Eight SEO Tips To Help Grow Your Online Presence In 2021

Happy New Year everyone. 2020 sure has been a rollercoaster year for us all. It also has been a year full of major events. This couldn’t be more true when it comes to the fast-growing landscape that is Digital Marketing.

There was one event towards the end of 2020 that helped set the stage for the future of Digital Marketing. That event was the December 2020 Google Core Update. These updates happen to encourage websites to write content that addresses users’ needs instead of just trying to please search engines. Google and other search engines strive to bring users relevant content and that is what brands need to do too.

A great way to help provide that is via a quality Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. These eight SEO tips will help address the needs of users while helping grow your online presence in 2021. Let’s go over them, shall we?

Avoid Black Hat SEO Tactics

An important lesson to know about SEO is that it is a long-term online strategy. This means that we must never try to trick the search engines in hopes of getting high search rankings. That is what we call Black Hat SEO tactics. Here are some examples of those tactics that you should avoid doing.

Cloaking

This is the practice of showing the search engines a different set of content than what is actually on a site. The actual content turns out to be subpar and gives users a bad experience. That will get you in big trouble with the search engines.

Duplicate Content

This is taking content from others and passing it off as your own in hopes of getting higher search rankings. Search engines will not be kind to sites that duplicate content and will harm you in the end. On top of that, this is plagiarism as we learned in English class.

Irrelevant Links

This is the practice of seeking any link from sites that provide irrelevant content from what your site is about. This will make your site look like spam and that will not go well with the search engines.

Keyword Stuffing

This is where sites use the same phrases nonstop throughout their site in hopes of attracting web traffic. This is spam-like behavior that gives users an unpleasant experience. It will also harm you in the search engine results page (SERP).

Spam Blogging

This is the practice of commenting on other blogs or letting others comment on yours for link juice. Blogging on posts that have nothing to do with your cause makes you look like spam to users. In return, it will cause harm to your search rankings.

In other words, don’t do it. Black Hat SEO will do you no favors in earning trust from users. It can also harm you in the search engine results page and could even get you de-indexed. Always go for White Hat SEO tactics instead to help increase your presence towards the right people.

Seek Quality Links

It is crucial to not seek just any links. You want to focus on links that are most relevant to your brand’s cause. Focusing on getting the right links helps your brand stand out to the right audience in a positive way. It also benefits both you and your linking partner as you’d both benefit from high quality web traffic. When seeking links, always go for Quality over Quantity as you would in other Digital Marketing situations.

Make Use Of Long-Tail Keywords

If you’re looking to increase your conversion rate, then turn to long-tail keywords. Long-Tail Keywords are long, specific keyword phrases that visitors commonly use when closing in on a purchase. According to a study by Neil Patel, using long-tail keywords averages a 36% average conversion rate. This will help go a long way in helping outrank your competition while building up your long-term online presence.

Some great tools to help you uncover long tail keywords include SEM Rush, Answer The Public, and Google Keyword Planner. Tools like those will help you identify keywords that will best help you reach the right audience.

Match User Intent With The Most Relevant Type Of Content

You also want to keep in mind where they’re at in their customer journey. That is why you need to know the three types of user intent below. That way, you’ll know what type of content is most appropriate to develop for that specific audience.

Informational Intent

This is where people look for the ‘I Want To Know’ type of content like FAQs or How-Tos. The goal is to bring in the right kind of users who are not familiar with brands like yours.

Navigational Intent

This is where people search for “I Want To Go” content types such as store locations and customer service information. The end goal here is to provide a great shopping experience and provide top-notch information that best helps customers.

Transactional Intent

This is the type of content that you would encounter at the end of the customer journey. This is where “I Want To Do” content types like Videos and Product Stories appear. The end goal here is to seal the deal with the customer and get them to hit the Buy button.

Keeping the intents of your audience in mind will help you plan which types of content you should develop. By following this step, you’ll help provide your users with a great experience at every step in their customer journey.

Strive For High-Quality User Experience (UX)

A crucial tip in growing your online presence is to give your audience a high-quality UX while on your site. One thing to do is to work to keep your site up to speed. A great way to test your site speed is to use the GTmetrix tool. This will give you details on how you can help improve your site speed.

You also want to make sure that your website is easy for users to navigate. A great way to accomplish that is to make your content be accessible in the least amount of clicks/taps possible. This helps your users find what they’re looking for much quicker.

You also want to ensure that your website is responsive across all devices and that it works well on mobile. With mobile taking up a large percentage of today’s online searches, this is crucial to ensure success in attracting visitors.

Make Your Main Points Clear And To The Point

To attract readers’ interest, you always want to make your key points at the beginning. First, use headings and subheadings that best explain the topic without needing to read further. This will help guide readers into reading information that is essential to their research.

Also, use the Inverted Pyramid writing style for best SEO results. This means work to put your key points in the first paragraph and work to entice readers to read further. Readers will be encouraged to read on if they can find value by scanning the text.

To help make the flow of the text be clear, use transition words. Examples of them include “less than” to compare and “thus” to conclude. No question that they’re helpful in making your points while bringing clarity to your readers.

Utilize The E-A-T Method

A very important tip in helping grow your online presence in 2021 is making use of the E-A-T method. EAT stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. To demonstrate expertise in YMWL (Your Money or Your Life) topics such as medical advice, formal expertise is basically a must. For Non-YMYL topics such as sharing your experience with a disease on a support page, it’s all about demonstrating everyday expertise. Expertise is vital in developing high-quality content.

You also need to demonstrate authoritativeness when developing content. Raters check up on authority via independent sources like reviews and expert recommendations like on WebMD. This sure is something to consider when thinking about what type of content you should create.

People also look to how trustworthy content creators are. They look to things like content accuracy and proper citation of sources. This will go a long way in building trust with the right audience and helps attract them in the end. The E-A-T method will help ensure that your content is high-quality and overcomes any core update that comes along.

Make Voice Search A Big Part Of Your Plans

A growing online trend that we should take note of is voice search. According to a DBS Interactive study, 27% of online users use voice search. Voice search queries tend to be longer so it is a great idea to make use of long-tail keywords. In addition, they tend to be questions so including FAQs for your pages would be a great plan to utilize. Voice search may be small now but it will be a big thing in the future. That is why you want to make it a big part of your online marketing strategy going forward.

A People-First SEO Strategy Grows Your Brand For The Better

There is no question that taking a people-first approach to SEO helps grow your brand’s online presence for the better. In addition, making it easier for your website visitors will make it more likely that they convert into paying customers. When you put the needs of the people first, the search engines will reward your brand greatly in the end. By giving your users a great experience at every step, your brand will be set up for long-term success.

What do you feel is key to growing your online presence in this new year? What other SEO tips do you feel are essential to helping your brand succeed? Questions? Comments? Please feel free to share this blog post and share your thoughts below.

Eight Ways On How To Use Conversion Rate Optimization To Bring Your Brand Success

You have succeeded in attracting your ideal customers via quality SEO strategies. The question now is, “Now What?” Now that you’ve attracted them to your website, the next thing you do is to seal the deal. To accomplish that, you need to give them what they’re looking for in a way that makes your brand unique.

There’s one method that will help turn your website visitors into paying customers and that is Conversion Rate Optimization. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the act of increasing the percentage of users who perform a desired action on your site. Desired acts can include anything from signing up for a newsletter to purchasing a product.

To succeed with CRO, you’ll need a clear strategy that offers clarity and differentiates your brand from your competitors. These 8 tips below will help bring your brand success via CRO. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Make Your Web Design Simple

People these days look for information that is clear and to the point. This could not be more true when it comes to your web design. You never want to have your visitors go through a maze when searching for information on your site. That is a good way to harm your bounce rate which we don’t want at all.

When making changes to your design, you want to keep it simple for your visitors. This means to make their search in as few clicks as possible. You also want to remove any unnecessary links or design elements from your navigation bars and copy. This will help make your page short, simple, and to the point for your visitors. This will help give your visitors a great user experience and increase the likelihood of them converting.

Add Testimonials & Reviews

Nothing helps build consumer confidence in your brand than what people like them have to say about you. That is why it is essential to include testimonials and reviews on your page. Adding them will help make big-time improvement in conversions – even up to 400% as in this case. You can also add logos of companies who do business with you and trust your brand. This will also help build consumer trust in a big way.

Don’t Have Too Many Form Fields

One thing you never want to do when trying to turn visitors into customers is having too many form fields. In many instances, this is a big turn off with many people asking for more fields than they’re willing to give. That’s why you need to limit your fields to only the essential ones needed to accomplish your end goal. Taking this step will help you improve that conversion rate while opening the door to future opportunities.

Have A Strong Call To Action

Do you know what else will help improve your conversion rate? Taking even a few minutes to work on your call to action (CTA) copy. Generic CTAs like “sign up” won’t give you the best results in terms of conversions. You need CTAs that paint offers in a positive light. CTAs that start with the word “Yes” such as “Yes, Give Me [Offer]” help accomplish that. In the end, you’ll make it more likely to improve on getting your visitors to convert.

A/B Test Your Headlines

Headlines make a big difference in whether people decide to read more or not. That is why you need a headline that is to the point and helps engage consumer interest. A great way to ensure that your headlines lead to success is to perform A/B Tests on each.

A/B Testing (or Split Testing) is the practice of showing two variants of the same web page to different visitors at once and then comparing which one converts more. It is advised that when deciding between headlines that you experiment with variants like tone, length, and use of statistics or numbers. This will help give you a better idea of which headline type resonates best with your audience.

Offer One Clear Path For Your Visitors

Another great way to put your brand on a path towards increased conversions is offering your users only one path. That means have a clear, predetermined roadmap for your website visitors that leads to only one action. Work to avoid any distractions and stick to only including what your visitors need to know.

Always great to use visual cues like arrows that point to the end goal you want your visitors to take. On top of that, resist any thoughts of adding more than one choice. These actions will help visitors see the path you want them to take as clear and to the point. This helps make it more likely that they’ll do business with you in the end.

Offer Guarantees To Help Build Trust With Your Audience

When it comes to conversions, trust is a major factor. Oftentimes, customers feel uneasy when they’re about to click the Buy button. That’s why you need to work to make your site one that is trustworthy for your online visitors. A great way to do that is adding trust seals like McAfee Secure to your website. 48% of users were more likely to trust a site they’ve never heard of if it had guarantee seals. Taking this step will help remove any doubt users may have and makes it more likely that they’ll click Buy.

Use Colors That Best Compliments Your Brand’s Message

One key detail that gets overlooked when it comes to CRO is color usage. Who doesn’t love colors? Colors contain messages, evoke emotions, and encourage action. For example, the purple color is seen as wise, creative, and imaginative as Yahoo is known to be.

Not only do colors work wonders in encouraging action from users, they also help complement your web design. This will help encourage visitors to stay longer on your site. The longer you keep their attention, the more likely that they’ll convert into paying customers. With that said, always make color usage a part of your CRO strategy.

Quality CRO Makes Your Brand Unique In Your Own Way

There is no doubt that CRO will help bring you success in such diverse ways. It helps your brand stand out amongst the crowd in your own unique way. On top of that, you’ll be turning those visitors into customers while growing your brand in a big way. With all that being said, always take time to invest in your CRO strategy. It will pay great dividends for your brand in the long run

What do you feel is essential in helping make your brand’s CRO strategy a success? How do you feel about CRO being a crucial part of your overall Digital Marketing strategy? Please feel free to share this blog post and share your thoughts below.

Four Keys To Having A Great Mobile User Experience

How often are you on your mobile devices? More than likely, you use it often. In fact, 66% of Americans are on their phones 160 times per day according to a recent survey. Mobile devices are pretty much part of our lives. We buy things, check our social media accounts and keep in touch with others via our mobile devices. With that being said, it is crucial for brands of all sizes to provide your online users with a great mobile user experience (UX). This will make an impact on whether your target customers will go with you or with your competitors. In this blog post, we will be discussing four keys to providing your users with a great mobile UX.

Page Speed Is A Must

One of the most crucial things for users to have a great UX is for pages to be up to speed. Each second makes a huge difference on whether a consumer buys goods from you or from someone else. In fact, 46% of users strongly dislike having to wait for pages is what they dislike the most about mobile search. Let’s put it this way. Every second more that it takes to load a web page, your conversion rate drops and your bounce rate rises. That right there is money and customers walking out on your brand. That being said, there is a way to fix this. A great tool to check your page speed is GTmetrix. It checks how your page performs, why it might be slow and gives you steps on how to improve your site speed. Having your page up to speed is crucial for bringing in customers and good for your SEO.

Image Size Matters

When it comes to image size, it is important to have an image that works best for your site. What that means is to have an image that helps describe what your content is about while ensuring that your site is up to speed. It can be tempting to put up a big image on your website. At the end of the day, it can slow down your page and therefore harm your site experience. As SquareSpace recommends, use images that are between 1500 to 2500 pixels wide. You also don’t want the pixels to be too small or it may be too blurry to see. You also want to use image files that are less than 500 KB. By working to ensure appropriate image size, your site experience will be enjoyable for your site visitors.

Responsive Design For A Great User Experience Across All Devices

The best user experience is one that exists across all devices whether it be a desktop, mobile, or tablet. Responsive Design is a method in designing your website in a way that scales your content automatically to match the screen size of your device. This helps your users avoid having to pinch their screen in order to view your site content. With responsive design, you won’t have to design multiple versions of your site. You’ll save yourself work by only designing one website that scales automatically to match the device being used. With responsive design, you’ll be providing your site visitors with a pleasant UX that helps attract your ideal customers.

Keep Site Organization Simple

When it comes to the layout of your website, you want to make it simple for your users to navigate. You never want to use too many words or images to get your point across. When it comes to site navigation, it is advised that you use icons like the phone symbol or the triple bar menu symbol. This will show viewers that your site is organized and optimized for mobile. The same could be said when it comes to videos and graphics. As mentioned earlier about image size, bigger is not always better. You want images that are of reasonable size and want video content to be of reasonable bandwidth. That way, your site will be up to speed and of top quality. In conclusion, you want to ensure that your contact info and location are easy to find. Countless brands miss these smallest of details that cost them big time. In this case, you want to be transparent and accessible to users. The more accessible and organized you are, the better the UX will be.

A Great Mobile User Experience Brings Happy Customers

With people on their mobile devices now more than ever, providing them with a great UX is a must. You need an up to speed website that is organized across all devices in order to have quality UX. These four keys are essential to helping users find what they’re looking for in the easiest of ways. As Jacob Nielson once said, “User experience encompasses all aspects of the end user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.” A great UX on your website is what makes a great first impression with your online users. When you provide them a quality mobile experience, you’ll make them happy and they’ll turn into your loyal customers.

What do you feel is also essential in ensuring an excellent mobile user experience? Questions? Comments? Feel free to share this blog post & share your thoughts below.