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    Why Is It Important to Have a Blog on Your Company Website?

    importance of having a blog

    Have you ever asked yourself, “what can blogging really do for my company?” A regular blogging calendar can give you the opportunity to create and share relevant content that your consumers may find interesting. It can also be used as strategic marketing tool that has the ability to drive traffic back to your website.

    Needless to say, if you think of a blog as a giant advertisement, then you are in the business of writing ads and not blogs. Crafting innovative blogging content allows you to research your niche and formulate topics that your audience is passionate about.

    Reasons you need to blog:

    • To drive traffic to your website
    • To increase your SEO/SERP
    • To position your brand/voice as a leader in your industry
    • To develop better customer relationships

    Blogging should be an integral part of your online content marketing strategy, regardless if you are a small business or multinational company.

    Issues that matter  

    Humanizing your brand is one of the most important ways to reach out to your community. For example, let’s say a local school is in danger of closing down and the public is outraged. Taking action by blogging about the news can help your business connect to what’s going on and possibly even boost your website traffic in the process. Since the topic would already be trending online, sharp coverage within all your social media channels would bring attention to your service or brand and show support within your community.

    Promote a product without actually promoting it

    Blogging is an amazing tool that allows companies to promote their products using a more indirect approach.

    If you are an instrument company that focuses your energy on selling guitars, it is important to be unique when you are formulating new content for your blog. Promoting sales and new inventory all the time can become boring and outdated quickly. Instead, focus your efforts on discussing famous musicians who use a specific brand or model of guitar that you are wanting to promote. Then you can organically place links to your products or comments about your product stock throughout the article.

    The strategy here is to not always make your post an advertisement. If you focus on putting together more engaging content, audiences are more likely to read and potentially share it across their social media channels.

    The goal is to use created content as a way to connect with your audience without always bombarding them with an expectation to purchase.

    Crafting the perfect blog post can be a time consuming is task. If you’re too busy managing your business, leaving little time to write engaging content, Trek Marketing can help launch your blog. To find out how we can help, contact us at [email protected].

    How has your company benefited from blogging? Tell us in the comments section below.

    How to write SEO friendly content that attracts audiences

    SEO friendly

    Have you ever wondered how certain content appears at the top of your Google search? In short, Google uses mathematical algorithms to give each website a score. That score determines the rank of each website and where it is placed when someone types keywords into google search.

    “Think of the algorithm like a collection of empty buckets. One bucket gives you a score for the quality of your site, one bucket gives you a score for how many sites link to you, one bucket gives you a score for how people trust you. Your job is to fill up more buckets in the algorithm than any other website.”

    So what is SEO?

    It’s tough for content to get noticed on the web. Using SEO friendly keywords is a smart and reliable way to improve your website traffic.

    SEO is a shorthand term for Search Engine Optimization. Basically, it is a measurable, repeatable process that is used to send signals to various search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) to show that your page is worth displaying on the Google index.

    SEO friendly content allows your website to show up more often, get more clicks, shares, likes and more overall engagement.

    How do you create SEO friendly content?

    Now that you understand a few details behind how SEO works, here are a few tips and tricks behind writing SEO enhanced content.

    • Use descriptive headlines and sub-headers
    • Add lots of links to supporting/previous content
    • Optimize the length of your article
    • Choose your keywords wisely
    • Pick clickable photos
    • Make your content shareable
    • Write quality over quantity (high quality content is much more audience friendly then extra words on a page)

    Do you know any other SEO tips that we didn’t touch on? Let us know in the comment section below.

    5 types of Instagram ads to consider for your business

    Instagram ad tips

    Although you may think that Facebook and Twitter combined are enough to attract and maintain customers, Instagram is another heavy player that helps with social media marketing. Follow these Instagram business tips for advertising to create posts that expand your audience, increase exposure and enhance branding.

    Why use Instagram?

    Developing your SEO, keywords and text are still effective marketing tools, however, there are certainly times when sharp imagery is better than stamping a post as TL; DR. In September 2017, Instagram reported that they had approximately 800 million active users a month, which means seemingly endless opportunities for your business to reach followers. We live in a vastly visual age, so you need to grab your audience’s attention quickly and keep those target groups coming back as much as possible.

    Which ad best relays your message?

    Facebook owns Instagram, so once you’ve created your Facebook Business Page, why not also set up an Instagram account so your ad manager can sync both apps? Then you can choose the type of imagery that best reflects your brand.

    • Photo: Everything is a photo opp these days, so show off products in ways that entice customers. Create snapshots of services that speak to your audience and tap into their desires and wishes. Of additional benefit, caption the images with strong CTAs.
    • Video: Consider this an expansion of the power of photos. You get 60 seconds to tell a story, but place the product or service within a few seconds, for maximum effect.
    • Carousel: A series of 5 photos or videos for customers to view, ideal for advertising that requires more than 60 seconds for effective messages. It can also illustrate multiple ways to use a product or service.
    • Story: These are ads that are only available for 24 hours and are shown between stories by followers. It’s a great tool to use for a limited time or special promotions. It is also based on viewing habits, so users can go right to your website or contact information while watching their favourite content.
    • Canvas story: Ideal for mobile use, you can create this ad from a Facebook or a custom template.

    Why settings matter

    It’s important to put thought into the settings for each post or campaign in order to monitor what works and what may need an adjustment. Ask yourself (or your team) which of the following objectives meet your goals:

    • Video views
    • Website traffic and conversions
    • Alluring posts
    • Mobile app installations and usage
    • More leads and event attendees

    Remember to name each campaign uniquely and just as you increase engagement on Twitter, use branded hashtags and short captions to entice your audience. Although you get 300 characters to say something, the recommended number is between 125-150.

    Other settings to note as you build your own analysis for Instagram ads tips include:

    • Audience and placement: Are you targeting a specific, “custom” audience (based upon interests and sales), or a “lookalike” audience (potential leads that already follow and are similar to other companies)? Filters include age range, region and connections, along with deciding any placement factors, such as categories and devices to include/exclude.
    • Budget: Instagram ad costs can vary. Depending upon dynamics and typically ranging from less than 50 cents to about $1-$2 per click (approximately $5-$7 per 1,000 visitors). You can choose a daily budget or a lifetime (length of campaign) option, with the ability to change the figure, but not the type of campaign you have just set up.
    • Bids: Related to budgets, this setting represents maximum monies spent for customer responses. It’s either manual, set by you, or automatic, determined by Facebook analytics.
    • Start and finish times: Continuously, or for a specific duration.
    • Delivery optimization: Choose how your campaign reaches viewers, either through impressions (as often as possible), link clicks (to followers most likely to respond), or daily unique reach (once a  day).
    • Delivery speed: Do you prefer your campaign to run at a standard pace, or rapidly  at a more accelerated rate?

    Are you concerned about correctly getting your message across Instagram? Learn how our social media marketing services can help make it happen!

     

    What is search engine optimization (SEO) and how does it work?

    What is SEO?

    Blogs are a terrific way to continuously engage with your audience and keep them interested in your company. The ideas are endless, but you may not be reaching out to your full potential if you have been disregarding any crucial blogging components. Understanding more about what SEO is and how it works is important when marketing and creating content.

    What is the purpose of SEO?

    SEO, or more technically known as search engine optimization, is essentially free advertising that attracts both new and existing customers and followers. Similar to how appealing context increases engagement on Facebook, SEO determines words and phrases that make your content stand out on SERPs (search engine result pages). Crawlers, spiders and robots often refer to tools that search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, use to display their results. These technical applications may seem daunting, but the right keywords can significantly affect those algorithms and page rankings.

    Specific, relevant keywords

    Think of keywords as part of your marketing conversation to the consumer. Let’s use handmade soaps as an example. Instead of only referring to them that way, also use long tail keywords that are more specific fragrance-free, vegan, goat’s milk, rose petal, charcoal or glittery. Include your business name, the city or market where they’re crafted or available as well as words that can further describe certain designs, ingredients or types (San Diego farmers market bunny-shaped bar soaps).

    Whatever phrase you choose, work them into your content organically, so that it doesn’t sound scripted or forced.

    Furthermore, make sure that the keywords are relevant. If you create a post that’s off-topic it’s better that you apply search terms accordingly, or not include any at all, rather than put them in just for the sake of it.  

    Remember to also keep applicable keywords for the following:

    • Anchor text: words that lead to internal links (backlinks to other content you’ve created) and to external links (links to content from outside sources).
    • Meta descriptions: the short text that appears with links in search engine results.
    • Page URLs: www.businessname.com/lavender-unicorn-bar-soap vs. www.businessname.com/soap-399
    • Alt attributes: the descriptive text used for images which search engines crawl instead of the actual visual.

    Off-page Appeal

    As you learn more about SEO, pay attention to off-page sources. These are the ways that others mention your company’s services or products through comments and social media interaction, as well as how you engage with your audience. The more customer reviews you get the more brand recognition you can receive. This opens up the possibilities for influencers to include you in their own heavily followed pages and videos. It is important to consider this potential when you create anything online.

    We’re here to help you navigate the ever-changing SEO algorithms. Find out how our SEO services are the digital strategies you need for success!