Blogging and Your website… Important?
There are any number of reasons a small business in particular needs a website. First, your competitors have websites. From local businesses to large national companies, your business and your website have to stand out. Second, think convenience. I bet you have a stack of business cards you hand out whenever you meet new people. Your website is like an online business card people can find through search engines.
A professional website gives you instant credibility with a potential customer. A website shows your commitment to your business’ success. Your website can help you build relationships with customers by creating emails or newsletters to promote your business.
Building your online identity is like any new endeavor. There are growing pains and things that seem like a good idea at the time. In an effort to soften your head first dive into the world of blogging, here are some tips to consider as you begin your blog. When you sit down and start brainstorming your blog, don’t get wrapped up in what anyone else may want. Put your thoughts on paper and go from there. Be consistent! You can cover lots of different subjects but don’t waffle on where you stand. If you’re sending mixed signals you’re going to lose. Don’t be afraid of your readers; get to know them. If you understand them you can target your writing. Once you’ve begun blogging utilize your audience, get ideas from them. If you’re trying to entice potential customers to your business, listen to them!
Give it time. This isn’t going to happen overnight. Don’t panic! Marlin Consulting specializes in small businesses. Customers will be able to find you and learn about you, increasing traffic for you. Grow your email list and have some patience and a little faith and we’ll see those results.
Google Warns Site Owners: Googlebot Cannot Access CSS and JS
And the game keeps changing or does it? Well in this case it does not.
Please keep in mind this is not a new update from Google but a bunch of new warnings that Googlebot cannot access your CSS and JS files. These recent warnings were issued by Google via Google Search Console. Here’s an image.
Google Update Warns Site owners
At first glance you might in inclined to think this might cause an impact to your website and your rankings. But these warnings are not penalty notifications as some may think. That being said however resolving this issue is important.
So, how do you fix these issues?
First log-in to your Google Search Console account, and then go to your site dashboard. Click on Google Index > Blocked resources and check if the search console is showing anything under “Pages affected”.
Blocked Resources in Google Search Console
Now, click on the domain under the host column, this will show you all the files which are being blocked and not able to be crawled by Googlebot. Here is where you will most probably see files such as themes or plugins or css or js files which are essential for site display. If that is the case, you need to edit your site’s robots.txt file. This will be the case for almost all WordPress, Joomla & other popular CMS based websites.
Blocked File List
If you do not see any blocked resources for your site right away, so you can use the Fetch as a Google feature.
How do you do that you ask? Just follow these instructions:
Click on Crawl > Fetch as Google to add a fetch & render request that will be completed in a few minutes. Then you will see how Google sees (Renders) your site. Once complete then you can click on robots.txt tester to see which line of your robots.txt file is blocking the bots from accessing your site’s CSS & JS files.
Fetch and Render
At this point you are probably wondering
How do I fix CSS and JS warning by editing the robots.txt file?
If robots.txt sounds scary or intimidating not to worry. The Robots.txt files has been around for a long time. It is also important to know that you cannot break or cause you website to go down by editing this file. For WordPress websites or blogs, most of them already have “wp-includes” or “wp-content” blocked via robots.txt. The simple fix is to remove this line of code form the robots.txt which should fix most of the warnings relevant to CSS and JS. I have also included a video here from Google, here you can watch a quick video by Matt Cutts posted way back in 2012 on why you should not block JS & CSS files on your website.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and ofcourse should you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us.
Advertising with LinkedIn
Did you know LinkedIn boasts a whopping 313 million users worldwide? Not only are there hundreds of millions of potential customers on the site, you can create an ad on your own and have it ready to roll to targeted members of the site in minutes. The list of filters is quite impressive and allows you to focus your efforts very specifically. For example: location, company name, industry, size, job title, job function, seniority, school name, field of study, degree, skills, LinkedIn group membership, gender, and age. Think about how specific your ad focus can be if you’re able to utilize such filters. You’re practically personalizing an ad before you ever meet your potential new client.
You can also choose where your ad will appear on the website. With LinkedIn’s set up you have several locations from which to choose when focusing on potential clientele. Think about all these locations: profile page, where other users view profiles; home page, that users see when they log in to their account; inbox, where a user gets invites and checks their messages; search results, the page you’re directed to when you look for a user; and groups a member may belong to. Studies have shown that users who are reached through LinkedIn ads convert at a higher rate than other social networks so you’re literally getting more bang for your buck!
There are a couple things to keep in mind when you’re prepping your LinkedIn ad campaign. LinkedIn is not the least expensive social media platform so you’ll want to start small and test before you dive in head first. Additionally, don’t waste words. You’re limited in space on LinkedIn to a 25-character headline, 75 characters in the body, and a 50×50 image for most ads. And fun fact, time your ad to work hours. Most activity on LinkedIn takes place during the middle of the week.
One of the exciting things about utilizing different social media platforms is the opportunity to break into new mediums all the time. It can offer constant fresh outlets for your business. AND constant fresh clientele! Marlin is standing by ready to help you broaden your advertising footprint.
Source: MarlinCS Blog
Targeting the Connected Consumer
For better or worse, the days of potential consumers utilizing traditional media and advertising are long gone. Today, a consumer has endless tools at his fingertips from Consumer Reports to Angie’s List to Yelp to Trip Advisor… The list is overwhelming! Consumers are more informed and more empowered in their decision making than ever before. Heck, a potential customer can walk into your place of business, conduct a quick search on their smart phone and make a decision about your business while standing in your store. As I’ve discussed a thousand times now, there can be a major advantage for small businesses in this new world. All the different social media platforms allow small business owners to create significant buzz around them. If you manage your web presence, this is priceless. Here are some techniques to reach these empowered potential customers.
Traditional advertising just doesn’t impact the way it used to. If you over package your brand, consumers will be suspicious. Potential customers put more stock in endoresements from their peer group. Like-minded consumers who share their experience because it made a difference in their lives are what get attention these days. Think of it as an electronic word of mouth endoresement. Paid endorsers have lost a lot of their shine. If he was around today, Joe DiMaggio’s days as Mr. Coffee may be numbered! So remember, “advertise-y” endorsements and posts do not build trust among today’s consumers. Personal statements from your customers are the impact statements on the web.
Social media diversity is the name of today’s game. Almost 90% of consumers almost always have their mobile devices with them allowing them to access apps anytime, anywhere. It is important you maintain a presence on multiple sites such as Yelp, Foursquare, Trip Advisor and others in addition to the usual Facebook activity. Do the work, stay active and you’ll maximize your business’ benefits in the social media world.
Consumers today can be a little greedy! WIth discount codes and free gifts with purchase, you may want to consider sweetening some of your deals. You’re working so hard at your social networking and mobile engagement, take your work over the top iwth some inventives. In fact, you can maximize your coupon/incentive impact by tying it to your existing social media efforts. “Join our email list for special coupons!” “Mention this ad for BOGO!” “Check our Facebook page for special discount codes!” One you may have started seeing more is the “Share this (Facebook or email) with your friends for an extra % off!” What better way to advertise than encourage your customers to tell their friends? It meets the consumer’s desire for organic endorsements from actual clientele. Everybody wins!
Obviously there are good and bad aspects to our social media world. While it has become critical to maintain a social media presence, it can help you remain engaged with clientele. Small businesses rely on re-engagement by their customers. One-time deals will not keep a small business afloat. Work at your relationships, generate loyalty, and LISTEN to what your customers are saying. While receiving a negative comment or review can hurt your pride, it’s also nice that you can immediately address it and (hopefully) remedy the problem while also maintaining your client-base. Marlin has pushed the social media presence for our clients for years, let us help you take that next step!
Source: MarlinCS Blog
More Facebook Ad Techniques
Since its inception, Facebook has proved itself time and again as one of the best social media platforms for return on investment. Part of the reason is the constant changes in strategy and technique. We’ve all had that irritating Facebook update that changes our homepage or our profile picture and throws us for a loop. As annoying as it is, that is exactly why Facebook continues to lead in a competitive, fast-paced industry. Let’s touch on a few of these features to help you maximize your business’ Facebook impact.
Dark Posts. (I’ve already discussed these but we’ll cover a few new details today). As previously blogged, dark posts appear in the news feed but do not publish to your page. This way you can push your content to new potentially different audiences without cluttering your page. You can also test messages through dark posts to see what works best. The goal here is relevance. The more relevant you are to your ideal client group, the better. You want users to engage with your ads and react to them. You can create these dark posts yourself pretty easily: 1. go to Facebook ads manager 2. go to Facebook Power Editor 3. Click manage pages and create post 4. click the radio button that says “Unpublished Post”.
Conversion Pixels: Measure your Success. Historically we have used ‘cost per click’ to measure Facebook ad impact. The goal is obviously to maximize impact while achieving the lowest possible cost per click ad plan. Utilizing conversion pixels can help you truly identify your best practices. To install conversion pixels: 1. go to Facebook ads manager 2. go to conversion tracking 3. create pixel 4. copy code and paste it on your website. Don’t worry, Marlin can help you with this!
Remarket your audience. The average of first visit conversins is is pretty depressing, less than 10%. But Facebook is helping with this. Their remarketing feature has significantly changed the game. The idea behind a remarketing strategy is based on the statistics that users who have already viewed your website are more likely to be interested and respond to an ad than a first time user. Set up your remarketing strategy: 1. go to Facebook ads manager 2. go to “audiences” 3. create a new audience 4. select people who visit your site 5. copy the pixel and paste it on your site 6. create an advertiesement and select your website custom audience.
The Power Editor. Facebook’s Power Editor was created by FB to manage multiple ad campaigns more efficiently. It can also help you create ads faster. There are some really cool advantages upgrading to Power Editor brings. Check it out: avoid character limits, write as much as you want; schedule times for your ads to run, maximizing impact based on your research; duplicate campaigns and test your audiences quickly; more dark posts!
I can’t say it enough. Social media is absolutely critical to today’s small business. The opportunity to manage your own page and for low to no cost advertise to your clientele is priceless. But you must maximize every outlet at every opportunity to get everything out of your social media campaign. Take advantage of these Facebook techniques and max out your social media profile. Let Marlin help you make it happen!
Source: MarlinCS Blog
Making Your Brand Reboot Work
The idea of a brand reboot can be completely overwhelming, even scary. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, Being around long enough that you need to shake things up with a brand reboot can actually be a sign of success. Longevity is a good thing but it means you have to keep up with technology and changing times. Hence, the brand reboot. Let’s break this down a little bit.
Timing is EVERYTHING. What this means is ensuring you’re rebooting for the right reasons. You don’t want to go through this kind of major change in response to a fad. You want to work with real changes in the business world. Business models are changing constantly in the digital age. Social media alone has changed the business concept by essentially removing the middle man when we want to communicate with a business.
Your reboot needs to include a makeover. Your website, logo, business cards, etc are your brand. What better way to make sure everyone knows you’re changing than to bring out a new logo and design scheme? You’re changing and everyone should know it. With the internet the marketplace is crowded. It has become very easy for small businesses and individuals to create an online presence and clutter up the works. Your bold change will bring attention to your business.
While your makeover’s visibility is important and shows your changes, you need to be able to explain them simply and clearly. Think about the marketplace right now. Domino’s Pizza is no longer Domino’s Pizza. They created an entire ad campaign to explain they’ve dropped Pizza from their storefronts to reflect all of the other products they now offer. Starbucks dropped coffee from its name for the same reason. Companies are branching out and want to avoid being pigeon-holed into one product or idea. You must strike a careful balance with your reboot. It shouldn’t be superficial or shallow but you need to be able to explain it succinctly and with conviction.
Now that you’re committing to a reboot, you want to establish any elements of your brand that have a strong connection for your customers and keep them as you update. Think about major reboots over the years and the elements that never change. Sticking with Starbucks and Domino’s, even though they changed part of their names, the logo is the same, the colors are the same. You can still identify a Starbucks cup just by seeing the round green logo. When you’re in a foreign country and you don’t speak the language, you still know that cup! So don’t start from scratch. Don’t throw away everything you’ve built up. Decide what you want to see change and be clear on what you want to keep.
Test your plan. Then test it again. Then test it again. Get my drift? Talk to employees, customers, competitors, anyone and everyone who will give you feedback on your current brand and any ideas you have for your reboot. Don’t just rely on YOUR gut. Someone may surprise you and completely change your perspective. Remember, your reboot is aimed at impacting your customers so you need to make sure you’re listening to them!
Good luck! Brand reboots don’t have to be scary. Commit to your change and keep an open mind during the process. Marlin can help!
Source: MarlinCS Blog
Tell Your Story
Over the years it has become more and more clear that one of the best ways to build your brand is to connect with your clients, both existing and potential. So how do we do that? You want to bring a human edge to your business and your advertising, and that can be tricky. How do you tell the world about all your business can offer while introducing yourself and developing a personal relationship? One of the best examples I’ve encountered is to follow the “5 C’s”. We’ll break it down below.
CHARACTERS. Introduce your barnd through the voices of real people. It can be anyone involved with you company; customers, you, suppliers, employees. You can take inspiration from several commercials on television today. Think about Florida Orange Juice. Their commercials are often out in the orchards with the farmers and their employees harvesting the oranges we end up drinking at breakfast. It reminds consumers of the human side of business. And that gives most people a feeling of connection to their products.
CONFLICT. In a literature or theatre class we are taught that conflit is the essential element of drama, and drama is the essential element of keeping your audience interested. Consider this, you created your product or service to meet a need you saw as unfulfilled. Gaps like that are conflicts or problems. Your goal as a business is to resolve the conflict, active or passive, that exists in your marketplace.
CURE. Building off the previous “C”, cure. You cure the conflict. You meet the existing need and add value to a potential client’s situation. Improve their life!
CHANGE. This change applies to your clientele. If you cure their conflict (See what I did there?) you have CHANGED their lives. They have improved their lives and the goal is their lives will not be the same. Change them. Become a part of their lives.
CARRYOUT Message. The final piece of your 5 C’s is a tough one. The idea here is to identify the takeaway for your people. Every person involved with or impacted by your business needs to be able to understand what your business is doing in their lives.
Your customers are your BEST publicity source, good or bad. Nothing can match that. We consider our business model from the perspective of our bottom line very easily. The challenge (I snuck another C) is to remember the human aspect. If you put the people first, success will follow. Product alone will not carry the day. Take care of the people from your employees to your suppliers to your customers and you will become a trusted, important part of their world.
Source: MarlinCS Blog
Backlinking
Backlinks are one of the most important things you can do for your business. Essentially, backlinks are links from another website that brings consumers back to your page. This will bring more people to your website and search engines will pick up your site more often through the click activity. Backlinks are critical to your website. When search engines see that you have a lot of good backlinks on several different webpages you’ll move higher on the search engine’s returns.
There are several different strategies you can utilize to build your backlink network. Some of the more common ones are guest blogging, press releases, and article marketing. Guest blogging is just what it sounds like. Find blogs that are relevant to your business and see if they will allow you to guest post on their site. Press releases are fairly self-explanatory, as well. Write one up and fill it up with some backlinks! Article marketing is another excellent tool in your backlink toolbox. Write up articles about your business and submit them to directory websites. You can put your website in the resources and draw clientele to your site that way.
Backlinks are an excellent way to improve your reputation with search engines as well as maximize your exposure to new and existing clientele. Good luck!
Source: MarlinCS Blog
Email Marketing – Composing an Email Campaign
Email Marketing – Composing an email campaign
Writing a good email campaign that works isn’t magic. It’s about simplicity. If your copy doesn’t try to play games with your client base and targets your audience, you will have successful email copy.
You don’t have to be an expert to engage your audience, merely someone who understands campaign objectives and can appropriately adapt your language to the situation. You already do it when you talk to a new client. Do you speak to new clients the way you speak to your friends? That said, no matter what your language has to be authentic. If you create a dialogue, regardless of subject matter, you will develop a more genuine interaction with your clientele.
There are several different ways to create your campaign but a couple points remain the same. Get to the point; don’t dilly-dally when you’re trying to get someone’s attention. Most readers won’t read an entire email so it’s critical you highlight key points. Once you have their attention, inspire them. All your work will be for naught if you can’t motivate potential clients to action. Compel them to explore your site and get involved in your business.
Finally, don’t be afraid if your campaign doesn’t work perfectly right away. It’s critical that you test, learn and improve on your efforts. Proofread your work, have others take a look at it for fresh perspective. As you build your campaign, compare the success of your different emails and see what works best. Build your brand!
Source: MarlinCS Blog
Dark Posts as Facebook Advertising
Dark Posts as FacebookAdvertising; A new way to reach your customer base
Dark posts sound sinister but they’re incredibly effective and growing quickly in popularity. A dark posts doesn’t show in your timeline, it appears in the newsfeeds of SPECIFIC people you designate. Because it appears in someone’s newsfeed they are more likely to acknowledge the ad than the ads that run down the right side of a Facebook page.
Dark posts can include updates, links, photos, or video like normal user posts. Embedding a link in a dark post can drive customers to your website to learn more about you. You can shape content for specific types of users such as targeting by location, age, gender, or interests. The ability to customize your ad helps you avoid one-size-fits-all ads that don’t draw the same level of interest from users.
With dark posts you can test content without showing your entire hand to your potential audience. Dark posts can help you avoid coming off as spam but you should maintain standard social media etiquette. You can receive comments and likes and users can share your dark posts like regular user posts. That said, it is critical you monitor your dark posts. If you don’t keep up with them, potential customers will lose interest due to lack of attention.
As always, Facebook advertising can be a double-edged sword. Comments, reviews, and photos are great when they’re positive, until they’re not. Stay on top of your Facebook reputation; respond quickly when there’s an issue. Take control and be proactive instead of reactive. Dark posts can be a quick way to get your online identity up and running if you handle it the right way!
Source: MarlinCS Blog
