by AQ Marketing | Nov 13, 2022 | Blog Page News
SEO (search engine optimization) is one of the most critical elements of digital marketing. Most customers start a buying journey by using a search engine. They seek information, advice, best practices, and solutions. As a result, SEO helps your company grow. The more visible you are in search results relevant to what you do and whom you serve, the greater your opportunity to attract and convert customers.
In this post, we’ll review the importance of SEO and why it fuels growth.
Why SEO Matters
Very rarely will prospective customers stumble upon your website. There’s always word of mouth, but local buyers commonly use search to find a business or solve a need. In the digital highway, you need to rank well to create visibility around your brand. When you do, growth is inevitable.
6 Ways SEO Grows Your Business
Beyond the visibility factor, which is the core of growth opportunity, there are many other ways SEO impacts business growth.
SEO Enables You to Reach the Right Audience
The keywords and terms you optimize for will be specific to your audience and your business. You don’t want to be the first result for something that doesn’t pertain to you or would show up for the wrong audience. For example, field service companies may only focus on residential or commercial work. If that’s the case, they only want to reach one of those audiences and would use keywords associated with the specific types of customers they want.
SEO Delivers High-Quality Leads to Your Website
Those searching have an interest in what you offer. They find you in the search results and then visit your website. You can consider any leads you get from SEO to be higher-quality. Many businesses see higher conversion rates with SEO than any other channel. If you want to improve yours, SEO is key.
SEO Improves Brand Awareness
An important part of business growth is increasing the awareness of your brand, and SEO supports this. As people search more and more regarding their issues solved by your solutions, you’ll continue to appear to them. Continuous reinforcement will make it evident to customers that you’re an excellent option.
SEO Strengthens Your Credibility
SEO can improve your credibility, too, as people can trust that you are a legitimate business. Most people know that Google wants content to rank high that’s accurate and trustworthy. Thus, if your business continues to rank well organically, people may be more apt to click and find out more about your company.
SEO Allows You to Beat the Competition
You probably aren’t the only business in town that does what you do. There’s no better place to beat the competition than on search engines. Continuing to improve your SEO rankings keeps your brand top of mind for anyone that needs your service or product. If others aren’t paying attention to SEO, you have the dominant position to be the company customers select.
SEO Is Always Working to Grow Your Business
SEO is a long-term strategy with long-term results. The content you’ve optimized continues to rank and deliver website traffic. Paid marketing tactics only return results when they are active. SEO is forever! However, your rankings can slip due to competition, so monitor these and make adjustments to content if you fall.
Let AQ Marketing Help You Grow Your Business with SEO
SEO is a strategy that you must work on continuously. You’ll need to keep publishing content to your website and optimizing it, which can be challenging. Tapping our SEO experts to help means less work for you. Check out our SEO services today to get started.
by AQ Marketing | Nov 8, 2022 | Blog Page News
Launching your own business can be a significant undertaking. There are many aspects to consider—operations, processes, labor, inventory, and marketing. Marketing for local business start-ups is critical for your company to take off and get in front of the community.
Managing the many aspects of digital marketing can be overwhelming. The most critical asset in your marketing strategy is your website. We’re sharing some essential tips that small business start-ups will appreciate.
Define Your Website Goals
First, you want to develop the objectives your website will accomplish. That varies depending on the type of business. For eCommerce options, your website has to become an online store.
For others, a website defines what services you offer and to whom. The goal for a website in this category would be to attract customers, engage them, and drive them to convert. That conversion could be a call to request service or foot traffic at your physical store.
When identifying your goals and how customers would use your website, always consider their experience and make it easy to navigate and find information.
Choose a Flexible Template
Most WordPress websites use a template. Many of its components regarding layout and styling are changeable. Your website’s purpose and how visitors will use it will influence the theme you select. Make sure it’s a template that won’t limit future growth and that adding new pages or features won’t be an issue.
Create a Design Aesthetic
If you’ve already got your branding elements—logo, color palettes, and fonts—they’ll be the start of this digital mood board. Your template will also guide this, but you should work with designers and developers to build a website with consistent branding and digital representation of your company.
Some other design features to consider are:
- Photos versus illustrations (you could use both)
- White space (you’ll want some for easy readability on mobile)
- Breaks between sections
- Spacing
- Backgrounds
- Headings and other formatting
Outline Navigation and Content
Once you have a design plan, you’ll need to focus on the meat of the website—the navigation and content. Navigation should be intuitive and simple on any device. Not every page on your website will be on the top navigation. Decide where you want visitors to land the most (e.g., product pages, conversion pages, shopping areas).
Content will also shape your navigation. Start by making a complete list of every page you think your website should have. Then bullet point the content you expect to go on the page. You’ll want to compare layouts with text so that you’re writing to the design. That may mean you want to limit character count in certain areas. Another aspect of this is where you’ll place button links.
Align Your Planning with Execution
Once you have these fundamental pieces in place, you should tap a professional web design firm specializing in small, local businesses. These teams have the experience and expertise to be true advisors as you build your website. They are experts at marketing for local business start-ups. They’ll let you know what’s possible and what areas you should optimize to ensure you get local traffic from search engines.
You’ll find such a team at AQ Marketing. We help local start-ups with website design, SEO, and more. Contact us today to get started.
by AQ Marketing | Nov 1, 2022 | Blog Page News
Where do most local consumers start their purchase journey? On a search engine. And when they are seeking a service or product, these searchers pay close attention to the results and what they might tell them about the quality and trustworthiness of a company. As a result, there is a significant connection between online reputation management and SEO (search engine optimization).
You want to keep your content optimized to get found in search engine results. You also want to manage your online reputation to ensure that new customers see positive ratings and reviews from existing ones.
Online reputation management and SEO are two unique marketing tactics. However, there are correlations that demonstrate their link.
The Role of SEO in Online Reputation Management
Optimizing website content has a singular goal—drive traffic to your website from organic search. You do this by aligning relevant keywords and creating content around them. SEO includes on-page components like text and formatting. There are also technical aspects related to ensuring your content is findable, indexable, and crawlable by search engines.
Online reputation management is a strategic approach to obtaining reviews, ratings, and testimonials in the digital ecosystem. The more positive reviews you have, the more credible your business appears.
So, how do they intersect? They share a similar objective. They both can improve a business’ brand authority and visibility online. For the two to work together in harmony, here are some useful tips.
SEO Strategies to Improve Your Online Reputation
These tips will help you connect the dots.
Claim Your Google My Business Profile
Your Google My Business (GMB) profile can be very valuable. It’s the “placard” of information that shows up on the right of the results. There are many benefits of leveraging your GMB profile. You’ll get found much easier by local searchers. A flushed-out GMB page can include lots of information about your business. It also is the repository for Google reviews. Since 98% of customers read reviews of local businesses, they’ll start there.
That’s why you need to claim it and keep it current. The more optimized it is, with posts and images, for example, the more likely you’ll appear in local search results and attract new customers.
Create a Presence on Relevant Review Sites
There are many review sites online. Some are general, while others are niche. Depending on your industry, you’ll want to create profiles. For example, home improvement companies often want to have high ratings on Houzz or Angi. Restaurants prefer Yelp. Determine which ones will be the most likely places where your customers would be searching.
Remember to monitor these and respond to all ratings, good or bad. The more reviews you receive and interaction on your pages, the more of an indication this is to a search engine that they should rank your content higher.
Include Optimized Content on Your Website That’s Review-Focused
Another way to use SEO for online reputation is to dedicate at least one page to customer stories and testimonials. These can be case studies, videos, quotes, or star ratings. You can use specific keywords on these pages for traction, such as:
- The “best business type” in “location”
- “High-rated business type” in “location”
- “Local favorites business type” in “location”
These could provide you with more traffic to those pages, and visitors will experience this as the first interaction with your brand. That could be very influential in winning their business.
Let Us Manage Online Reputation Management and SEO
Local businesses have a lot on their plate. Online reputation management and SEO are two of many marketing aspects you can outsource to a trusted partner like AQ Marketing. We know local business marketing! Contact us today to learn more.
by AQ Marketing | Oct 28, 2022 | Blog Page News
Video marketing can be a powerful format to attract and convert customers. Currently, 78% of people watch videos on smart devices weekly, and 55% do this daily. That’s a lot of attention on this type of content you could be missing. Unfortunately, many small businesses think video marketing is too expensive or complicated. That’s not the case. We’ve got some helpful tips on how you can make video part of your digital marketing playbook.
Video Drives Results
Before we get into the tips, you’ll want to consider these facts that demonstrate the power of video.
- 72% of customers prefer to learn about products or services via video.
- 87% of companies using video marketing reported positive ROI.
- Video is usable in multiple channels: websites, social media, display ads, OTT/CTV (over-the-top and connected TV), and more.
- Targeting capabilities exist for video ads. Depending on the channel, you may be able to target by location, demographics, or previous digital interactions of the user.
As you can see, video can be vital in driving conversions for your company. Now, let’s look at how to produce them easily and affordably.
Easy, Affordable Ways to Create Marketing Videos
Here are the best tips for small businesses to consider in marketing video development.
Subscription Platforms Require No Technical Aptitude
Multiple subscription services have a variety of animation, stock footage, and other content elements. You can create videos on their platforms without any video editing knowledge. Most use a drag-and-drop method. Some options include Canva, Biteable, and Promo. They are all relatively inexpensive.
Creating Homemade Videos on Everyday Devices
As you know, the phones we carry around every day are quite remarkable. The clarity and visuals you can record on your phone look very professional. This could be a good approach if you have someone on your team experienced in video editing.
Customizing Canned Videos from Manufacturers
As a small business, you may sell products from well-known brands. Often, they provide promotional material in the form of videos. You can take this and customize it with your company information as a certified dealer or distributor and any exclusive deals you have currently related to the brand.
Working with a Local Digital Agency
If you don’t feel comfortable navigating video marketing alone, turn to a local digital marketing agency. They have the skillsets to help you from concept to production to distribution. They can also recommend where and how to use the video for it to have the greatest impact and meet the goals you have in mind.
But you may still have no idea where to start on your content.
What Type of Videos Should You Create?
Even with these tools, you may still feel stuck creatively. You may not know where to begin in producing your first video. What to develop should align with your primary marketing goals, which may involve:
From there, you’d begin the creative process. You may find that leaning on digital marketing experts can move this along faster. They can work with you on a script, storyboard, and everything else.
Don’t Miss Out on the Benefits of Video Marketing
Video should be a major part of your marketing plans. If it’s not, you could be missing out on opportunities. Find out more about developing and using video marketing by talking to our digital marketing experts.
by AQ Marketing | Oct 21, 2022 | Blog Page News
Growing your local landscaping business with digital marketing can be very effective. You’ll need to execute the right tactics that find your ideal customers. Whether you’re just starting or have been around for decades, you can learn something from this post on landscaping business digital marketing strategies.
Ensure Your Website Is Optimized and Mobile-Friendly
Before considering any other digital marketing tactics, your landscaping website needs to do its job. It’s your most valuable digital asset. It should attract new customers through SEO (search engine optimization) and convert new visitors. Further, your website must be mobile-friendly, as that’s where most local searches start. Get these things in order first!
Develop Marketing Plans for Each Season
No matter what your service area is, it’s seasonal. The type of services you provide differs in winter, spring, summer, and fall. You must consider that when mapping out tactics. You want to get ahead of each season by launching digital ad tactics in advance.
For example, spring means that most yards are coming back to life. Homeowners will need to turn their sprinklers back on and check for winter damage. New seeding and planting also happen in the spring. At the end of February and the beginning of March, you’ll want to run campaigns promoting these services with promotions to acquire new customers.
Improve Your Reviews to Earn New Customer Trust
Local customers read reviews and count on them as they make decisions. You’ll need a strong online reputation with reviews on your website and third-party platforms to stand out. Develop a program to solicit more feedback and reviews from customers to build this up all year round.
Publish New Content Regularly to Improve Organic Rankings
Your website pages are critical for SEO rankings, but they are the only type that can garner you clicks. Regularly publishing new content on your website like blogs, case studies, testimonials, and before-and-after pictures also impact ranking.
When you consistently put new content out, it serves as an indicator for Google that your digital footprint keeps expanding.
Work on Lead Conversion Optimization
Not every lead will be ready to purchase. Consumers may browse your website and contact you but aren’t prepared to say yes. How can you improve on lead conversions like this? Nurturing your prospects through email campaigns is an option.
Another option is to use Facebook advertising and target interested parties. You can create campaigns that target specific demographics and people (if you have their email address and matches their Facebook account). This way, you’re popping up in their feed and enhancing their recall.
Develop Paid Search Campaigns Focused on High-Intent Buyers
You can use paid search ads throughout the buying funnel. In awareness and consideration, searchers are researching and collecting information. You may find better results in directing most of your ad budget toward high-intent searches where buying signs are present. It could simply include words like “purchase,” “hire,” or “schedule” with your core keywords about your services and your location. Run some tests to see how these are working, and be sure that these ads point to a conversion-focused landing page.
Landscape Business Digital Marketing with AQ Marketing
As a local, experienced digital marketing agency, we can help your landscaping business meet its marketing goals. From website design to paid ads to SEO, we’re a turnkey solution to driving results. Get started today!
by AQ Marketing | Oct 14, 2022 | Blog Page News
Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be instrumental in driving traffic to your website and acquiring new customers. While many small businesses use PPC, it’s still a tactic they’ve yet to see an ROI (return on investment). That’s often due to not having the piece in place to launch a PPC campaign successfully.
So, what do you need to do before you start one?
1. Develop a Strategy
First, you’ll need to define your PPC strategy. What results or goals do you expect or want? Depending on those, it will inform how you deploy a campaign. Building a strategy should include:
- Determining the products or services to promote
- Defining what action you want prospects to take (e.g., buy a product, request a quote, etc.)
- Who you plan to target (e.g., locations, demographics)
- What your budget is
- The duration of the campaign
- What you need to set up the campaign (e.g., keywords, ad copy, etc.)
Once you have a strategy, you’ll need to work on the logistics.
2. Determine the Keywords to Target
The most important part of your PPC campaign is the keywords you’ll target. These are the terms you believe your ideal customers will be searching. Depending on your industry, keywords can be highly competitive and expensive. You want to select keywords that are:
- Relevant to your business
- Have mid to low competitiveness (i.e., competitiveness means how many companies are bidding on those keywords)
- Have enough search volume that your ads will display
In addition to keywords to bid on, you should also note any negative keywords. This is a list of terms to exclude from your ads so that you don’t get a lot of unqualified traffic.
You’ll group keywords by ad group, and each of these requires ad copy.
3. Write the Ad Copy
Ad copy should be persuasive and demonstrate your company’s ability to solve the searcher’s problem. Strong headlines are a must to catch the attention of users. Ad content should engage your audience so they immediately understand how you can help them. Including the keywords is necessary. Other inclusions would be location (if applicable), social proof (e.g., star ratings, reviews, awards), company name, and action-focused verbs.
4. Align the Ad Copy with a Landing Page
Once the person clicks your ad, where will they go? If they land on your home page, you’ll likely see minimal conversions. You’ve created an expectation with your ad copy, so make sure the landing page aligns with this. It should mimic the narrative in the ad and include a conversion action, which could be a form completion or an actual product or service purchase. Misalignment here will cost you!
5. Set Up Conversion Tracking
To understand the impact of a PPC campaign, you’ll want to include conversion tracking on your website. By doing this on your landing page, you’ll be able to attribute ads to leads and conversions, providing a clear view of ROI.
6. Insert Geographical Settings
Most small businesses that use PPC campaigns only serve specific cities, areas, ZIP codes, or states. If that’s you, turn on these settings. It will keep people outside your area from clicking on your ads.
7.Finalize Your Budget
Now that you know what keywords you’re going to bid on and their costs, you should finalize the budget. You need to spend enough to outbid others, but balance that with what you can afford. Budget is also something you shouldn’t set and forget. As you learn what ads are most effective, you’ll want to adjust spending.
PPC Campaigns: Easier with a Strategic Advisor
PPC campaigns are complex and have lots of moving parts. Partnering with an expert like our team means you don’t have to get into the specifics. We’ll define your strategy and all the other things before launching. Then we monitor and report on the results. Learn more about our PPC solutions today.
