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Social Media

How to Boost Brand Awareness on Social Media

If you are looking for a way to create awareness for your brand, social media is a great way to do it. No doubt that brand awareness is crucial for the growth of your business. All you have to do is to find ways to build your brand on social media. 

Despite millions of people using social media to research and talk about brands, capturing the attention of your target audience can be a bit challenging, especially for startup companies. 

For instance, if you are a plumber, what social media strategies can you use to build brand awareness? How can you become a familiar face within your audience’s feeds rather than someone they just scroll past?

In this post, we have rounded up a few techniques that will help businesses boost their brand awareness. From choosing the best channel to measuring your social media campaign performance, these tips can help kickstart your game. 

  • Choose the Right Social Media Platform

It is almost impossible to keep up with all of the social media platforms to promote your brand. When it comes to effective social media marketing, the goal is to find your potential customers and focus on which platforms they spend the most time. Limit your efforts to 1 to 3 social media sites to ensure you can effectively manage your profiles and build a strong relationship with your followers.

  • Create Engaging Content

Creating trust and authority with your social media audience is key to brand awareness. When you create fresh, valuable, and informative content, people will see your brand in a positive light. Focus on subjects that are relevant and engaging to your specific niche. Add compelling images to engage your potential clients. 

  • Post Regularly

An irregular posting schedule can have an unpleasant impact on your social media branding effort. No matter how large your community of followers, your absence and lack of posts can make them forget about your brand. 

Use scheduling tools if you do not have time to post consistently on your social media profiles. Tools, such as Sprout Social and CoScheduler, can help you schedule your posts at peak times to ensure the best chances of gaining visibility and momentum when your followers are most active. 

  • Give Your Brand a Persona

The personality of your brand is a critical part of a good social media strategy. To give your brand a persona, create and visualize a unique brand voice that resonates well with your target audience. 

However, if you have a diverse audience, be sure that your brand voice should be flexible enough to speak to them. You might also want to target various audiences using different social medial platforms. 

  • Collaborate with Relevant Influencers in Your Niche

With a huge following on social media, there is no denying that digital influencers have the power to help you build your brand. Their ability to persuade their follower’s decision-making is one of the reasons why you should employ their services to help amplify your brand awareness on social media. Do not just choose any popular influencers—work with someone who is relevant in your industry or niche. Not only do they promote your brand to your ideal audience but also drive traffic to your social media accounts. 

  • Maintain Relationship With Customers

Enhancing brand awareness and increasing sales require building healthy customer relationships. Customer engagement enables you to create an opportunity to get to know your brand better and how they can benefit from your products and services. Others can learn more about your business and professionalism by reading customer reviews and your responses to their questions and concerns. How well you engage and respond to your followers can help you build and maintain trust with both your existing and new customers. 

  • Measure Your Progress

Like every effective digital marketing plan, it is important to monitor the performance of your brand awareness campaign. Keep track of the statistics of your social media engagement to check the efficiency of your posts, ads, and other content. Observe if the visibility of your post has an upward trend and continue to explore until you reach your goal.

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 Marketing

8 Must-Have Digital Marketing Tools to Grow Your Business

With limited resources, it can be a challenge for many small businesses to hire a marketing team to plan, develop, and implement a campaign. Not only does it require a large investment, but you may also need to focus your hiring efforts or budget on other important matters.

With many entrepreneurs taking their business online, establishing a strong online presence is crucial. However, the process is no easy job. Luckily, there are different digital marketing tools that can help you grow your business and promote your products and services to your target audience.

What Are Digital Marketing Tools? 

Digital marketing tools are apps and software designed to help you strategize, collaborate, and execute your digital marketing campaign. Whether you are planning a marketing campaign, developing a social media asset, or monitoring results, digital marketing tools helps ensure that your efforts are more efficient and convenient. Also, effective use of these tools can help set up and guide your business to success. 

Essential Digital Marketing Tools

We have rounded a list of the most important digital marketing tools that serve as your marketing foundation that will help you manage customer relationships, acquire more qualified leads and uncover more marketing opportunities. 

  1. Google Trends

This tool is designed to show you the most current trends in specific locations. Type your chosen keyword in the search panel, and it will reveal how much online buzz there is about your topic. This information is extremely useful, especially if you are monitoring your brand name or a competitor. 

  1. Ahrefs

Launching a business in a competitive environment is a common concern for many entrepreneurs. Ahrefs has a set of tools designed to help users monitor their competitors. It also provides you with information about your competitors’ traffic details, ranking keywords, content features, backlinks, and other essential data. This information can help you know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and beat them within your niche market. 

  1. HubSpot

Hubspot comes with a set of marketing tools designed to help users keep their content and data in a single, accessible place. It enables you to manage all your blog and social media posts, focus on your SEO strategy, monitor your digital advertising effort, and more. Also, you can combine HubSpot’s tools with other sales software to help you create strong relationships with your clientele. 

  1. Google Analytics

As the gold standard for website analytics, Google Analytics can provide you with essential information about the people visiting your website, where they are coming from, and the pages they are spending most of their time. Using this information can help you track conversions, enhance your eCommerce setup, and monitor events.

  1. Buzzsumo

This content marketing tool helps you with your content planning and monitoring of content performance to boost your content marketing strategy. Use it to identify the most ideal influencers to partner with and analyze useful metrics to create meaningful relationships with your customers.

  1. Facebook Audience Insights

In addition to being the biggest social network, Facebook is the most effective tool used by many business owners to target their advertising campaigns. It provides users with important information, such as demographic data, habits, interests, devices used, and even household income of Facebook users. 

  1. Mailchimp

Email marketing is another effective approach to reaching and connecting with your target customers. Mailchimp is not only designed to create and send branded emails and newsletters monthly, but also enables you to build landing pages, design digital advertisements, and more!

  1. Hootsuite

Designed as a social media marketing tool, Hootsuite allows users to create, schedule, and track posts. It is also an effective collaboration tool, which enables you to view, manage, and respond to comments and messages from your target audience. Hootsuite also provides you with a comparison of content performance across different social media platforms to help you identify posts that relate the most to your potential customers.

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 Business

Branding Tips to Boost Your Company Image

Establishing your brand is among the most critical actions you should undertake as a business owner. A solid, identifiable brand helps connect you with existing customers and sell to new ones while ensuring loyalty and awareness. 

In today’s highly competitive marketing world, it can be challenging to stand out and make your target customers recognize your brand. Effective branding can help distinguish your company from the sea of competitors. 

What Is Brand Image and Why It Is Important?

Brand image is how your target customers perceive your business, products, and services. Luckily, the power to create a powerful brand image is in your hand. Your company image is crucial as it helps capture your ideal clientele. Also, it encourages employees to embrace the values and priorities of your company as their own. 

How to Improve Your Company’s Brand Image

Most successful brands constantly look for ways to boost their attributes to target the right customers. It requires precise planning and a well-thought-out approach to ensure success. 

We rounded up a few quick and easy pointers to help your company stand out and improve your brand image.

  1. Define Your Brand

Perform a detailed assessment of your brand by identifying your target customer’s problem(s) and how you can help, understanding their emotional and rational concerns, and determining what makes your brand unique. Give your customers a clear understanding of what you can offer them and inform them about your vision and purpose. 

  1. Meet Your Audience Where They Are

Addressing your target audience with the message they expect to hear on various social media platforms can help expand your brand. However, your brand message aligns with the core values of your company. Also, updating your website regularly should be among your top priorities to ensure a solid online presence. 

  1. Build Trust and Authenticity 

Establishing a good image is extremely crucial, especially for startup companies. Take time to listen to the needs of your customers and their feedback. Treat them with respect, build a connection with them, and ensure exceptional customer service. When creating relationships and earning trust, be transparent, reliable, and consistent in your interactions, products, and services. Additionally, reward your customers for their loyalty once in a while.

  1. Focus on Creating High-Quality Products or Services

Bringing value to your customers is one of the most effective ways to boost your company’s brand. When your clients acknowledge the quality of your business offerings, it will help demonstrate the credibility of your brand through referrals or word-of-mouth. You do not need to invest too much in advertising. Instead, take your time to provide your clientele with premium quality goods and services that create buzz and earn trust.

  1. Improve Your Online Presence

97% of customers use the Internet to search for local companies. Developing a robust digital presence ensures not only the growth of your business but also improves your brand image. If you have a poor digital presence, you will lose plenty of opportunities to connect with your customers and build brand awareness. 

To help you establish a robust digital presence and brand image, be sure to focus on the following areas:

  1. Deliver Excellent Customer Service

It only takes a single unpleasant experience to make customers take their business elsewhere. Losing customers due to poor customer service can significantly impact your company’s image. In today’s competitive market, focusing on providing excellent customer service is essential. 

Delivering customer expectations can help you earn trust. People trust you because they are aware of what to expect. Also, they are more likely to recommend your business. Building excellent customer service and trust help ensure brand loyalty with your client base.

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 All About SEO

Why User-First Approach Matters to SEO

When it comes to search engine optimization, many focus on Google algorithms, sitemaps, and backlinks and tend to forget their primary goal: providing users with helpful information. 

Years before, cramming keywords into your page and slapping on several meta tags can make your web page appear on the first top 10 search engine results pages (SERPs). However, Google recognized that these methods do not provide users with top-quality answers to search queries. As a result, it began to adapt its algorithms to improve the user experience. You can find the evidence in updates like Panda (February 2011), Core Web Vitals, and other regular core algorithm updates. 

You do not necessarily need to abandon keywords and the traditional SEO aspects completely. Google still takes the fundamental attributes of SEO into account. However, implementing a user-first approach plays a significant factor in organic search. 

Follow these 5 essential steps to make a user-friendly website and increase your ranking on the SERPs.

  • Learn Design Fundamentals

Having a clear understanding of the design fundamentals helps you improve user experience and make your website run smoothly and naturally. Be sure to work with a professional who understands the principles of design fundamentals and explains the psychology behind them. Knowing the reasons why can help you make better decisions that will have a desirable impact on your users. 

  • Addressing User Pain Points

Statistics is essential when working with an established website and dealing with various user problems. Google Analytics can help determine pain points that trigger users to leave your website. Setting up heat mapping and logging can also help address user pain points. Heat-mapping tools allow you to monitor how visitors interact with your website. 

Some solutions enable screen recording to keep track of how visitors navigate through web pages and identify the factors that prevent conversion. Obtaining this information can help you make better choices on how you can improve your pages and ensure a desirable user experience. Additionally, it allows you to see and re-evaluate the specific benefits that your visitors are looking for from your website.

  • Test Everything

After acquiring data, do not start making adjustments and improvements to your website. While the information you have gathered does not necessarily provide solutions, it can help identify potential pain points. 

If you detect a problem or need to perform a significant change in your page’s layout, put up an A/B test to ensure that the revision is beneficial to the users. A/B testing involves the distribution of traffic between 2 versions of a similar page. Check which page version performed better. It should help you enhance your objectives during a specific time and with a certain number of conversions. 

The data you acquired from your A/B testing efforts can help address and confirm or refute your theory about the pain points. This helps determine if you are on the right path toward a solution and make sure that the adjustments are helpful and do not injure your users.

  • Give the Users What They Desire

Balance is everything in SEO. If your goal is to only please the search engines, you will likely fail to connect with your target audience. If you focus all your efforts on designing your website from the user’s point of view, you can potentially overlook other valuable search engine elements. To hit the sweet spot, make sure to focus on both users and search engines. 

  • Continue to Learn

To be an expert in digital marketing, you should be ready to expand your knowledge and explore more about SEO. As Google continues to modify its search algorithm, you should continue to look for new strategies to attract more website visitors and boost your search engine rankings.

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 All About SEO

YouTube SEO: Tips to Rank on the Video Platform

YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine (next to Google, its parent company). 8 out of 10 videos displayed on the search engine results are from YouTube. With more than 500 hours of videos uploaded to YouTube, how can you make your uploads stand out from the sea of videos? The most effective way is to optimize your video for search using YouTube SEO best practices.

How to Boost Your Search Ranking

Numerous brands use YouTube SEO strategies to increase their online visibility and search rankings on the major video platform on the web. Like Google, YouTube employs identical algorithms for website and video ranking and goals to provide users with the best experience possible. The combination of Google and YouTube search results not only helped simplify user search queries but also supercharge your digital marketing efforts. 

Before we dive into the tips, here are some of the tools you can use to rank your videos:

  • Canva
  • TubeBuddy
  • VidIQ Vision
  • Cyfe
  • Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

Here are 8 YouTube SEO tips that will capture the attention of your target audience and drive more traffic and video views.

  1. Choose Keywords Wisely

The search engine results page is a fierce battleground for millions of brands competing for the attention of their target audience. New products, services, and competitors fight for the top spot daily. That is why it is crucial to diversify your brand—the key to using competitive terms and incorporating the right keywords to get you volume.  

Here are some of the most helpful keyword research tools for SEO or PPC:

  • Google Keyword Planner
  • SemRush
  • Moz
  • WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool

  1. Use Keywords in Your Title 

Businesses must understand the search intent of their audience: informational, commercial, navigational, and transactional. To boost the visibility of your video in search results, you must match the subject of your video to the intent of your target audience. 

You must also understand the purpose of your video and get to know your primary audience. For instance, when you showcase an excellent product review to attract more customers. You need to use the product name in the title and description of the video. While this is a simple step, many video marketers tend to miss this crucial step, causing their videos to appear low on both YouTube and Google search results.  

  1. Include the Keyword in Your Video File

This step is extremely crucial as it is among the YouTube ranking factors that will help boost your video’s visibility in search results. Uploading a file name with a relevant keyword in it increases your likelihood of being ranked and acquiring more search volume.

  1. Optimize Your Video Description

A strong, optimized video description is among the most critical YouTube SEO ranking factors. Make sure to include descriptions, subtitles, closed captions, and thumbnails when changing or updating any important video elements. To optimize your video description, integrate the user-relevant keywords in the first few sentences of your description. Your video description should not exceed 200 words. 

  1. Use Hashtags to Drive Search Results

Across social media, the use of Youhashtags (#) helps people find relevant content that offers answers or solutions to their problems. Incorporating a specific hashtag into your video descriptions and titles can make your video more searchable to your target viewers. 

  1. Choose a Category for Your Video

When uploading on YouTube, be sure to choose the category that best suits the topic of the video. Contextualizing your video with categories can help increase your likelihood of getting found by viewers. 

  1. Customize Your Thumbnails

Thumbnails can make or break your YouTube videos. A strong thumbnail can help you stand out and catch the attention of your target viewers when searching for videos on YouTube. It increases your click-through rates, leading to a higher watch time and improving your YouTube rankings. Customizing your thumbnail enables people to see what your video is about. 

  1. Add Subtitles and Closed Captions

Using subtitles and closed captions is our final tip for increasing your success on YouTube searches. Both subtitles and closed-caption act as a transcript for your video. Subtitles can help communicate the dialogue to viewers who cannot understand the language used in the video. On the other hand, closed captions are designed for your viewers who cannot hear the audio.

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 Online Marketing Trends

7 Essential Elements of an Exceptional Blog Post

As a business owner, one of your main marketing goals is to create engaging and valuable content that will want your target audience coming back to your website for more. Blogging is among the important tool for every small business. Your blog should be eye-catching and provide all the key information your target audience is looking for. To be effective, you will need to know all the key elements of writing an exceptional blog post.

Catchy Topic

Your topic creates an impression and compels your target audience to click on your post. Be sure to carefully choose topics that will spark interest in your readers. Luckily, there are many tools available on the Internet, such as Google Trends, HubSpot Blog Topic Generator, and Buzz Sumo, that can help you generate unique blog topics that are relevant to your niche. Another way to create catchy and compelling topics is by taking feedback from your audience and gathering enough relevant information.

Powerful Headline

Writing a meaningful headline can catch the attention of your target audience to your blog. A blog post with a boring headline can easily get lost in the vast ocean of competitors online. 

Interesting Introduction

While writing a powerful headline can compel people to click on your website, having an interesting induction is key to converting site visitors into readers. Your blog introduction should give your readers an idea of what to expect from your content. You do not have to provide them with that whole picture of your topic, but just enough information to arouse inquisitiveness and curiosity.

Compelling Sub-Heading

In addition to headings, subheadings can effectively emphasize the main elements of the topic, guiding readers and making your blog post easier to read. Your subheading should contain relevant keywords to enable search engines to identify the content of your post and quickly convey key points to your readers. However, avoid inserting the keyword forcibly into the subheading. Make sure that the keywords sound natural in subheadings. 

Format the subheading using the title tag hierarchy. This means that you have to increasingly use a smaller heading format. While most blog posts use H2, you can isolate H2 if it has lengthy content and uses H3 instead. Be sure to use header tags properly.

Interesting Supporting Points

The body is the “meat” of your content that backs up your main topic. When writing a blog, make sure that your story or idea has interesting supporting points that will give your readers something they can sink their teeth into. Carefully lay out your ideas and how you will support them. Make a list of bullet points to organize your ideas. You can start writing the body using these as your main sections. 

Photo by ANTONI SHKRABA

Appealing Visuals

Humans are visual creatures who tend to react and process images much better than reading text. The human brain has a unique way to process complex information, making visualization extremely crucial. Using charts and graphs to explain complex information is much easier than explaining it through words. Do not forget to optimize your images for search and engage your target audience by making them more appealing. 

Compelling Call-to-Action

Once you have captured the attention of your audience with a compelling title, engaged them with an interesting introduction, and led them through the content body with interesting points, then it is time to wrap it up with an engaging call-to-action. 

Call-to-actions should be clear and actionable, giving your audience something to reflect on or respond to. Your call-to-action should effectively entice and encourage your audience to leave a review or comment, answer your question, or share your post on their social media profiles.

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 Marketing, Social Media

5 Best Social Media Strategies for Plumbers

Social media can be a great and cost-effective way to promote a business. Millions of people use it to search for local businesses that cater to their household needs, including plumbing. If you are a plumber, establishing a social media presence can offer numerous benefits to your business, such as attracting and connecting with new customers and building your brand. 

Despite the different social media platforms, getting started can be a bit overwhelming. However, once you learn the basic social media strategies and practices, you will be surprised by the benefits that come with it and even find yourself enjoying the process. 

Know Your Audience

Like other businesses, social media has helped many plumbers improve the concept and transparency of their services while providing their target market with relevant and informative content. To make it work, you need to know and meet where your target audience is at. 

Having the biggest active user base, Facebook is the best social media platform to promote your plumbing services, post updates, encourage customers to leave reviews, and share engaging and relevant content. Other social media channels popular for plumbers include YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, which have their own unique benefits and features. 

Give Customers Advice Online

Not every customer has the time to make a phone call in times of a plumbing disaster. Taking the time to answer their questions, diagnosing their issues online, and providing them with easy and quick plumbing tips can go a long way. Offering good customer service online and in person can help you build your reputation and position yourself as a helpful and proactive plumbing business. 

Use Your Expertise to Make a Good Impression

Many potential customers probe a plumber’s social media profile before hiring them. Establishing an active social media presence means you are always accessible to your customers and an industry leader (depending on the content you share and post on your social media account). Additionally, sharing industry new and helpful tips to your followers can set your business as an authoritative voice in the local plumbing community.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Post Regularly

Some business owners invest millions of dollars annually to track the best time and the frequency of their social media posts on various platforms. However, as a small or medium-sized business, the consistency and quality of your posts are your most important takeaways. You do not need to share 5 inferior blog posts—sharing a single interesting and informative post can get your audience’s attention. Additionally, posting relevant and engaging content every other week is better than blitzing your followers with more than 10 posts in a week and then going silent for the next 4 weeks. Consider which works best for you, make a plan, and stick with it. 

Content Ideas for Social Media Posts:

  • Blog posts and articles: People usually seek answers/solutions to plumbing questions on Google. Show your expertise by answering inquiries or offering solutions to the most common plumbing issues. 
  • Case studies are a great way to show your target audience the process you used in resolving various plumbing problems and reflect on the success of your work with previous customers.
  • Promotions: Drum up your business by keeping your followers updated with the current or upcoming sales or deals on your plumbing services.
  • Milestones: Celebrate with your followers by sharing your company achievements. It can also be a great way to offer them a promotion.

Engage With Your Audience

Social media is a great way to get social with your target audience and followers. In addition to providing helpful plumbing tips, you can engage with them by asking open-ended questions in your posts, responding to comments politely, and leading them to your website where they can obtain more information about your business and services. When done properly, you can encourage them to submit your contact form and even buy your services. 

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 Business, Marketing

6 Key Elements of a Killer Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing has increasingly grown in popularity over the years. Many businesses with an online presence use content marketing to build and strengthen their brand, attract prospects and retain loyal customers, and boost their bottom line. 

At the heart of every effective and successful content marketing effort are the core elements. Incorporating these elements into your content marketing strategy can boost audience engagement, improve brand awareness, and provide a healthy ROI to your business. To achieve these, you will need to develop a strategic method that demonstrates and targets your company’s realistic goals and measures results. 

In this post, you will learn the significant elements of content marketing and how you can implement them in your strategy. 

  1. Brand Story

Having a thorough understanding of the identity of your brand is crucial for communicating with your target audience. As a business owner, you need to identify who you are as a business, your values, your mission, and what your company does. These factors can help create your unique brand and develop a consistent personality and tone of voice to establish customer trust and confidence. In the fierce world of business, creating a unique brand story can make your voice stand out, setting you apart from the competition and resonating with your target market. 

  1. Audience Persona

It is impossible to tell your brand story without knowing who your target audience is. You will need to identify the audience whom you want to target with your content. Here are some tips to do this:

  • Study your existing customers
  • Get to know the latest trends in your industry
  • identify the people who you want to target 
  • Monitor the customers whom your competitors are targeting

  1. Style Guidelines

To develop consistently high-quality content, you need to follow documented style guidelines. It should cover key points from grammar and punctuation to the unique tone of your voice. Having a unique style guideline enables you to create consistent and well-written content that will engage your audience. 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
  1. Business Case and Content Marketing Goals

For your content strategy to be successful, you must provide value to your target audience. It should not only capture new readers and followers, but it must also help drive your business forward. It starts with identifying the goals you want to achieve and determining the ways that will bring you closer to our objectives. For instance, find out the number of resources you need to invest in your content strategy and the results you want to attain. 

In addition to your content marketing goals, having a documented business case can help you gain a better understanding of the benefits and costs of content marketing strategy implementation. 

  1. Keywords

Well-written and engaging content is awesome, but you need to identify and use the right keywords to ensure that your content comes up in the top search results. Know the top keywords commonly used by your target audience and develop a strategic plan as to how your content assets can help you rank for the most crucial ones. 

  1. Action Plan

Lastly, you will need an effective action plan that puts together your primary content marketing campaign and projects that you want to achieve for the year. Consider how they will attain the goals that you have previously established for your business. A carefully thought-out action plan enables you to analyze each step to strategize your content marketing campaign. It should cover the following 

To help you choose the right formats and channels for your content, check your historical content performance and study your audience persona.

Proper implementation of these elements can make you feel confident with your content strategy. However, do not stop making improvements. Assess your strategy regularly and make the necessary adjustments. Always keep your strategy up-to-date and comprehensive to take your content marketing to new heights.

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 All About SEO

How to Create an SEO-Friendly FAQ Page

Did you know that you can use frequently asked questions (FAQs) to boost your website’s search engine optimization (SEO)?

That is right! Some questions on your FAQs page can appear on the search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive traffic to your website. 

Although you may have written complete and thorough content on your website, FAQs can efficiently help fill in the gaps and provide quick and straightforward answers to your customers. 

FAQ pages appeal to both search engines and people. Writing a thorough FAQ section on our website can effectively show your visitors that you care about their experience by providing them with a quick and direct response to their questions and their search queries. 

Here are a few tips that will help you get the most out of your FAQ resource and make it both focused and comprehensive:

  1. Do Your Research

Before you start creating FAQs, make sure to identify the most common question that your target customers are asking online. Doing your research can help you write more targeted content for your FAQ section. You can get ideas from the questions that appear in SERPs that are related to your business. You can even make use of the ideas from related searches and existing People Also Ask boxes. 

Also, keyword research can also help you gather a list of words, phrases, and questions that your target audience frequently used to find information in search engines. You can target relevant keywords in your FAQs. Take, for instance, you run a plumbing company. You may come across keywords, such as “drain services,” and questions like “What to do when your drain becomes clogged?” You can use this information as a jump-off point for writing FAQ content. 

You can also find ideas for your FAQ section by looking at the types of searches that your website is showing up for through the Google My Business (GMB) listing. These insights can give you clues about the exact search queries your potential customers use to find your listing. 

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

  1. Optimize Your Questions & Answers

Putting together and optimizing your FAQ section will require you a few things to ensure that search engines can easily find, understand, and index your content. 

  • Follow Proper Formatting: Use header tags for the questions and regular body text for the answers to help both search engines and website visitors easily find relevant information on the page. 
  • Incorporate Keywords & Phrases: Making use of the keywords and phrases and strategically writing them into the question and answers can increase the likelihood of your content being displayed in Google SERPs. 
  • Answer Questions Clearly and Directly: Make sure to provide a straightforward answer within the first sentence of the paragraph, if possible. The closer the placement of your answer to the question, Google will more likely find and index it for relevant search queries. 

  1. Add FAQ Schema

FAQ schema is perhaps one of the most significant on-page SEO techniques you can use. Schema markup is a digital language that relays Google information about the website and how it should be indexed. 

Adding FAQ schema around your FAQ content enables you to communicate to Google how to categorize and use specific information for question-answer search results. Using this technique can help increase the chances of your content being picked into People Also Ask and Position Zero spots in SERPs. 

  1. Create Page-Specific FAQs

While having a designated page for FAQ on your website is a good idea, adding more FAQ content and structured data on other web pages, such as product pages, services pages, or event location pages, is also a great way to provide your target audience with more answers to specific questions about your company, your business offerings, and how they can get in touch with you. Also, providing Google with more indexable content to pull into SERPs can help further optimize your web pages. 

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 All About SEO

Black Hat SEO Techniques You Must Avoid This 2022

For marketers looking for a shortcut to boost their search engine rankings and increase online visibility, black hat SEO may seem to be the solution. However, if you are planning to use black hat SEO techniques, think twice as it can hurt your SEO campaign more than it can help.

What Is Black Hat SEO and Why You Should Avoid Them

Black Hat SEO is a set of illegal practices used to increase the search engine rankings and visibility of a website. The techniques used work against the search engine guidelines and disregard the user’s intent by attempting to bypass best practices.

While search engines consider the use of black hat SEO unscrupulous, there are still marketers who are still trying to cheat to speed up the organic success of their websites. Although black hat techniques may yield results, they do not last long and often involved damaging effects on your SEO, including:

  • Google Penalty

Violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines can get your website or pages penalized. Penalties can downgrade your search engine rankings or worse, a permanent ban on your website. When your target audience does not see your website on the SERPs, your business will fail as a result.

  • Poor User Experience

If your web pages look spammy, your visitors will likely abandon your website, resulting in a high bounce rate.

  • Malicious Cyber Attacks

While black hat SEO helps improve your search rankings, it can also make your website vulnerable to cyber attacks. Hackers can easily penetrate your databases and spread malware by inserting extra content on random web pages.

Black SEO Practices to AVOID

  • Keyword Stuffing

One of the most common misconceptions in SEO is that inserting too many keywords in your content can make your page relevant to a specific search. However, this black hat SEO technique often results in a poor user experience as it can make the content difficult to read. To avoid the penalties, use your keywords sparingly, but make sure to them relevant.

  • Low-Quality Content

Content is essential for your search engine rankings. While high-quality content is costly and difficult to create, there are still marketers who post low-quality and cheap content to boost SEO. Google loves unique and high-quality content that provides answers and solutions to the user’s queries.

  • Cloaking

Black hat marketers use the cloaking technique to trick search engines into ranking content for a specific keyword, which is not relevant to the web page content. This technique misleads users by showing a piece of content on the website while displaying completely different content on the search engine. This tricks the users into opening your website.

  • Backlink Buying

Building backlinks from high authority sites not only help increase the search engine rankings but also the domain authority and online credibility of your website.

But instead of building high authority inbound links, black hat marketers purchase links to generate as many links to their websites. Buying links that are not relevant to your website can promote spammy content. As a result, backlink buying will hurt your credibility and backlink quality. Instead, earn quality backlinks organically from reputable sources.

  • Spamming

Some black hat SEO marketers use shady practices, such as spamming comments on their competitor’s website with a link back to their website. They leave plenty of comments to attract readers into clicking the links.

  • False Redirects

The act of falsely misleading or redirecting search engines, traffic, and users is another form of black hat SEO technique. It involves setting up a redirect link to lead search engines and users to various pages on their website. Black hat marketers can also redirect a high-quality web page to a low-quality page to boost the search ranking of the latter.

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 Business, Local SEO, Marketing, Online Marketing Trends

Tips to Make Online Reviews Work for Your Business

Many people rely on online reviews for everything from choosing a pizza parlour to hiring a plumber to install and repair the pipes in your home. In today’s digital marketing world, it is impossible to understate the impact of online reviews on your business. Recent surveys reported that 86% of virtual shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase.

When it comes to online reviews, the key phrase is “social proof.” This shows that people liked the product or service you are offering or competing with. By providing prospects with a number of social proof, customer reviews can help increase conversion and build the credibility of your company.

While customer reviews can help boost your sales, the way you utilize them can leverage your conversion-boosting potential. Here are some helpful tips on how you can empower your business using online reviews.

  • Claim Your Google My Business (GMB) Listing

While you can find customer reviews everywhere online, Google is the most popular review site. About 64% of consumers check the reviews posted on Google before visiting a business. Creating a GMB page enables you to keep track of and respond to your reviews. These reviews will be displayed in Google and Google Maps search results, which helps establish the credibility and quality of your business.

  • Encourage Customers to Leave a Review

Getting reviews from your customers helps attract new prospects. That is why you will need to create a strategy that will continuously encourage customers to leave reviews. However, recency matters to most potential customers are looking for in a review.

According to surveys, nearly 34% search for reviews that are posted between a week to a month. Consistency in getting reviews can be a powerful tool to earn the trust and confidence of your target customers.

Sending a link to your review page on GMB, Yelp, or website can make it easy for prospects to leave a review for your business. It also helps you to respond to their reviews. Customers tend to leave a review, especially if they feel appreciated.

The customer will receive a notification when you respond to their review. According to BrightLocal’s data, 20% of customers expect business owners to respond to their reviews within one day.

  • Resist Deleting Negative Reviews

The last thing you want from your customers is negative reviews. However, deleting reviews on Google is never a good idea. You might be surprised to learn that 46% of consumers do not trust businesses with a perfect five-star rating. Customers often get suspicious of businesses with too-good-to-be-true reviews. Even your most loyal customers will still want to know your potential drawbacks. Additionally, receiving a negative review helps you see how you can improve your products or services.

  • Respond Well to Negative Reviews

Many business owners may feel tempted to censor negative reviews. This dishonesty can have an unpleasant impact on your business. Never let unpleasant reviews sit there. Use it as an opportunity to respond to your customers in a polite, helpful, and constructive way. Replying to customers helps improve their satisfaction and loyalty, and even encourages them to recommend your business to other potential customers.

  • Proactively Feature and Broadcast Reviews

You can strategically display customer reviews on your website or add a headshot if possible, especially if it is written by an industry expert, a celebrity, or an influencer, so people can easily spot them.

Another way to highlight top reviews is by converting them into social ads as it draws more attention, especially on Facebook. Make sure to add the average rating badges on the footer of your website and cite reviews in your nurture emails.

Allow your website visitors to search reviews using keywords or star ratings to filter reviews. Various surveys reported that potential customers who use the search feature on a product or service page are more likely to convert at 202.9%, including people searching for 1-star reviews.

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 All About SEO

2022’s 10 SEO Trends to Follow

High-quality customer engagement and excellent search ranking have always been the basic tenets of search engine optimization in digital marketing. However, every year, market trends and search engine algorithms are constantly updated. As these innovations continue to change the landscape of global marketing, as a company, you also have to adapt and keep up with them.

This will sometimes require a modification or complete revamp of your current marketing and content development techniques. If you are a beginner, keeping up with a new search engine optimization strategy may take some time to get used to.

Fortunately, you can always educate your marketing team with a thorough search engine optimization course. For added insight, you can look up the upcoming SEO trends for this year and stay a step ahead of your competitors.

Here are the latest SEO trends list:

1. New Search Engines

Photo Credit: Tumisu | Pixabay

Google has always been a key player in web exploration. However, as new companies see the profit in search engines, they too have developed their algorithms and software. In the upcoming years, search engines from Apple, Bing, Yahoo, and more are predicted to dominate the market and cause a change in hierarchy.

This sudden shift in audiences could be an advantage for your company since currently, billions of data are exclusively published on Google, which makes it more difficult to make your content stand out.

As audiences spread out to different search engine platforms, the data concentration in this available database will be more diluted and manageable. So, for now, it’s best to sign up and upload your content to up-and-coming search engines, where there’s more room to catch attention.

2. Democratized Searching

By 2022, the authority signal of a website will no longer matter as much. As Google aims to create a more democratized search space, it will allow netizens to explore more information by making it easier to find overlooked information.

Though domain authority and backlink building will still play a major role in determining a website’s search ranking, the likelihood of reaching that top spot will still be higher. This algorithm change will make it easier for new websites to gain traffic and get noticed, as long as they are regularly dishing out high-quality content.

3. Prioritizing the Basics

Although major shifts in tools and algorithms are always on the horizon, the basics of SEO and digital marketing will stay the same. As a company that’s looking to upgrade its digital marketing campaigns, it’s best to keep your basic view of SEO the same.

Success in 2022’s online industry will still heavily rely on backlink building, premier content quality, efficient on-page SEOs, and well-designed website technicalities.

So, if you’re planning to hire a search optimization expert for your upcoming content development and campaign ads, it’s best to remind them to stick to these basic principles, while incorporating innovations.

4. Long-Form Content

Content described as short and simple is often equated to high-quality information. This has been the norm for the past years as Google tries to weed out weak websites and look for premier information. However, in the upcoming year, as netizens tend to be more investigative, they now prefer a more thorough discussion.

This means the rise of long-form content in 2022. However, the length of the article will not be the main deciding factor for higher search ranking as credible authorship and sources will also be vital. If you’re unsure about how to create this type of article, you can always ask for help from the SEO experts.

5. Structured Data and Quality Snippets

Netizens are always looking for the most precise and trustworthy data for their queries that are delivered to them in a summarized and comprehensive fashion. With that said, Google has tried to accommodate this preference by picking out rich snippets that provide the most information in the shortest format.

These short informative snippets then get placed on top of the SERPs and have more chances of getting clicked and visited. So, next time, when you’re planning out your next content, try to create a summary section that is worthy of getting featured.

6. Software for Content Optimization

You don’t have to conduct your SEO upgrades on your own. A variety of applications have been developed to help you through the process by being capable to identify necessary keywords, synonyms, subtopics, and more.

This will make your content more noticeable to search engine algorithms. SEO companies can help you better in using these tools efficiently to create the best content for your next ad campaign.

7. AI Content

Machine learning that powers AI technology is constantly innovating every year. Equipped with the best knowledge and understanding of the online world, these virtual assistants are capable of creating better-optimized content. They can even write entire articles if provided with enough data.

Although this trend may heavily reduce your need for manpower, it’s still at its early stages, so it’s best to keep your human staff. For now, these AI-powered tools can help you in title generation, meta tag creation, and topic outline.

8. Keyword Clustering

Keyword clustering, an updated version of traditional keyword research, allows you to stand out and achieve a higher search ranking by using closely-related keywords in your content.

Google uses this new kind of content assessment by valuing websites that have the most keyword total while maintaining a comprehensive flow of thought. For a better idea, try contacting SEO experts for help.

9. Recommended Information

Photo Credit: Mikael Blomkvist | Pexels

Recommended queries and FAQs are usually found at the top of SERPs. To get on that spot, you have to create a variety of content related to one another that uses long-tail question keywords. The information that you provide should also be as concise as possible.

10. Core Web Experience

Webpage experience is the main deciding factor that Google algorithms use to assess the quality and authority of a website. As they always prioritize the experience of netizens, the ease of how your visitors navigate through your website is highly valued.

With that said, to be on par with their standards, you have to prioritize faster page loading and improve on first input delay and cumulative layout shifts.

Updating your content development techniques and SEO strategies requires plenty of research, money, time, and effort. However, no matter how tedious it may seem, it’s a good investment that will lead to increased customer traffic and wider market influence.

So, don’t shy away from these trends and try them all. Always remember, that in digital marketing, adapting to updates and innovations is the key to success.

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digital trends 2022
 Business, Marketing

7 Digital Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Startup Business in 2022

Many startups encounter various challenges, including building their brand name and attracting potential customers, especially in the early stage. In addition to the lack of brand awareness, most startup business owners have limited resources to promote their business.

Launching a startup is a complicated feat and complex process to take on, especially during a pandemic. While it may seem extremely challenging to pursue entrepreneurship in such uncertain times, with the right digital marketing strategies, the process of growing your business can also be an exciting journey.

Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Startups

Today, many companies are using different digital channels to reach existing and potential customers. Also, the number of customers making purchases or hiring services online has drastically increased.

Digital marketing is key to running a successful business online. With the right strategies, digital marketing can do wonders for startup businesses. Even with insufficient resources, startups can leverage digital marketing to generate, nurture, and convert leads into sales.

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Having a website for your business is only half the battle—you need your target customers to find your website organically on search engines. Optimizing your website for search engines requires the use of target keywords relevant to your business. SEO ranks your website for specific keywords, making you an authority in your niche.

2. Social Media

Social media platforms are valuable channels to market your business, interact with your customers, and share insights on a more personal level. For startup businesses, social media marketing is a cost-effective yet powerful strategy for introducing your products or services and showcasing what your business is all about and how your customers can benefit from your offerings.

However, you need to choose the ideal social media platform to target your audience. Consider the following tips:

  • LinkedIn is a popular social media network for B2B companies
  • Facebook comes with various features for business profile
  • Instagram is a more popular option if you are targeting younger demographics

3. Blog Content

Creating unique, relevant, and engaging content can help develop your brand authority. Publishing blogs and other content assets regularly are the best way to build a blog resources library that your target audience can refer to anytime they are looking for information. Well-written blogs can entice people to get to know your brand and products better and encourage them to explore your web pages.

4. Videos

Videos are a highly popular form of content that you cannot ignore. Millions of Internet users spend hours watching videos on YouTube. While written articles help educate customers, videos are more engaging and shareable, attracting more videos and shares. Creating how-to and discussion videos helps build your online presence on YouTube and attract more audiences to your startup business.

5. Mobile Experience

Millions of people use their smartphones and tablets to search, shop, and socialize online. However, do not just settle on making your website on mobile devices—be sure your website is designed to deliver an exceptional user experience even on the tiniest screens. Redesigning your website should include streamlining content and improving download speed to keep your visitors engaged.

6. Google My Business

Digital marketing strategies should help customers find your business easily on the Internet. Fortunately, Google provides a free tool to optimize your business profile on Google Search and Maps. Google My Business is not only a vital platform for sharing your essential business information but also enables you to interact with your customers by requesting them to leave reviews. Email Marketing Sending personalized and targeted emails is another effective way to engage and influence your subscribers. When building an email list, use sign-in forms and lead magnets to persuade website visitors to share their email ids and contact information. Do not simply create relevant and engaging email content for your recipients—be sure to convey your brand message. Your email must also include powerful call-to-actions (CTAs) to make recipients take the desired action.

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seo
 All About SEO, Business, Search Engine, SEO Guide by MJournal

Word Count for SEO: Does It Really Matter?

Every year, Google creates new algorithm updates that keep content marketers on their toes, trying to figure out the secret formula that would send their content to the top of the search engine results page (SERP). Also, some marketers think that writing longer content can help them improve their ranking positions.

Word count has always been considered a contributing metric used by many content marketers to determine the quality of text-based content. In addition to keyword density, word count is also presumed to be a vital search engine optimization (SEO) factor. After all, Google is a machine, so how else would it evaluate the quality of the content? For content marketers, word count is a significant signal that Google can understand.

Is Word Count a Crucial Factor in SEO Content?

Over the years, content marketers debate whether word count matters for SEO. Some believe that longer content is better while others agree that the quality is always superior to the number of words.

John Mueller, Google’s Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst, has confirmed that word count is not a ranking signal in the search algorithm. He specifically stated that just blindly adding text does not help improve the ranking of your content. Google is more about creating fresh, relevant, and high-quality content. While word count is not essentially a ranking factor, it matters for SEO, especially when combined with quality.

In most cases, the longer and more in-depth the content is, the easier it is for search engines to determine the context of the article. Additionally, the length helps search engine bots crawl and construe what the information is all about and rank the content in the relevant SERPs.

Google and other search engines love lengthier and more in-depth articles. However, it does not necessarily mean writing long-form posts for the sake of it. Google is smart enough to tell if your content is a blunder, and so can your readers.

Creating relevant and unique content that directly reflects your post title is the best approach to satisfy your readers. Otherwise, your target audience will get bored and immediately abandon your page, resulting in an unpleasant impact on your reader engagement or SEO.

Also, lengthy content provides ample room for optimization. For instance, it allows content marketers more opportunities to insert relevant keywords, including long-tail variations, without the risk of keyword stuffing. It also enables marketers to boost SEO by working on other essential content elements, such as headings, links, and images.

Most importantly, writing longer posts allows you to delve into the topic in greater depth, tackle the problem and offer solutions than is possible with shorter content. While you can provide answers to some questions with thin content, a longer and more detailed post has more value to your readers.

How Does Word Count Impact Your SEO?

While there is no given specific, optimal number of words that ensures high search results, it does not necessarily mean that it has no impact on your rankings. Mueller may have stated that word count is not a ranking factor, but he did not confirm that it does not affect other ranking factors. For instance, meta-descriptions may not be a ranking factor, but they can influence the click-through rate and prompt prospective clients to visit your website.

A higher word count not only helps you answer your target audience’s search intent but also boosts your opportunity for other websites to link back to yours, which are both ranking factors.

On the other hand, if your content is overly written and goes off-topic, it loses the relevancy of the user’s search. Just because writing a long-form post ensures you have more word count, keep in mind that it does not equate to quality content. Make sure to always focus on your goal—and that is to provide your readers with relevant, engaging, and informative content.

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Google ranking
 Tips

What to Do When Your Google Rankings Drop

A sudden and dramatic drop in your search engine rankings is the ultimate SEO horror story that no business owner wants to hear. Your website may have plummeted into the second page or worse, outside the top 100. 

The drastic fall in your Google ranking position may be triggered by various factors, including changes in content, an update of the algorithm, technical problems, improvements made by your competitors on the website, changes in the SERP layout, and a Google penalty. 

How to Resolve the Issue

Fluctuations in search engines are inevitable as Google makes daily updates. However, you should be concerned when you find your search ranking position starting to trend in the wrong direction. 

If you noticed your position in Google rankings has plunged dramatically, do not panic.

Proactive, attentive troubleshooting can help fix the issue and get you moving back in the right direction. 

Here are some helpful tips on what you can do to fix and recover your Google rankings:

  • Confirm that your ranking has dropped

In some cases, a glitch or temporary change in the ranking tracker tool may have caused your search engine rankings to drop. However, the problem will naturally resolve relatively quickly. It is important to verify that the drop in your rankings is true so you can immediately take action to fix the issue. 

Here are several steps to take to help you verify the dropped:

1. Check several tools: Check your rankings data and your organic traffic data using tools, such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics. If only one tool shows that your ranking has dropped, it is likely just a problem with the tool. Continue to monitor your rankings over the next few weeks. If your rankings have truly dropped, take the necessary action to remedy the problem.

2. Assess the severity of the change: Check how much your ranking has changed and how long it has been lower than usual to help you know that it is an actual drop and not just a temporary change. Compare and analyze the change to the usual daily and weekly fluctuations. 

3. Consider external factors: Take into consideration the possible external factors, such as a holiday weekend, that may have triggered the drop. 

  • Determine the cause

Knowing the reason why your website rankings dropped helps you fix the issue. The cause of the drop in rankings may fall into 1 of 3 categories:

Changes you made: Examine any recent changes to your website, including potential errors and intentional changes. 

Changes Google made: Google may have made recent changes in its algorithm. Make sure to check if your website may have received manual penalties from Google.

Changes your competitors made: Check if your competitor may have made improvements on their website that may have significantly increased their SEO rankings.

  • Spy on Your Competitor’s Content

Google has always aimed to provide the best experience for their users—that is why web pages with quality content always end up on top. Take a look at your competitor that is ranking for your keywords and check the difference between their content and yours. 

Are they using better keywords? Is their content more in-depth? Do they have unique keywords and ideas? Have you checked their meta-tags?

Use this information as a guide in implementing all necessary changes to help you create better content than your competitors. 

  • Correct the issues

Once you have a clear idea of the factors that may have caused your Google rankings to drop, take some time to work on fixing the issue. If the problem is due to the changes you made to your website, simply revert the change and recover your rankings. If it is caused by a recent change in the algorithm, make necessary adjustments to your SEO strategy to meet Google’s latest standards. However, if the drop was due to the changes made by your competitor, you need to improve your website page to outrank them again. 

  • Adjust Your Keywords and Meta Tags 

After making all the necessary improvements to your content, you do not simply hope for Google crawlers to discover the changes you have made. Continue to take action and submit the URL of your web page to Google Search Console for indexing. 

After that, turn your attention to other important aspects of your business. Within a week to a month, your ranking in Google should start increasing. Keep in mind that adjusting your keywords and meta-tags can help you effectively create better content that results in better rankings. 

Image by Diggity Marketing from Pixabay
  • Keep Checking and Updating Your Content

Ranking your website in search engines is never a one-off process. SEO is an ever-changing landscape and a constant battlefield. Everyone wants to be at the top of the ranking, putting their game face on to reach the spotlight. Monitor your rankings regularly, identify potential problems, know who is dominating in Google, and make improvements—keep repeating this process even after you reach the top. Keep in mind that Google appreciates fresh, relevant content, so make sure to always update your content on a regular basis if you want to keep good rankings. 

  • Monitor your rankings for improvements

After taking all the necessary action to resolve the issue, continue to monitor your rankings to check for improvements in your website ranking over the next several weeks. If there are no improvements in your rankings, reexamine all the potential causes of the problem. Even if your website’s ranking has improved, continue to keep an eye on its ranking. This will help you catch future problems that may affect your search engine rankings again. 

The Best Defense Against a Google Ranking Drop is a Good Offense

The process of determining and evaluating the cause of a Google ranking drop is often complex and time-consuming. The best approach you can take when your rankings start to drop is to do everything you can to avoid them.

  • Get familiar with Google’s Webmaster Quality Guidelines
  • Learn about Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines
  • Understand the potential problems that can lead to manual action and avoid them
  • Stay current with Google Webmaster Central blog
  • Join #AskGoogleWebmasters and watch the latest videos on the YouTube channel.
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google snippet
 Marketing

Position Zero: Everything You Need to Know

Being ranked 1st in the SERPs has been the goldmine of search engine optimization (SEO) for many years, but now top-ranked websites have vacated the spotlight for position zero, the new top-ranked spot in Google.

 

Today, many website owners competing for the position. If you want to land on position zero, we will provide information to help you understand what position zero is about and tips on how to claim the spot.

 

What Is Position Zero?

Also known as Featured Snippet, position zero appears above the organic search engine results. This position is the prime location for brands that want to build awareness and drive organic traffic to their website. 

 

With voice search becoming increasingly popular, Google uses the featured snippet to provide answers to voice searches. Position zero can be a paragraph, ordered or unordered list, table, or video, depending on the search term. Take, for example, a video snippet for a search query “how to transplant a seedling”.

 

Here are the top benefits of claiming position zero in Google Search:

 

  • More SERP territory to occupy 
  • Stronger presence in voice search results
  • Higher click-through rates (CTR)

 

Why Is Position Zero Valuable?

Initially, marketers opposed the introduction of featured snippets in SERPs can be detrimental to traffic, causing people to abandon their websites. Contrary to the belief, position zero significantly boosts your stats, including visits, CTR, and conversions. In addition to its many benefits, it also helps build your brand expertise. Providing a clear and direct answer to a question shows a powerful statement about your brand. 

 

What Types of Content Qualifies for Position Zero

Some content cannot be displayed as a featured snippet. However, specific types have a higher potential of making it to position zero.

  • Comparisons

Most shoppers are more likely to read comparison content to get more information about a certain product, such as gadgets or new phones, before buying. Websites that use tables to compare products are more likely to be displayed in featured snippets. 

  • Provide Answers to Questions (how, what, when, where)

Most information found on the Internet is created to provide answers to the user’s questions. When creating content, think about the most queries people use. This will increase your likelihood of landing on position zero.

  • Definitions

Providing definitions to complex terms are commonly displayed as featured snippets in search engines. Google algorithms determine which content has the best definition. 

 

  • Lists

A featured snippet of content with lists of information often comes in the form of bullet points or numbered lists. Once you click through, you will see more bullet points and additional information. 

  • Step-by-Step Instructions

Instructional content helps solve a certain problem. Take, for instance, how to make a simple cabinet box.  This type of content can be in the form of text or tutorial videos. To optimize your content, choose relevant keywords to increase your chances of claiming the spot. 

 

Optimizing Your Content for Position Zero in Google

 

Many marketers strive to secure the most coveted spot in Google. But what can you do to land in position zero?

Luckily, there are several things you can do to optimize your content to claim this prestigious spot and capture the attention of your target audience. 

  • Understand the Featured Snippet

Before aiming for Position Zero, it’s essential to comprehend a featured snippet. It’s a concise summary of information that appears at the top of some search results. Google pulls this snippet from a relevant webpage to provide users with quick answers to their queries.

  • Target Question-Based Queries

Featured snippets often appear for question-based queries like “how to”, “what is”, or “why does”. Tailor your content to address common questions related to your industry or niche.

 

  • Create High-Quality Content

Content remains king, even when aiming for position zero. Craft well-structured, informative, and engaging content that answers the target question thoroughly. Clear, concise, and easy-to-understand language is key.

  • Focus on on-Page SEO

On-page optimization plays a vital role in achieving Position Zero. Pay attention to your title tag, meta description, headers, and content formatting. Incorporate relevant keywords throughout your content.

  • Provide Clear Answers

Google prefers concise answers that directly address the user’s query. Include a brief, precise answer to the question in the opening paragraph of your content.

  • Use Lists, Tables, and Bullets

Structuring your content with lists, tables, and bullets can increase your chances of getting a featured snippet. These formats make it easier for Google to extract relevant information.

  • Leverage FAQ Sections

Websites with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sections are a goldmine for featured snippets. Compile and answer common questions, structuring them in a clear and organized manner.

  • Implement Schema Markup

Schema markup is a tool designed to help search engines understand what the content is all about. Adding appropriate schema markup to your content can enhance its chances of appearing as a featured snippet.

  • Target Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are more specific queries that often trigger featured snippets. Identify relevant long-tail keywords and create content that thoroughly addresses these queries.

  • Monitor Competitors

Analyze your competitors who have secured featured snippets. Identify the strategies they’ve used and brainstorm ways to provide even more comprehensive and valuable answers.

 

  • Create “How-to” Guides

Step-by-step guides are a favourite for featured snippets, especially for instructional queries. Create detailed “how-to” guides that walk users through a process.

  • Utilize Videos and Images

Visual content, such as videos and images, can enhance the appeal of your content for featured snippets. Use these elements to complement your written information.

  • Optimize for Voice Search

As voice search becomes more prevalent, optimizing for voice-friendly queries can increase your chances of claiming position zero. Consider the natural language people use in spoken queries.

  • Test and Refine

Achieving position zero might require experimentation and optimization. Continuously monitor your content’s performance and be ready to adjust your strategies based on the results.

 

Position zero offers a unique opportunity to capture users’ attention and establish your authority in your field. By understanding the intricacies of featured snippets, tailoring your content to user intent, and optimizing your page structure, you can increase your chances of claiming this valuable spot and driving more traffic to your website.

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 SEO Guide by MJournal, Technology

The Impact of AI-Generated Content on Search Rankings

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content is making waves as a revolutionary tool in content creation. From text and images to videos, artificial intelligence has taken centre stage, promising efficiency and scale. However, as businesses and marketers navigate this new territory, a pressing question arises—can AI-generated content hurt your search ranking?

Let us understand the nature of AI content and how it can affect your SERP ranking.

 

Understanding AI-Generated Content

Today, many digital marketers rely on artificial intelligence for content creation. It uses computer algorithms to generate human-like content automatically. AI uses technology to analyze data, identify patterns, and mimic human creativity to reform content production.

People can use it to create different types of content, including written articles, images, and videos, allowing quick production of high volumes of content. This helps businesses maintain an active online presence.

While AI-generated content speeds up the creation of content, reducing the time and effort required to produce materials, it also has drawbacks, mainly producing irrelevant content that needs more human touch.

 

How AI-Generated Content Affects Search Ranking

Search engines like Google use complex algorithms to determine the relevance and quality of content, which directly affects search ranking. These algorithms continuously evolve to deliver users the most accurate and valuable results.

AI-generated content can initially boost search ranking by providing a consistent stream of fresh content. Search engines favour regular updates as it indicates the relevancy and activity of the website.

Yet, quick and automated production of content can backfire. Search engines will start detecting low-quality or duplicated AI-produced content. This can result in a drop in search rankings.

 

These factors can have a significant impact on your search engine rankings:

  • Content Relevance and Quality

Regardless of its origin, content must remain relevant to the audience and maintain high quality. AI-generated content must align with user intent and provide valuable insights to maintain or improve search ranking.

 

  • User Engagement and Interaction

Search engines value content that engages users, evidenced by metrics such as time spent on a page and interaction rates. Genuine user engagement, driven by both AI and human-created content, contributes positively to search ranking.

 

  • Backlinks and Domain Authority

Backlinks from reputable sources and a strong domain authority signal credibility to search engines. AI-generated content should be part of a holistic strategy that also includes manual content creation and link-building efforts.

 

  • Trustworthiness and Authenticity

Users trust websites that provide accurate and trustworthy information. While AI can generate content, the human factor is crucial in ensuring authenticity and preventing the dissemination of misinformation.

 

Risks and Challenges of AI-Generated Content

It has become evident that while the benefits of AI-generated content shine brightly, there are also potential risks and challenges that we need to be aware of. Beyond its automated creation, several factors can impact the core of your digital endeavours.

Let us explore the different risks and challenges that come with using AI tools to generate content:

  • Duplicate and Low-Quality Content

Issues AI-generated content might inadvertently produce duplicate or subpar material. Search engines penalize duplicate content and prioritize original, high-quality content in search results.

 

  • Human Touch and Connection

AI-generated content lacks the emotional depth and empathy that human-created content offers. Establishing a genuine connection with the audience requires a human touch that AI might struggle to replicate.

 

  • Misinformation and Bias

AI relies on patterns and data, which can perpetuate biases or even generate false information. This poses a risk to the accuracy and credibility of the content, potentially leading to a decline in search ranking.

 

  • Search Engine Penalties

Engaging in unethical practices, such as keyword stuffing or content spinning with AI, can result in search engine penalties. These penalties can significantly harm search ranking and online visibility.

 

Strategies for Using AI-Generated Content Wisely

Having a thought approach—finding the right balance, effective use of AI for analysis and human insights, and aligning the voice and values of your brand—can help you maximize the power of technology while ensuring upholding quality and relevance.

Take note of the following tips:

 

  • Balancing AI and Human-Generated Content

A strategic blend of AI-generated and human-created content can harness the efficiency of AI while preserving the human touch. This balance ensures that content remains relevant, engaging, and authentic.

 

  • AI for Research and Analysis

The data processing capabilities of the AI can be used to analyze trends, gather insights, and inform content strategies. Businesses can create informed and targeted content by leveraging AI in this capacity.

 

  • Human Oversight and Editing

Human oversight and editing are crucial to mitigate the risks associated with AI-generated content. Reviewing and refining AI-generated content can enhance its quality, accuracy, and relevance.

 

  • Aligning With Brand Voice and Values

AI-generated content should reflect the brand’s voice, values, and identity. Human intervention is essential to ensure that the content maintains consistency with the brand’s image.

 

Future Trends and Recommendations

With the evolution of AI technology, its role in content generation will continue to expand. Businesses should stay informed about these advancements and anticipate their potential impact on search ranking.

Here are some potential future trends and recommendations:

 

  • Embracing AI Ethically

Ethical considerations should guide the use of AI-generated content. Businesses should prioritize the creation of valuable, accurate, and unbiased content to maintain credibility and search ranking.

 

  • Adapting to Evolving Algorithms

Search engine algorithms will continue to evolve, requiring businesses to adapt their content strategies accordingly. Staying updated and agile is essential to maintaining a competitive search ranking.

 

As we continue to explore different ways to optimize our search rankings, the use of AI-generated content presents both opportunities and challenges. While AI can streamline content creation, its impact on search ranking hinges on factors like relevance, quality, and user engagement. Businesses must navigate the risks and benefits of AI-generated content thoughtfully, embracing a balanced approach that incorporates human oversight and values. It is imperative that we stay informed and ethical in its application to ensure sustained search ranking success.

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 Tips

How to Make Your Blogs More Readable [2022 Edition]

Many do not have the luxury of time to dig through blog posts to look for information. A Nielsen Norman Group report claimed that a typical person spends less than a minute (10 to 20 seconds) deciding if they should stay or abandon your webpage. It only shows that you have a really short time to capture the attention of your target audience. 

With millions of blogs on the Internet, making your blog post stand out from the sea of competition is only half the battle. If the reader thinks your blog is unreadable, they still have plenty of options that offer the information they are searching for. That is why engaging your audience long enough to read their entire post is crucial. Satisfied readers are more likely to come back and read your blogs in the future. Readable and quality content not only do you acquire more visitors, but you also get a higher conversion rate. 

Luckily, there are several things you can do to improve the readability of your content and give your webpage a quick boost. Here are 7 practical tips for writing a readable and exceptional blog. 

  • Use Proper Headings

Headings help split up lengthy blocks of text and promote coherent division in the content. 

While you can find plenty of guideposts about using headings, they never explain how to use them properly. Perhaps, you have probably come across posts where headings are not relevant or helpful.

A proper heading should provide clear meaning to the content. For instance, labelling the sub-heading of this section as simply “headings” can be vague and not helpful at first glance. Be sure to phrase your headings so they can be meaningful to readers. Being precise with your heading helps your audience get the summary.

  • Keep Paragraphs Shorter

When readers look for informational blog posts, they want it concise (more or less 400 to 600 words). However, if you need to write a longer, in-depth post, make sure to write shorter paragraphs, preferably 2 to 4 sentences long. 

Breaking up the paragraphs can make your content more readable. Since most readers are more likely to scan the post, you can help them find important information using bullet points, numbered lists, or bold headlines. It will help summarize information while making them stand out from the rest of the text.

  • Using Good Typography

While plenty of unique and interesting fonts to choose from, simplicity is still the best. Arial and Times New Roman are standard fonts since they are easy to read. 

Also, use a slightly larger font for your introduction paragraph to help capture attention. However, avoid making it too big as it will take up more space and make it harder to read. 

  • Limit Difficult Words

Many readers do not appreciate complex words that are hard to understand. Also, avoid using words with 4 or more syllables as they are difficult to read. However, there are instances when you need to include difficult words in your blog. Make sure to write shorter and clearer paragraphs and sentences to ensure your post is more readable. 

Also, complicated words usually make less useful keywords, especially if you focus on a niche market. For instance, instead of using illustrations (which consist of 4 syllables), ‘visuals’ or ‘images’ are a better choice. Keep in mind that your focus keyword is suitable for the subject of your blog post. Proper keyword research can help you find better options for complex keywords.

  • Highlight Important Words or Phrases

In addition to using bullet points and lists, bolding words or phrases can make your content more skimmable while bringing the attention of the reader to a particular set of word(s). However, be sure to choose carefully the important words or phrases to highlight, or otherwise, you will lose the whole point of why you are doing it in the first place. 

  • Use Variations

Using variations of words can make your blog more attractive and interesting to your readers. Avoid using the same terms throughout the content by shaking things up a little using synonyms. Instead of using ‘and’ or ‘too’ plenty of times, alternating with ‘also’ or ‘moreover’ can make your blog more compelling and readable. 

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 Marketing

Top 9 Tools You Should be Using for Your Digital Marketing

In today’s business world, digital marketing is an exciting and fast-moving approach to growing your business. Digital marketers use multiple tools, platforms, and apps to save time and money in promoting businesses and increasing brand awareness. However, with the wide variety of options out there, choosing and testing can be a daunting process, especially in the ever-changing and emerging trends in digital marketing. 

In this post, we have rounded up some of the most popular tools that you should consider adding to your digital marketing toolkit. 

  1. Social Media Marketing Tools

There are various tools and apps that you can use for your social media marketing. With millions of people using social media, it is extremely crucial for businesses to build their social media presence and choose the right tools that will help drive brand awareness and boost ROI. 

Here are some of the top social media marketing tools to consider:

  • SkedSocial
  • Falcon.io
  • Hastagify.me
  • BuzzSumo
  • Hootsuite
  • Meet Edgar
  1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools

When it comes to increasing the online presence of your business, SEO is your go-to solution. Here are some of the SEO tools that can help you track your website ranking, conduct keyword research, and obtain significant insights about your competitors. 

  • SEMRush
  • Screaming Frog
  • Moz
  • Ahrefs
  1. Email Marketing or Marketing Automation Tools

Marketing automation tools do not only help you plan and execute your email marketing campaigns. These tools are also essential in helping you find and engage your target audience. You can also use them to personalize emails, allowing you to send the right message to your potential customers at the right time. 

Here are some of the top email marketing automation you can use:

  • MailChimp
  • Campaign Monitor
  • GetResponse
  • HubSpot
  1. Data Analytics Tools

Data analytics tools are important in digital marketing as it helps businesses maximize their performance. When properly implemented into your business model, it helps discover cost-efficient ways of doing business, helps you make better decisions, and analyzes customer trends and satisfaction.  

Consider these data analytics tools for your digital marketing:

  • Google Analytics
  • Kissmetrics
  • Data Boards
  • Whatagraph
  • Google Data Studio
  1. Video Marketing Tools

Over the years, videos have become one of the powerful tools to promote your business and tell your brand story. With the increasing popularity of self-shot videos (or live video streaming) across different social media platforms, several tools enable you to create videos without hiring a professional. 

  • CapCut
  • Animoto
  1. Content Management Tools

Regardless of the type of digital marketing you engage in, you will need great content marketing to attract and engage your target audience. There are several essential tools you can use to help with the creation, storage, and sourcing of engaging and relevant content across various social media platforms.

  • MishGuru
  • CrowdRiff
  • Oroson
  1. Marketing Management Tools

For a digital marketing campaign to be successful, a business needs research and patience, collaboration, project management, and tools that will advocate communication, collaboration, and task assignment. 

  • Asana
  • Teamwork
  • Slack
  • Trello
  1. Paid Search and Social Tools

Paid ads across search engines and social media channels help maintain robust campaigns. However, it requires constant upkeep to reach a specific audience and use your content to boost your brand with clear targeting and obtain more qualified leads.

Here are some of the pay-per-click (PPC) tools for your campaign that will help you get fast results:

  • Google Ads Editor
  • Bing Ads Editor
  • Wordstream
  • AdZooma
  • Revealbot
  • AdEspresso
  1. Influencer Marketing Tools

Influencer marketing has become a widely used digital marketing tool due to its accessibility to businesses. These tools can help you source and reach out to popular influencers who can promote your business to their millions of followers, thus increasing brand awareness. 

Here are some of the most popular influencer marketing tools to consider:

  • Upfluence
  • NinjaOutreach
  • Strawberry Socials & Melody Socials
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 Business

5 Digital Marketing Tips to Expand Your Brand Reach

Is your brand at the top of the search engine results page of your market segment online?

With the fierce competition in the world of internet marketing, establishing a well-built online presence helps boost the visibility of your brand and rise above the sea of competitors. This makes digital marketing an important tool for today’s businesses, whether online or not. 

But what are the most effective digital marketing strategies that will help you expand your audience reach on the Internet and increase sales? 

What Is Digital Marketing and Why Is It Essential for Businesses?

Digital marketing is a set of strategic actions that enable a business to attract and communicate with its audience and build its brand image in a digital environment. The use of digital tools and platforms allows you to run campaigns, promote content, and connect with your potential customers more efficiently.

Below are some of the most effective digital marketing tips that will help unleash the potential of your business and expand your brand reach.

  1. Define Your Audience

Marketing is like casting a wide net to catch some people. However, promoting your business in front of people who are not interested in your product can be a waste of money, time, and effort. Instead of marketing to everyone, find the people who are most likely interested in your products and services and purchase what you are selling. 

There are several ways to define your audience:

  • Check your competitors and what their consumer base is like. 
  • Use digital marketing tools, like Google Analytics to research, and build customer profiles to develop your audience demographics (age, gender, location, interest, education, income level, etc.)

Knowing who to target helps you identify your audience and create an effective digital marketing campaign.

  1. Create Engaging Content

Relevant and engaging content never fails to capture the attention of your target audience and reinforce your brand image. Over the years, content marketing has become an increasingly popular tool to reach a potential audience, generate more web traffic, and boost sales. Videos, blog posts, infographics, and podcasts are among the most common forms of content used to promote your products or services without overly advertising them. 

In many cases, creating low-quality content that serves as a makeshift ad for your business never works. To make your content marketing most effective, be sure to centre it around creating high-quality content that provides your reader real value by offering a solution to their problem or answering a query.

  1. Use Social Media to Engage Your Audience

Today, businesses take advantage of various social media platforms to build relationships with their target audience. People also use social media to connect with their favourite brands. What is great about social media marketing is that you do not need a social media manager to post and share content on your social media profiles. You can share your expertise by creating compelling posts that suit the interest of your target audience. 

  1. Widen Your Landing Page Traffic

Leveraging social media posts, targeted digital advertisements and other content that directs to your landing pages can help bring in new potential clients. Strategic placement of strong calls-to-actions (CTAs) can effectively encourage your audience to visit your page. 

Also, your landing pages should offer information that people want to learn about your business. For instance, have a digital ad that points your readers to a buy-now-promotion landing page that also promotes newsletter signup or a link leading to your blog. Providing an engagement option on your landing page helps attract more visitors, which pays off your effort. 

  1. Guest Blogging

Once you have clearly defined your audience, guest blogging can help you put your content in front of your ideal audience. Take, for example, digital marketing expert, Neil Patel. Having one of the most popular brands in the world of online marketing, Neil Patel has guest posted on hundreds of authoritative blogs, such as Search Engine Land, Hubspot, to Social Media Examiner over the years. 

Guest posting is 100% free, making it the most efficient and cost-effective way to build and strengthen your brand. You only need time to come up with relevant and engaging content ideas and write high-quality posts to generate conversions and attract more readers. 

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