by Amber Miller | Jan 19, 2017 | Blog, Blogging
Every year, it’s the same story… marketers and search engines are always telling you CONTENT IS KING and if you want to rank anywhere people are going to find you, then you best be spewing out some kind of great content. What if you’re already doing this though? And you’re still not seeing the kind of traffic to your site that you thought blogging would bring…. It’s a bummer, we know.
That’s why we are going to over you three ways how to make your blog totally kick a$$ in 2017.
1. CREATE FANTASTIC CONTENT, NOT MORE OF IT.
It’s not just about publishing new content all the time. What search engines are really for this year is for sites to offer them high quality content that’s better than the competition! What we are really saying is offer your customers something of incredible value and do it better than the competition. If you’re having a hard time trying to figure out what’s valuable, niche down your customers as much as possible and figure out what’s most important to them.
2. MAKE MONEY OUTSIDE OF THE TRADITIONAL METHODS
If you’ve got a steady following on your blog, then you have the opportunity to monetize your blog in a variety of ways by just posting content! First and foremost, Google Adsense is the bees knees. It’s a simple way to make money by doing what you’re already doing… sharing great content! But other than that, blogs can also pull in a buck or two by utilizing affiliate marketing, direct ad placement, and building your mailing list.
3. FOCUS ON MORE THAN YOAST AND OTHER SEO PLUGINS
We sign on new clients all the time who believe filling out plugins like Yoast or All in One SEO are all they need to do to optimize a blog post. That’s just simply not the case! Site speed, performance, loading time, and bounce rates can all play a huge part in your SEO strategy. One way to get a handle on where you stand is to use Google PageSpeed Tools and Google Webmaster Tools to analyze your site to see what needs to be worked on.
Obviously, there’s a lot more to each of these points. If you’re ready to make your blog kick a$$ and need a little help to get going, then shoot us a note. If you’re already on the road to success with your blog, please comment below and let us know how you were able to do it!
by Amber Miller | Jan 12, 2017 | Blog, Marketing
Do you already have your marketing strategies figured out for the first part of 2017? If you do, have you figured out a plan to implement those strategies? On top of it all, have you been able to keep up with the latest tools and tricks to make sure your marketing campaigns are running smoothly and efficiently? It’s seriously a lot to handle.
We’re going start off this post talking about #11. The other ten will be provided in just a moment…
We thought this was the most important sign because it can determine whether or not your marketing ideas, campaigns, strategies, everything… succeeds. So without further ado…
#11 No virtual assisting or marketing team in place.
So, why would this sign determine whether or not your marketing strategies succeed? It’s pretty simple… while we all know you’re awesome at what you do and you want to market your business, you simply don’t have the time to complete everything you need to do to successfully manage a marketing campaign. There’s posting, scheduling, writing content, taking pictures, updating websites, coming up with ads, sales, ideas of what to market… you get the point, it’s kind of a crazy web of wow that’s a lot of stuff to handle.
A team of virtual assistants will give you the freedom to focus on the aspects of your business that matter to you most. Forget about the hassle of keeping up with marketing trends and stop wasting time trying to manage multiple social media accounts and website updates on a daily basis. Assistants can take over and handle every single aspect of your marketing campaign(s).
On top of it all, hiring virtual assistants or specialized contractors can help small business save money by helping them to avoid the high cost of hiring actual employees.
Infusionsoft published a great article that covers the other 10 signs your marketing strategy isn’t ready for 2017. Each and every one of these items is something your business should seriously take into consideration. We see so many of these issues when we sign on new clients and will always do everything in our power to help our clients improve and automate their business procedures while saving a buck or two in the long run.
10 Signs Your Marketing Strategy Isn’t Ready for 2017
If you would like a free consultation to see how we can help you run your marketing campaigns or update your internal procedures, contact us today.
by Amber Miller | Jan 5, 2017 | Blog, Virtual Assisting
Feeling “time poor” lately? Don’t worry… You’re not the only one. In fact, the majority of us feel the stress of going too fast on a daily basis. So many things, yet so little TIME. That’s why we offer virtual assistant reselling services.
:sigh: It’s a lot to handle when you’re trying to run a business and keep a personal life as well. Luckily, we can help you achieve that with our white label VA services. No more costly employees, HR headaches, or risks. We can pretty much run your business for you virtually. The best part? All of our reselling services can be completely white labeled.
Our team of highly trained virtual assistants can help complete a variety of tasks ranging from; processing documents, webinar management and sign up, email marketing management, blog management and posting, website management and posting, administrative duties, and so much more.
Sounds too good to be true right? It’s not. Each of our web divas is incredibly experienced and trained to follow a strict set of quality assurance guidelines to ensure all tasks are completed to each of our customers specific needs and wants.
If you’re ready to free up your hands to focus on more important parts of your business, then give us a shout out. We’re ready to give you time back in your day!
by Amber Miller | Dec 10, 2016 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media
Cliff Notes for Social Media – Part 2
Welcome to part two out of three for our Cliff Notes for Social Media series! Today we are going to discuss the 12 dumbest mistakes you can avoid when using social media for business. Read below and let us know if you’re guilty of doing any of these things. Don’t worry, no judgement here… We’ve all been new to social media before and it took a bit for us to figure it out too.
The 12 Dumbest Mistakes to Avoid In Social Media
- Posting long, messy, nasty URLs. Use a URL shortener like bit.ly.
- Posting too often. Rein this in by posting only when you actually have something to say.
- Not spacing your posts. Sending 20 posts in 10 minutes and then not posting the rest of the day is – well – dumb.
- Not making sense. Posting, “ARGGHHH” with no other information just annoys people. Post complete thoughts that actually mean something.
- Too much personal stuff. You’re doing social media to promote your business or service, right? Then keep it 90+% business and less than 10% personal.
- No picture. Yes, you need a profile picture. And yes, it should be a good one. If need be, pay to get your portrait taken – it’s worth it.
- Wrong picture. Your profile picture needs to be of YOU, not a puppy or a cheerleader (unless the puppy or cheerleader is you.)
- Not giving credit or attributing the wrong source. Give credit where credit is properly due. Always.
- Being wrong. Again, check your facts if you’re unsure.
- Being a jerk. No matter how much you disagree, the other person is never an idiot, a moron or a jack*. Remember, once you put it on the net, you can NEVER take it back.
- Getting political. You’re entitled to your own politics, but they have no business mixing with your business. Keep them 100% separate at all times.
- Ignoring shares and RT’s. Someone retweets or shares something of yours, what do you do? If the answer is nothing, you lose. Instead, THANK them for sharing your content and start a conversation.
Are you simply having a hard time getting a handle of it all? Did you know we provide full service social media management services? Let us handle all the crazy for you. Contact us today to get started.
Part 1
Part 3 (coming soon)
by Amber Miller | Dec 2, 2016 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media
Remember Cliffs Notes? They’re summaries of longer work, designed to get a student up to speed quickly without having to read the entire book. Sort of a cheat, you might say, but a very effective cheat at that.
There are volumes written about how to succeed dramatically and radically with social media. And then there’s our own version of social media notes, designed to help you become a social media savant in no time.
Ready? Here are the cliff notes presented in a three part series. Below is the first, The 15 Rules of Social Media. The other two will be posted throughout the month of December so make sure to check back for updates!
Remember, these are short but exceedingly powerful. Ignoring any one of them may be perilous to your bottom line.
The 15 Rules of Social Media Marketing:
- Help others often, eagerly and without thought of benefit to yourself.
- Be patient with others. Remember, you were once new to social media, too.
- Share great content.
- Forward great content and credit generously.
- Thank often and thank liberally.
- Be yourself, not a cardboard cutout. Show your personality.
- If you don’t have a personality, grow one and then show it.
- Blog often and intelligently.
- If you don’t know something, say so. Then find out and get back to them.
- Don’t just talk – have real conversations. Remember, these are real people, not just avatars and photos.
- Find the time for social media. Schedule it in and then just do it.
- Use tools to schedule posts and monitor mentions. Social media is one facet of your marketing campaign – it’s not your life.
- Don’t automate the whole process. Be there. Reach out and interact. Find the balance between automation and the personal touch.
- Laugh at yourself. Tell tales on yourself. Show your human side – people aren’t friends with Superman, they’re friends real people who have real challenges and real faults and can laugh at themselves.
- Admit your own mistakes and then move on. The mistakes make you human, but dwelling on them makes you annoying.
Still not sure if what you’re doing is right? Contact us today for a detailed analysis of your social media account and recommendations on how you can get the most out of your social media marketing efforts.
by Amber Miller | Nov 23, 2016 | Blog, Marketing
Now we all know Facebook is a powerhouse when it comes to doing paid marketing, but did you know that YouTube is another amazing option to think about when spreading your message?
Here are a few big options you need to consider to start moving your ad budget to YouTube.
- YouTube is huge– “Huge” is probably putting I mildly with more than 1 million unique user visits each month. They have over 6 billion hours of video that are watched each month on YouTube. That comes out to almost an hour for every person on Earth.
- YouTube Clicks are Cheap– YouTube is part of the Google AdWords system so you get the ease of the AdWords interface without the expensive clicks.
- Video is easier than ever– While videos do require a little bit of work and technical know how there are many tools and resources available to make this part a breeze.
YouTube has a lot of unused ad space available right now. Don’t be afraid to use this powerful ad platform when it comes to getting your message out there.
There are three different ad types when it comes to YouTube ads:
Ad Type 1: In-Stream Ads:
In-Stream ads are designed to capture the attention of your potential prospect in the first five to ten seconds of the ad. After the five second mark viewers have the option to click skip ad and continue to watch the video they were attempting to watch
This type of ad is used to gain visibility and is charged on a Cost-Per-View (CPV) basis. The amount you will pay per view depends heavily on how in depth you want to target your audience. The ad is free until it reaches 30 seconds or is played in full (whichever comes first), after that you will be charged for the view.
Below is an example of an in-stream ad:
By using this type of ad they are able to disrupt the viewers attention and force them to focus on the message about their offer. With this type of ad the user is given the choice by YouTube to continue watching the ad or skip it.
If users click on the video image they will be directly taken to the ads landing page or offer.
Ad Type 2: In-Display Ad
In-Display YouTube ads are the ads that appear to the side of content you are watching on YouTube. These are the ads that are shown at the top of “recommended content” and can catch users attention as they are viewing other content.
Below is an example of this type of ad:
You should choose In-Design ads if you want to build your YouTube channel subscribers or if you want more views on your YouTube content. These type of ads do not take users to your website like the previous ad type. However, you can build call-to-actions into your ad to direct users to a specific page if you wish.
Ad Type 3: In-Search Ad
YouTube In-Search ads appear in response to a specific search query into the YouTube search box. These type of ads are placed above the organic listings and contain a little yellow ad box next to their thumbnail image.
This type of ad is great if you want to get views on your YouTube content but don’t want to be as intrusive with your message like the In-Stream ad.
As you can see, YouTube is a great addition when it comes to paid marketing. When determining what your marketing goals are and how you can get the best ROI on your marketing, this powerhouse should be considered as a great addition to any marketer’s toolkit. Smart to Finish can assist you in determining which type of ad is going to work best for your end goal. We can also assist in the set up and tracking of these types of ads. Contact us today to get started!
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