Marketing Strategy

Hot Web Design Trends of 2017

February 13, 2017 by Dabrian Marketing Group 3 Comments

Here at DaBrian Marketing, we love to make predictions on hot web design trends you’ll see in the upcoming year. In the past, our own Creative Director, Mark Mapp, has made predictions in both 2015 and 2016. Heading into 2017, it’s time again to see what has survived and died in the past few years of web design.

Web design is always evolving to keep up with the latest technological advancements. What started in 1989 with just text on the screen, has now progressed to complex websites that can auto adjust to any size while also having all sorts of bells and whistles. Today, we are looking towards the future as designers and developers as we begin to create the next great innovation in the web world. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest trends carrying into the new year.

Flat Design

First catching fire in 2010, we haven’t let flat design go since. We ditched the glossy buttons and shadow effects for vector icons and images. In doing so, we went back to our design roots to focus on layout hierarchy and content structure. Some debate has been made that all flat designs look the same, thus killing the creative aspects of web creation. I actually believe that it is simplifying the design-process. In turn this opens up more opportunity to be creative in other areas of web design. Not to mention: looking similar isn’t always a bad thing. As stated by Forbes Steve Widen: “Familiarity creates confidence.” When it comes to websites, familiarity makes users feel that they can trust the site. For examples of the best flat design websites, go to awwwards.com and check out their nominies.

Material Design

If you haven’t heard of material design yet, then it is about time. Material design is Google’s answer to the next step in the evolution of web design. Like most things that Google does, material design is making waves in the web community and everyone is following in the wake. The goal is to “Create a visual language that synthesizes classic principles of good design with the innovation and possibility of technology and science.” Material design is a spin-off of flat design that focuses on the fundamentals of design while taking it a step further by adding subtle gradients and motion to provide more meaning within designs. The driving force behind this style of design is an emphasis on user actions. This makes the core functionality immediately apparent and provides waypoints for the user.

Mobile Ready Responsive Design

The most important trend that will continue to carry into 2017 is creating mobile-ready responsive designs. As mobile continues to gain importance, you will see websites increasingly dropping the classic, heavy, top navigation in favor of a slimmed down mobile version. Having mobile at the forefront of your design will not only improve your site’s ease of use, but also increase site speed. When you consider that “Mobile devices now account for nearly 2 of every 3 minutes spent online,” it’s no wonder that we are going in the direction that we are.

On the Horizon: Virtual Reality?

Looking back, you can see that many trends we have today have evolved, and continue to do so, as technology advances and new challenges arise. New ideas arrive out of a changing consumer-based, interactive environment. It seems that we have grasped a solid foundation to hold onto in web design and are now beginning to refine our approaches in building and designing. With exciting new innovations like VR (>Virtual Reality) becoming more common, I am thrilled to see what possibilities this will bring to the web. Who knows? Maybe a virtual space to visit “the internet” is right around the corner.

What websites stick out to you? Do you have an example of another well-designed website? Leave a comment, below! Or, if you have hilarious examples of poorly designed websites, we’ll take those too.

Combine Your SEO & Social Media Strategy To Maximize Success

February 6, 2017 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

In the past, both social media and SEO were worked on in silos. SEO was primarily focused on technical improvements and on-page optimization while social was (and often still is today) not even considered a part of the strategic marketing plan. To maximize your digital marketing efforts, SEO and social media need to be in a committed, strategic relationship.

1. Social Signals Are A Ranking Factor

As the use of social media continues to grow, so does the influence it has on search visibility (the likeliness of being found within search results). In 2016, Google and Twitter agreed to make a deal that now gives tweets a prominent position within the SERPs (search engine results page). Additionally, Facebook and (especially) Google + both show up within Google’s organic search results. This not only means that you need to be active on these major platforms but also that it’s imperative to optimize your accounts.

Create relevant posts to reflect your strategy (using the same keywords, message, and tying them all together).

The image below shows social media presence amongst Google’s organic search results.

Search engines not only take into account being listed on these social platforms – they also evaluate your authority. A company with millions of followers receives stronger social signals than a company with a few hundred. With that being said, search engines aren’t stupid. Social media metrics can be easily manipulated and search engines know when that happens. For example, search engines can detect the quality of your followers. This means buying 100,000 proxy Twitter followers will not do much.

The best approach is to build your following organically. Keep in mind that this takes time to do it right.

2. People Are Showing Love, Love Them Back

Your business’ digital presence is not limited to your website; it’s throughout the entire internet. People are talking about your business and their conversations have a direct impact on your efforts. You need to be a part of the discussion. This is where both SEO and social media come into play (in holy matrimony).

With SEO, your company will have complete access and control of your local listings, some of which incorporate popular review systems (Google My Business, Yelp, etc). With social, you’ll interact – through comments, likes, shares, and retweets – with the actual people that use those popular review systems. Through proper management, you’ll see when anyone mentions your company’s name (even when you are not directly tagged in the post).

Facebook also has a popular review system. Most of the time, if a consumer is unsatisfied, he or she will immediately go to social media to complain or write a review. 90% Of Customers Say Buying Decisions Are Influenced By Online Reviews. Not monitoring and responding to them is a huge missed opportunity.

3. Social Sharing is Caring

In terms of outreach: The goal of SEO is to acquire more high-quality links and increase visibility for new/existing traffic, lead conversion, and content exposure. The goal of social media is to engage with your community, connect with new audiences, and increase your brand presence.

Now, as social media and SEO have begun to blur the lines of separation, these both have been somewhat combined, naturally.

As opposed to traditional, and often ineffective, outreach methods – emails or contact submissions – a more modern approach is connecting with target audiences via social. By creating these social relationships, you’ll not only know which of your followers to send your content to, but you also enhance the probability of them sharing and reposting it. While social links do not carry the same link juice that highly-reputable sites do, it does increase your content’s overall exposure. This increases the chance of reaching other industry influencers and succeeds in showing you’re a leader in your industry.

Since it was shared by their peers, those influencers are more likely to share it on their site or blog. It also shows that you care when your audience engages with you and you care about building relationships with them.

4. Your Social Audience Helps Shape Your Content

SEO and content marketing are not all about just search trends, volume, and other metrics. It also has to do with actually producing content your audience gives cares about. Sure, you could look at historical data to see what has traditionally performed well (or not so well) to develop your content. But, that will always leave you one step behind if this is the ONLY method you use.

You need NEW content, too.

With social media, you should stay up with the latest trends, events, and news, as well as monitor the type of content your audience is interested in. On top of this, you can evaluate what’s working or not working for your competitors. This information will allow you to craft content that is timely, meaningful, and strategic to your users. In doing so, you’ll see engagement increase (comments, sharing, and contact submissions) and you’ll appear higher in the rankings for producing fresh, relevant content.

One simple way to view trending topics is to see what’s trending on Twitter.

5. Get Engaged To Your Community With Social & Local SEO

Businesses, especially small ones, can not succeed without the support of their community. This applies to the digital landscape, as well. In terms of SEO, the impact of your local area has never been greater. Major search engine’s – such as Google’s and Bing’s – algorithms have shifted towards more personalized results with a heavy emphasis on locality.

Aside from maintaining an accurate profile within the local listings, it is also extremely beneficial for your business to produce both localized content and social posts. Create blogs and other web pages that speak directly to your local audience. Then, utilize social media to disseminate it to local businesses and influencers (news reporters, bloggers, or those active in the community). This will increase not only the local discussion around your business but also the likelihood of earning local links. All of these signals will improve your ranking position within the organic search results.

The image below shows a blog post from a staple restaurant in West Reading, Pa, Say Cheese!, and a fellow DaBrian Marketing client. The blog highlights the restaurant, it’s history, future plans, and the announcement of their new website.

Tying Your Efforts Together

Your SEO and social media efforts need to be tied together to maximize efficiency. But, why stop there? For your digital marketing plan to be truly effective, you need to make sure all of your efforts are tied together. This includes your PPC (Pay per Click) advertising, web design, content marketing, email marketing, strategy, and your overall digital brand, in addition to SEO and social media. Your mindset needs to shift from different departments working independently to your business functioning collectively as a team, allowing to not let anything fall through the cracks.

Need someone to align your SEO and social efforts to help generate leads?

Ecommerce Tips for Marketing to Millennials

October 31, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group 2 Comments

Millennials, we’re the worst, aren’t we? A generation full of young people that seem to be disconnected from the real world, and more entranced in the digital realm. A generation who is associated with being anti-social in person, but obsessed with social media. A generation, that many businesses are missing out on. As we (millennials) grow older, our economic impact and purchasing power increases. Targeting millennials is imperative to your business’ success. The most common way to reach them is to utilize Ecommerce on your website. Follow these SEO tips to get started.

1. Need and Availability Override Brand Loyalty

Millennials, known for challenging the status quo, can be a challenge to market to. We’re not worried about staying loyal to specific brands. We want a product/service, and we want it NOW. In a society engulfed by a ‘hustle and bustle’ mentality, we don’t have the time to extensively search, and we don’t want to settle on an alternative option from a familiar brand. Make sure your website is optimized, and your products are readily available. This will not only increase your search visibility (the amount of times you appear for a given search), but also your probability of sales.

2. Local SEO and Mobile: Can I find you on the go?

In 2016, it may surprise you that , most businesses don’t just exist online. Shocker, right? With that being said, finding your store is a lot different than how Grandpa used to do it. Today, mobile is our new local directory. Before we even think about leaving the sanctity of our homes and experiencing the unknown (aka the outdoors), we use our smartphones to find stores within our area. That means local SEO is extremely important. If you don’t rank in your backyard, how can you expect your business to show up anywhere? Still not convinced? Well check out these statistics from Think with Google.

Optimizing your website for locality is an extensive an ongoing process. Here are some tips and techniques to follow to help you dominate the local market:

Have your name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistently accurate all throughout your site (I suggest in your footer).Embed Google Maps (viewing your location) on your contact us page.
Be listed on major local listing platforms such as Google My Business, Facebook and Bing Places.
Use local Business Schema markup.
Use local keywords in your URLs, TTD’s, and content, where appropriate.

3. Does Your Website Function properly?

As many of you know, Millennials aren’t known for having a great attention span. In fact, our attention spans are now down to 8 SECONDS! We’re basically a bunch of goldfish with smartphones. That means if your site does not work properly, or we can’t quickly find the product/service we want, we’re on to the next one (your competitors). To prevent that from happening, make these tips and issues a priority.

Site speed:
- Not only is site speed a ranking factor, but studies show that slower load speeds lead to high bounce rates and cause a decrease in online sales.

Technical errors:
- Have redirects set up properly for pages with 404 errors.
- Resolve duplicate content issues.
- Learn more about technical issues that impact your organic search.

Have the following function properly to ensure a smooth purchasing process:
- Search Site functionality
- Discount/Coupon Codes (Please, we’re broke.)
- Shopping cart works – Being able to add as you shop, and return to shopping without losing products.

Customer Service:
- If your site doesn’t function properly, or a potential customer has questions, you need to have someone readily available to provide assistance and secure a sale.

4. Matching the Online Experience With the Real Deal

If you want your online store to perform as well (or better) as your physical location, you need to treat them the same. Don’t be that parent that has a favorite child, Dad. Your customers expect the same experience online, as they receive in person. To do so, make sure all of your in-store products are online and offer customer support. The better experience your customers have online, the higher probability that they will either purchase the product, and/or visit your store in person.

Wrapping Things Up

We, millennials, are more than just a target demographic. We are your business’ future. Make sure your business prospers for years to come. For more advice about Ecommerce, watch our 5-Step Guide to improving your Ecommerce website (my mom thinks I look handsome in it) or download the ebook!

Still not enough? Feel free to drop a comment below or contact us today!

By: David McDowell

How To Create a Remote Workspace: Part One

September 20, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

In today’s digital world, we can get more done faster and efficiently than ever before. Working in a digital environment can eliminate files floating around the office and even free up being tied to a physical desk or phone. Perhaps your company is making the move towards a more virtual based environment. But if not careful, the latest technology can hinder our work speed if we don’t use it properly. So an important question is, how do you stay organized in a digital world?

Task Managing in a Digital Workspace

Don’t Decorate Your Computer With Sticky-Notes

Maybe, you’re a long time pro using to-do lists. Perhaps, you are like some who decorate your desk and computer screen with a multitude of colorful post-it notes (I’ve been guilty of this myself). The problem with that is, they can get lost easily or become overwhelming, even an eyesore which can distract you from your workflow.

There are many tools designed to keep track of what needs to get done. Explore your options depending on your needs. Is the task just for you to remember or does it involve collaborating with someone or a team? How involved are your tasks – are there multiple steps or sub-tasks to accomplish your action items? Here, at DaBrian Marketing Group, we use a few tools. One tool we use is called Wrike, which allows us to create personal project tasks or collaborate on tasks with the team and clients. We also use Google Calendar to keep track of when we get those tasks done. Some of us also like to use Google Keep to make quick to-do lists or simple reminders. The nice thing about many of these options is that more and more of them allow you to sync across devices, so you can access them whenever or wherever you are. Getting in the habit of using some sort of task management will help free up brain space to devote towards other things. It will also give your goals a reliable structure by having the plan to get things done from any location.

Online Calendar

Keep It Updated

Get used to relying on one central point to organize the events in your life to avoid overbooking or losing track of what’s important. Using a calendar through your email account is a great way to have access to your plans no matter where you go. You can pull it up on your smartphone while walking the dog or log in from any computer while away from the office. When using an online calendar like Google Calendar, you can even adjust your settings to share the calendar with colleagues. They can see when you’re busy and when you’re available without disclosing what you are doing. You can even create a shared calendar for the office to schedule a time to collaborate.

Use Notifications

It’s easy to get sidetracked, so using calendar notifications is a great way to keep you on pace with your daily workflow. You can set reminders to notify you through email, text message or pop-up on your screen.

Set It and Forget It...For Now

Don’t waste time entering the same information over and over again. When you add a new event or task to your calendar and you know it’s part of a weekly, monthly or even yearly routine, use the repeat setting! You’ll be thanking yourself down the line.

Go With The Flow

Don’t feel like you have to add a task for every hour of the day. Life can be unpredictable, so allow some wiggle room in case a meeting goes longer than expected or an immediate problem pops us. Make sure you give yourself enough breathing room for breaks. You’ll work more efficiently if you leave some flexibility in your schedule.

Hold Yourself Accountable

You put that event task on your calendar for a reason, so don’t ignore it! Using your phone or computer to keep your life in order can help a lot, but it can’t accomplish your tasks for you and if we aren’t honoring the schedule we set out to do, then the digital tools become useless.

These are just a few tips on going digital. It may take some time to transition and get used to new habits but over time your work will allow you to be more mobile. Next time, I’ll address how to keep all your important information and documents mobile. These are just some things that have worked for us. Have you made changes towards a digital workspace? What has worked for you? Leave a comment and let us know!

Writing to Personas: The Human Side of SEO

September 6, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

In the beginning, search engines were merely a shell of what they resemble today. Previous algorithms placed a heavy focus on keywords within content and other on-page factors (Meta tags, titles, and descriptions). With such a simple ranking process, people began to abuse the system with “black hat SEO techniques” such as keyword stuffing and cloaking.. As the quality of search results began to diminish, the algorithms were updated (and continue to be). Many previous SEO methods are now penalized, and the primary focus has shifted to improving the user’s experience by better understanding the searcher’s intent.

1. The UX: A Top SEO Ranking Factor

Search engines such as Google and Bing, are a business, just like yours. Their goal is to provide customers (those using search) with the best experience possible by giving them the most satisfying search results. In order to deem what would be “most satisfying,” search engines attempt to match relevancy to the searcher’s intent by evaluating other user’s experience and their personal experience (if applicable). If search engines see that a site has a high bounce rate (when a user views only one page and then leaves the site), or if the time on site and pages per session are relatively low, they will take that as a bad sign and reorder their rankings based upon performance. Other websites that users consistently bounce to and stay on will be seen as providing a better user experience for a specific search term/topic and will improve in the rankings.

So when creating content for your site, know that yes, you should still focus on keywords within the copy and other on-page factors (meta tags, titles, and descriptions), but you also need to place yourself in the user’s shoes. By offering your business’ message in a clear, concise manner that matches the searchers intent, more than likely the user will stay longer, explore more of your site, and possibly perform an action you deem a conversion (contact submission, phone call, direct sale, etc).

2. Developing Personas

Before developing content, most people create an outline and plan that contains main focal points, what the desired actions of the readers are, and when and how the message will be disseminated. Shouldn’t your target audience be taken into consideration during this planning process as well? Businesses need to develop personas that encompass different segments of their target audience’s interests, roles, and concerns. This way they can determine which topics are most relevant, and how to shape their message to be most effective.

3. Speaking to Your Target Audience

To ensure your users will have a satisfying experience, your message must speak to their interests and concerns, all while using their specific terminology. For example, for a B2B company, content around a similar topic would change drastically dependent upon which audience they are writing to. If the message is crafted towards business owners, the content will heavily focus on financial benefits such as ROI. Whereas if the message is directed towards marketing managers, the content should focus more on the process of specific services, and areas of improvement.

The same is true for a B2C business, except instead of focusing on a hierarchy of positions within a business, they target specific traits within a demographic. Their message should speak to a specific audience based upon factors such as geographic location, age, employment, education, etc.

Regardless of the industry you’re in, you need to make sure your content speaks to the message your audience wants to hear. Writing for a persona as compared to blindlessly writing, could be the difference between just a page visit, and a page that leads to a conversion. Also, to guarantee you’ve provided your users with all the information necessary, encourage questions and comments for further discussion/elaboration via comments or email. This way they’ll never need to travel to a competitor’s site to discover answers to the questions you failed to address.

Conclusion:

Writing strictly for search engines is a thing of the past. In order for your site to truly perform well, you must put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. Before you create content, develop the personas of your business’ audience. Map out their interests, roles, and possible questions. Then, develop content intended to enhance their user experience.

For more information regarding about SEO and Content Marketing, please leave a comment below or contact DaBrian Marketing today!

By: David McDowell

5 Ways to Get Customer Insights from Google Analytics & MailChimp

August 29, 2016 by Daniel Laws Leave a Comment

Businesses are always attempting to understand customer behaviors more accurately. MailChimp (email marketing service) provides businesses with the ability to send promotions, automated follow-up emails, and a lot more. Unfortunately, it doesn’t automatically connect the email marketing metrics with your website’s Google Analytics metrics to gain an understanding of what people did after clicking a link to your website. Here’s some information to help you understand the purpose and get more data to improve the effectiveness of your email campaigns through Google Analytics and MailChimp:

Implement Basic Set-up Google Analytics & MailChimp

The integration between Google Analytics and MailChimp gives businesses an opportunity to track email marketing campaigns within analytics. It goes beyond the standard email marketing metrics within Mailchimp and into the customer’s behavior after leaving the email to browse your website.

How to Integrate Google Analytics with MailChimp?

Annotate Google Analytics with MailChimp Launch Dates

In many cases, your email campaign will be opened within 48 hours after the launch. Did you notice any incremental customers on your website, new leads, or online purchases? By annotating your Google Analytics account correctly, you will be able to see any incremental activity.

A/B Test Email Marketing Campaigns with MailChimp

Email marketing campaigns are used to increase awareness of an offering or generate leads and sales. Why not test which email marketing elements are leading to awareness, leads, and sales with A/B testing? With MailChimp, you can test elements such as subject lines, who it’s from, content, and delivery time. When Google Analytics and MailChimp are integrated, an email marketing campaign that’s associated with the A/B test will be visible within Analytics too.

Create A/B Test Campaign with MailChimp

Track Users Across Devices with MailChimp IDs & Google Analytics

Your potential customers are using multiple devices (tablet, mobile, and PCs) to compare offerings or products. Track your users across devices with a MailChimp ID to see which devices generate leads and sales. You’ll need the Google’s Universal Analytics code on your website. Set-up a User ID view within Google Analytics. Add the MailChimp ID to the links within your email campaign. Finally, send the User ID to your Google Analytics.

Create a Custom Dimension in Google Analytics for MailChimp User ID

The User ID is not a dimension in Google Analytics, so you’ll need to create a custom dimension for your reporting. Again, you’ll need to use Google Universal Analytics. Go to the Admin section within Google Analytics and click on “Custom Definitions”. This will allow you to access “Custom Dimensions” to name your dimension and Scope. Go to “Custom Dimensions” to name your dimension and Scope (hit) to create it.

I only touched on the capabilities for integration between Google Analytics and MailChimp here. I encourage you to implement these and see how it impacts the top of your email marketing campaign funnel (delivery > opens > click> website > conversions). Send me any thoughts or issues that you’re having with Google Analytics, MailChimp or your email marketing platform.