Proliferation

Mar 21
0

The Worst Websites for Mobile

By | Mobile marketing, SEO | No Comments

In 2016, mobile is continuing on its path to take over the Internet, from mobile holiday shopping to checking the latest Utah-area news. In an effort to boost search engine optimization — also known as SEO — and stay in the good graces of Google, most reputable websites work hard to make their websites mobile-friendly.

That said, not every website does a good job of optimizing for mobile. While some websites just don’t really seem to grasp the concept of mobile, others appear to be actively working to intrude upon consumers’ mobile experience as much as humanly possible.

Some of the worst offenders are the websites of local news stations in Utah and throughout the country. Local news websites are often littered with photos, advertisements and clickbait news stories. Some small-town news websites in Utah will inundate the viewer with pop-up information, or even highjack the viewer’s ability to scroll—resulting in a cluttered, jumpy mess of a mobile site. Not exactly great for SEO.

Other websites that offer a mobile app — such as YouTube — will upon entering the mobile version of the website present the viewer with an obnoxiously large plug for the app version. Such pop-up ads often have a very small ‘x’ in the corner that is rather difficult to hit just right on a tiny phone screen.

In these cases, the viewer is often unable to exit out of the advertisement on the first try, and instead gets redirected to an app he or she had no intention of downloading in the first place. Luckily, Google has recently released SEO penalties for sites that do this; however many mobile sites are still guilty of this infuriating practice.

Other mobile sites are simply not optimized for mobile. High school and university websites are notorious for this; it’s nearly impossible to use a university’s website on mobile, even the more reputable ones. In 2016, that’s simply unacceptable; if mobile is the next big thing, webmasters need to get with the program — just say no to unoptimized mobile websites.

Mar 21
0

4 Obsolete Content Marketing Strategies You Should Probably Stop Using

By | content marketing, Mobile marketing | No Comments

Much like the rest of the Internet, content marketing is an ever-changing field. As Google search guidelines and consumer online behaviors evolve, content marketers from the Midwest to Utah need to stay on their toes in order to keep consumers engaged.

You’d think any content marketer worth her salt would understand this. Nonetheless, we’re always surprised by how many marketers are still holding on to old strategies — strategies that have long been obsolete.

Focusing Only on Short-Form Content

While short-form content makes it easy to crank out a large quantity of pieces, Google search criteria no longer value short-form pieces as well as longer ones. Long-form pieces tend to rank higher than short-form ones — and there’s simply no substitute for comprehensive, detailed content that both informs and educates your users.

Keyword Stuffing

Back in the day, content marketing was all about the keywords. Companies from the East Coast to Utah could stuff their content full of keywords and expect it to rank highly — no matter the quality of the content.

Nowadays, Google and most other search engines actively penalize websites for this; instead of just focusing on the keywords, put more effort into crafting a quality piece, and use keywords where it makes sense to do so.

Using Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions used to be a great place to stuff in some more keywords and boost your search rankings. Now, however, meta descriptions have no impact whatsoever on SEO. It doesn’t matter if you use keywords or not; just don’t bother with meta descriptions.

Writing for Anyone & Everyone

We understand that companies generally want their content to resonate with as many viewers as possible, however that approach may actually be hurting your content marketing strategy instead of helping. Determine who your target audience is, then write your content explicitly for that audience. No matter how good you think your content is, it will be of little use if your target audience does not agree.

Bonus: Don’t Forget About Video!

While you can’t go wrong with written content, video is truly the next big thing. For content marketers in Utah and around the world, video brings in unprecedented levels of engagement — so get behind that camera and start filming.

Mar 17
0

SEO Tactics to Thwart Hackers

By | SEO | No Comments

For anyone used to the Internet, hacking is nothing new. Hackers — people who seek and exploit weaknesses in a computer or network — are present everywhere from Anonymous to 4Chan, releasing private information about high-profile companies such as Sony, targeting ISIS’ social media accounts and leaking nude celebrity photos.

Every now and then, innocent websites will get hacked and stuffed full of spammy backlinks in an attempt to increase the page rank of some random hacker’s website in Utah. This can result in some serious Google penalties — even if the spammy backlinks were someone else’s doing. Here are some SEO tactics to help protect against Internet hackers.

Reliable Hosting

When it comes to website hosting, it pays not to go for the budget option. A quality hosting provider will offer professional support and safety measures to prevent against hacking.

Update Software Regularly

While it can be easy to get behind with software updates or have your website running on an outdated version of WordPress, not updating frequently leaves your website open and exposed to potential hackers who can highjack your SEO. Software updates exist for multiple reasons: for maximum security and for keeping everything up-to-date.

Keep Good Backups

There’s nothing as important as having frequent backup copies of your website. Keep website backups separate from your usual computer; for best security, store backups on an external drive or on a separate network altogether. This makes it harder for hackers in Utah to completely derail your website and wreck your SEO.

Have a Strong Password

As this famous comic from xkcd illustrates, the strongest passwords actually don’t use a combination of numbers, letters and punctuation — instead, the strongest passwords employ a mix of random common words. Absolutely do not use passwords such as “12345” or “Password!”

Remain Vigilant

Always make sure to monitor your website regularly. Look out for any suspicious activity, and run regular security scans. Consider employing professionals in Utah who know exactly what a compromised website looks like.

Hackers can be a Webmaster’s worst nightmare. Help protect against hacking by following these important steps. And never ever use your work computer to browse websites of questionable integrity — that’s just stupid.

Mar 17
0

Content Marketing for Any Budget

By | content marketing | No Comments

In 2016, we can safely say that most people in the marketing world know by now that content marketing is kind of a big deal. Eighty-eight percent of B2B marketers in Utah and across the country currently use content marketing techniques, and even more are considering implementing content marketing in the near future.

As any good marketer knows, advertising can get pricey. Content marketing is no exception — however, even Utah-area businesses on the tightest of budgets can reap the benefits of content marketing.

For the Smallest Budgets

For businesses looking to get into content marketing but don’t yet have the funds to do so, we recommend getting a head start by repurposing the content you may already have.

Do you have some consumer reviews lying around, or do you keep getting the same questions in your inbox? Turn customer reviews into a social media campaign, and reoccurring questions into an F.A.Q. master post. Any video produced should be used for blog posts, and pen lists of various facts & stats about your company.

For a Mid-Sized Budget

Once you’ve gotten your content marketing strategy off the ground — and finagled something for a budget — it’s time to diversify your content. Don’t just focus on blog posts and social: move on to infographics, slideshows, podcasts, animations, etc.

Above all, marketers on medium-sized budgets should start to allocate more resources into video. In the age of the iPhone, shooting video has never been easier; and by 2017, video content is expected to account for 69 percent of all consumer Internet traffic.

For the Fortune 500 Companies

If you’re a fortune 500 company in Utah or the Big Apple, chances are your budget for content marketing is insane. At this level, you’re talking the most diverse pool of content — everything from your average articles to calculated social media campaigns and tailored content for every minor holiday you’ve never even heard of (national pancake day, anyone?).

Companies at this level can afford to splurge for the best of the best. Not only is content marketing about quantity, it’s also about quality. The best content marketers are master of storytelling, forming meaningful relationships between a brand and its consumers. Adept at incorporating user-generated content, top-tier content marketers can bring consumers in from any angle.

From the smallest company in Utah to the biggest players, content marketing matters. No matter your level, incorporate content marketing into the mix and stay one step ahead of the game.

Mar 17
0

How to Use Video in Email

By | Video | No Comments

Email is — to little surprise — the most efficient form of online communication due to its simplicity, ease of use and effectiveness. Videos are an essential aspect of content marketing; however, how many companies in Utah and surrounding states are actually using videos in email correctly for the most engagement and response? If you don’t know the answer to that question, then you’re probably missing the mark when it comes to video marketing and email. Here’s a brief (but comprehensive) look into how to effectively use videos within email campaigns for the most engagement.

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Mar 15
0

How to Grow Your Small SEO Agency to the National Level

By | content marketing, SEO | No Comments

For agencies specializing in search engine optimization (SEO), life is all about getting the client’s website to the top of a search engine’s results pages (SERPs). Yet while the goal of any small SEO agency in Utah or elsewhere is to bring to the client Internet fame and fortune, what about the SEO agency itself?

Most SEO agencies start out small; they may employ only a handful of professionals. Yet even the smallest of SEO agencies has the potential to grow into a regional, national or even multi-national force. Here’s how.

Start with Referrals

For the infant SEO startup, the best way to get those first few influential clients is through referrals. In the beginning, referral clients may not be your biggest clients, but they are without a doubt the most important. Gain both clients and a professional reputation going forward by treating your first clients really, really well.

Use Content Marketing

In the current era of the Internet, content marketing and SEO go hand in hand. Today’s search engines only care about keywords and backlinks so much; the real driver of search engine results is high-quality content. And lots of it.

Not only should a good SEO agency provide content marketing for its clients, it should also use content marketing to promote the agency itself.

Blog Well, and Blog Often

The quintessential aspect of content marketing is blogging. You should blog about everything from SEO to content marketing (meta, I know) and social media marketing. By blogging well and often, you aim to establish your agency as a thought leader in the industry.

Get Out There

Once you’ve established your agency as an industry leader of sorts, the conference invitations will come rolling in. Go to conferences everywhere, from Utah to the East Coast. Speaking at conferences only serves to further solidify your place as a leader in the SEO industry — so put yourself out there.

Get Specific

Once your agency is really beginning to thrive in the SEO community, you can start making bigger moves. The best way to bring your agency up to the national level is to specialize in one very specific industry in particular.

Don’t just do SEO in general, do SEO for rodeo services or office suppliers in Utah, for instance. Pick a niche market, and then dominate it. By going niche, you become the sole resource for that market — and that’s truly powerful.

Capture the Niche Market — and then Go from There

Once you’ve captured your niche market, the only way to go is up. From being the lead SEO agency for one particular market in Utah to the go-to agency for that market at the national level, the best way to get there is to go niche.

So what are you waiting for? Get started on your SEO empire today.

Mar 14
0

Negative SEO Might Just Be Black Hat Tactics, But We’re Not Fooled

By | content marketing, SEO | No Comments

Black hat SEO is slowly (and thankfully) becoming a thing of the past; however, its replacement is just as threatening. A new, more cunning type of search engine optimization has emerged in the shoes of black hat tactics: negative SEO. As with all things search engine-related, it doesn’t matter if you’re geo-targeting specific keywords in Utah or running a full-fledged campaign across the Midwest — negative SEO can affect the rankings of any business or retailer.

Negative SEO Is Black Hat SEO 2.0
Negative search engine optimization is basically just an updated version of black hat SEO; in a nutshell, it’s a series of unethical tactics that can be used by almost anyone (with the appropriate skill set) to successfully sabotage a competitor’s search rankings. Negative search engine optimization can be aimed at local competitors from Utah to the East Coast — it makes no difference to negative SEO.

Some of the tactics employed during a negative search engine optimization attack can include website hacking, the generation of a large quantity of inbound spam links to a website, content duplication and distribution and the creation of false social media profiles with the intention of destroying a company’s online reputation. A business on the West Coast can use any of the above tactics to target a competitor across the nation — whether they’re located in Utah or on the East Coast — to negatively affect their rankings and online reputation.

How to Treat Negative SEO Bullying
All of the above-listed tactics sound like an intense dosage of SEO-bullying; however, how successful are these tactics? Are they tangible enough to be considered an actual threat? Absolutely. And to make matters worse, negative SEO is cheap — it can cost as little as five bucks for someone to initiate a series of negative search engine optimization tactics. Your best bet? Invest in the necessary tools to prevent an attack from happening in the first place.

Mar 14
0

How Mobile Marketing Is Capitalizing on Video Content and Geotargeting

By | digital marketing, Mobile marketing | No Comments

Before the Internet existed, news was read via newspapers; after newspapers, television became a supplemental news source. And with the introduction and explosion of everything-online, the Internet has become the newest primary method of news distribution. The catalogue of how news has evolved over the past 100-plus years speaks volumes in terms of how quickly major communication methods are changing.

Presently, digital marketing firms hold the torch in terms of relevant communication methods. And these agencies are spending a bulk of their resources focusing on what will be the future of advertising and communication: mobile.

Videos Have Advertisers Rethinking Mobile Strategy
With mobile communication taking over more rapidly than anyone in the 21st century could have anticipated, digital marketing firms and agencies are quickly adapting to construct advertising campaigns and methods that are congruent with the mobile takeover. One of the biggest advertising platforms that currently exist is video content.

Facebook, YouTube and similar publishers have long pushed video content. The marriage of video content and mobile devices has made digital marketing firms and agencies re-think the way they advertise within videos. The steady growth and eventual explosion of video content popularity has spawned an increase in programmatic technology and an inclination towards storytelling, rather than direct selling approaches.

Mobile GPS Systems Allow for Geotargeting
Advertising has long since jumped into the rabbit hole of personalized ads — and one of the more brilliant changes produced from this has been geotargeting (also referred to as geo-fencing). By using built-in GPS systems to their advantage, ad networks can pick out exactly where you are — which means they can then serve you a geo-specific advert based off of this information.

This is a win-win for consumers and ad agencies alike; mobile users are much more likely to click on an advertisement that offers services in their immediate vicinity. In return, ad agencies can collect more information about their customer base, thus creating campaigns that are geo-specific to not only your demographic, but to your personal preferences and retail history.

Mar 11
0

The Facebook Emojis We Wish We Had

By | content marketing, digital marketing | No Comments

Ever since the introduction of the “like” back in February 2009, Facebook users have been clamoring for a new way to react to friends’ posts, photos and status updates. For seven years, the Facebook “like” was the only way to react to someone’s post (without actually writing a comment), which left many users conflicted over the ethics of “liking” that status about grandma’s death or little Timmy’s broken arm.

That all changed on Feb. 24, 2016 when Facebook rolled out with a slew of new emoji digital reactions. The five new emojis — “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad” and “angry” — give Facebook users and digital marketing companies alike something to celebrate; in addition to giving users more freedom of expression, the emojis give Facebook & affiliates rather detailed information about user likes and dislikes.

Not everyone is happy about Facebook’s new emojis, however. The very day the update went live, comic artist Matthew Inman — better known for his page The Oatmeal — had already come up with a list of satirical new emojis for the social network, with reactions ranging from “meh” to “I just threw up in my mouth” and “I read this while pooping.”

In an interesting turn of events — or clever marketing ploy — anonymous programmers have come up with browser extensions intended to change the innocuous emojis into Pokémon or various images of spray-tanned American tycoon Donald Trump.

These so-called Reaction Packs open the lid to a Pandora’s box full of possibilities: from Studio Ghibli’s Soot Sprite reactions (which are already available) to Disney characters or SpongeBob reactions, the opportunities are endless.

This is good news for both digital marketing companies and trademarked character enthusiasts alike; not only can marketing companies gather data from the use of Facebook’s existing emojis, they may be able to incorporate brand-specific Facebook emojis to accompany a movie or product campaign, a la Twitter’s current hashtag emoji options.

Facebook’s new emoji reactions have only been live for a couple of weeks, and their future is as of yet uncertain. One thing’s for sure, though: there will never, ever be a Facebook “dislike” button. Sorry guys.

Mar 11
0

Choosing the Right KPIs for Your Content Marketing Strategy

By | content marketing | No Comments

For content marketing professionals from Utah to New England, being able to accurately measure your marketing performance is absolutely essential. Many marketers have a tendency to focus too much on buzzworthy keywords and conversion rate optimization (CRO) and could potentially miss out on other key performance indicators, or KPIs.

According to a survey from the 2016 Content Marketing Benchmark Study, only 30 percent of marketers find their content marketing programs effective, down from 38 percent last year. While organizations from the East Coast to Utah are spending more on content marketing than ever, they aren’t finding the campaigns as effective.

Content marketers’ campaigns may seem less effective because they’re using the wrong KPIs to rate performance. Typical effective KPIs include return on investment (ROI), profit margin, sales figures, website visitors, conversions and customer complaints.

Content marketing professionals are in a unique position to track some of these key metrics — in particular website visitors, engagement and conversions — merely by nature of the industry. Social media makes tracking consumer engagement easy, and Google Analytics can tell you everything you need to know about traffic to your website.

For content marketers, though, it’s important not to miss the forest for the trees. Just because you can measure everything doesn’t mean you should. For example, if a lot of people visit your website but not very many are converting, you should focus less on the Web traffic and more on how visitors are actually interacting with the website.

Big data is high for content marketing, but marketers should be sure to use both quantitative and qualitative KPIs. While quantitative KPIs can tell you how prevalent something is, quantitative KPIs can tell you why.

For content marketers and other business owners alike, KPIs should accurately represent the overall goals of the company. Whether your business is located in the Big Apple or in sunny Utah, you should pick an attainable, measurable goal and focus on the indicators that will lead you directly to that goal.