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The Story of Your Business, Better Told through Video Marketing

August 23, 2017

by seo Business Content Marketing Marketing

At the heart of your business is a story about how your brand came to be, through the constant innovation of your best products and services that new users meet everyday, and each loyal customer always comes back to. But more than what your potential customers read, is what they can see and watch – an engaging story told more powerfully through video, which you can successfully conceptualize, produce, and release online with the help of a digital marketing company in Toronto.

From popular “how to’s”, to short and impactful testimonials about your company culture, or stories about how your products and services have changed lives, videos are awe-inspiring rich media everyone easily connects with. In effect, a heavy focus on video marketing has since led to increased on-site traffic and a boost in conversions. With video marketing being the hottest digital marketing trend in bustling and tech-savvy capitals like Toronto, it’s now just a matter of how you leverage it to your best advantage. Here’s how you can get video marketing right:

Plan Every Element

Everything that goes into your video is crucial, and as such, should only be composed of elements that do a great job of representing your brand and showing your potential customers the journey they’re about to be part of. With the help of a digital marketing company in Toronto, you can create a winning video commercial that seamlessly integrates the following elements:

Your company’s brand
Goals to be accomplished
Feeling or action the video should evoke
What your target audience really cares about, such as product information, prices, special offers, how-to’s, industry news, and so on
Time and resources you can invest in sustaining this marketing plan
A clear measure of the success of the campaign

Work with Available Resources

No matter what you think you have in store for the audience in your video commercial, there are realities to consider in terms of resources you have for communicating your brand and selling it to customers

Before you start, you should take note of required logistics, such as equipment to be used and available human resources to produce and edit the video. Contrary to popular belief, point-and-shoot cameras, as well as smartphones now make excellent tools for shooting, as these pack high-quality lenses, making for perfect casual videos.

In some cases, casting talents may even be necessary, along with renting more advanced equipment, so make sure all these requirements are accounted for, and can be supported both by your budget, and the digital marketing company you work with in Toronto.

Carefully Crafted Content

What you say or do in your video is very powerful – it can make or break your brand in an instant, so it has to be carefully crafted to achieve your desired effect among the audience.

Once your video is posted, it lives on the internet forever, so make sure that it is indeed publish-worthy. You and the digital marketing company you work with should remember that the first few seconds are crucial – this ‘hook’ is where you establish right at the onset that your video aims to educate and entertain, as opposed to selling upfront.

You’ll want viewers in Toronto to watch the entire video and really interact with your brand so they make an informed decision without being warded off by spam-like calls-to-action right at the beginning. Hit the sweet spot – insert a call-to-action that prompts shares, likes or subscription at the end, or strategically in the middle. Just don’t bombard the viewers with large and distracting CTAs!

The Shorter the Better

This isn’t a marathon – and your viewers aren’t certainly training for one by keeping up with your video commercial! Online attention spans tend to be very short these days, so don’t create full-length feature for shoppers landing on your video for a quick rundown of product features and benefits. After all, this is exactly why more people are drawn to watching than reading – it’s supposed to be quick and easily consumable.

Customize according to Platforms

Videos work differently on a number of popular platforms, such as YouTube, and social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even Snapchat. Your digital marketing company in Toronto can definitely tailor videos according to the platform, such as incorporating targeted SEO keywords in YouTube video descriptions, or a smart use of hashtags on social media to make the content trend and become viral.

Measure Your Success

Metrics like views, likes, comments, and shares are all visible signs of reach, and to some extent, the success of your business in Toronto, but with the help of the digital marketing company you work with, you can devise a more informed measure. Dig deeper into other metrics, such as the percentage of the video viewed, the growth of subscriptions, and conversion data – for instance, the use of unique coupon codes shared at the end of a product video. With these, you gain more insight into how well your video marketing campaign converts views to leads and sales.

Got an exciting story to share about your business? Engage your potential customers in a story better told through video! Get the cameras rolling, and call us at (416)-619-7935 to start shooting.

Keeping up with Your Business: Fresh Updates through Google Posts

July 7, 2017

by seo Business Marketing Mobile Marketing Search Engines

As a leader in the digital marketplace, Google is constantly changing the way businesses are found on its platforms and can continuously reach the market to promote products, services, and their latest offers, events, and specials.

To compete in Toronto’s digitally-savvy market, part of owning a business in the city these days heavily relies on leveraging the latest and most effective digital marketing strategies to make your brand stand out across Google’s network, such as on Maps, now known as Google My Business, which your potential customers largely engage with.

Through Google My Business, and with the help of a digital marketing company in Toronto, you can add or claim your business listing and optimize it with the most up-to-date information that helps potential customers find your business, such as hours and location; and discover what others share about their own experience from availing of your products and services, among others. With the recent addition of Google Posts to business listings, potential customers can now also see how they can best avail of your most attractive offers.

What are Google Posts?

Google hasn’t officially given it a name, but many business owners and search engine users now see these small banners displayed under a business’ map listing, leading the new feature to be colloquially termed ‘Google Posts’.

Google Posts is a new feature under Google My Business that allows you to create content directly on Google; in just a few, short minutes, your advertisement or content is directly published on Google, and ranks highly in search results for their names.

This feature was originally launched in January 2016 for US Presidential Candidates to use. At that time, posts appeared in a card-like format. Recently, it has been extended to Google My Business, allowing you, or a digital marketing company you work with in promoting your business in Toronto to publish these card-like posts that show on top of search results for your business – much like business cards.

There’s no way to access actual Google Posts from their homepage, as these only appear within search results when triggered by a search for your brand name. When potential customers type into search the name of your business, Google Posts come up along with your business listing. With so much potential from increased visibility alone, it’s essential to keep your business’ Google Post fresh, up-to-date, and optimized with the help of a digital marketing company in Toronto.

Fresh Updates Mean Removal of Google Posts after One Week

With the great power of increased brand visibility, comes also the great responsibility of keeping your business’ Google Posts fresh and up-to-date, as the search engine giant removes these in just one, short week after they are published.

Unlike the information listed in your Google My Business listing, or even on your site, Google Posts are not meant to live on the web forever. Rather, true to their purpose of serving your customers with the latest updates on your newest offers, they are to be removed after seven days.

Think of it this way: nothing upsets your customers more than placing an order for one of your products, signing up for a service, or arriving at your store just to find out that the product or service they’re after has been discontinued, or is no longer available. In the same fashion, after a while of publishing Google Posts, they are no longer considered fresh, nor timely, and as such, would have no reason to exist along with your business listing – especially when they’re meant to boost the marketing of a limited offer.

Naturally, you’ll want a massive hype surrounding your latest product, especially if it’s to be offered on a limited basis, but after it expires, you won’t want a mob of angry customers hounding you for an offer that’s no longer available, all because marketing collaterals were not properly updated.

But even with expiring Google Posts, there’s little cause for worry. In your Google My Business dashboard, you should be able to receive a notification of a post expiring soon. With this comes the opportunity to cook up the next fresh update, or promote a new offer, simply by brainstorming with the digital marketing company you work with and arming yourself with a slew of offers your business can share. Alternatively, the Posts tab in mobile also stores all the old updates you shared, making it easy to review past updates and see which offers your customers loved and really engaged with.

As Google Posts can also be used to promote upcoming events, it’s also easy to create a hype before it and invite more guests. After the event, the Google Post quickly disappears, making it easy to mark calendars and ensure you keep promoting only your business’ latest updates.

Build a stronger presence for your brand online, and serve your customers with fresh updates through Google Posts. Work with our digital marketing company in Toronto in posting timely and relevant updates for maximum reach and engagement. Call us at (416) 619-7935 to create your first Google Post today!

How AMP Web Development Affects SEO and Paid Search

April 19, 2017

by seo Business Marketing Mobile Marketing Search Engines Web Development

Since Google launched AMP web development as a new way to create websites, it’s already quickly changed the landscape of mobile search. A primary concern for website and business owners is ranking on top of search results, thereby opening more opportunities to convert leads thanks to being more visible to a wider range of audiences. SEO is a big factor in ranking on top of organic search, but with the rise of paid advertising, and recently, the AMP carousel in search results, being a mobile user’s first choice is becoming more than a game of matching keywords and commonly used search phrases with relevant and engaging content.

As AMP results dominate prime positions on mobile search, it’s time to examine how AMP web development is changing the competition long set by SEO and paid search.

How AMP affects SEO

Organic search rankings are mainly determined by keywords, domain authority and website traffic. Because AMP sites are served on top of organic search results, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that AMP does affect SEO. However, Google stated that AMP itself is not a ranking factor – well, at least not yet.

In reality, AMP web development influences clicks, impressions and user experience because AMP itself was conceived as a platform for building a new breed of websites especially for mobile, as these load instantly and flow perfectly even on small screens – essentially what the mobile search market needs. All these boost a website’s SEO efforts, helping it drive business to the top of the first page of search because of complete and excellent user experience. As websites developed on AMP now appear on a carousel above search results, these are likely to enjoy more impressions, clicks and user engagement – factors that spark to online lead conversions, and eventually, sales for a business.

So while AMP web development does not directly affect SEO rankings, mobile-friendliness or optimization is – the very factor AMP sites exist for. Google has steadily pushed for mobile-friendly sites in search results, and in the process, eliminating sites that are not optimized for mobile viewing. Over time, as AMP sites generate more views and direct more relevant traffic from their mobile search audience, these sites are able to cement their authority, and in effect, their rankings on search as well.

Currently, not all content users search for is applicable to AMP. In terms of very specific industries and niche content, there may not be enough relevant AMP pages for Google to build a carousel of AMP search results of. In these cases, ranking on search could still be largely due to SEO and paid search.

On the upside, when your AMP site is displayed as a search result, AMP will be indicated, and as search users become more familiar with the mobile-first dynamics of the web development platform, this can lead to more pageviews, lower bounce rate, and positive feedback due to fast loading time and mobile viewing optimization – all boosting your site’s authority and relevance as a search result, making it still a top option for users.

How AMP affects Paid Search

Google AdWords is a great way for businesses in need of an extra boost in visibility and traffic to appear on top of search results, and drive more business from occupying that prime advertising landscape. The position of paid search results have shifted a lot in the past, and recently, these now appear on top of organic search. Since then, subscribing to paid ads have been a top choice of many brands to beat the competition for ranking on top of organic search results.

But throwing AMP web development in the mix makes displaying search results even more interesting now. Because screens can only fit so much, even paid search is expected to become more competitive, making sure that only quality paid search results are delivered to users.

Brands that pay more to display their sites on top of search results and enjoy more impressions, clicks and opportunities for conversion are now challenged to craft even more appealing, engaging, and quality advertisements so as to land on the first page and compete with both the AMP search results carousel, and organic search results.

For brands, this means that their ability to spend on paid advertising no longer solely paves the way for their site to land on the first page of search results; their ads now also have to greatly improve in quality and be more relevant to users’ needs, signaling to Google that their site is the best possible paid match to a user’s search query – on top of both mobile-first AMP sites and organic search results. For users, access to AMP search results means a mobile search experience that is truly mobile-first, crafted with their phones’ screens and processors in mind.

AMP web development’s faster-loading mobile pages also result in more page views, allowing users to interact with more ads displayed inside sites. For brands that employ this strategy known as remarketing, this means more potential customers see their advertisements, greatly increasing their opportunities for conversions and sales.

Combined Power

To cement your website’s rankings on mobile search, a healthy combination of AMP web development, SEO, and paid advertising can greatly boost your chances of ranking on top of search results.

Building AMP site, or converting your current website to AMP makes your business a leader in the mobile customer experience, and for when Google has enough content to build a carousel of AMP search results, your website ranks on top of search. Displaying ads on AMP sites also guarantees more views, and your business better chances of generating leads and converting to sales, all because of faster loading times and optimal display on mobile devices.

Combine the visibility power of AMP on mobile search with tried and tested SEO and quality paid advertising. Boost online conversions with AMP web development and capture the mobile search market to grow your business in Toronto and in the GTA. Let’s start when you call us at (416) 619-7935.

Google AMP: The future of Mobile Content and Customer Experience

March 20, 2017

by seo Business Marketing Mobile Marketing Search Engines Web Development

As the market moves, so should your business. To thrive in the digital marketplace, your business should be as mobile as the market it serves, and provide a complete customer experience through your website that now doubles as your place of business. A key element in curating a website that converts is web design. Successful digital marketing is no easy feat, and this is why your business needs all hands on deck, including that of a web design company in Toronto that moves with the diverse market in the city and is well-versed in the craft of giving customers a better mobile e-commerce experience.

There are a number of ways a web design company helps your business move alongside the market in Toronto. These include implementing a dynamic design in your website to allow it to flow seamlessly across the multiple devices your market uses to find your business; fostering an inclusive digital market by making your website responsive to accessibility needs; and lately, giving your customers the ‘made for mobile’ experience through Google AMP. Keep reading to learn more about this upgrade, and how it maximizes your customers’ experience on your website.

Own a business that provides a complete customer experience across all platforms. Our team at 360 Business Local has the experience and knowledge to to optimize your website for mobile. To work with 360’s web design team, call (416) 619-7935 today!

All About Google AMP

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an upgrade that can be implemented into your website’s code. This upgrade seeks to revolutionize the mobile experience, making your website load faster on mobile devices, and flow better on the screen for easier viewing. Google’s goal is to deliver the best possible mobile experience to its users. As a business owner, this is parallel to your goal of driving business forward through excellent customer experience on your website.

AMP is geared at helping digital marketers and web designers create mobile-optimized content that instantly loads on all devices. The aim is to largely reduce, or eliminate waiting time for users to access the content they need. Lengthy waiting times discourage users from viewing a website and checking out the products and services that could have best served their needs, had they not been kept waiting too long for the content to load on their mobile devices.

Apart from speed, websites that adopt AMP also improve viewing experience on mobile. Because AMP seeks to fully optimize the mobile experience, it allows content to flow better on mobile devices, almost as if the website was especially designed for mobile first. And with how the market moves around these days and relies more on smartphones and tablets to shop online, sign up for services, and consume content in the digital space, websites might as well be crafted for mobile first.

AMP for Your Local Business

Incorporating AMP in web design greatly benefits your business, as it could improve every customer’s interaction with your website. A web design company can help you transform your website into a conducive place of business, starting with the ease in which your market finds your business and views content, up to how they can purchase your products or subscribe to your services on a purely mobile platform. When your company embraces the value of AMP and incorporates it in your website, your business provides an optimal customer experience.

This is because much of the market in a busy, sprawling metropolis like Toronto is mobile these days; most people want to browse on the go, and get access to information about products and services they’re looking for immediately. A lot of the market even shops online, subscribes to offers and services as these come up in search results; goes in the direction of establishments that appear on the map; and starts a conversation about a brand and their experience with it.

Recently, Google started incorporating AMP in mobile search results. It’s Google’s way of subtly pointing users to results they can easily view, work with, and see the value of, as these are especially optimized for a hassle-free mobile experience. For businesses in Toronto, it helps to be tagged as an AMP search result when potential customers researching your market looks for you. This way, it immediately sends them the signal that they can easily find what they are looking for on your website, even on mobile. When this happens, you have a higher chance of converting visits to leads, and leads to sales.

While AMP does not directly affect SEO rankings, speed matters. Because AMP is designed to load your website faster on mobile compared to a non-AMP competitor site, your business is likely to rank higher and be found first by the larger chunk of the market. According to Google, if two sites are equal in all characteristics with respect to SEO, but one site loads faster thanks to AMP, the faster site is more likely to rank higher and be recommended first to search engine users as this fosters a more pleasant browsing experience for potential customers.

AMP as the Future of Digital Marketing

As AMP evolves and is constantly being developed by Google to perfect the user experience, many websites are just catching on, and there still remains the question of how long this trend will have traction in digital marketing. Nothing is ever completely certain, but as we are headed towards personalization, increased targeting, and constant improvement of the customer experience as the marketplace itself evolves and goes digital, it’s more than safe to say that AMP is one big step towards these efforts.

As always, it helps your business to go in the direction of what improves the user’s experience and interaction with your brand so as to foster successful conversions, sales and partnerships. Embracing AMP in web design is a sure step in further optimizing the customer experience in the digital marketplace, and the sooner your business catches on, the sooner you reap the rewards of innovation.

Give your customers an experience made especially for mobile with AMP. For mobile web design, call 360 Business Local at (416) 619-7935 today!

Craft a Powerful Brand with Good Content

March 14, 2017

by seo Business Content Marketing Marketing Mobile Marketing Search Engines Web Development

Your business relies on its website to tell its story in the digital space; often your website also helps you reach a market that is yet to find you. Employing efficient online marketing strategies in a diverse and competitive space, such as Toronto, requires making the best use of your website through the content you generate and publish, and will constantly evolve to tell your brand’s story. Your business evolves and grows through the information it is able to successfully share with patrons that subscribe to your products and services. A good story will draw your market in, but has to be constantly retold in new ways to keep your audience entertained and subscribed to your offers.

With good content, you tell the story of your brand in order to influence the market in your favour. Leveraging good content in online marketing spins the story in your brand’s favor, setting the tone for the rest of the market, and dominating the conversation. To do this, your business must continuously create meaningful content that fuels your brand’s story, helping you to retain and grow your market resulting in leads, conversions, sales, and closed deals. The standards for what good content is, and how it converts viewers to customers are constantly changing, but in 2017, these are the trends to watch out for and hacks you should adopt.

Create your brand with online marketing content that captures your market. For captivating content marketing, contact 360 at (416) 619-7935 today!

Embrace Content Diversity

Website content isn’t just composed of written text that goes into your blogs and articles. After all, your viewership isn’t entirely made up of readers who will patiently wade through blocks of text to discover your unique products and services. Successful online marketing requires embracing multimedia content creation in order to engage your audience in your brand’s narrative and capture their interest in your well-placed offers.

Recently, content such as videos, especially live ones now available in the form of webinars, podcasts and live streams on various social media platforms, are a hit among audiences. Not only does multimedia content entertain, but it’s also a good way of offering a 360 degree insight into your business. With product videos, infographics, slideshare presentations, tutorials, FAQs, and streaming from your launches and industry events, your audience connects with your brand in real time and see’s your business come to life before their eyes, as opposed to just reading about your latest offers and having to imagine and set up their own expectations.

Multimedia content creation does not have to cost much either. With the rise of the smartphone-wielding generation and taking customer experience on the go, shooting videos and streaming these live at events can be done using mobile apps or your phone’s camera. Producing multimedia content shouldn’t be time-consuming either, as you can repurpose content in other formats and use these in your other online marketing collaterals, such as using the material in video scripts for infographics and blog posts.

Real Content for Real People

In working hard to optimize a website for search engine queries, many make the mistake of creating content that’s easily found, but reads poorly for real people who are on your website trying to determine if your offerings are a good fit for their needs. In the process, you are likely to lose this viewership and potential market if your sole concern is to rank well on a Google search.

Online marketing is embracing the principle of creating real content for real people. In-depth content that is properly laid out, can be easily understood, uses clear language and utilizes high quality, inviting images to support the text is now shown to rank and convert well – even better than content that is aimed at ranking well on search, but flows poorly, is haphazardly arranged and reads awkwardly due to excessive use of common search phrases.

Creating content for the right people is a long process, but as you work on that, you can also use some quick fixes on content that’s already published on your site. These are called content upgrades. To start, you can attach snippets to existing content on your website that’s already performing well. These support content that’s already well-received by your market, you can use upgrades such as bonus tips, downloadable PDFs your audience can take on the go, kits, checklists, worksheets, training videos, and even useful templates. This saves you the trouble of having to completely change content that’s already working for your business all at once, and instead lets you implement useful changes that not only cement your authority on subjects concerning your business’ industry, but also allow you to reshape your site’s content in a more manageable timeframe. By fostering interactions with your audience like these, you can also encourage sign ups for newsletters, email marketing and leads in exchange for access to downloads and access to other content upgrades.

Add a Personal Touch

Much like the localization of search these days, micro-targeting and hyper-personalization are going a long way in building customer trust and fostering good business ties. In online marketing, all it takes is to remember who is it for and why you’re doing business. Always, the goal is to serve the needs of your local community and build trust in your products and services as a staple in their lives.

When you target a demographic in your audience and personalize online marketing efforts according to their interests and preferences, you are able to bring your business closer to them and remind them of your ability to craft unique solutions for their needs. It shows that your business has the best interests of the market at heart, and your business has ties to each set of audiences to prove that.

Remembering important holidays and sending out messages that show your audience you are one with them in commemorating these milestones only takes a little time and is worth the effort in maintaining a solid presence online. Crafting marketing messages according to your market’s location, work information, personal tastes and previous search behavior demonstrates your business’ ability to connect with an audience and prove that your business can supply the market its needs as these arise.

All these efforts can work seamlessly with your larger, general and widely-encompassing online marketing messages. These show how your products and services are needed by and adequately cater to a wide array of audiences, all of whom are drawn in by a specific point that appeals to them at the onset.

Crowd Source and Influence

Tell your market you want to hear from them – and watch the magic as it unfolds. There is nothing that defines the customer experience more than giving your audience a stake in your brand through their opinions that help to shape your business. When you engage your happy customers, they become loyal patrons who will form part of your base following. In time, they will rally your brand and their experiences will shape their peers’ interaction with your business.

This smart online marketing tactic persuades a market you are yet to connect with using what their peers have already said about your business. User-generated content is on the rise these days, and for this to work to your advantage, it should be supplied by customers with good interactions with your brand who can lend their voice to sharing your brand in a simple as a photo, post or tweet shared across their social media platforms. This now works as the new word of mouth, and poses an infinite amount of possible interactions with your brand, each starting with a loyal customer and their social circles.

Taking care of your online reputation is only one benefit of user-generated content. With a steady rise in review submissions, small competitions, use of hashtags you encourage your followers to use on social media when starting a conversation about your products and services, and the gentle prodding of influencers or brand ambassadors, you can also generate content pieces from what they have to say, and use these in review posts, news articles and online marketing campaigns. Not only do you open more communication channels with your market and act on their feedback as these come in, all working towards boosting your brand and improving business; you also gain relevant content you can repurpose and use for future marketing campaigns.

Content is your website’s heart and soul – it gives your online presence meaning, and defines your brand in the digital marketplace. Content is what your potential customers consume, and what makes or breaks every lead you generate and every sale worth closing. Good content makes telling a powerful brand story, piquing the market’s interest and capturing an audience who will follow your business as it grows – all possible.

Leverage high-quality content for your business today, and transform your website into a booming digital marketplace. Contact 360 Business Local at (416) 619-7935 today!

Embracing Changes in SEO by Adapting to New Digital Marketing Trends

February 9, 2017

by seo Business Content Marketing Marketing Mobile Marketing Search Engines

With the rise of targeted ads, paid campaigns, community building on social media platforms and increasing localization of search results that search engines supply its users, it begs the question: does SEO still work?

These days, paid ads are displayed on top of organic search results and are seen first by those who need a quick fix. This challenges the practice of optimizing a website according to search trends and high-traffic keywords in an effort to be constantly found by those who need it. Many brands also maintain communities on social media and use these platforms to release product and service information while driving user satisfaction. With all these emerging trends, reality is, good SEO alone isn’t all that it takes to get your local business found in a big city like Toronto and match you with potential customers. To make your website rank and get your business found, SEO companies are now challenged to look into balancing efforts for ranking organically with that of paid advertisements and leading the conversation on social media platforms.

Here, we’ll walk through the changes in online marketing and determine how an SEO company’s efforts to get your business found in Toronto can drive your business to the top as it embraces other emerging trends in digital marketing.

Looking for an SEO company that does more to get your business found? Contact 360 Business Local at (416) 619-7935 today!

Changing Search Result Trends

While websites are constantly working on being found, search engines such as Google are striving to streamline search results in an effort to better match users with exactly what they’re looking for. For example, users who are looking for businesses that carry products or offer services they need are now more likely to be matched with a business that’s within a certain radius of their location.

Paid results and advertisements are now also listed on top of organic search results, not just below. This may sway users not searching for anything specific or are in a rush to find a suitable match towards the paid results, as these are seen first.

Organic SEO search results are then shown second to those that pay Google to advertise their sites. To compete, SEO marketers are challenged to optimize websites in order to rank in organic search, ensuring your website still appears on the same page as paid results. Competing with paid search results can be challenging, but digital marketing pros work hard to be constantly updated on changing search engine trends, and will continue to optimize your website according to these trends and stay on top.

The Rise of Social Media

Using search engines isn’t the only way businesses and their target market connect these days. Most businesses now have active social media profiles and engage with their audience directly through posts, tweets, snaps and reviews. Likes, retweets, mentions, replies and views now also count towards measuring the success of a business’ online marketing efforts. Some people might believe that using social media to direct traffic to websites is a more effective method, as social media news feeds tend to have the latest information, but relying solely on social media to get you business isn’t always your best bet.

While regular social media activity can direct traffic to your business and build credibility, the uncontrolled nature of the environment can bring negative feedback to light. Negative comments, whether with merit or are unsubstantiated, can greatly impact your business as soon as these are published; potential customers will have to like what others have already said about your business in order to trust you to provide their needs. This is where the support of SEO marketers comes in handy: we know how to work with both organic searches and new platforms, such as social media, to direct traffic towards your business with the aid of a good reputation. Many SEO companies including 360 Business Local now offer social media management services. This includes regular posting on your behalf to your business’ social media profiles by advertising offers and promoting website content.

SEO companies also incorporate the same keywords that business’ sites rank for into their social media profiles and posts. In turn, this directs search users to businesses’ social media channels, encouraging them to connect and stay updated on latest news and offers. Digital marketers incorporate links to the company’s social media profiles, allowing them to build an online community and use their newfound following outside of their keyword rankings and site visits as another way of measuring the success of their online marketing efforts.

Rankings Still Matter

It’s no secret that SEO companies are increasingly challenged these days to direct traffic to clients’ websites organically despite the popularity of paid search results and social media. To stand out, websites that still rank well for high-traffic keywords must develop quality content that puts them on the same page as the paid search results, encouraging search engine users to scroll down and find in these well-ranking sites for a closer match to their search phrase.

Search engines are gearing towards localizing results to make their users’ search more actionable. For instance, Google’s location services enables it to give its users results that point to local businesses within their reach, driving actual sales and keeping users satisfied with the answers they get. This incentivizes digital marketers to track and push for local keywords on your website. By doing so, businesses grow closer to clients who are most likely looking for services and products they can access from their location, thereby making your marketing efforts effective and converting more leads to sales. To make your business rank in local searches, SEO companies optimize content on your website according to your business’ local reach and send out content that carries location-specific keywords.

SEO companies may also get creative with the services they offer and the efforts they employ. Most companies now manage paid campaigns on top of organic keyword search efforts. This allows businesses to gain the best of both worlds and maximize their rank in search results. Some even offer social media management services, posting content from your website to your business’ social media profiles, responding to customer queries, listening in on trending conversations in your industry to build your brand’s community online.

SEO is no stranger to change. With the evolving dynamics of online marketing and the constant rise of new ways to engage an audience, the field also keeps on adapting creative new ways of doing what it does best: connecting businesses and potential clients who are yet to find each other.

Stay found by mixing SEO with paid ads and social media. Get started with 360 Business Local by calling (416) 619-7935 today!

Google Display Network – Targeting Options

September 11, 2014

by seo Business Marketing Mobile Marketing Search Engines

The Google display network is a system of websites with space for advertising, where you can place your ads. Using precise targeting the GDN is able to reach engaged audiences at the right stages to produce better results. It allows you to place your ads on an array of niche websites in the forms of text, images and videos as well as mobile ads.

Potential customers can be reached based on their browsing patterns.

Contextual Targeting includes;
Keyword – Matching keywords in your campaign with websites related to that keyword.
Topic – Select your target audience from a list of over 1700 categories. Google has categorized thousands of pages under this umbrella of categories.
Placement – Ads are placed on specific sites or feeds that your audience will visit.

Audience Targeting includes;
Interest Category Marketing – Ads are shown to people based on their interests and search history.
Demographics – Allows you to select your audience based on age or gender.
Re-marketing – Advertising to people who have previously visited your site but have not taken any actions.
Similar Users – Finding consumers with similar habits to those on your remarketing list.

When both of these methods are combined, the results prove very effective.There are four different phases to a prospective consumers buying cycle. Using display advertisement will help to create awareness, increase the scope of your campaign, assist in driving conversions and ultimately increase the purchase cycle.

Awareness Stage – Showing banners of your brand.

Interest Stage – Target customers when they are evaluating.

Consideration Stage – Re-marketing to engage past visitors, includes demographic targeting.

Purchase Stage – Re-marketing targets people who have added items to an online cart, but have not followed through with a purchase. Showing relevant ads help to up-sell products.

After users have moved through the buying cycle the last step is loyalty. By targeting customers who have completed an action on your website in the past is an effective way to maintain brand loyalty. Google +1’s allow customers to spread recommendations across the internet.

The Google Display Network uses mixed advertising to target the right people at the right time, sending them the right message which is why it delivers results.

Google Display Network Explained

September 11, 2014

by seo Business Marketing Mobile Marketing

What is the Google Display Network?
The Google Display Network (GDN) is a network of websites that have space for your advertisement. The GDN uses precise marketing methods including contextual and audience targeting to reach audiences and deliver results to users and advertisers. The GDN is a simple and practical way to advertise on an abundance of topic-specific websites, video sites and blogs.

Why is it beneficial to advertise online?
Advertising online has the ability to reach customers through ad placements across millions of websites. Customers do a lot of considering, purchasing, and referring brands via online networks & social media. 95% of users’ time is spent viewing content on sites.

Why choose GDN?
When you choose the GDN for advertising, you get to choose exactly where your ads appear – news sites, blogs and niche websites are some examples. Use different formats such as text, rich media ads, and videos to engage users. By combining search ads with display ads, you get more conversions. GDN provides clear reporting on all aspects of your campaign. You choose the pricing model that works for you and suits your goals.

How much does it cost?
There are structures in place in order to control your costs, an auction systems means you bid for every ad spot, meaning competitive pricing. At most, you will only pay 1 cent more than the minimum necessary to keep your spot on a page.

There are 2 pricing models:

CPM – Cost-per-thousand impressions. You only pay when your ad appears 1,000 times.
Why use this method? For campaigns aimed at increasing your visibility and to track metrics including but not limited to impressions, reach, frequency and search uplift.

CPC – Cost-per-click. You only pay when a user clicks on your advertisement and visits your website.
Why use this method? Used for campaigns where you care about clicks. This allows you to track metrics like sales, leads, and sign ups.

What types of ads are there?
Text ads, standard image (JPEG, SWF or GIF), standard flash, rich media flash, in-unit video and video ads including click to play, cost-per-click, cost-per-view and cost-per-thousand formats.

Ad sizes for Internet;

Mobile Ads & Sizes;
Everyday more people are using their smart phones to browse the internet and make or research purchases. Put your ads in front of them with mobile advertising on the GDN. Once you have created your ad, it can be shown on smart phones and tablets or even WAP enabled devices with smaller screens.

The Google Display Network works to target the right customers for you using demographics, lifestyle, psycho-graphics and behaviour. As well as engage past site visitors with re-marketing. The GDN sends the right message to prospective customers by layering contextual targeting with audience targeting at the right moments to attracts users when they are in the right mindset.