Dabrian Marketing Group

Web Security Can Compromise Your Company

March 7, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Why Is Web Security Important?

The more information you have, the more web security is important. It is crucial for your business to have security in place if you have customer’s credits cards on file in a server. If a hacker would get their hands on your customers credit cards, then you business could potentially run the risk of being sued.

Now, granted not many companies keep that kind of information. Most of the information you have on your site are documents of agreements, files made specifically for a client, etc. You wouldn’t feel good if you were the client of another business. Then one day that business got hacked and lost some of your information, and because of them, that information became public knowledge. Not something anyone wants happening.

How Can Web Security Affects Your Company?

A hacker can turn your website against you in minutes, getting your website blocked by common search engines like Google or Yahoo. Once your website is blocked by Google or Yahoo, it is a very long process and sometimes impossible to get it unblocked. A hacker can also send spam emails to all your clients, and potentially leak private client data, all without your knowledge of any of it happening.

Without some good security protecting your company’s website and computers, you could easily find yourself on the 5 o’clock news. There is a laundry list of things you can do to protect your company. Below are some of the basics to help you get started. This should not be the basis of your company’s security, merely a double check that everything is in place to keep you and your business safe.

Tips To Securing Your Website

Keep all software up to date. This may sound trivial, but you would be surprised at how many sites get hacked by an old security hole found long ago that was patched, and simply updating it would have fixed it.
Switch to HTTPS. An easy enough switch. Provides peace of mind to your customers knowing your secure and thanks to Google recently, you would also be increasing in search rankings.
Use strong passwords and change them regularly. This may sound like a simple change to make, but a site is only as strong as it’s weakest link. Making sure all passwords are strong boosts your security.

Tips To Securing Your Computers

Get an antivirus. Make sure you get an antivirus for your computer. It can be free or paid. If you pay for an antivirus, once the subscription runs out it is doing nothing for you. Anyone looking for an antivirus, Kaspersky is a good place to start.
Update your PC. Having all your software up to date will help make sure it is more secure.
Consider using a firewall. A firewall manages all files going to and from your computer. Usually, it notifies you of something that it does not recognize or it knows is malicious.

With these helpful tips, you will be keeping your computer and your website secure. This should not be your only security. Theses tips are only meant to help you get started. We are not responsible if your company gets a virus.

If you have any security questions ask away in the comments below or Contact Us today!

Importance of Keyword Research

February 29, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Is your local target audience finding you when they search online? If you are using the wrong keywords within your content (Headlines, Paragraphs, URL, Blogs, etc.), then there is a good chance your business is not being found. The question then becomes, how do you know what the right keywords are? Answer: Keyword Research.

Local Keyword Research via Google Trends

Scenario: You are a doctor looking to acquire new patients.
People across the US are searching for doctors, but everyone doesn’t use the same keywords to search. We ran “family doctor”, “primary care physician”, and “family physician” through Google Trends (see image below.)

Clearly “family doctor” is the most searched, but this is at a nationwide level. For doctors and other health care providers with a physical location, it is crucial to look at your specific location when doing research. While most cities across the nation will closely resemble what is shown above there are some cities that will be drastically different. For example here is the last 12 months worth of searches for the same terms in the Boston area.

While “family doctor” remains high, it is surpassed by “primary care physician.” When writing for your target audience, make sure that you are using terms that they are familiar with and use. Having these terms inside headers, context, and links throughout your website will help users find, understand and engage with your site.

Hopefully, Google Trends will help you identify what keywords your local audience is searching and would help boost your website’s visibility and performance. While search volume is a critical part of keyword research it is only the beginning.

If you have further questions or would like help conducting research, let us know, we would love to help you reach new customers.

6 SEO Tips for Businesses

February 22, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

As online search continues to increase, so does the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Almost every business (big and small) in America today has some sort of online presence. Here are 6 SEO tips for businesses every owner should follow.

1. Have Web Analytics in Place

Business owners are always looking for ways to increase their overall success. Well, how can you improve something you don’t measure? You can’t. However, by using analytics business owners can see everything they need to know about their business. It allows you to see the users visiting your site and their actions. It also shows you which pages are popular, which aren’t, and potential errors with certain pages. In analytics, you can define your business goals and track to see if you accomplish them. These goals could be a user filling out a contact/registration form or even making a purchase. Having analytics set up on a business’ site is absolutely essential for a successful SEO campaign.

2. Take Advantage of the Tools the Search Engines Give You

Many business owners share the misconception that online diagnostic tools are too expensive. This is not the case. In fact, Google and Bing offer these tools for free. By using Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, a business owner is given the ability to see how search engines view his/her website; seeing which pages are eligible to show as results when someone does an online search.These tools also show search traffic, technical errors, and will offer tips on how to improve your online presence.

3. Start a Blog and Join One Too

An effective way to improve your SEO is to create a blog. Search engines love fresh content. Regularly updating your blog will improve the reach and visibility of your site. With that being said, why should you do all the talking? Join in on other industry related blogs and discussions. This not only allows you to see what is being said about your business/industry, but it also allows you to establish yourself as an expert in the field. The more user engagement, the better. If users feel that there is a relationship between them and the business owner, they are far more likely to visit your site, recommend you to others, or even better, purchase your product or service.

4. Earn Links and Build Relationships

Link earning and building are extremely important aspects of SEO. Obtaining links from other reputable sites tells search engines that you too are reputable and most likely have something important to offer to users. While this task may sound simple enough, it can be a difficult and lengthy process. Start by acquiring foundational links from trusted directories such as DMOZ. From there, try to earn links for trusted sites in your area, such as the Chamber of Commerce or a local business directory. An effective way to receive these links are by releasing newsworthy press releases. This also helps your business develop a relationship with news stations and the local community.

As you continue to gain high-quality links, your domain authority will increase. At this point, start looking for link opportunities on authoritative sites within your industry. For example, a link from MOZ would be huge for a digital marketing agency such as ourselves.

5. Dominate the Local Market

Local SEO is becoming more relevant and important than ever before. It is absolutely crucial that a business performs well locally. To do so, there a few steps you have to cover. First, make sure the name of your business, address, and phone number are prominent on each page of your site and consistent. The next is that you need to be listed and verified on local listings (Google My Business, Bing Places, and Yahoo Local). These listings will prove the validity of your business to users and search engines. The last step is to take advantage of your local directories. Being listed in your local business directory will help you gain more visibility which in turn should drive relevant traffic to your site.

6. Include and Update a Sitemap

What’s the point of consistently adding content if search engines can’t find it? Sitemaps are a way to tell search engines about pages on your site they might not otherwise discover. In its simplest terms, an XML Sitemap is a list of the pages on your website. Creating and submitting a Sitemap helps make sure that search engines know about all the pages on your site, including URLs that may not be discoverable by their normal crawling process.

If creating a sitemap sounds far too technical for you, don’t panic. Simply go to a sitemap generator and it’ll take care of all the work for you. Once created, submit your sitemap to Google and also submit it to Bing.

Having an effective SEO campaign for a business is absolutely crucial for their success in today’s digital world. By following the 6 SEO tips for businesses listed above, your business will gain visibility, customers, and a leg up on your competition.

For more tips and information regarding Search Engine Optimization, Contact Us today!

By: David McDowell

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC Hires Director of Business Development

February 8, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC has further expanded its full-time staff to include a Director of Business Development, Doug Crawford. Doug is native to the Reading area and brings over 25 years of experience in marketing, management, sales and customer service.

“I’m excited to work with such an expert team that’s very dedicated to their crafts,” said Crawford. “Everyone’s involved in all aspects of the business and everyone can truly impact every decision.” “I’m eager to help make DaBrian Marketing a prominent agency in the local market and be able to showcase the expertise of the individuals that make up this agency.”

Daniel Laws, Jr., principal owner of DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC, said “We are excited to have Doug on board, and are committed to attracting and retaining local talent, like Doug. As point of our agency’s growth, we want to continue to service the digital marketing needs of the market. We believe that by adding a Director of Business Development, this positions us to address the needs of the market and solidify a critical role with DaBrian Marketing Group. It’s one of many exciting changes going on with our agency.”

For more information about our new Director of Business Development, Doug, visit dabrianmarketing.com

DaBrian Marketing Group Designs Local Coffee Shop’s Website

February 3, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

DaBrian Marketing Group Designs Local Coffee Shop, American Coffee House, Ecommerce Website

Reading, PA-based American Coffee House has selected full-service digital marketing agency DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC to design and develop its company’s ecommerce website.

American Coffee House is situated in the heart of downtown Reading, PA. They provide their café menu items with the freshest ingredients hand-picked from our talented local vendors. They have over 29 years of coffee experience, and they work to bring a smile to their customers and provide a warm environment to share with your family and ours.

Jennifer Kovacs, from American Coffee House stated, that “DaBrian Marketing Group is a wonderful company to do business with, they kept us informed of every step and created a fantastic website for our company.”

The new American Coffee House website can be found at americancoffeehouse.org

Top Trends for Social Media in 2016

January 25, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

With nearly 2 billion active social media users and with nearly 9 out of 10 companies in the US utilizing social media for marketing purposes, it is almost impossible for your business in today’s world to not be apart of the social media world in some regards. Here are some top trends for social media that could help to increase your company’s overall goals.

Allocate More To Video In 2016

In case you are living under a rock, social video exploded in 2015. Last year Facebook users around the world posted 75% more video than they did in the previous year, and with SnapChat tripling its daily views since May and reaching 6 billion daily video views, video is now one of the strongest contenders in 2016. Those numbers will steadily increase throughout the year and with most social networks like Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter seeing increases in 2015, other social networks are hopping on board. It was reported that Pinterest could also be hopping on the video advertising bandwagon in 2016.

Not only have video views and shares exploded on these social networks, but the use of video for advertising purposes has also steadily increased. A video can engage with your current audience and potential customers like never before. If video is not somewhat apart of your content strategy in 2016, it might be time to re-evaluate and allocate more efforts in creating relevant video content.

Allocate More Resources and Budget To Social Media

With the increase of users on every social media channel, advertisers are taking notice and increasing their advertising spend on these social channels. Not only are advertisers spending more but they can reach their audience like never before. Now advertisers can not only set up their target audience using their age and gender, but they can also target their audience by interest and location. The ability to now target your audience more specifically can help your business get the most value from your ad spend by reaching only the people that matter to you.

Employee Advocacy

For larger companies having a team dedicated to marketing and social media can have its benefits, but any company, no matter the size can benefit from your employees being advocates for your company. When it comes to sharing the latest and greatest news about your company and or products or services, who knows your brand better than your employees? Content first relayed by your company and then shared by your employees has the potential to reach more current and potential customers. But be careful, you will want to connect with your employees who will be doing this and create viable content for them to reuse so that your brand message and the image will stay consistent.

Communicate With Your Customers

With so many people on social media, your company can respond to questions, comments, or concerns that your customers have in a timely fashion. Even if you have an angry customer commenting or posting a question, engaging with that customers and staying on top of comments and questions will get your company out in front of those negative comments. Not only does this engagement help to answer your customer’s questions, but it can also help to create meaningful relationships with your customers and your timely response could have the potential to create a customer for life. These few social media trends in could help improve your company’s reach, brand awareness, and overall goals. Will your company be on board?