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Web Design Without SEO: If You Build It, Will They Come?

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In the film Field of Dreams released in 1989, Kevin Costner is famously told, “If you build it, he will come.” While this may hold true when it comes to attracting Shoeless Joe and the rest of the 1919 Black Sox team to your Baseball field, it does not apply to attracting visitors to your website.
Eh, not so fast there, Ray. Without proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO), not many people are going to come. Designing a website that is aesthetically pleasing is not the be-all and end-all for an effective digital marketing campaign. It’s merely the first step. Without SEO, you have a better chance of Joe Jackson actually wearing shoes than your customers finding your site. Below are five reasons why SEO and Web Design are needed together for your site to perform well.

1. SEO Basics: Tags, Titles, and Descriptions

Sticking with the Field of Dreams theme, let’s say your potential fans that attend your ballpark are equivalent to those using search engines. How are they supposed to find your new park if no one has heard about it or can find it? Tags, Titles, and Descriptions (TTD’s) along with content tell search engines what the pages on your site are about. Below is an example of proper implementation of TTD’s for this blog specifically (blog inception).

The keywords you intend a specific page to rank and draw traffic for should be represented within the TTD’s. For example, this blog’s main points of interest are SEO and Web Design, so those keywords are placed within all aspects of TTD’s and the content naturally (non-spammy). Don’t forget to include any other related sub points (digital marketing, link building, local SEO, and content optimization) wherever you see fit.

2. Content is the Experience

Just as sports venues are judged off of the overall experience they offer, so is your website. The content on your site not only helps people find your site, but it ultimately dictates the user’s experience. Great content means a better chance the user will perform an action beneficial to your business. Whether that means fill out a contact form, share your site via social media, or purchase a product, none of those are likely to happen without the right content for your audience. With that being said, content is not a once-and-done event. In fact, search engines actually prefer sites with fresher and more up-to-date content. That’s why it’s a great idea to start a blog and to write about topics relevant to your audience. Not only with this further establish your business as “in the know” within your industry, but it also allows you to place more of the keywords you wish to rank for on your site.

3. Technical Issues: Take Care of Your Ball Park

When sports teams build new stadiums, they don’t just leave it alone, do they? No, of course not! Constant maintenance is required to ensure everything looks perfect and that it functions properly. This is the same when designing a website. Technical issues are bound to happen. If these aren’t taken care of, it could potentially have a negative impact on your user’s experience. That ultimately translates to a decrease in rankings, leads, and worst of all, sales.

4. Local SEO: Where are you?

What’s the point of having a ball park, or any business for that matter, if no one can find you? This same logic should remain true when dealing with your digital presence. After several algorithm changes, Google’s search results are now heavily personalized. This means they take into account the searcher’s history, social signals, and most of all, locality. If that’s not enough to prove the importance of local, Google’s research on local consumer behavior found that, “50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within a day, and 34% who searched on computer/tablet did the same.” So what can your business do to ensure you capitalize on this opportunity? Without proper local SEO, your business could be lost within the metaphorical cornfield that is the search engine results.

5. Link Building: Generating Buzz

Link building or link earning is a huge part of SEO. When search engines evaluate your site to determine where you rank for a specific subject, they don’t only look at your TTD’s or content, but also the other sites linking to you. The more reputable industry related pages linking to you, the better your site will perform. To put it in sports terms, links represent fans and leading figures within the sports realm. Here is how to rank them:

  • Fans: Fans telling other fans about your ballpark represent low level links from either directories or sites with low domain authority.
  • Local Sports reporters: These represent the middle level links. These are trusted sites in your area, such as the Chamber of Commerce or a local business directory.
  • Major league coverage: These represent the top level links from industry leaders. For example, a link from MOZ would be huge for a digital marketing agency such as ourselves

So what’s the best approach to earning these links? Well in the past, many people obtained links via “black hat SEO” methods, all of which now result in a penalty according to Google’s link scheme guidelines. Your best (and safest) bet is by creating great, original content and developing authentic relationships with those within your industry. The goal is to naturally earn high quality links.

Conclusion

An effective digital marketing campaign needs both a well designed website, along with proper SEO. So when it comes to digital marketing, If you build it (and continually optimize it), they will come.

For more information about SEO, Web Design, and the other Digital Marketing Services we have to offer, contact us or leave us a comment below!

By: David McDowell

What is a Sitemap and How Do I Create One?

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xml sitemap
The beginning of an XML sitemap

What Is A Sitemap and Why Do They Matter?

A sitemap is a page on a site that is a list of all the pages on a website that are accessible to web crawlers and users. Web Crawlers use the sitemap as a roadmap to index your site better on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It is important to keep the sitemap updated because having outdated links in there will result in 404 errors: these are always bad. A sitemap should contain all links on your site that you want to be accessible to a visitor. A “Thank You for Visiting” page is an example of pages that can be excluded from sitemaps.

What are the different types of Sitemaps?

There are 2 different types of sitemaps. HTML sitemaps are for your site’s visitors to help them navigate through your site. HTML sitemaps are optional; usually, they are only present on the medium to large sites. The other type is one that all sites should have: an XML sitemap. Search engines use XML sitemaps to crawl your site. Whether it is a small site, a medium site, or a large site it should have an XML sitemap. Otherwise, you will be missing out on potential leads.

When Should You Update Your Sitemaps?

In short, a sitemap (both XML and HTML) should be updated whenever a page on your site is added, deleted, or the URL is changed. By not updating your sitemap, you run the risk of search engines not finding your newly created page. If you changed a URL, the search engines will still be showing the old URL and not the new one. This will make you lose  tons of traffic until the URL is updated.

How Sitemaps Impact SEO/Business (Lead Generation & Sales)

A sitemap impacts sales and lead generation if you don’t update it at least once per every 2 weeks. By updating it, you’re assuring that search engines have the clearest roadmap to all the pages on your site. Not updating either of your sitemaps can cause  your site to fall lower in the search rankings. Failing to update your sitemaps could also result in links that do show up as 404 error pages – this will give the user a bad experience on your website.

How To Make A Sitemap

There are several methods that you can use for each type of sitemap. Use the method that best works for you. First are the methods for the most important type of sitemap: XML sitemaps. You can manually create these, use a generator to crawl your site for you, or, depending on your platform, it is possible to have a tool such as  Yoast to auto update it for you. These methods only create the sitemap, they do not actually submit it to any search engines.

Lastly, you can manually create  an HTML sitemap, use a tool that depends on your platform, or, if you or your web programmer know some database scripting, you can automate this process. This  will directly pull from your database. Again, use the method that best fits your situation as each one takes a varying amount of time.

Where are the Sitemaps located?

Your XML sitemap is located at the high level directory of your site (yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml). It is also recommended to submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. If you already have an account, sign into it. Click on the site you are managing. On the left drop down, click on “Sitemaps.” Here you can see your current sitemap, as well as, any errors that Google and Bing see within it. Keep in mind: submitting your sitemap is requesting them both to crawl your site, again, however, this does not mean that they will.

If you have any sitemap questions, ask away in the comments below or contact us today!

13 Digital Marketing Tips – Google Partners Connect

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DaBrian Marketing Group recently hosted a Google Partners Connect event in which local business owners participated in a video-based seminar on effective practices of digital marketing. The video featured speakers that described important factors in constructing a business’ digital marketing presence.

Digital Marketing Strategies & Solutions

The speakers, Aditi Manwani and Frederick Vallaeys, listed thirteen goals that should be prioritized when developing a digital marketing campaign:

  1. Be There: Mobile interactions with digital media dominate the consumer’s world.  Businesses should be present at these moments to capture the attention of consumers.
  2. Be Useful:  Businesses should provide a use to consumers.  The content to which a consumer is exposed must be valuable to the person’s current situation – such as a How-To video when the person needs instructions on the completion of tasks.
  3. Be Accountable: Businesses should accompany consumers from the initial impression to the ultimate purchase through repeated exposure and interactions.  Businesses should continually expose their brand’s information to consumers to build familiarity and trust – an example is a business responding to negative reviews.
  4. Be Found on Google:  Before consumers become customers, they must have knowledge of a business’ existence through its presence on Google Maps.
  5. Make It Easy for Customers to Connect: Whether it is via a mobile device, email, or telephone, businesses should communicate their brands to consumers in ways that will create accurate expectations.
  6. Connect at Moments that Matter:  Searchers give clues to their intent through the words they use to search. Businesses should ensure that their content  is focused on the searcher’s intent to lead them to the most appropriate information – such as reviews, pricing, specific products/service offerings.
  7. Use Ad Extensions:  On the results page of a keyword search, subheadings under the main link of a business offer consumers further resources that may be helpful to their current situations.  This kind of ad extension is related to a 30% increase in the lead-generation for businesses.
  8. Manage Reviews: Businesses should respond to, and not delete or hide, negative reviews.  They should attend to concerns, fix problems, and grant consumers some kind of compensation for unsatisfactory experiences.
  9. Be Found Across the Internet:  Businesses should be accessible across different pages of different websites.  This is possible through advertising on the Google Display Network.
  10. Advertise When You Need It:  Research on the usage of a brand will give information as to when consumers most often use it.  With this knowledge businesses can better capitalize upon the current needs of consumers at any given moment.
  11. Be Found for Product Searches:  When consumers search the internet for retail-products, retail businesses should appear on the results page with Shopping Ads or Product Listing Ads that consist of images and price-related information.  
  12. Reconnect with Prospects:  Advertising to existing customers of a business and previous visitors to a business’ website encourages them to return to the site with which they are already familiar.
  13. Manage Targets: Businesses should ensure that their objectives are reasonable and measurable. Goals must align with the existing brand and be feasible according to the best practices of digital marketing.

Conclusion

The Google Partners Connect event at DaBrian Marketing Group succeeded in communicating valuable information about digital marketing to local business owners.  This information was presented by a trusted source – Google.  DaBrian Marketing Group’s status as a Google Partner allowed this event to benefit local businesses. 

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Top 5 Video Marketing Tips

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As video searches continue to increase, video marketing is becoming even more essential for a business to have an effective digital marketing campaign. In fact, a report by Marketing Land states that videos make up 62% of all Google searches. To ensure that your video performs well, here are 5 video marketing tips.

1. Video Marketing 101: Make Videos People Want to Watch

Although it appears that marketing and SEO are constantly evolving, one factor has stayed consistent, content is king. This holds true for video marketing as well. While all videos are different, they should all share the same goal of receiving sustained traffic and user engagement. To assure your video performs well, it needs to be engaging, informative, entertaining, and most importantly, shareable. In terms of how long the video should be, this differs based on the intention and audience of the video. With that being said, most viewers’ attention spans are relatively short. Get your message across concisely in the most efficient manner possible, and your video will do great.

2. Select Relevant and Obtainable Keywords

Before you upload your video it’s essential that you develop a list of relevant keywords to ensure your video is optimized. Ideally, your keywords should adhere to the three following recommendations:

  • Look for keywords that aren’t too difficult to rank for (or else you’ll never rank well). Choose long tail keywords (phrases typically 3-4 words) to help reduce the difficulty. This will allow you allow you to specifically target a particular audience. A great (free) tool for this is Keyword Finder.
  • Select keywords that are generating interest (or else no one will search for your video). A great (also free) resource for this is Google Trends. Just type in different synonyms and variations of your keywords, and see which ones perform the best.
  • The intent of the keywords should directly correlate with the content of your video. For example, if your keyword phrase is “Change a car tire,” your video shouldn’t be about how to fix your windshield or change your oil. Keep it it relevant.

3. Optimize Tags, Titles, and Descriptions

After you’ve composed your keyword list, you’ll need to place them within the appropriate places. The three major areas for optimization are the tags, titles and descriptions (as seen in the image below).

Video Marketing Tips

The title should contain your primary keyword phrase (the one you wish to rank for) and should be descriptive as to what your video is about. In terms of the description, YouTube allows video descriptions to be up to 5000 characters long. I would recommend that you use most, if not all of it. While most users are not going to read your entire description, the more keywords you naturally place within your description, the better chance you’ll have to rank for them.

Tags are individual keywords that describe your video. Similar to your keywords, make sure your tags are relevant to the content of your video. The goal of optimization is to drive the right traffic to your video. If you choose tags for the intention of visibility and not relativity, then your video will more than likely receive an influx of dislikes and lower retention rates. Thus, having a negative impact on your rankings.

4. Add Closed Captioning

Since your video is not text based, search engines have a hard time indexing it. Providing YouTube with closed captioning gives them another source of information that contains the keywords you wish to rank for. Here’s a video tutorial on how to upload your transcript to YouTube to create closed captioning.

5. Encourage User Engagement

User engagement is a huge ranking factor for YouTube. So how do you get viewers to engage? Try asking. Create a call to action at the end of your video, asking people to like, comment, share, and subscribe. With that being said, be aware that YouTube is full of trolls (people negatively spam commenting on your video). The good news is that YouTube allows you to moderate your comment section. That not only means you should delete the spam comments whenever possible, but you should also reply to comments as well. This two way engagement will help build a relationship with your viewers that will more likely cause them and others to comment more often knowing you’re actually acknowledging them.

For more information about video marketing, contact us or leave us a comment below!

By: David McDowell

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.

6 SEO Tips for Businesses

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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.

SEO Tips for Businesses

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