Author: John Palmer

Categories
Brand Building Web Analytics & Data

How Can Customer Reviews Boost Your Online Presence?

How Can Customer Reviews Boost Your Online Presence?
How Can Customer Reviews Boost Your Online Presence?

If you have a business, there is no doubt you are seeking for ways to be seen by local customers. You may have a strategy that involves posting on social media and publishing blogs, but there is one tool you may be overlooking: Customer reviews. Testimonials, ratings, and reviews from customers can boost your online presence significantly.

 

Online reviews are, essentially, the replacement for print testimonials and word-of-mouth in today’s world. Although these things still exist, more people are using their phones and computers as a source of information. When they do research online for a product or service, you can rest assured that reviews are not underestimated.

 

Let’s discuss how online reviews work for your business and how you can leverage them effectively.

 

Key Takeaways

 

  • Positive reviews serve as influential endorsements, impacting potential customers’ decisions.
  • Reviews are trusted personal recommendations, enhancing credibility and attracting a wider audience.
  • Reviews act as social proof, validating your business’s legitimacy and attracting potential customers.
  • Thoughtful responses to reviews demonstrate commitment, fostering positive relationships and building customer loyalty.

 

Reviews Get Read
Reviews Get Read

1. Reviews Get Read

Online reviews are considered credible research sources. This is a fundamental aspect of their design. Reviews are the way potential customers can actively seek to gain intelligence about the quality, price, and durability of a product, as well as the effectiveness and dependability of the brand. In other words, online reviews—be they positive or negative—have an influence on those reading them. A positive review, for instance, acts as an endorsement, persuading those on the cusp of making a purchase whether they should engage with your business or try the competitor.

 

2. Reviews Are Trusted

People trust reviews, because they are made by other people who have used the product. In fact, most people consider reviews as a kind of personal recommendation. They search for individuals like them who have used the same product or service to see the experience then make a choice. This means that, if your product or service has gained a number of positive reviews all recommending your brand, those reviews are boosting your credibility and reputation. More people will then be compelled to frequent your business.

 

3. Brand Visibility

Did you know that online reviews are used by search engine algorithms to determine your SERP rank? It’s true. This becomes more pronounced when you are using services like Google Maps. The better reviews you have, the greater chance of your business being found by those searching for your services.

 

4. Social Proof

When your business is just starting out, it can be difficult to get the community to know that your business exists. The same is true for online stores. However, when you begin receiving reviews, they act as a form of social proof, giving the sign that yes, your business exists, it’s open, and that you are legitimate. Reviews create a sense of authenticity, especially when you engage with the customers leaving those reviews.

 

5. Reviews Attract Customers

Positive reviews serve as compelling magnets that draw potential customers toward your business, especially when you have more positive reviews than the competition. When a series of favorable feedback surrounds your brand, it creates a magnetic effect, establishing a positive perception that sets your products or services apart from competitors. This allure not only makes your brand more appealing but also acts as a decisive factor, encouraging individuals to choose your offerings over other options in the market.

 

6. Numbers Matter

The quantity of reviews contributes significantly to shaping consumer perception. When a business accumulates a higher number of reviews, especially if they are predominantly positive, it adds to the overall appeal and credibility of your brand. A substantial volume of positive reviews suggests that your business is not only well-received but also boasts a significant and satisfied customer base, instilling confidence in potential customers.

 

7. Engagement Opportunity

Customer reviews are a precious opportunity for engagement. When you respond promptly to reviews, you show that you have an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction. This is true for both positive and negative reviews. Yet, when you engage thoughtfully with negative reviews, this could sway even more customers towards your brand. While thanking someone for liking your product is wonderful, handling an issue with poise and grace when they are displeased shows professionalism and transparency.

 

This not only fosters a positive relationship with the reviewer but also highlights to other potential customers that your brand values feedback and actively works to improve its products or services.

 

8. Customer Loyalty

Positive reviews play a pivotal role in the ongoing process of building customer loyalty. Satisfied customers who take the time to express their positive experiences become natural advocates for your brand. Their loyalty and advocacy, communicated through reviews, serve as powerful endorsements that can influence others to choose your business over alternatives.

 

Furthermore, when customers are loyal, they are happy to recommend your products to others. This creates a network of satisfied customers who will become invaluable to cementing your brand’s reputation and success.

Connect With Digital Marketing Experts
Connect With Digital Marketing Experts

Connect With Digital Marketing Experts

How can customer reviews boost your online presence? By solidifying your business’s credibility and reputation. When you have reviews, you not only rank higher in SERPs, you also gain a loyal following who is ready to endorse you. This attracts returning and new customers to your products, ensuring long-term success.

 

Although you may already have reviews, having digital marketing experts at your side can help leverage them more effectively. Digital Marketing Group, LLC has many years of experience building brands and loyalty with our refined techniques. Let’s do the same for you. It’s time to elevate your brand’s visibility and reputation. Call 1-800-969-4736 or fill out the contact form to get in touch with the digital marketing specialists of Digital Marketing Group, LLC today.

Categories
Brand Building

How to Build a Strong Online Brand Identity for Your Business

How to Build a Strong Online Brand Identity for Your Business
How to Build a Strong Online Brand Identity for Your Business

Too often, the mindset of business owners is that their brand will somehow make itself. Unfortunately, you are only making more problems for yourself in the future. Inconsistent messages and visuals will confuse your customers, leaving them wondering not only who you are but if you are reliable and reputable. In order for your business to succeed, you need to know how to build a strong online brand identity for your business. Not only will you be able to boost recognition of your brand, but you will also be able to coax customers away from your competitors.

 

Key Takeaways

 

  • Brand identity serves as the face and personality of a business, ensuring instant recognition, trust, credibility, and fostering consumer loyalty.
  • Develop a brand story addressing customer queries, including the brand’s mission, solutions, and business goals.
  • Seek support from digital marketing experts to streamline brand development, content creation, and enhance online visibility.
What is Brand Identity?
What is Brand Identity?

 

What is Brand Identity?

Brand identity refers to the visual and conceptual representation of a brand. It encompasses the unique elements that distinguish a brand and make it easily recognizable to consumers. This includes visual elements such as logos, color schemes, and design aesthetics, as well as intangible elements such as brand values, messaging, and the overall personality associated with the brand.

 

Why is Brand Identity Important?

You can think of brand identity as the face and personality of your business, as if your brand was a person. A strong brand identity ensures instant recognition, allowing consumers to connect with the brand on a deeper level. Consistency in brand elements builds trust and credibility, fostering a sense of reliability. Moreover, it contributes to consumer loyalty by creating an emotional attachment and making the brand memorable.

 

Steps to Build a Strong Online Brand Identity

Now that you know more about brand identity, let’s look at some steps on how to build a strong one to support business growth:

 

Determine Your Ideal Customers
Determine Your Ideal Customers

1. Determine Your Ideal Customers

You can’t create a concrete brand identity without first understanding what resonates with your customers. Knowing what your customers want and expect will help you suss out elements of a brand that supports your products and services. To do this, you must research your primary, secondary, and tertiary target audiences and understand their likes, dislikes, values, and interests.

 

When you have a deep understanding of your customers, you know the elements and personalities that align with them the most. Once you have set up profiles for the ideal customers, you can move on to comparing these profiles to those of your competitors. Who are your competitors targeting? What language are they using? Which colors and themes do you see most often?

 

Consider all this and start developing a brand that is uniquely yours while still holding onto what your customers want to see.

 

2. Create Assets

With the research part of developing brand identity over, you can move on to the more interesting part: visualization of assets. Your assets are anything that has to do with the look and feel of your brand identity, such as:

 

  • Logo
  • Typography
  • Color palettes
  • Photography
  • Graphics
  • Iconography

 

When crafting these assets, keep the customer in your mind. You want a clear visual and message that is also consistent throughout every asset you create.

 

3. Develop a Story

Although the logo and the graphics and colors are important, another pivotal piece of the brand identity puzzle is your brand’s story. This is not necessarily the history of your brand—though that can play a role—but more about answering specific questions from your customers.

 

Those questions include:

 

  • What is your brand’s mission?
  • What pain points does your brand target?
  • How can your products or services alleviate those pain points?
  • Why did you decide to alleviate said pain points?
  • What are the goals of your business?

 

4. Continuous Monitoring

Your brand is going to continuously evolve and grow as your business does. That’s normal. As such, you need to monitor your brand, the trends, and your customers. As moods and trends shift, so too should your brand. This doesn’t mean changing spontaneously and without warning. Instead, see what elements of your brand can gently shift to support a more positive influence on your customers.

 

5. Team Up With Digital Marketing Experts

Tackling all the steps needed to build a solid brand identity can be difficult when you are just starting out and need all hands on deck. That is where local digital marketing services can help. Digital marketing experts will know how to not only pinpoint your brand but also develop solid content that supports your story and identity. Plus, digital marketing is an ongoing process that effectively strengthens your brand as you grow. It can also scale with your business, expanding your reach as far as you need to go.

 

Through professionally written content to thought-out PPC advertising, digital marketing services can seamlessly tie everything about your brand together and do the labor required to get you noticed.

 

6. Hone Your Tone and Language

Once your brand has been established, it is time to think about building a community around it. One of the best ways to do that is to provide a continuous stream of high-quality content. Your content is a key element in the first impression you make. It is the opening message to new customers, the words of thanks to returning ones, and the way that you excite your target audience again and again.

 

In other words, you need to pin down the language that you use, the emotions you connect with, and the way you market your content. For example, if you are a bespoke interior designer, your language and tone may lean towards sophisticated and professional. For a laid-back coffee cafe, your tone may be more youthful or casual.

 

The tone will also evoke emotions. Returning to that cafe. You may use a conversational tone that is welcoming and warm, that attracts people who want a place to chat with their friends.

Contact Your Local Digital Marketing Specialists Today
Contact Your Local Digital Marketing Specialists Today

Contact Your Local Digital Marketing Specialists Today

Creating a strong online brand identity is all about finding cohesion with your ideal customer’s profile and your brand assets. This may sound simple, but it is going to take a little bit of research and some trial and error. It will be worth it, however, when customers are coming to you instead of the competition. Gain the advantage of solid brand identity faster by working with the digital marketing specialists of Digital Marketing Group, LLC. The team at DMG is professional, experienced, and innovative, pushing the limits of branding and SEO to get your business seen. Get in touch with us today by calling 1-800-969-4736 or by filling out the contact form.

Categories
SEO

How to Boost Your Business Visibility With Local SEO

How to Boost Your Business Visibility With Local SEO
How to Boost Your Business Visibility With Local SEO

People are constantly searching online for businesses near them. In fact, Google found that 76% of users who have searched for a business online will visit said business on the same day. In other words, if you haven’t optimized your local SEO, you are missing out on potential customers. Let’s take a look at local SEO, as well as some actionable tips on how to boost your business visibility with local SEO today.

 

Key Takeaways

  • Local SEO bridges businesses to potential customers precisely when needs arise, ensuring visibility across various platforms.
  • Local SEO is indispensable for brand visibility, credibility, and capturing potential customers actively searching for your offerings.
  • Five practical steps include optimizing Google Business Profile, local keyword research, creating targeted content, mobile optimization, and managing online reviews.
How to Boost Your Business Visibility With Local SEO
Why Local SEO is Essential to Your Business

Why Local SEO is Essential to Your Business

First, you need to know what local SEO is and what it does. Local SEO is a component of search engine optimization that looks at your business and where it is located in the world. By enhancing your local SEO practices, you essentially make your online and physical presence more visible to those searching for what you provide.

 

For this reason, local SEO is essential to your business. Whenever your business pops up in the search results, knowledge of your brand increases. Your credibility also rises. Without this benefit, you will miss out on people who need what you offer.

 

Additionally, focusing on local SEO is cost-effective. Unlike advertising with print or billboards or even on social media, local SEO costs next to nothing and has an incredible return-of-investment (ROI).

 

How Local SEO Connects You With Potential Customers

Local SEO connects you with customers by essentially promoting you whenever your business matches for something someone needs. For example, if a customer needs emergency plumbing services and a local plumber with 24/7 service who is down the road pops up, that customer will most likely call them immediately.

 

This is true for any kind of business with a presence online. It doesn’t matter which app or browser someone searches for your business, local SEO gets you seen.

 

5 Local SEO Solutions You Can Implement Today

Tacking local SEO on your own may seem like a daunting task, but there are five easy things you can do right now to improve your standing. Follow the tips below or consider looking for a digital marketing expert like those at Digital Marketing Group, LLC to help you out.

 

1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile

The businesses on Google Maps do not find their way there automatically. You need to update your Google Business Profile (GBP) to increase your online visibility. When you make a profile with GBP, you gain more attention from Google, Google Maps, and several other sites.

 

Once you have your GBP set up, don’t forget to check out other online directories, such as Tripadvisor and Yelp.

 

2. Local Keyword Research

How do you know people are going to find you? By leveraging keywords. Let’s say, for instance, that you are a South Jersey accountant. You will easily rank for “South Jersey accountant” on Google because that’s on your site already. However, there are more things you could rank for that will get you noticed.

 

In order to find out which terms you can utilize, you must do keyword research. There are many tools available, such as Ahref’s Keyword Generator, to provide suggestions. By conducting regular keyword research, you will spot trends and know how to stay relevant.

 

3. Create Localized Content

Once you have keywords, you need to create content. This content, be it blogs, product descriptions, tutorials, or videos, must resonate with your target audience. To do this, you will need to understand the intent of your customers. Some people want information while others look to make a specific transaction.

 

Figuring out your target audience can be difficult when you are a new business or are rebranding. To help smooth out the process and ensure your content is reaching the right people, it is recommended that you utilize professional digital marketing services.

4. Optimize For Mobile
Optimize For Mobile

4. Optimize For Mobile

More people than ever before are using their phones to get information. In short, you need a mobile version of your site. Outdated sites with zero mobile compatibility could be dragging you down. Consider using a responsive design, one that adjusts to fit any device’s screen automatically.

 

Do not stop at optimizing for mobile, either. Ensure that your website runs smoothly and has navigation that is easy to use. The more friendly your website, the more people will want to use it.

 

5. Monitor Online Reviews

Yes, those online reviews mean something to local SEO. Those reviews on Google Maps, for example, will not only impact your business’s reputation but also where it shows up on search results.

 

For this reason, you will want to review and respond, particularly to negative reviews—if you have them. People often look for how a business responds to criticism and how the problem is resolved to gauge trustworthiness.

 

Connect With Expert Digital Marketing Specialists Today

Local SEO isn’t mere strategy; it’s essential to your business’s success. Beyond gaining visibility, local SEO supports your business’s credibility and direct connections to potential customers. Implementing the five tips in this article is just the beginning. To get the most out of local SEO and boost your business to new heights, reach out to the digital marketing specialists at Digital Marketing Group, LLC by calling 1-800-969-4736 or by filling out the contact form.

Categories
E-Commerce Marketing

What Digital Marketing Tactics Work Best for E-Commerce?

What Digital Marketing Tactics Work Best for E-Commerce?
What Digital Marketing Tactics Work Best for E-Commerce?

Every online store wants to be successful. In order to generate a revenue that you can either passively or as a replacement for your full-time income, you need to consistently gain traffic and conversions. However, unless you are implementing the top digital marketing tactics that support e-commerce, you are missing out on leads and customers. That is why this article exists: To give you valuable insight on the digital marketing tactics that work best for your e-commerce store. These tips may even give you ideas on how to generate more engagement from your current customer base!

 

Key Takeaways

 

  • Digital marketing serves multiple objectives, including attracting customers, targeting specific demographics, and enhancing brand reach.
  • Digital marketing tactics include SEO, PPC campaigns, chatbots, and more.
  • Emphasis must placed on the ongoing importance of quality content, aligning with the mantra “content is king.”
  • Optimizing the user’s experience through well-crafted product pages, fast loading times, and user-generated content is critical for success.

 

Why Should You Use Digital Marketing for E-Commerce?

In today’s digital word, digital marketing for e-commerce is less of a choice and more of an essential step. Without an online presence, you will not be connecting with the same number of potential customers as your competitors. For that reason, you need to utilize digital marketing tactics to bolster your online store’s visibility.

 

You should be using digital marketing to:

 

  • Attract potential customers and stand out in crowded markets
  • Target specific demographics, behaviors, and interests
  • Effectively market yourself
  • Personalize your customer’s experience
  • Enhance your reach
  • Adapt and scale your business to the trends and demands of your customers
  • Improve customer retention
Why Should You Use Digital Marketing for E-Commerce?
Why Should You Use Digital Marketing for E-Commerce?

Top 10 Digital Marketing Tactics for E-Commerce

If you are using an e-commerce platform, there are a number of tactics that you can employ to boost your outreach and get more views and conversions. The following 10 tactics will give you a solid foundation, positioning you for further growth:

 

1. Invest in SEO

Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is crucial in everything you do online. SEO is the process of maximizing your website’s presence, allowing it to rank higher on search engine results pages. By strategically incorporating relevant keywords, developing quality content, and building inbound and outbound links, you can organically improve your site’s visibility. SEO not only helps attract more potential customers, it also establishes credibility and authority.

 

2. Keyword Research

In order to effectively use SEO, you must conduct a thorough investigation of keywords. Doing so is a fundamental aspect of a successful digital marketing strategy. To do keyword research, you must consider your target audience, your niche, and the products or services you offer. From there, you can identify the most relevant keywords and use them within your product descriptions and content to ensure that your online store appears in search results whenever someone searches for it.

 

Keyword research also has another purpose: Analyzing customer behavior. When you know what your target audience is searching for, you can develop products that meet their needs.

 

3. High-Quality Content

“Content is king” has been an ongoing mantra since the inception of SEO. To this day, content is still incredibly important for attracting and retaining customers. Quality content is a way to enhance the user experience, improve your search rankings, and also make your brand and products more discoverable.

 

High-quality content is on par with the quality of the products you offer. In other words, in order to prove that your products are worth buying, you must also create compelling product descriptions, informative bog posts, and visually appealing multimedia content, including videos and infographics.

 

4. PPC Campaigns

So far, the tactics mentioned in this list have been about organic effort. Keyword research and content creation are things you can do to automatically boost your e-commerce store’s credibility, authority, and visibility. Now, let’s talk about another method for driving potential customers to your virtual storefront—Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.

 

Social media platforms and Google Ads provide you with a unique opportunity to develop ads tailored to a specific demographic, interest, or behavior. An effective PPC campaign will put your products in front of the most interested parties, increasing the likelihood of them purchasing something from your website.

 

5. Chatbots and Live Chat

You can enhance the user experience without lifting a finger by implementing chatbots on your site. Automated responses through chatbots are a wonderful way to provide people with instant assistance. If you decide to add a live chat feature, you can also interact with individuals in real time to increase their overall satisfaction.

 

6. Optimize Your Google Business Profile

For e-commerce businesses with a local and/or physical presence, optimizing the Google Business Profile is crucial. Keeping business information updated, encouraging customer reviews, and leveraging the features provided by Google My Business enhance local search visibility. This not only attracts nearby customers but also builds trust and credibility.

 

Aside from your Google Business Profile, consider updating information on third-party sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor.

 

7. Optimize Product Pages

If you have done everything in this list so far and still aren’t converting, the next thing to look at is your product pages. You want to reduce friction as much as possible by providing high-quality product descriptions and specifications, images, and product titles. Furthermore, the entire user interface must be easy to navigate so that completing a purchase is not full of obstacles. The easier it is for someone to learn about a product before their purchase and for them to make said purchase, the greater the chance of them actually converting.

 

8. Boost Page Speed

Page speed is a critical factor in both user experience and search engine rankings. Slow-loading websites can lead to higher bounce rates and diminished customer satisfaction. Implementing strategies such as image optimization, browser caching, and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) significantly improves page loading speed, positively impacting user engagement and SEO performance.

 

9. Leverage User Generated Content

Building trust and authenticity is essential in e-commerce, and user-generated content (UGC) is a powerful tool for achieving this. Encouraging customers to share reviews, testimonials, and photos of your products on social media or your website creates a sense of community around your brand. UGC serves as social proof, influencing potential customers and fostering a positive brand image.

 

10. FAQ Pages

Lastly, you want to proactively answer questions. Aside from chatbots and live chat options, an Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section is a way of answering queries and providing valuable information when people need it most. Anticipate and develop a list of questions someone may have about your product, shipping, delivery, materials, or any other aspect of your business then generate informative responses that people can puruse. Having an FAQ page will contribute to greater customer satisfaction and reduce the likelihood of someone abandoning their cart due to an answered concern.

 

Contact the Digital Marketing Experts at Digital Marketing Group Today

The success of your e-commerce venture is tied into your efforts with SEO and other digital marketing tactics. By utilizing the strategies in this guide, you can enhance the visibility and reputation of your brand and also forge long-lasting connections to your customer base.

 

Seeking personalized guidance with your digital marketing efforts? The seasoned team at Digital Marketing Group, LLC has been leveraging these tactics and many more since 2010. We think bigger and bolder when it comes to your business. See how we can boost your website today by calling us at 1-800-969-4736 or by filling out the contact form.

Categories
Creativity

Help!! another business has my same NAME : Trademark law basics

Help!! another business has my same NAME Trademark law basics

Some businesses receive threatening letters or emails at some point in which the senders accuse them of trademark infringement. These accusations are often based on the use of similar logos, slogans or names. With the internet and Google, trademark infringement accusations are becoming more common. Whether or not you might have to negotiate with the sender of a cease and desist letter will depend on whether your business and the other one share the same industry, whether the two businesses share a geographical market, which business first used the mark and which business registered the mark first.

What are trademarks?

The marks that a business uses in the course of conducting its business include the business name, logo and slogan. When these marks are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, they are called trademarks. Registering a trademark gives a business protection for its use in the U.S. This means that other parties are not allowed to use a business’s trademarks when they are conducting business.

Not all marks are able to be trademarked. Some marks are descriptive in nature and unable to be protected through the trademark process. When there are marks that are protectable and that are being used by two different businesses, however, the question will come down to which business’s use of the mark will prevail.

It is still possible for two different businesses to have similar names are marks. For example, Delta Faucets and Delta Airlines have obviously similar names. However, the question is determined by the potential for the confusion of consumers. If two similar marks are used in different industries that are located in different markets, confusion is unlikely. On the other hand, if two businesses that are using similar marks are operating in markets that overlap, priority will be an issue.

Does the other business share the same industry as yours?

The guiding principle of trademarks is to avoid consumer confusion. If there is little likelihood that the customers of the accusing business will be confused by your use of a similar mark, there is very little chance that there will be a trademark issue. Courts look at several factors, including whether or not consumers are likely to be confused by two businesses that operate in the same industry.

If you are using a business name that is the same as another company in your industry, caution is warranted. If you are instead using a name that is the same as another company’s name that offers completely different services or products, there is probably not a trademark issue.

Does the accusing business operate in your geographical market?

Consumers are less likely to be confused if your business and the one that is claiming that you infringed its trademark are operating in different geographical markets. For instance, traditional businesses that were located in different states that shared the same names in the past could continue to operate because they weren’t competing for the same consumers. However, the internet has complicated the analysis. If your business and the other business are both online, you may have overlapping markets. In that case, you will need to carefully analyze the other applicable factors.

If the other business is a traditional company that is based in another state and that doesn’t do very much business on the internet, you might be okay. However, you may be unable to perform similar services in the other business’s state.

Which of the two businesses used the mark first?

If your business shares the same market as the other business, you will then need to figure out whether your business or the one that is claiming trademark infringement used your business name first. If you can show that your business used the name first, you will hold senior rights to it.

Which business registered the mark first?

Which business registered the mark first

Before applying to register a mark, a business should ideally conduct a thorough search of its market to make certain that another business hasn’t already been using it. However, people sometimes do register marks that were already in use by other businesses. If you began using the name before the other company registered it, you will be able to continue using it. However, you will only be able to use it in the market in which you were using the mark when the other company registered the name. The other company that has registered the trademark will have priority for its use in all other markets and can stop you from using it in new locations. This means that you should register your trademarks regardless of how long you have been using them.

If the other business registered the mark prior to your first use of it, there is an issue. When a company registers a mark, other businesses are considered to have constructive notice that the mark cannot be used. If you find out that this is true, you should settle the infringement claim.

Examples

1. Neither business using the same name has a federally registered trademark.

Imagine that two businesses that operate online both launched their websites in the same month and year and are using the same or a similar name. If both of these companies offer the same types of services in the same markets, there is clear potential for customers to be confused. When neither business is able to prove that it has senior rights, the courts will modify one of the marks to minimize the confusion.

If one business is able to prove that it used the name first, there would be a clear priority for that business. it would be able to continue to use the name in its market.

2. The other business registered the mark first, but your business was the first to use it.

If you began using your business name in commerce before the other company began and registered it, you will likely be able to continue to use it in the market in which you were using it when the other company registered it. However, you will not be able to expand into new markets.

If you are able to prove that the other business knew that your company was using its name, you may be able to prove that its infringement was willful. When willful infringement is proved, the other company may have its trademark registration canceled.

3. The other company was the first to use the mark and to obtain a registered trademark for it.

If the other company began using the mark and also registered it before you company began using it, it can force you to stop using your business’s name. It might also be able to recover damages. If this is your situation, you need to get out of it as quickly as possible.

4. Both companies operate in markets that overlap and registered the name.

In rare cases, two different businesses that operate in markets that overlap will obtain a federal registration for the same or a similar mark. In order to resolve this type of situation, it will likely require either a lawsuit or an administrative proceeding with the USPTO. Because the costs of litigation can be high, it might be wiser for you to try to negotiate a settlement.

5. Before you used your mark, the other company filed an intent to use application with the USPTO.

It is a smart idea to file an intent to use application with the USPTO when you identify a name for your business that you would like to use. If you file this application and someone else begins using a similar name before your business launch, your rights will be protected.

Registering your marks is an important part of your business plan. If you fail to register a mark and later receive a cease and desist letter, you may need to get help from an experienced intellectual property attorney. A lawyer may analyze the different factors that courts consider in order to determine whether a valid issue exists. If there appears to be a problem, your lawyer may negotiate with the other business in an effort to reach a settlement. To schedule an appointment, contact us today by telephone, or fill out our contact form.

Categories
SEO

7 Actionable Tips To Get More Traffic To Your WordPress Blog

13 Actionable Tips To Get More Traffic To Your Wordpress Blog

There are currently over 440 million blogs online. It sounds like an unbelievable number and if you’re starting your own blog, it means competition is a real thing. How do you set your blog apart from others? How do you get regular traffic and – more importantly – some kind of return on the time you put into building it?

There are various plans of attack that you can consider to increase your blogs visibility. A combination of all of these strategies and perseverance can help make your blog stand out from the pack. We’ll look at some of the great things you can do today to get your company’s blog in front of the right audience.

Fast Loading Times

Fast Loading Times

If a blog doesn’t load quickly, its not going to retain visitors. If you’ve ever visited a site that took more than three seconds to load, you may find that you’re already losing interest. And even if you have the most patient user base ever, most web crawlers time out in less than three seconds and unreliable speeds lead to lower rankings in search engine result pages.

It may be as simple as a call to your site hosting service in order to get more processing power allocated to your blog. Much like having a luxury automobile would be pointless if he can’t actually drive over 20mph, having an amazing blog with a slow server defeats the purpose.

Keep It Regular

Keep It Regular

Regular content delivery is key to successful blogging. We can’t imagine watching a serial TV show that may or may not air each week, and most users won’t bother returning to a randomly updated blog. A big part of that 440 million blogs are basically randomly updates, sometimes with years of space in between; this pattern does not retain viewers.

However, its not always easy to make time to manually release an article each week or month. Instead, tools exist to allow you to schedule your blogs posts to automatically post. This way you can prep months at a time and then leave the blog on auto-pilot to post the new items as needed.

KeyWords

Find keywords

When starting a blog, you should have a clear idea of what the keywords you focus on will be. Think about what someone might type into Google relating to your company. Now think about what you phrases you’d like your site to appear in response to a Google query. Try to use these phrases naturally in your article. Don’t think that more is better. Stuffing the keywords into every sentence does not work. Google can detect unnatural badly formatted text. You’re best off just writing naturally and making a point to use the keywords when they appear naturally in context.

Below are a few popular tools for keyword research:

Incorporate internal linking

The sidebar of your blog and links to related blog posts on your blog are excellent ways of increasing traffic. If you wrote a past article on your site that relates to the current post, link up some keywords to it. This can help people to delve deeper into your blogs content and grow to appreciate all the effort that went into it.

Feature posts are also a great way to route traffics from any of your posts to one of particular interest or value. Many WordPress themes have a side panel with featured posts or recommended posts along the bottom. You can use these to drive traffic to specific topics that relate to your niche or help convery visitors into customers.

Responsive Design

Responsive Design

Nothing drives mobile users away like a clunky, slow desktop site that pretends the smartphone doesn’t exist. Your site should look great on a tiny iPhone screen, an Android tablet and an HD 1080p desktop computer monitor. Many plugins exist to convert existing themes to responsive themes. A responsive theme basically grows or shrinks to fit the available space and thus looks great no matter what kind of device is browsing your site.

Interact With Your Audience

The comment section on your blog is not just there for people to give you blind praise on a great article. End articles with a question that invites personal opinion. You may find that you have some great discussions in the comments sections of your blog. Even questions that may cause a bit of debate or in-depth explanation of a point of view can help draw traffic to your site.

Replying to comments on your blog should be part of your regular routine. It will make potential customers feel more loyal to your brand when they see that you actually took the time to respond to their query.

Search Engine Optimization

One of the most difficult aspects of making your blog more popular is search engine optimization. This is not something that can be done quickly with a few clicks. Using natural keyword placement can help but other things such as backlinking, long tail search keywords and low competition keywords for niche items can also help.

Bringing It All Together

Feeling a bit overwhelemed? Don’t be. The hard part of blogging is having good content. If you have that, we can help you with all the rest of the details. Fill out our contact form today and put our team of experts to work for your company.

Categories
SEO

How Long Should A Blog Post Be?

How Long Should A Blog Post Be

Its no secret that having quality content is more important than ever. Google search results drive traffic and traffic converts into revenue. For this reason, many businesses have create ambitious posting schedules in an attempt to draw people to their site.

However, these plans don’t always work out to the company’s benefit. We look at how the length and style of a post can help your site to be well positioned in Google and also to establish your company as an industry leader with valuable content.

How Long Should a Post Be?

Posts online are usually considered to be either long form (or long content) – consisting of more than 500 words – or short content – being less than 500 words. There are pros and cons to both. Deciding on the length often depends on the point of the article. We’ll talk about both and when to elect either a short or long blog post.

How Long Should A Blog Post Be

Long Form Posts

In the past, long form posts were not seen as a valuable SEO marketing tool. As casual browsers might want to read a quick article, the feeling was that writing anything longer wouldn’t really be consumed. Additionally, search engines have specific algorithms for determining the “quality” of a page, and longer isn’t necessarily better.

The value of long form posts comes from the fact that you can deliver valuable content to your users. Long posts let you go deep into technical issues, tell an engaging story or present an interesting interview. Some companies have even found success with “gated long posts”, where a user must sign up to a mailing list in order to access the entire post. Long form posts can go a long way to establishing you as an industry expert.

Short Form Posts

Shorter posts – those of under 500 words – are great for quick and interesting reads, sharing news about an event or announcing a new product or release. Since they take less time to produce, you can produce more, which helps you possibly strike gold on some unexpected interest of your readers and also help establish a better search engine ranking.

The Role of Quality

The Role of Quality

You probably remember a time in the early 2000’s when ever site had a sidebar filled with randomly sized words. There was a time when things like keyword stuffing, content scraping and other poor substitutes for content could actually help a page to rank better. Things have changed since then, and none of these strategies are going to help your page be considered “high quality” by Google or any other analytics bots that check out your page. Duplicate content is also bad.

If your page is a cut and paste collage of other articles, these systems are able to pick that up. Even worse, if your competitors or clients notice you are doing things like this, your reputation will be damage irrevocably.

Don’t forget, your Google ranking means nothing if your human readers don’t see you as a source of reliable and valuable information. There are no shortcuts in producing quality content.

Posting Schedules

Scheduled automated posting systems are popular and they can make maintaining a website easier. Content can be quickly developed at one point in time and then automatically released slowly over time. These systems can be great but they also present a trap. In a rush to fill a posting schedule, some companies put out filler posts. Others sit on exciting news just because it didn’t come in on time for their posting schedule.

These decisions can also impact the length of the posts. It’s great to maintain a schedule, but also important to leave time for creativity and unexpected news.

Posting Schedules

Developing Quality Posts

A great practice for both long or short form posts is to start by writing a basic outline. Start with sub headings and main talking points. Each post should be easily explained in 1-2 sentences. If explaining it becomes more complex than that, it might be a better idea to divide the ideas up into several posts.

Always try to imagine what your potential clients will take away from this post. Does it really have something to say that hasn’t already been said? Does it answer a question people often Google related to your industry?

These are the posts that work on both levels; valuable to human readers and well ranked by search engines. No one likes to open a post that poses a question, and then – ten “filler paragraphs” later – basically tells them, “Do research to find the right answer for you!”

Article Length Recommendations

  • Buffer: recommends the ideal blog post length should be 1,600 words.
  • CoSchedule: recommends the ideal blog post length should be 2,500 words.
  • Hubspot: recommends the ideal blog post length should be 2,250 to 2,500 words.
  • Moz: recommends the ideal blog post length should be 1,125 words.
  • ClickSeed: recommends the ideal blog post length should be 1,000 words.
  • Yoast: recommends the minimum word count is 300 in order to rank, but ideal blog post length should be 1,000 words.

Recommended Article Length By Industry

  • Financial technology – 2,000 – 2,150 words
  • Finance – 2,100 – 2,500 words
  • Manufacturing – 1,700 – 1,900 words
  • Sales – 2,500 – 2,700 words
  • Retail – 1,500 – 1,700 words
  • Real estate – 1,800 – 1,900 words
  • Home and garden – 1,100 – 1,200 words
  • Tech – 800 – 1,000 words
  • Gadgets – 300 – 500 words
  • Marketing/advertising – 2,500 – 3,000 words
  • Healthcare – 2,000 – 2,150 words
  • Fashion – 800 – 950 words
  • Recruiting – 900 – 1,000 words
  • Food – 1,400 – 1,900 words
  • Travel – 1,500 – 1,850 words
  • Film – 1,500 – 1,700 words

Brining It All Together

As you can see, developing quality content is not as easy as it sounds. It could be that you’re an industry expert with lots of knowledge to share, but you don’t know where to start. If that’s your situation, fill out our contact form now. Put all that knowledge to work today, driving people to your company online all around the world.

Categories
Marketing

5 Reasons Content Marketing Is Vital For Your Business Strategy

5 Reasons Content Marketing Is Vital For Your Business Strategy

Content marketing is a way of publishing digital content to attract customers who are searching for the products and services they provide. It can help to establish a company as an expert in a field, generate interest and awareness and help gain new customers as well as repeat businesses.

Here are five reasons you should be doing content marketing right away.

Content Drives Decisions

Clients no longer expect sales reps to make purchasing decisions for them. Instead, they look online and get feedback from others who’ve made similar purchases. This self-sufficiency makes a lot of “traditional” sales practices obsolete. Therefore, the online presence of your company is now more important than ever. The content they find under your company’s name will influence their opinion of your competence and professional abilities.

  • 95% of B2B buyers are willing to consider vendor-related content as trustworthy.
  • 51% more B2B buyers rely on content to make purchasing decisions than they did last year.
  • 47% of B2B buyers consume 3 to 5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales person.

Content Lets You Control the Conversation

Content Lets You Control the Conversation

If someone Googles the name of your business, what do they find?

If you never publish any solid, informational content, they won’t see anything but customer reviews. And as we all know, many people like to use the Internet as a platform to complain. Far more people take the time to write a negative review – venting, as it were – than to come online to share a positive experience.

If you regularly publish content that fits your brand – be it professional, funny, youthful or whatever fits your brand – your online presence will be strong and positive, not just a random review or map location.

Present Your Company As the Solution

People go online looking for answers. When a business helps them find those answers, they automatically feel a sense of loyalty. Answering common questions establishes you as an expert in the field who understands what they’re going through. Even though it might feel like giving something away for free, it can create a level of trust and confidence in your business that no sales man could ever instill.

Content Marketing Works Better Than Traditional Marketing

Sure, buying advertising works for some businesses. But content marketing is both more affordable and more effective. Content shows who you are and what your place in the industry is. Ads just show that you could afford to buy advertising space. Many companies have found that their Internet presence is what directs most clients to their business, more so than online advertising or other traditional media advertising.

Your Competitors Are Already Doing Content Marketing

Regardless of the industry, a strong Internet presence is what sets the innovators apart from the stagnating companies. This year more than 75% of marketers increased their investments in content marketing. Basically, the better content you publish, the more customers and revenue you will generate. It’s that simple. Start today.

Categories
Creativity Marketing Social Media

8 Simple Ways to Improve Your Instagram Feed

Reformat your pictures

You may not know this, but you are now able to select how your photos display on your pages. In the beginning, you could only arrange them in portrait format. Now, you are able to select the orientation of each picture between portrait and landscape. This will give you more control over how all your photos look on each page.

Turn on notifications of the people you follow

Don’t forget to turn on the notifications for the people you follow on Instagram. If you want to know immediately when they post on their Instagram, it is really simple to do. Just pick one of the photos they have posted and click on the icon that looks like three dots. This will give you the option to turn on notifications of when they post their photos.

Center the text in your bio for more visibility

This tip might make you groan a little, but it does work! Your bio not only tells people all of the things that you want people to know, but the way it looks sometimes gives some hints about who you are. To ensure that your bio looks great and centered, you will need to use spaces between the text. This is because the coding on the page does not accept normal HTML coding tricks. Instead, you have to use the “old-fashioned” way of spacing, simply adding extra spaces in the text.

Use the “Liked” feature to your advantage

Another helpful tool in Instagram is using the “liked” history option to find your favorite photos. If you are like many Instagram user you mark many photos with the like button as you see them. By clicking the like button that photo is tagged and you can use the Post You Liked filter option. This checks your history and checks for all photos you liked and you can go back a view them. This option can be found in the menu bar of the Instagram page.

Use a blog to promote your Instagram

If you have a blog, you can easily post yours or a favorite feed of someone else’s and post them on your blog. You can use a number of 3rd-party plugins for blogs using the WordPress platform. The plugins are really easy to use and many of them are completely free.

Real time tracking of hashtags

There are a number of different 3-party apps that you can download and used to help you get the most out of your social media sites. One of those apps is called keyhole and it allows you to track hashtags, which has been become one of the most important parts of social media. This app allows you to track several different sites at the same time.

Keep search history clean

Deleting old and maybe embarrassing Instagram searches is really easy to do, but most people don’t even think about using the feature. It is much easier than you think and it only takes a few clicks and then the searches are completely gone for ever. Just go to your profile and click the menu and find options. Click on the Clear Search History and click to confirm and you are done.

Remove tags from pictures

Sometimes we all do things that we are not actually proud of and even worse there quite possibly could be some pictures of it and they ended up someone’s Instagram feed and you were tagged. The good is there is a way that you can protect yourself from those people important to you that know your Instagram name. You can click on the offending photo and click on options and choose Hide From My Profile. Then you also want to select Remove Me From Photo, by doing both of these will block the people on your feed from seeing it.

We hope that one or more of these tips will help you get the most out of your Instagram experience.

Categories
Marketing

What is an Effective SEO Strategy For 2017

Seo word collected of wooden elements with the letters

[vc_row type=”vc_default”][vc_column][vc_column_text]It amazes me how often I hear many Digital Marketers saying “SEO is Dead”. Sure Google may have updated its algorithm, but they didn’t do it to make my job harder, its done to improve user experience to give you the results you want on your first search. [dt_quote type=”pullquote” layout=”right” font_size=”h5″ animation=”none” size=”2″]The reason so many think SEO is dead is because they don’t have their main focus on the basics[/dt_quote]The reason so many think SEO is dead is because they don’t have their main focus on the basics of SEO so they can’t evolve with the times or the latest technologies. (Without having to start over)

If those naysayers were to follow the SEO optimization fundamentals clearly defined in the Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, they would still be in line to implement the following SEO Strategies for 2017:

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1498832609667{border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]

Optimize Website For Mobile

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”11769″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1498832621326{margin-bottom: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

In January of 2014 the amount of internet traffic from mobile devices and tablets exceeded the desktop. Consumers are using their mobile devices more and more to:

  • Access the internet
  • Check email
  • Access personal information
  • Download and use apps
  • Shop online

If have not done so by this point, the time has come to seriously consider upgrading your website to a mobile friendly version. Not just because Google favors mobile-friendly websites, but also because that’s how your potential customers will be looking for you! How do you know if your site is mobile friendly? Simply take the Google Mobile-Friendly Test. If for some reason your site is not mobile friendly, Google will offer suggestions on what you need to improve.

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1498833217830{border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]

Optimize For Voice Search

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”11770″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1498833275621{margin-bottom: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

[dt_quote type=”pullquote” layout=”right” font_size=”h5″ animation=”none” size=”2″]55% of teens and 41% of adults use voice search more than once a day.[/dt_quote]The way we search has evolved in recent years. According to Google, 55% of teens and 41% of adults use voice search more than once a day. Beyond a doubt optimizing for voice search will be a critical strategy for your SEO success for 2017 and beyond. The 4 major Digital Assistants in voice search you’ll need to optimize for are:

Why is this important? The way we search by voice is entirely different than the way we type. Your website should be setup to answer questions rather than focusing on specific keywords. Your content needs to be more in-depth and comprehensive in order to clearly answer the questions your potential customers may have.

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1499094818812{border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]

Optimize For Rich Answers

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”11771″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1499094804208{margin-bottom: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

Rich Answers are displayed for nearly 20% of all internet searches. What are “rich answers”? Rich answers are a way search engines provide direct information to the user for all types of commonly asked questions. Here are a few examples of Rich Answers:

  • Rich Snippets (sometimes called featured snippets)
  • Answers provided by Search Engines
  • Charts
  • Tables
  • Sliders or Carousels
  • Maps
  • Forms

Optimizing for rich answers is important because you have the opportunity to be in the most visible spot in the search engine results even without having a #1 page ranking, your organic traffic will increase and you’ll have higher engagement from those who click through to your site.

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1499095283660{border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]

Local Optimization

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”11772″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1499095870335{margin-bottom: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

With the growth of mobile searches, Local SEO has become one of the most effective strategies for businesses to gain an edge over their local competitors. To begin with, you’ll need to make sure your NAP (Name Address Phone Number) are listed accurately throughout the web. Claim your business profile on relevant local directories and review sites.

Local Optimization Checklist:

  • Get listed in Local Directories (Name Address Phone)
  • Claim Business Profile on Google and Bing
  • Make sure there is content on your site that includes the name of your city or region.
  • Get Online Reviews
  • Use local structured data markup
  • Website URL should be listed as your homepage

Local search accounts for 50% of search queries on mobile phones and tablets so a local SEO strategy is crucial to your success.

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1499096596710{border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]

Improve User Experience

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”11773″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1499097052330{margin-bottom: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

You have about 8 seconds to answer 3 questions when a potential customer lands on your website to convince them to stay. Those 3 questions are:

  • Who are you and what do you do?
  • Why should I be interested in you over your competitors?
  • What do you want me to do next?

Can your website answer those 3 questions in 8 seconds or less? Here are just a few tips to improve your user experience.

  • Your Phone Number Should Be Displayed Prominently on the website.
  • Your website needs to be responsive and mobile friendly
  • Use simple contact forms – ease of use
  • Include a strong call to action

A strong focus on user experience is key for gaining customer loyalty and improving business performance.

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1499097114046{border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]

Use LSI Keywords In Your Content

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”11775″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1499100639962{margin-bottom: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

What are LSI keywords (Latent Semantic Indexing)? These are keywords related to your main keyword. LSI keywords help search engines understand the meaning of the content to return better results in search. Gone are the days that you needed to focus on a single keyword. In today’s digital world you need to focus on the topic you want to rank for and thoroughly explain the topic.

[dt_quote type=”pullquote” layout=”right” font_size=”h5″ animation=”none” size=”2″]In today’s information world, you may need closer to 1500 or more words on a page.[/dt_quote]Success with the use of LSI Keywords is going to take more than the 200-300 word per page standard of years past. In today’s information world, you may need closer to 1500 or more words on a page.

In conclusion, if you stick to the basics of SEO and keep these 6 tips in mind as you move forward you should see an increase in not only traffic, but more importantly an increase in form fill outs and phone calls. If you have any questions about any of these ideas or would like to implement them in your marketing plan feel free to give us a call or simply fill out our contact form.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]