Proliferation

Jun 20
0

Finding Keywords That Fit

By | SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

Keywords are the driving force behind effective SEO. In order to increase your rankings online — and in turn increase your business’s success — you must first select relevant keywords. These keywords, when properly selected, have the potential to propel the rest of your SEO strategy to the top.

With the help of a widely experienced professional SEO firm and time spent performing extensive research, your company has the potential to take its SEO strategy to the next level.

Start With What You Know

When you begin the process of selecting keywords, it is important to gather a team and start brainstorming. Scooby Doo and Shaggy didn’t solve a single mystery without the rest of their team — and neither will you.

By allowing members from multiple facets of your company to join in on your SEO brainstorming session, you set your company up for success. The first part of brainstorming requires you to start where you are and with what you know. Make a list of words that are relevantly associated with your company. If you sell shoes in Utah, maybe the keywords “shoes” and “Utah” will show up on your initial list.

From your initial list, fine-tune the possible keyword options. Once you and your team have assembled a list of relevant topics and possible keywords, the true research begins.

Research Brings the Best Results

The easiest way to start your research process is to head to Google. Google some of your possible topics and see what comes up. If you Google the phrase “Utah Shoes” and companies with a vastly different image than your own appear, consider tweaking your keywords.

Perhaps through your research you discover that the phrase “Utah Sandals” pulls up sites similar to your own. Through trial and error, you have discovered a possible keyword.

Your research continues as you experiment with variations on possible keywords. As part of research, select a few competitors and study the keywords used by those companies. This exercise will give you a good idea of what works for keywords and what does not.

Though this phase can be long and difficult, the research pays off when you select keywords that greatly increase SEO — and ipso facto, business.

Polish Up

After you finish research, whittle down your potential keyword list. It is important that you focus on increasing SEO through only a few keywords. Focusing on too many keywords at once decreases the quality and the effectiveness of your SEO strategy.

Consult a SEO firm for a little extra help in selecting the final keywords. Once the keywords have been selected, get to work on creating great content.

Jun 16
0

When Link Spam Hurts SEO

By | Google, SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

In an effort to increase SEO, companies often make simple link spam mistakes. Link spam consists of links setup between specific pages that are put in place to capitalize on Googles link-centric algorithms. Though several types of link spam are helpful for SEO, there are just as many types that can hurt.

Knowing the difference between helpful and harmful link spam can save a company’s SEO. Though it can be difficult to discern, professional SEO agencies have the expertise required to help a company get the most out of their link spam.

Blogging Blunders

There several benefits offered by the blogging world, and though SEO specialist often explore the boundaries, individuals must exercise caution. Google has a low tolerance for fake blogs on which anyone can pay for a spot. These guest posts are often low quality and are generally flagged by Google.

If you are featured on one of these sites, make sure your posts are high quality and that you do not over-link. When considering where to place your articles, search out several options. Sites with a low reputation have the potential to damage your SEO.

The Directory Downfall

Google is fairly vocal about how low it ranks links from online directories. Since Google controls your rankings, it is smart to avoid the low-quality directories it so ardently warns against.

Link spam is often placed in directories — and while some of these directories are helpful, others can be detrimental. Make sure your company takes the time to evaluate each directory its links are listed in. This tactic will improve positive SEO and help individuals avoid negative repercussions of poorly placed link spam.

Keyword Catastrophe

Keywords are great way to increase SEO — but when used wrong, keywords can be harmful.

Using unrelated keywords to draw readers in is a dangerous trap, even though it may be tempting to try and increase your readership. If you run a small Utah coffee shop, use “Utah” or “coffee” as a keyword – not smoothies or Washington. Using “Utah” keeps your keywords relevant and your readers happy. Similarly, do not use the keyword “Utah” a million times throughout your article. Keyword stuffing is bad for SEO and incredibly annoying.

Google’s algorithms look for keyword discrepancies — and if you improperly use keywords, your SEO will greatly suffer.

Jun 09
0

What UX Means for Your SEO Strategy

By | Google, SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

There’s a problem with the way many companies are approaching SEO. We’re not talking about a problem at a few agencies in Utah. We’re talking about an industry-wide issue, and the issue is this: In an industry where SEO rules supreme, professionals are starting to treat SEO as war for keywords — when in reality SEO is a war for the consumer. You win that war through UX.

What Is UX?

UX is the standard abbreviation for “user experience.” Let’s be frank — it doesn’t matter how many customers end up on your website if they don’t stay. You could effectively use keywords all day long and have the worst UX on the World Wide Web — if your UX stinks, say goodbye to your customers.

How Does UX Work With SEO?

UX and SEO may seem like awkward stepsiblings at first, each on one end of the spectrum professionals have created in their minds of what makes up a successful Web approach. That’s simply not true. UX and SEO actually together work in beautiful harmony.

Think about it. The whole point of SEO is to get visitors onto your website and turn them into customers. In order to do that, you need to create an experience that attracts people, grabs hold of their interest and helps them accomplish what they came to do. It doesn’t matter if they came to book a trip to Moab, Utah or to buy a new DVD player as long as your website helps them do that in the easiest way possible.

Is UX Really That Important?

Don’t sacrifice UX to try and satisfy a Google algorithm. Amazing UX will naturally create an increase as happy customers share and distribute information about their experiences. Sally in Utah will be more than happy to tell her friend Peggy a thousand miles away about the awesome website she just found. She’ll probably tell all her blog followers too.

Keywords will always be important, but they’re a baseline that Google assumes you are already doing. UX is the new frontier of SEO, and as Google’s algorithms become more sophisticated, you can bet that UX will have a dramatic impact on rankings.

Jun 06
0

How Google and SEO Changed the Marketing Workforce

By | Google, SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

If not for Google, we wouldn’t be writing this and you wouldn’t be reading it. Thanks to Google, the increased need for digital content gave rise to a whole new workforce from Utah to the East Coast — and it all started as part of the genesis of online search.

Early in the internet days, search engines like Google made it possible to find information more easily online. To be found in a search, websites had to be relevant, which in the earlier days of the internet (just as now) meant your site had to be associated with certain keywords. This gave rise to what we now call search engine optimization, or SEO.

Initially, some companies would try to game the search algorithms and increase relevance by stuffing their pages full of keywords just to appear more relevant than they actually were. Meanwhile, more forward-thinking SEO firms in Utah were already focused on content and the user experience.

Luckily, Google had higher standards for what a website should be, and a cluttered mess of poorly placed keywords didn’t cut it. To respond to low-quality sites, Google continued to update its algorithms to reward sites that produce content relevant to their markets and keywords, while punishing those with poor content and shady SEO strategies.

This need for relevant — and most importantly — high-quality content changed the way companies approach marketing, and thus gave birth to what we know as content marketing today. Consumers in Utah and elsewhere suddenly had all the information they needed at their fingertips, so it was up to brands to be a part of the conversation by publishing their own content. If brands weren’t providing potential customers information they needed, customers could easily find it somewhere else.

Content became king because it allowed brands to improve SEO in Utah and nationwide, but more importantly, it started connecting consumers with brands they can trust.

This need for content caused a massive shift in how businesses approach marketing. Suddenly videographers, writers and designers were more in demand than ever. Digital marketing agencies popped up to provide these services, and artists of all media types had the opportunity to make an impact in the business world by developing content for brands in need. We thank Google for having the foresight to promote high quality content and give so many people the opportunity to enter the workforce doing what they love.

May 25
0

The Facebook Metrics You Should Care Most About

By | digital marketing, Facebook, marketing, Utah | No Comments

Facebook boasts just over a billion daily active users, making it a huge storehouse of potential customers that businesses can pursue. Since most businesses and digital marketing firms are onboard the Facebook train by now, the next step for them is understanding some of the metrics Facebook provides — and how those metrics can be used to improve posts.

Page Views

Page views refer to how many people have visited your Facebook page. This is useful because it can show you how many people were either curious enough about your brand to look you up, or wanted to interact with more of your posts after seeing them on their news feed.

Reach

For Facebook, reach refers to how many users viewed your post. This helps digital marketing firms because you can see which posts gather the most reach, compared to which aren’t doing so well. While this information is useful, it it’s not nearly as useful as seeing how many people engaged with a particular post.

Impressions

While reach refers to number of people who saw your post, impressions refer to how many times your post was seen. This is different, because the same user can see your post more than once if one of his or her friends shares the post. Impressions are a useful metric because they give you a clearer picture of how many times your message is appearing to your audience — and can be a good indicator of how shareable it is.

Engagement

For digital marketing firms in particular, the keyword for social media is, of course, “social.” Engagement measures the percentage of people who interacted with your posts, either through commenting, liking, sharing, etc. This is one of the most useful metrics — because the best type of content is the kind that’s interesting enough for people to share with their friends. The beauty of Facebook is that if you’re sharing something your audience likes, they will do a lot of the legwork for you.

Videos

A major focus for all digital marketing firms is video. If you’re posting videos to your Facebook page, you’ll want to know how many people are actually watching them, right? What’s more useful, though, is seeing how long people have watched your video. Facebook will provide you with the number of times your video has been viewed for at least ten seconds. If videos consistently underperform and people begin to watch but quickly bounce, that’s a solid indicator that your videos need some improvement.

In Summary

Facebook provides these statistics for a reason, so don’t forget to make studying them a regular part of your social media strategy. Only by analyzing stats and understanding how your posts are performing can you continually improve your digital marketing game.

May 25
0

Amp Up Your Content Quality With Good Grammar

By | content marketing, SEO, Utah | No Comments

Content marketing is the driving force behind convincing consumers to use a company’s services or products. Good content marketing gives information to the consumer and that information convinces them to act.

This strategic portion of advertising uses SEO and keywords to draw customers in. Once the consumers find the written content it is important that nothing drives them away — this includes poor grammatical errors.

A good content marketing agency will be able to take care of your content creation for you and with a string of editors double checking posts, grammatical nightmares can easily be avoided.

Avoiding Error

Remembering the little things is key. If your company is located in Utah and it consistently forgets to capitalize Utah in its blog posts, it is likely that your Utah customers will be turned off by the unprofessional mistakes. This could ultimately affect sales.

Many spelling and capitalization errors can be caught by internal spellcheck programs on your computer but there are several other grammatical issues that can’t be resolved by spellcheck.

If your company uses AP Style as your format, make sure that all posts are written after this manner. Inconsistencies within style are confusing within a webpage. Keep style guides handy around the workplace in order to have a quick point of reference when questions arise.

Online sources can also often offer overviews of specific styles and identify commonly made grammatical mistakes. In order to maximize a company’s content marketing reach, refer to these online guides often.

These guides and sources can be found through any search engine. Before your use one though, make sure to check your source and verify that it is a reputable one. You wouldn’t take Jedi training from Chewbacca so why would you take grammar training from dizzyflowerlover454?

After you have referenced guides and established online sources it is always a good idea to have someone give you a second opinion on your work. Content marketing can be tricky so having a second set of eyes catching your little mistakes is important.

With good grammar though, you can keep customers reading and clients happy.

May 16
0

How to Make Public Relations Work for Your SEO Strategy

By | SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

Public relations is an integral part of any full service advertising campaign. A public relations campaign improves the company’s relationship with the local community. These campaigns can work in a way that not only improves your relationship with the community, but also increases your SEO.

SEO often has its own strategy — and by manipulating your public relations (PR) strategy to fall in line with SEO, businesses can achieve maximum reach. Professional SEO specialists can help companies develop a clear vision of how PR and SEO can work together.

What Does Public Relations Entail?

Many people believe that PR is as simple as image management and restoration; while this is certainly one function of PR, there are many others as well. These facets may be known as something other than PR, but with such a wide variety of avenues it is likely that your company is participating in some form of public relations — whether you know it or not.

Social media marketing for example is certainly a form of PR. Presenting your company to the public on Facebook and Twitter and interacting with customers and the general public is not only a good PR strategy, but it works great for SEO as well.

Understanding the multiple facets of PR helps companies identify new avenues in which to implement their SEO campaigns.

Now Add the SEO

Making your keywords match your philanthropic ideals is one key way to align your public relations campaign with your SEO strategy. This general tactic can be implemented everywhere from blog posts to Facebook.

Say your company wants to gain public favor with local Utah residents. As part of this outreach effort your company decides to help raise awareness of endangered Utah wildlife. By involving other Utah businesses and developing a cohesive PR strategy, your business can help Utah wildlife and your company reputation at the same time.

Through the use of relevant keywords in your blog and social media posts about your wildlife outreach efforts and by adding links to these articles, you can increase brand recognition and Web page traffic.

Making room for SEO in your content calendar helps companies to expand their reach. As PR broadens a company’s digital horizons, SEO helps target those horizons and send a company in the right direction.

May 13
0

Combating Google’s Ad Increases

By | SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

If you’ve conducted a Google search lately, you’ve probably noticed things have changed. Google has done away with side-rail advertisements and increased the number of advertisements that appear at the top of the search results page.

The changes hope to better match the vertical layout of smartphones, but they also mean subsequent changes in the way companies approach SEO. Ranking in about the top five search results used to be enough to get you on the first Google search page. With the new ad changes, as many as seven ads could appear on page one of search results, which means as few as two organic search results could make an appearance on the same page.

So, what does all this mean for you? Well, it could mean that if you are the third-ranked steakhouse in Utah, customers looking for dinner choices may never even know you exist.

How can you combat these ad changes and make sure your services are seen?

Hire an Awesome SEO Manager

Unfortunately, there is no magic solution. Better SEO is always the answer. If you want a guaranteed spot on the first page of search results, you need to be the best-ranked search result. Investing in an awesome SEO manager can make all the difference. 

Use Informational Search Terms

Google’s new ad system places more advertisements on “highly commercial queries.” Getting fewer ads to appear when users search for your product or service, say your Utah-based steakhouse, could be accomplished in part by changing the keywords you use. Work with your SEO manager to identify search terms that are important to your business but also won’t set off a large number of ads. Lean more toward informational content than commercial.

Buy Ads 

If SEO and informational search terms aren’t getting the job done, you can always buy ads. Ideally, this would be your last resort; however, a well-placed product listing ad (PLA) could put your Utah-area steakhouse at the very top of page one. With the new Google layout, it might be worth the investment.

May 11
0

How to Hire the Best SEO Manager

By | SEO, Utah, Utah SEO | No Comments

SEO is essential for survival in a digital world. It brings a new spin to the old question about the tree falling in a forest: If your company doesn’t appear on the first page of search results, does it really exist? A first-rate SEO manager is the key to success, but it seems like every person in Utah and beyond is calling themselves SEO experts these days. How do you sift through the novices to find a SEO manager who can truly make a difference for your company?

Look for Someone Who Lives for SEO 

An effective SEO manager will live and breathe search engine optimization. You can be confident that a person who is passionate about SEO will stay current on trends and want to produce visible results.

When looking into possible candidates, see if they practice what they preach. Did they attend the latest digital marketing conference in Utah? Do they post about industry trends on their social media accounts? Ask if they have a personal website or blog you can visit; see what they write about and how they write about it. Someone who lives for SEO will spread energy and passion to the rest of your team.

Look for Someone Who Learned From Experience

The best SEO managers will come from diverse backgrounds. They’ll be knowledgeable about all areas of digital marketing and understand how the different elements work together to produce optimal results. You can tell which candidates are experienced SEO managers by asking what their approach would be for two different clients, maybe for a small business in Utah or a large corporation on the East Coast. Experienced managers will be able to present a specialized approach for each client instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to every topic.

Look for Someone Who Can Communicate

The ability to communicate well with individuals at all levels of the company is crucial for a SEO manager. He or she will be coordinating with and teaching everyone from the CEO to the entry-level interns. If a SEO manager can communicate ideas clearly, effectively and with a good attitude, overall efforts to enhance search engine optimization will just keep getting better.

Apr 29
0

The Double-Edged Sword of Data and Content Marketing

By | content marketing, marketing, Social Media, Utah | No Comments

In the abyss known as content marketing, creativity is usually deemed king; however, one vital and often overlooked quality of content marketing is data. Content without data is like an unmanned paper airplane; there’s no way to tell where it will go or how soon it will get there. However, data has the potential to turn content into pure gold — specifically if that content is targeting a particular location.

The data for content marketing in Utah might look drastically different than the data for marketing on the East Coast, which is exactly why you need to understand the different layers of data to turn your content into pure marketing gold.

Mastering the Art of Owned Analytics

Owned content has already been established as an integral aspect of marketing; however, how many times have you heard the phrase “owned analytics”? Owned analytics refers to data that is produced directly from a company or brand’s personal website and social media accounts. Owned data might include user reach, shares, engagement and so on. This type of data allows marketers to target their audiences more effectively — whether it’s an audience of outdoor enthusiasts in southern Utah or a group of engineers in Silicon Valley.

What Are the Benefits of Earned Content?

After completing the footwork of owned data, earned content comes into play. Earned content is content produced around a brand; for example, how a brand is trending on Twitter, how people are responding to content shared on Facebook and Instagram or how audiences are reacting to videos and blog posts. The benefit of earned content gives marketers a critical look at how targeted audiences are receiving content — which ultimately helps marketers tweak and fine-tune their content for optimal engagement.

Contextualize, Contextualize, Contextualize

The hardest part of using data in content marketing? Contextualizing it. Marketing to an audience in Salt Lake City, Utah will be substantially different than marketing to an audience in the Midwest. Fortunately, at Fusion 360 we’re pros at turning data into marketing gold — no matter where you’re at.