It shouldn’t be a shock that having appropriate and relevant content on your website will aid to its overall success. The reason we mention it, though, is because often times people are not quite sure what “appropriate” really means for their brand, and why it is so valuable. With quality content comes not only quality engagement with your readers and target market but also increased search engine rankings for your web content as well. Sounds pretty valuable doesn’t it? Lets break it down more and take a closer look at why all of this is so important.

Consumer Engagement

The first thing you should think about when trying to write content for your website is, “Why do we have this website?” You need to understand what you are trying to accomplish with the site, and then mold your content to accompany those goals. Every time you write copy for a site, you should aim for it to entertain, inform, and entice the reader. It doesn’t matter how much you spend on SEO, if readers are not interested in reading it, they will leave the site. The reader and your goals should ALWAYS be the center of the writing, no matter what you are discussing on the page.

You see this over and over again were a company depends too heavily upon the weight and popularity of their brand to drive traffic to their site. Of course, it’s great that they have established their name or product in the minds of the public. But if you have one competitor who has done the same, and also provides quality written content on each page of their website, you’ve just lost a share of the market for no good reason.

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At HMG Creative, we know that like most things in life, blogging is better when done with friends. So we searched from coast to coast to bring you some of the most-respected marketing experts in the business. We know it is important to not only share our thoughts and insights, but impart the expertise and perspective of others; and we think these 3 individuals got it going on. Enjoy opening these 3 gifts from industry experts and friends of HMG Creative.

6 Ways to Use Images to Improve Your Web Conversion Rate by Tim Ash
CEO SiteTuners, Author, Landing Page Optimization

5 Types of Blog Content That Drive Engagement by Shelly Kramer
Founder and CEO V3 Integrated Marketing, FORBES Top 50 Social Media Influencer

3 keys to Scaling Content Marketing Success by Lee Odden
CEO TopRank Marketing; Author, Optimize

This post comes from a new friend of HMG Creative in San Diego, the man who knows it all about landing page optimization – he wrote the book on it! Tim Ash, CEO of SiteTuners is an engaging speaker, author and truly understands how to convert clicks into customers. Enjoy another great one and be sure to follow him on Twitter @tim_ash.

6 Ways to Use Images to Improve Your Web Conversion Rate

Many people who have heard me speak know that I’m not a fan of using gratuitous images just to spice up your web design. By its very nature, the web is a visual medium, and the wrong image can create a visual distraction that pulls your visitor away from your key message points and/or call-to-action. Aside from causing a distraction, images can create confusion (if they aren’t aligned with visitor expectations) and even make a visitor feel insecure (if the quality is low or is commonly used as “stock” imagery.) Naturally, all of this leads to lower conversions.

But I do need to set the record straight: I’m not against images altogether. In fact, the right images, properly placed, are an important element of every website, especially if you’re marketing a product or service online. Images can help engage visitors and focus attention on your value proposition and/or call-to-action. Used correctly, the right graphics and images can help personalize your organization, especially if your customers’ first (or only) contact with you is online. Here are six ways you can use images to increase your web conversion rate:

1. Get emotional. Like it or not, decisions are made emotionally. Neuroscientists have shown that, of the three parts of the human brain, our choices are driven by the emotional “reptilian” brain. Many interesting books have been written on the subject, but if you remember just one thing about the reptilian brain, make it this: the reptilian brain is visually oriented and responds rapidly to images. Choose your images very carefully to be sure that they will evoke a specific emotion that will help push your visitor’s buy buttons. While this is more easily done for a lifestyle product or service (restaurants, travel, consumer products, etc.), creating emotions through photos and images should be done for all websites. Your job is to figure out what emotions will help drive the purchase of your product or service, and work to create those feelings through your pictures.

2. Be original. We have all seen them: the image of three professionals hovering around a conference table or the shot of the female phone operator smiling into her headset…stock photos that get overused so often they become laughable. Stock photos are a cost-effective way to include images in your marketing materials, but they can adversely impact your web conversion rate. Even if you have the most innovative products in your industry, you may lose a lot of customers if your cookie-cutter images make you seem like a cookie-cutter company.

3. Keep it real. If you use testimonials on your site (and I hope you do), you know that your customers can be your best salespeople. But have you considered using a photo alongside each letter of praise, or even shooting a video testimonial? Include photos and videos of your customers throughout your site, not just buried on a testimonials page, to help build trust and confidence in your organization. Showing real people who have benefitted from your products or services can make a huge impact on your conversion rate.

4. Be symbolic. Your company may not have immediate brand recognition, but you can still use high-value logos and recognizable symbols to inspire confidence and reduce any doubt that your company is worthy of your visitors’ business. If your company has been written about in the news, include the logo of the media outlet. If your clients represent well-known companies, display their logos to show who you’ve worked for. And if you allow transactions online, use symbols to assure the visitor that her information will be safe with you. Symbols and logos are key elements to building trust online. They can help validate you in ways that words simply can’t.

5. Be photogenic. One of the best ways to connect with your customers and improve your web conversion rate, especially if you have a local brick-and-mortar business, is to display candid photos showing visitors what it’s like to visit your establishment. For example, if you own a local restaurant, you probably want to show diners having a good time and enjoying your cuisine. Even if all of your company’s transactions happen online, showing photos of your staff and your environment can help assure potential new clients that you’re an established organization and not a fly-by-night company run out of someone’s garage. Let your website be a window into your organization, and invite your visitors to peer in.

6. Create a cheerleader. Want to get really creative? Think about inventing a mascot for your business. Studies show that consumers not only buy brands they recognize but, specifically, the face of those brands. Consider the Coca-Cola polar bears, the Geico gecko, and the E-Trade baby. You could create buzz, brand recognition, and instant credibility by being the only company in your industry to have a real character.

Implementing just one of these strategies can boost your web conversion rate and increase sales. You may not have the time, creativity, or internal support to create a mascot for your company, but can you switch out some of your stock photos with images that truly connect with your customers? Even this small change can deliver surprising results.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lee Odden and his awesome right-hand lady, Ashley Zeckman, at a marketing conference here in San Diego. Lee has a reputation that precedes him, and for good reason. From search, social to PR and optimization, Lee knows how to breakdown valuable and actionable information whether he is speaking to a crowd of hundreds or taking pen to paper in his book. Enjoy this post from Lee on content marketing, think: “sharable.” 

And for more insights be sure to follow him on Twitter @leeodden.

3 Keys to Scaling Content Marketing Success

Is Your Content Findable, Engaging & Shareable?

“KISS” is probably the best advice when it comes to giving advice (Keep It Simple Stupid) and for that reason this post is short and sweet on the topic of how to ensure your great content attracts, engages and converts.

Whether your goals are narrowly focused on revenue or more strategic involving branding and community as well as growing the business, the scalability of effective content is essential in today’s competitive marketplace.

No matter how much you invest in content marketing strategy, planning, production, amplification or analytics, there are three key requirements that each content object should satisfy. Great content isn’t great until it’s discovered, consumed and shared.

Findability – A lot of our work involves content development and the way many organizations are structured, content discovery isn’t a driver, but more of an afterthought.

Effective content marketing is about creating information that’s useful for specific audiences and with certain outcomes in mind.  While intent and context are often satisfied, the question of findability is usually underestimated. In particular, I’m talking about optimizing for search or social discovery. There are also promotion channels such as email, cross linking from existing content, 3rd party editorial links, news release distribution, social promotions, pay per click advertising and social media advertising.

What good is the great content you’re creating if no one can find it? By ensuring findability through optimization and promotion, the reach and amplification for content can be extended dramatically and for a very long period of time.   If you set goals for social and organic search traffic for the content being produced, those involved might become as thoughtful about content optimization as they are about content quality. This isn’t either or, expect both.

Engaging– Competition is tough and as more brands employ content publishing in their mix, it’s important that the content being produced considers engagement. How? Relevance, context and experience are good starters.

Is your content object relevant for the audience that will discover it? Is the information useful? Does it provide utility? Is it thought provoking? Does the information help satisfy the reader’s goals and at the same time, help bring them closer along in the buyer journey?

The notion of engagement can be very subjective so be sure to identify goals for engagement whether it’s a combination of page views, comments and social shares or traffic and conversions. Monitor interactions with content to discern trends so you can optimize future content object performance.

Sharability – A lot of optimization for search and social media performance is about making it easy for buyers to do what you want them to do. Adding social share widgets is part of that. Writing compelling titles that work for short character counts in social sharing situations like Twitter is also a best practice. Content quality and relevance come in to play for sharing as well.

Are you creating content that’s so good, people will want to share it with others? Have you made it easy for them to share?  Sharing for sharing’s sake isn’t going to solve any business problems, so make sure you know: Does the act of sharing help fulfill your objectives for the content?

There’s a lot of great brand content and story out there that isn’t getting the exposure that it could, simply because content producers are not tasked or accountable to one or more of these three simple requirements: Findability, Engagement and Shareability. Ensuring these characteristics are present for each content object through a process is a sure way to scale content marketing effectiveness whether your goals are social, PR, customer service or marketing focused.

Certain businesses have become overnight starlets in the world of social media. Somehow, things just clicked right from the start, and they “get it.” As it turns out, these social media divas all have some essential practices in common. With just a little effort, you too can enter the social media stratosphere.

• Don’t be afraid to ask for fans.
  Let your email subscribers know about your social media efforts by including “Follow Us” buttons in each message you send, including customer service messages. You can also create a special campaign to request followers. Templates are free and easy to integrate into your newsletter format.

• Incentivize subscriptions.
  One-time incentives such as a coupon or discount for liking a Facebook page can be excellent tools to acquire likes. You can also tempt would-be followers with promises of regular Twitter-only specials, sale previews, or VIP access to sales events.

• Integrate your promotion efforts.
  Email marketing is a great way to spread the word about your social media efforts, but don’t ignore other promotion opportunities. Include a link on your website, solicit followers in your print advertisements, and pin your emails to your Pinterest board with keyword-enriched descriptions so your business shows up in a search.

• Encourage your fans to interact.
  Engagement is one of the keys to succeeding with Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm. In order to show up in a fan’s newsfeed, you need to establish a pattern of interaction. Think outside the box and make it fun with ideas like:
  • Post photos of recent community events you’ve worked with.
  • Run a video contest.
  • Ask questions.
  • Invite fans to post their pictures to your page.
  • Link your blog posts to your Facebook page.

• Tailor content to the strengths of each venue.
  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube—each social media venue you choose interact with will exhibit various strengths and weaknesses. Don’t try to shove all of your content into one mold. Create conversations on Facebook, provide how-to ideas and inspirations for Pinterest, and tweet about your online sales. While it’s important to integrate your marketing efforts, it is also important to recognize that your fans have different expectations from each venue.

Proactively building your fan list, providing great content and incentives, encouraging interaction, and capitalizing on the strengths of your various social media endeavors will give you all the know-how, popularity, and success you need to catapult you to rock star status.

The Holidays bring a lot of people to the shopping cart both virtually and through retail stores. There is no time like December to ramp up social media marketing and attract new subscribers and well… “Likes!”  So let’s unwrap Eight tips on attracting more Facebook Likes to your company’s page for Christmas!

1.  Leverage the store-front advantage! Incentivize your customers to check-in for discounts; if they’re willing to drive to your store, they’re willing to check-in!

2.  Post exclusive information or offers that will spark excitement and encourage subscribers to share the offerings.

3.  Words are great; however fans and prospective fans are twice as likely to engage with pictures, links and video content over text.

4.  Everyone likes cheap and free however, people like one thing a little bit more, competition! If the radio station can do it, so can your business. Create unique and engaging competitions every once in a while to attract new customers and more importantly, generate repeat visits to your page and website.

5.  Respond to posts and feedback though sentences that sound like they actually came from a real person, not a robot. Remember, there should always be time to communicate with your followers and clients, they are the first priority.

6.  Use links and keywords to help optimize your content so it’s seen by more friends of existing subscribers.

7.  Don’t just post, sponsor and promote the message.  Organic Facebook page visits are only a measurement of the contact with existing followers, so go viral and make money with videos!  About 80 percent of consumers say they are more likely to try a new product or service based on a suggestion from a friend through social media.

8.  Witty, funny and fresh content wins!  Don’t be shy when posting; get those creative juices flowing to maintain existing subscribers and draw new fan interest.

So just remember to engage, promote and respond to your fans quickly and your business will see the the “Likes” a-flowing this Holiday season!

We are among the last generation to know the noun, “Yellow Pages.” All search happens on the internet (so I guess the new phrase is, yellowpages.com). And thanks to search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing, we know where we rank among competitors in the elusive race to land on the first page of organic results.

91 percent of adult internet users go to the web to find information over local seo services, products and making proper SEO more important than ever. That stat is hopefully not surprising to anyone; the web is and has been the go-to to find anything, with half of all searches performed on a mobile device (as mentioned in a previous post on the top reasons you should have a mobile site).

Site optimization and contextual link building is mandatory in the competitive, cluttered online marketplace; it is no longer optional to have an effective SEO strategy.

If you as the people at web hosting houston, they will tell you that there are some things about SEO that will never change; by integrating fundamental tactics combined with the updated and advanced techniques to optimize your site, you will garner organic traffic, naturally increase your rankings over time, gain credibility and help your target audience find you with ease.

I’m going to assume that SEO is not in your short list of talents. If it is, you’re awesome. If not, it is important to know where your talents stop and others’ begin. But finding an SEO partner can be a scary, unknown territory giving the keys to your site to another company. So where do you start? A Google search? (of course!) Maybe a hashtag inquiry on Twitter? What you get is an overwhelming number of sites and individuals claiming they will get you a number one ranking; it can feel like picking a needle in a haystack.

Be aware that quick-fix, short-sighted techniques that raise clients’ hopes only ultimately penalize their websites. At a time when Google is becoming more proactive about combating underhanded SEO tactics, you must adhere strictly to white-hat strategies that comply with all search engines’ terms of use – the best interest for your site and SEO results.

Now here are a few things to do and avoid on your SEO partner search:

SEO Don’ts:

Don’t – hire a techy caveman who never steps out of his office, or sleeps

Don’t– think SEO is a mysterious Divinci Code that no one can crack. It’s an algorithm, not an urban myth

Don’t – expect an instant number-one ranking (that’s like expecting to appear on Oprah immediately after launching a business)

Don’t – be afraid to ask questions, a true SEO guru who is passionate about their work will be more than happy to teach others about their process and how the algorithms work

SEO Dos:

Do – your own research on keywords and phrases that are important to you and your company

Do – take note of your key competitors, aspects of their site and rankings

Do– Create content – You can optimize blog posts on your own with tags, keywords and phrases, linking and social sharing

Do– Trash any fluff articles filled with key words or any cluttering on your home page with filler copy in a weak attempt to increase your rank, and do NOT hire someone that condones this

Do – your homework; SEO experts like many self-proclaimed “experts” are a dime a dozen; sort through the clutter and learn how they handle their clients, reporting and strategy. Identify the best SEO strategy and true expert that fits with your business model
So that’s the short list that will hopefully direct you to be informed and be introduced to a trustworthy partner, maybe even us.

Check out the following guest posting service reviews to find out the key features each outreach service has to offer.

Some solid advice for those just starting off is; get yourself involved locally with the business that are already doing what you are aiming for. I have a young nephew that got himself a poorly paid internship at YEAH! Local, I am so proud of him for this, he will learn real time knowledge, which is priceless in the development of a professional. Want to know more about SEO or other online tactics like Google Pay-Per-Click, link building, content creation and monthly reporting? Give me a call or shoot me an email, would love to help out where I can.

Cheers,
Amy
[email protected]

You have probably heard the overused term: “content is king.” But what does that mean, really?

Search, Social and Strategy

It started when relevant, fresh content became a key factor for search engine optimization, which also plays a huge role to position your company as an industry resource and expert.  Then social media emerged as a viable channel, increasing the need to push consistent communication to your (hopefully) engaged community.

Search and social initiatives are a necessity. You have to be seen and heard by your potential and current customers. If you aren’t driving your brand or company to compete with the thought-leaders or become one yourself, you will be obsolete in the marketplace. After all, if you aren’t talking to your customers, you can be sure someone else is.

What are the thought-leaders practicing? Content marketing strategy.

Content Marketing and PB&J

So what exactly is content marketing? Entrepreneur Magazine’s concise definition is: “The creation and publication of original content — including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos and photos — for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display.”

Simply, it is the way brands gain trust, credibility and ultimate loyalty from customers by communicating messages that represent something they care and want to know more about.

One online expert recently described content marketing by using the symbolism of my favorite childhood sandwich: PB&J.  (Stick with this, it’s good.) Imagine that search and social is peanut butter and jelly and content is the bread that holds it all together. So the content, the foundation of the strategy, must be something customers deem it valuable, want to consume and then want to pass on to family, friends and anyone in their social or off-line network.

There is No “I” in Content

Now, with the internet becoming increasingly personalized in our multi-polarized world, content marketing is more important than ever. Budgets are increasing to develop deeper, thought-provoking messaging and strategy (evolving from, “Look at us” and “Wow, our product and services are fantastic,” to a storytelling technique that taps into the customer experience).

So how do you go from, “What’s in it for us?” to “What’s in it for our audience?” Simply, tell a story and stop talking about yourself.  (Sales reps, gasp here. Remember, there is no “I” in content marketing – well there is, but it’s a little guy.)

Stop Informing and Start Storytelling

How do you do content marketing and storytelling well? Tell a story that is personable, approachable, tangible and memorable. For more info please visit homeinsurance-companies.com .

For example, The Hartford sponsors the Paralympics every year, and after following the online advice of Facebook marketing companies, the company decided to tell this story last year. They launched a media and video campaign through the medium of Facebook highlighting the athletes themselves. The result was a successful and emotional story connecting with people on an individual and very personal level.

Check out the introduction video here: http://goo.gl/e0XPA

Say What You Know, Not What You Sell

Customers are not looking to read your blog or micro-site to see what you sell, they can view that in a catalog or on the products and services tab on your site. They are interested in what you know and what you stand for. It’s time to start communicating as a trusted and relevant source and not as a sales script. Storytelling is the new content marketing.

See where your expertise and your customer’s interests overlap to tap into your niche. Tell a unique story and communicate in a way that no other competition can touch.

The phrase was, “content is king.” Content was key for search engine optimization and played a huge role to position your company as an industry resource. Then came social and the need for pushing consistent communication and creative tactics emerged through micro-sites and social media popularity exploding, driving brands to compete with the thought-leaders or become obsolete in the marketplace.

Now, with the internet becoming increasingly personalized in our multi-polarized world, content marketing is more important than ever. Budgets are increasing to develop deeper, thought-provoking messaging and strategy (evolving from, “Look at us” and “Wow, our product and services are fantastic,” to a storytelling technique that taps into the customer experience).

So what exactly is content marketing? Entrepreneur Magazine’s concise definition is: “The creation and publication of original content — including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos and photos — for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display.”

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