SEO PERSONALIZED FOR 2017

seo-12415962017 is set to bring a more personalized experience to the user of web searches and web content.  SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is important to help users connect with the products, services, and sites that they desire.  The main objective of SEO should be to help users find answers to their questions and connect consumers to businesses that can fulfill their needs.  The content experience is going to get better than ever.

MARKETING TO THE END USER

Recent improvements to data modeling will refine, further than ever before, the experience for the user – that person trying to find just exactly what it is they want at that particular moment.  Successful marketing is also a win-win for the marketer, as a high volume of traffic could find its way to their website.  It is, and always has been, really about quality content.  Trustworthy, honest, truthful content that will help users discover whatever it is they are looking for.  Search engines can help point them in the direction; content specifically designed with quality SEO in mind can further refine user’s searches to only those websites that will provide value to them.

STRUCTURED DATA

free-image-for-your-seo-blog-or-web-marketing-website-1636061Organization of pertinent data is also important and structured data is touted as becoming an even more significant factor in 2017.  Structured data reaches into every field and every application.

What is a rich snippet?  It is the markup of structured data that website owners can add to their existing HTML.  Rich snippets are vital, yet small, bits of information that will allow your page to do better in search results.

What is a structured data markup?  This refers to structured data being directly added to a page’s HTML.

Why is structured data important to SEO?  The organization of content that structured data represents is able to be understood better by the search engine’s crawling a web page.

More emphasis will be placed on optimization (i.e., value) of the content as opposed to prioritizing for keywords.  It’s customer-first priority all the way in 2017!

 

Do You Need a Wealth Manager?

a-thousand-dollars-1241177A wealth manager can be a single source that gathers data from several resources to help you make sound financial decisions.  Wealth management often combines information from a variety of sources, including financial advice, real estate planning, and retirement planning to help you make the best overall decisions for your financial needs.

MORE THAN ADVICE

Wealth management is more than advice; it can help you integrate and structure assistance from a number of products to help coordinate and manage your financial resources today and into the future for yourself and your family.  A wealth manager can be the one person you turn to when you need to solidify one answer from multiple resources.  He or she can offer a professional, experienced, and objective view that can often lead to better decision-making on your part.

STRATEGIES

While many wealth managers frequently combine many services into one approach, others in the wealth management field choose to focus on just one particular area of investment strategy.  Some wealth managers may be part of a small business structure, while others may be part of a larger financial investment firm.  They are sometimes also referred to as financial advisors or financial consultants.  They will begin their assessment by developing a plan specifically with your financial goals in mind.  Regular meetings between both of you will help ensure your financial goals are on track.

OTHER SERVICES

Accountants, insurance agents, and your own personal attorney can also be allowed in your investment circle when your wealth manager is assessing opportunities and risks for your financial strategy.  By incorporating all aspects of services that you utilize, you will get a much better and much more well-rounded investment plan that will allow you to build your wealth.

Wealth management services are most appropriate for those individuals with a high net worth.  While there is no exact figure that defines “high net worth,” typically use figures that incorporate liquid assets over a specified figure; that figure can differ from one financial institution to another.  If you are interested in learning more about wealth management, give us a call today.

 

 

 

The Scariest Aspects of Your Business

scaryIt’s Halloween. Are you scared yet? If you are, it’s more likely to be this terrifying marketing climate as opposed to those horrific Duck Dynasty costumes ringing your doorbell.

The simple truth is that small business owners have every right to be scared right now. While running your own company certainly has its advantages, it also has some real drawbacks, like having to fight for a regular paycheck and never really being able to leave the office behind. You learn to live with aspects like those, but that doesn’t mean your fears are quite gone. Here are just a few of the most common.

1. Search Engine Optimization: You can have a phenomenal website. You can have great blogs. Your site may still never see the light of day. What’s more, though, is that a single wrong SEO move can put you on Google’s naughty list, making certain most potential customers will never order from you. Good optimization is essential, no matter what vertical you’re in.

2. Time Management: There’s no way you can do all of it. You can’t optimize your site, send out a newsletter, return client phone calls, find new jobs, deal with the jobs that are already on your schedule, update your blog, virtually socialize, and plan for the future all at the same time. This is often the single biggest problem cited by small business owners, and getting to all of those tasks is important! It’s okay for time management skills to be the scariest thing on your list. It really is a little frightening to try to get to everything every day.

3. Missed Opportunities: Small businesses rarely want to stay small businesses forever. Most business owners have hopes and dreams of doing something more, building something bigger. You don’t simply wake up one morning to a bigger company, though. What’s more is that all of the hoping and dreaming in the world doesn’t actually build that bigger company. Instead, it takes persistence, hard work, and the right opportunity. Close the door on that opportunity, and you have just missed what might have been your only chance at the bigger company you always wanted. No wonder this one inspires so much fear.

Being a small business owner is scary. It’s hard to know what to do and when to do it. We can help with some of it. We’d love to help make sure your site has SEO friendly copy. We can even deal with most of your marketing tasks to alleviate your time management worries. All of that can lead to the right opportunity at the right time, which may just make the next big holiday one in which you are truly grateful for something. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.

Moving Your Creative Thoughts to Content

You may lay awake in bed night after night with great thoughts for your company. Maybe you even email them extensively to your business partner, who thinks all are fantastic ideas. How do you get those thoughts out of your head and on to the virtual page? How can you capitalize on that and make great content? This quick guide can help.

  • Make sure you’re truly passionate about it. You can’t honestly write about something you don’t care about. While you can offer some version of writing, it’s not going to feel authentic to your audience unless you have some stake in it, so if you’re not committed to the idea from the start, don’t bother turning it into content.
  • Plan carefully. The best writers do some amazing planning before they ever start staring at that blinking cursor. Whether you’re using the dreaded Venn diagrams from elementary school or you’re simply brainstorming on a scrap of paper, do some planning before you move those ideas to content.
  • Research still matters. You can’t simply fly with what you have. Whether you need to look at other similar content or just some data to back up your ideas, you have to pull from other sources to have a great piece of content.

Great content, even for the creative, isn’t an automatic. It take a bit of hard work and planning to move your thoughts and ideas into something a bit more marketable.

Don’t even have those early thoughts for great content? Have great ideas but you just can’t translate them? Let us help. Our writing services are ideal to meet your needs, no matter where you’re at in the development process or what your budget looks like. Learn more now.

 

 

5 Reasons Why You Should Be Writing A Blog

It’s fun to blog!  (That’s reason number 6.)  Blogging on your website is important because it gives a voice to the people behind your company name.  Blogs allow you to share your knowledge and connect with others.  Most of us have a lot to say; a blog is a perfect platform to express your ideas, opinions, thoughts, and concerns.  A voice, your voice, can be part of a global conversation.  The process itself can also lead you to others with like minds and needs that have been looking for someone, just like you, to team up with.  Five of the most important reasons to blog are pinpointed below.

1.         Your blog is your centerpiece.  It can be the center around which all your other outlets flow around, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc., etc., etc.  Your blog is the heart of your business.

2.         Your blog can help keep you focused.  Writing a blog can help keep your mind engaged on your business, sharpen your ideas, and help you explore various concepts and methodologies offered by others.  It makes you think and stay involved in the most current topics and up-to-date trends.

3.         You can use analytics to track who reads your blog, popular topics, if you have click-throughs, comments, and shares.  Monitoring who is reviewing your blog can help you figure out why and if you need to change tactics to reach another group of viewers.

4.         Create valuable content on your blog and the search engines will love you.  They are looking for quality content and someone with something to say, that knows how to say it.  Blogs help your expertise shine and they will help others to find you more easily.

5.         Sixty percent of all businesses who blog draw in more customers, according to a HubSpot survey.  Sixty percent!  That’s a telling statistic – and it should tell you to start blogging!

 

 

The Science of Copywriting

Did you know that copywriting is a science, as well as an art form? It’s true! Just wait until you hear some of the scientifically-proven methodologies that can be linked to the text running from your fingers onto the keyboard (or pen to paper, whichever you prefer, of course).

Time, they tell us, is fleeting – seconds come and go – there goes one now! And another! And another! Ooops . . . they are flying by now – entire batches of them have escaped! We need to make the most of our seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years . . . you get the picture.

It does take TIME to create compelling, persuasive, quality copywriting texts. Many people don’t seem to understand the VALUE of TIME. Words definitely carry weight; they can be extraordinarily impactful when chosen with care. They don’t always come spilling out from your pen or your fingertips; they require careful thought. Careful thought requires TIME. And . . . TIME is MONEY.

Do you want copy that creates conversions on your web site? Details, details, details . . . as evidenced in this article by Mike Ransdell at CarnegieMellonToday. This article, if you are interested, has a lot of scientific and economic jargon and principles in it (it’s going to take more than 20 seconds, I’m just warning you . . .). It boils down, however, to this: feelings and emotions – the brain is battling between pain and pleasure. In order to write persuasive copy, you need to understand what your target audience wants and how to present the CALL TO ACTION that is needed to get those neurons firing in the brain to make the decision that they like and believe what you say and . . . need what you have.

According to Gregory Ciotti in The Psychology of Going Viral: 12 Proven Ways to Get People Talking (About You), there are six buttons you need to push to get the attention you desire. Those six topic areas include:

  • Taboo
  • Unusual
  • Outrageous
  • Hilarious
  • Remarkable
  • Secrets

Those all sound fascinating, right? You would enjoy reading about any of those things, right? Don’t think they can apply to your business? Wrong. It just requires thought, and thought requires time, and time requires, well . . . value. If you understand the basic, scientific, and emotional concepts that can lead people to purchasing your products or services, you will be well on your way to understanding what type of content can cause them to have the desired reactions. And you will, therefore, understand how precious TIME is, in every respect, to all of us.