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Importance of Keyword Research

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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.)

Keyword Research for Doctors Nationwide (US)

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.

Keyword research for Doctors in Boston

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.

5 B2B Web Design Trends to Consider in 2016

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Web Design Trends
created by freepik.com

Introduction:

Back in March 2015 I wrote a blog which covered “Five New Web Design Trends for 2015”. Although several of these trends have managed to survive 2015, there are some additional trends that could affect the usability of your B2B website. In this blog, I will go over five (5) additional trends that can help improve usability, increase website traffic, and help drive conversions.

1. More Unique & Creative Typography

With the emergence of affordable or free web-safe fonts options like Google Fonts and Adobe Typekit, typography is becoming much more unique, and creative. On many B2B websites, headers are becoming much bolder and body text is appearing much larger in size. In addition to latest evolution of the Cascading Style Sheets language, CSS3, styling typography will offer unlimited options on how it’s presented on the web going forward. Sites like StephenCraver utilizes great use of typography to carry the layout of the site.

According to HTTP Archive, the use of custom fonts has increased over the past year. Bolder, more unique typefaces will continue to be used in B2B web design going forward. While designers may still play it safe when it comes to choosing fonts for readable type and body copy, expect to see more unique and experimental font being used for website headers and supporting text.

2. Cards, Cards, and Even More Cards

As you browse the web, you may notice that many B2B companies are leaning more towards a card design look. This web design trend is most common on social media platforms, and most commonly associated with Pinterest, however many companies have adapted this trend and you should see more of it in 2016. Several other notable sites utilizing this trend are ESPN, Dribble, The Guardian, and Amazon.

3. Less Photography, More Illustrations

Before 2016, they were plenty of B2B websites that were overloaded with stock images as means of telling their brand story. If the appropriate images aren’t chosen, this direction could cause a big disconnect between your business and potential clients. In 2016, you will notice that many businesses will move away from stock photography (especially if they are not personable) and rely more on illustration graphics to tell their story.

You will find illustration being implemented in a variety of ways such as, large-scale, hero images and backgrounds, or on much smaller scales such as icons and user interface elements. Two nice examples of websites utilizing illustrations as it’s main source of graphics are McWhopper and Ice & Sky which combine large background illustrations and animation to tell their brand story.

4. Bolder use of color

In 2015, B2B companies who implemented flat design into their website more than likely utilized a color palette which was just a flat as the design itself. With that being said, 2016 promises to be much more colorful than years past.

Color has always been one of the most single important tools for expressing a company’s brand story or message. In prior years, many B2B companies stuck to “web-safe” palettes because of the some technology limitations. If you are looking for color inspiration websites like Adobe Color CC, Paletton, Coolors can help you put together some interesting color palettes. A couple examples of good color implementation on their websites are Bose and History Of Icons.

5. Keep On Scrolling and Less Reloading

To scroll, or not to scroll. This has always been a highly debatable topic for many. It seems that more people are finding it easier to scroll down a page rather than clicking, and loading another page. This is more relevant to smartphones users browsing on slow or limited data networks. Whether on mobile or desktop, scrolling can be a very effective way of telling a company’s brand story. If your B2B website is accustom to getting a high volume of mobile traffic, scrolling would be a much better user experience than a page refresh on any device.

Websites using a Parallax scrolling effect are often implemented as a way to tell a story and make layouts more dynamically appealing. Scrolling allows the content to be incrementally readable, allowing more options and visibility to other Micro Interactions. One of my favorite scrolling or parallax designs is the Lexus website. This website implements an excellent one-page design with sections that lead to other Call To Actions (CTAs) or micro interactions.

Conclusion

While it may not be necessary to implement every new trend into your website, many of them have the potential to improve user experience. Before following new trends, it is best that you have some knowledge of what they are and how they can affect your business. Once you have a strategy in place, implementing new trends and having the ability to test them will help you streamline that process. This will help you adapt to a trend that best reflects you and your business goals.

Project Management: Frequently Avoided Questions

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In my previous blog, Project Management: Frequently Avoided Questions Part 1, I discussed the challenges one may face when attempting to ask their clients the right questions so that every project may run smoothly. Part 2 will focus on the right questions to ask either your employees or your co-workers so that your team is successful.

Project Management

1. What are your goals?

Whether you’ve just begun getting to know your newest employee or coworker or they’ve been by your side for years, gaining a clear understanding of where they want to be in life could benefit your relationship and your team’s success. Finding out someone’s motivator and driving force can lead to understanding how to work with, and towards, your company’s goals. If Peter Parker needs to motivate Bruce Wayne, it would behoove him to understand that Alfred is his only ally.

2. What challenges are you currently facing?

Take the opportunity to ask and listen to the challenges that your employee faces when completing their work. Time will always be a constraint, and organization is a quite common downfall as well, but what resources could you provide to truly help this employee succeed? Additional training may initially seem to undermine your coworker’s skills and knowledge but what has changed since they were originally trained to do their job? Have processes and regulations become an ever changing source of frustration? LinkedIn’s recent purchase of Lynda.com makes it even easier to provide knowledgeable training during any stage of learning at any time. At times, simply lending a listening ear could alleviate frustration as well.

3. How can we do better?

The most important question to ask yourself, and your employee, is “How can we do better?”. No matter how smoothly your relationship has transitioned from stranger to employee or co-worker, it’s best to self-reflect. Spending 40 hours a week with someone is challenging and can leave your relationship in murky waters. Creating the habit of optimizing your relationships with others to a healthy and happy work environment can lead to your company’s success.

Frequently Avoided Questions Asked

Don’t waste your time wondering how to become a business owner, project manager, or co-worker – take a chance and ask the right questions!

For more advice or information regarding Project Management, Contact Us today or leave us a comment below!

Project Management: Frequently Avoided Questions

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We’ve all been there, down in the dumps, confused about our client’s or boss’s wants and needs. We’ve all paced around struggling with questions that we couldn’t possibly begin to answer. So ask those questions, get the right information, and produce the best results for your team!
This blog will be part of a two part series that discusses Frequently Avoided Questions in two facets: Client Facing, and Employee Facing. I’ll tackle the thoughts we’ve all had when working on a project with a client as well as directly with your employees. Part One will delve into the questions you might be afraid to ask your clients. But it’s best to ask all of your questions for optimal Project Management, so let’s begin!

1. What are your expectations for our project?

Whether you’ve just begun to outline the plan for an upcoming project, or if you’re six months into the process, examining and determining clear goals and objective is priority number one. So maybe you’re thinking, “Ok, but what if we’ve had the goals outlined and the methodology keeps changing?”, have no fear! Simply ask the question again. Neither the client or the provider (Project Manager) wants to finish a project that’s nonsensical. You wouldn’t build a window just to lay bricks over the top and then expect your customers to be able to see your business through this nonexistent window. Reexamining the goals of the project and clearly defining the “Why?” to every project can go a long way. If you can’t proudly gleam at what you’re going to be doing, reassess.

2. What are some timeline goals we should be working towards?

Time! The ever closing window of opportunity. Don’t let that window slam down on your hand! Take control of the tasks that should be completed to finish the project on time. If you’re going to be developing an outdoor swimming pool, chances are, the deadline coincides with Memorial Day. But not all deadlines are as easily known. Create a space for your client that shows your flexibility and understanding of critical deadlines. Check out this blog from Mashable about Document Collaboration tools to see how you can connect on notes, rough drafts of documents needed for your project, and more.

Checklist

3. How can we do better?

The most important question to ask yourself, and your client, is “How can we do better?” No matter how smoothly the project has gone along, the level of stress derived from the project, or how the finished project compares to previous ones, it’s best to self-reflect and reach out for help doing so. Creating the habit of analyzing the outcome of every project will help to create a happier and cohesive workforce and client rapport. Understanding your team’s downfalls will help to correct them and provide support to assure your business thrives.

Frequently Avoided Questions Asked

So you’ve gathered the expectations of the project, worked to uphold the timelines in place, and reflected upon the shortcomings of yourself as a project manager and your team as a whole, now it’s time to tackle your next project with even more ambition and determination as last time! There are plenty of ways to assess your project’s goals and to create a seamless plan for success. Most importantly, find time to evaluate every project and work to better in the future.

For more advice or information regarding Project Management, Contact Us today or leave us a comment below!

Common Myths of Digital Marketing

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As an ad agency owner, I speak to a number of prospective clients throughout the year.  It’s very common for people to have misconceptions about the advertising business but in some cases, these issues are common myths. With that said, below are my replies to common myths to help understand our industry, services, and agreements:

Website Hosting is all the same!

WordPress is one of the most popular Content Management Systems (CMS) and powers an estimated 24% of the internet.  Contrary to popular belief, it’s important that you update most CMS’s for security purposes and that includes the themes and plugins.  Only 36% of all WordPress websites are the most up-to-date version and that doesn’t include the plugins which means that the website is a security risk.

My Website Works for me!

Define “work”?  According to Webster, work is: activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something.  What function is your website performing for your business and do you have the metrics to prove it? Is it an online brochure or does it generate visits, collect form information, or drive sales? If not, can you truly say that it’s working?

Paid Search doesn’t work for my business or my industry but You ran it!

Let’s be honest, it didn’t work because you’re not a marketing professional, you don’t have the time, don’t know the AdWords or Bing Ads platform, you can’t code/program landing pages for your campaigns, and that’s just for starters. The AdWords and Bing Ads platforms are tools for your business, so learn how to use them or get a certified AdWords or Bing accredited professional to handle it for you!

I’m B2B, Don’t Need SEO or Digital Marketing, and My Prospects know me!

According to Google, 89% of B2B researchers use the internet during the B2B research process. So, you are missing an opportunity to differentiate your products or services from the competition.  Purchasing a product or service is a human behavior, and those decision-makers are doing the research and are also the ones signing-off on agreements or purchases. When was the last time you saw just the company’s name on the dotted line or the signature on the check?

Every agency is certified for Paid Search, Really!

Depending on the source, there are an estimated 32,000 up to 55,000 advertising agencies in the United States.  There are a few thousand certified AdWords Professionals but only a few hundred Google Partners within the United States. Each of the Google Partners have unique budget limits for new clients and individual industry expertise. So, not all agencies are certified for paid search and I would estimate that only 25% are Google Partners.

Don’t Need Social Media!

80% of small businesses use social media websites for monitoring and collecting information about competitors to their businesses (Source: Socialmediatoday). In addition, existing customers are discussing your products or services which leads to research, purchases, and product/service reviews. Many businesses are using social media as part of their customer service as well. I guess there is no need to collect information on the competition, promote your products or services, or listen to customers.

I use social media but I don’t need a content strategy

What’s the plan and how do you know if your posts are useful for your fans, followers, friends or connections? You’re talking but is anyone listening? Even worse, you’re the diva on social media that only talks about themselves, doesn’t share others social posts, or interact with others! Let’s identify your target audience and share information that’s useful to them.  You might even be considered an expert and start discussions about your products, services or industry.

We’re using Email Marketing

So, you have a Constant Contact account but you’ve got no email marketing plan, no metrics to gauge success, limited integrations with your customers database, no automated follow-ups, and everyone gets the same generic email. Constant Contact encourages contact management, list segmentation, and other features.  If you’re going to use email marketing, maximize your time and leverage the email platform to it’s full capacity to generate leads, sales and save you time.

The Ad Agency didn’t do their job

You paid for a website redesign project with hosting but making changes to the website, content, or security updates are not in the agreement.  Now, you’re upset because you don’t know how to make changes and the website hasn’t been updated in months.  Also remember that you updated the website for a strategic reasons so what metrics did you want to improve and were these metrics improved? Review the agreement and understand what it is that you are paying for.  In many cases, there is a specific reason for the estimate from ad agency to ad agency and the devil is in the details.