteria:
- Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
- Uses text that is readable without zooming
- Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
- Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped
You may be asking yourself, “How does Google know what a user experience will be like on your mobile site?” Well, Google has been dropping hints that they understand mobile experience for some time now. They recently launched mobile usability reports to help webmasters find issues with their mobile web sites.
Google also recommends you test your site in the new Mobile-Friendly Test tool, review their mobile friendly guidelines and use various third-party tools to go mobile-friendly with your web site.
This new mobile-friendly label is now rolling out over the next few weeks.
If you do not have a mobile friendly site, we can help. Click here to see what options we have.
Source: MarlinCS Blog
Get Online, Get Noticed
One of the most practical ways to grow your business is to get your business online… AND get potential customers to find you. Fun facts:
- 97% of consumers go online to find local businesses
- More than one out of five Google searches are local
- 40% of consumers say they not comfortable with a product or service if they can’t research it online
If these consumers can’t find your business online, they’re going to find your competitors. Let’s go over three steps that can get you online successfully.
STEP 1: Get visibility with business listings
Business listings are your business, address and phone number in a directory
The directory can be online (think YP.com) or offline (think yellow pages). A lot of publishers will allow you to add business listings at no cost, and sometimes you can sneak more information like a link to your website or your hours of operation. You can often utilize listing sites that are specific to your business type. Lawyer.com, Yelp.com, YP.com are very popular listings. Even Google Maps can be an excellent tool to get your business online.
Consumers find businesses by using search engines or searching a directory
When a consumer uses a search engine they will often return business listings and web listings in the result. Generally, business listings rank higher than regular web listings. When a consumer uses a local search site or directory they will get info on your business which may include additional details such as a link to your website, hours of operation, ratings, reviews, photos, coupons etc. Often publishers allow searchers to post ratings, reviews or comments to listings. It is a tremendous advertising opportunity.
Three tips for getting visibility:
1. Get on the top sites. Google, Yahoo, and Yelp are just a few.
2. Keep your listings straight forward, accurate, and consistent. You can alienate potential customers with inconsistent or inaccurate listings.
3. Pay attention to comments or reviews and respond to them. It’s important to manage your profile. Obviously we want positive reviews but here are some suggestions to help you deal with bad ones.
a. Respond quickly and appropriately. Show concern but don’t take responsibility for an issue until you’ve confirmed it.
b. Try to resolve issues offline. It’s easier to work a situation when it isn’t playing out for the world to see.
c. If you succeed in getting the issues offline you or the client should follow up on the original posts so there is no question of its resolution.
d. If a review seems illegitimate or fraudulent, the publisher will usually remove it if you contact them.
STEP 2: Have a practical website –give visitors the info they want and utilize Search Engine Optimization.
Customers want contact info, the products or services you provide and pricing (where appropriate).
In this brave new world of smart phones, tablets, Wi-Fi, and LTE be sure your website is optimized for mobile screens so consumers can contact you when they find your site. New technology has had a HUGE impact on web searching. 60% of shoppers use smart phones or tablets to perform their searches.
Make sure your site is mobile responsive. Visit your website on your computer. If your site does not adjust as you zoom in or out it is probably not mobile responsive. We can help with that.
Here are three things to determine if your website is optimized for search engines:
1. Make sure search engines can find you.
Search Google, if your website doesn’t show up Google doesn’t know you exist. If your site shows up, look at the number of results and determine if this number is the same as the of pages in your website.
2. Make sure your site is relevant to terms your potential customer base will use to search for you.
Identify words, terms, or phrases your customers may use. The obvious place to look is the visible content on your site. You also want to look at title tags (descriptive titles for each page of your site) and meta tags (describe each page of your site in more detail than title tags). These give searchers context about your site.
a. Keep title tags to 65 characters or less.
b. Keep the most important keywords at the beginning of the description.
c. Make title tags readable, not threads of keywords. That way people will be able to read them easily.
d. Each title tag should be unique to the page it is describing.
3. See if search engines are prioritizing your site over other similar businesses. You can check by searching for your business using terms you previously identified.
a. When possible, use your business name in your url (mybusiness.com)
b. Make sure your name and contact info is on your site. Ensure all links to your website are accurate.
c. If your business is local, reach out to the Chamber of Commerce, paper, bloggers, and related sites.
STEP 3: Add great content to both your website and business listing
When a customer finds your website or your business listing they want enough information to determine if they should contact you or not.
Your site should look professional but you don’t go crazy with flashy designs and over the top graphics. Additionally, make sure your site sets your business apart from the competition. Stand out.
Some content should always be included no matter what kind of website you have.
1. Your business story in text, photo or video. Tell your story with photos and videos to make an impact.
2. Specific information about the products or services you provide
3. Pricing information
4. Raves and recommendations from your customers
5. Contact information
As you plan your online strategy, Marlin CS will be there to offer you our knowledge and experience to make this potentially stressful process as smooth as possible. We look forward to the opportunity to work with you as you develop your internet business tactics.
Source: MarlinCS Blog
