Search Engine Optimization (SEO) enables your website content to be given situational context, then indexed and ranked in authority for searchers of information. I think we all know that.

But did you know…

“Prioritizing valuable content is the key ingredient to success… creating high-quality, informative content that is genuinely useful to the audience should be the priority. When content is valuable, it naturally attracts links and engagement, which ultimately boosts its search engine rankings.” -Darryl Navarrete, CEO, marketing director and SEO specialist.

Keywords or Key Information?

Keyword research is still important for understanding how people search for content in different categories, but intentional keyword stuffing is a dead practice that deserves the grave. How many times do you want to see “in New Hampshire” (or some other geo target) repeated when you read about a product or service? It doesn’t matter where you use it, and the qualification sounds silly.

The takeaway: Repetition and redundancy are enemies of SEO in 2023! Keywords should be used like strong seasoning – in the right amounts and in just the right places.

Each page on your website should have a keyword strategy. Title tags, slugs, meta descriptions and on-page content should all contain the targeted keyword (or phrase) that your audience members are using to find pertinent information. Keyword research can help here. However, be very careful about forcing keywords into your website content. Make sure they flow in naturally as in an engaging conversation.

Today’s SEO is based on natural language, contextual meaning, and quality of information so it doesn’t matter if you use more industry keywords than your competitors. If your content is well organized and more valuable to the visitors, you’ll have the SEO advantage.

The Coveted Google Page One Results

Getting on the first page of Google for keyword searches is still widely misunderstood. Page one organic search results are fiercely fought for and earned.

Unfortunately, some small business owners and marketing directors are under the impression that because they do good work and have a website designer, their business “should be” showing up on page one in Google for keyword searches. In most cases, those who make it “above the fold” have worked years to get there. They’ve invested in their businesses by building excellent, comprehensive, and valuable websites that visitors use and share with others. Maybe you’re one of them enjoying the results today.

The Reality Check with Good News

If you’re looking to improve website search results, don’t fall for the smoke and mirrors that have confused business owners and marketing directors for decades. We who understand this business, and are honest about it, are constantly fighting the false notions of which clients have been misinformed.

Everyone thinks their business has what it takes to get visible Google search results. Maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t.

If you do want immediate results, you can pay for inbound leads with a pay per click campaign. This gives you the advantage of fast conversions and helps you gain valuable search engine data you can apply organically.  And remember, your landing pages must be relevant and valuable to visitors, so content quality is ever important with paid campaigns.

If you want to succeed in organic SEO, know what it takes. With some care and focus on building out valuable content using a simple and focused keyword strategy, you can get better results in a matter of months or even just weeks.

To sum it all up, companies with enduring success in digital marketing “make money the old-fashioned way, they earn it!”

The post Know Your SEO in 2023 appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

What if you see your competitors offering eCommerce options for the same kinds of products & services that you provide?

It might finally be time to let your website turn literally into a revenue producing machine as so many great websites are today. This does not require a radical shift or business transformation. It’s simply a different and easier way of conducting transactions and collecting money.

From Information to Remuneration

Plenty of high performing eCommerce sites are really hybrids that combine marketing & public relations, lead generation and direct eCommerce sales. Some of those sites were originally information or lead generation based websites which now have seamless eCommerce experiences built into them. You can do the same thing any time you want.

The “when” to monetize your website depends on whether your team is willing to go through a modest learning curve of getting on a new dashboard or two and managing inventories & data much the same as they do now using an ERP system or other database. And you can easily integrate your eCommerce workflows into existing ERP systems, automating the process. Plus, money is deposited right into your account with no collection time or effort.

Happier Customers

Fulfilling eCommerce orders may even be easier as there is less customer interaction, especially upfront. Most eCommerce shoppers know what they want by the time they’re checking out and paying the bill.

The “how” to monetize your website is best left to experienced marketing experts and eCommerce website developers. As a director of those services, of course I would say that, and with full confidence knowing you don’t want to “try this at home.” Every successful business owner knows to consult and work with specialists because they are specialists themselves and understand the common mistakes made in the DIY world. However, we can certainly give pointers.

A Few Tips for Monetizing Your Website

• Have your website on an open source platform like WordPress or choose an eCommerce platform like Shopify, Magento, etc…
• Choose an eCommerce plugin if needed such as Woocommerce.
• Choose a payment processor like Stripe, Square, etc.
• Plan logistics for fulfilling online orders, including carriers and shipping cost calculations.
• Design and build your store using intuitive navigation and calls to action.
• Include a marketing campaign to drive traffic directly to your eCommerce landing pages.
• Enjoy the business growth!

As you can see, it’s all pretty simple and straightforward! The only warning I feel the need to offer is to understand that you are committing your brand as an eCommerce offering and it’s important to honor that commitment by following through on quality deliveries. Confident of that, it might be good to jump in!

May your website make money for you all the days of your business life…

The post When & How to Monetize Your Website appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

We all know things are different. Now is the time to review every aspect of your service delivery and learn to accommodate the needs and preferences of your customers. Do this right and it will provide you the added bonus of tapping new markets and revenue sources.

If you lead a small business or run a microbusiness, you either have eCommerce, will find a place to add eCommerce to your options, or eCommerce will find it’s way onto your website before competitors lure too many of your clients away with innovative and rewarding online provisions.

eCommerce is increasingly deployed in facilitating the delivery of services, and no products are off limits to electronic transactions on the internet. You can easily buy a car online and have it delivered, and now it’s common for houses to be purchased completely online without showings. If your customers prefer to shop and pay online, it’s your job to give them the goods.

Simple eCommerce Examples

A great way to enter the world of eCommerce is incrementally. You can start with one or two products and build out from there. A few of our clients have done so.

• A photography school recently added prerecorded classes for sale online, opening the doors for more amateur and professional photographers to learn skills & techniques that make them better customers at the online camera supply company that owns that photography school.
• An auto parts supplier that excels in telephone sales & service also offers customers their searchable inventory for sale online, making the processing of small orders almost effortless. Setting up a linked eBay store was a readily available solution that works well for them.
• An industrial netting supplier that specializes in custom-engineered netting solutions is adding over a dozen new products in a new online store to go head-to-head with a competitor in the online consumer market. After determining they can match a competitor’s prices and offer a superior product, the plan is to grow their direct to consumer business.

Now that snow is flying, ski areas are rushing to provide convenient, online ticket sales and touchless RFID card scanning systems that replace wearable tickets. The resorts that make the process easiest for skiers & snowboarders will end up serving the most guests.

“I wish I had eCommerce!”

Rocket Science is for Astrophysicists, not Online Shoppers!

Start simply and keep it simple. An easy toe-dip into eCommerce might be to provide an option to prepay for a defined service package using an online payment portal with auto-responder notifications.

Doing business online doesn’t have to be rocket science. A rule of thumb is, keep it simple for both your customers and your fulfilment team. Grow your eCommerce offerings as you gain experience.

If you would like a complimentary workbook that takes you step-by-step in how to set up your eCommerce store successfully, click here and type “e-commerce workbook” in the message field.

The post Add eCommerce to Your Business appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

There are countless ways to grow your business! And it probably takes more than two of them to succeed, so what could we be talking about here?

Growing a B2B business starts with a net new client premise. If you own the business, you’re probably thinking a lot about how to grow it and maintain steady growth. I bet you have a few key prospects in mind and are thinking about when you might call them. When one of them calls you, you’re giddy!

Don’t worry, this isn’t about cold calling vs inbound marketing.

During a recent meeting, my colleague Matt Barden from Industrial Marketing distilled business development down to its essence and I may be paraphrasing. “New business comes in two ways; making calls or getting calls. You call or you get the call.” In both cases, the sale is up to you. Simple maybe, and simple is what works! I can’t count how many cold calls I’ve received from marketing automation companies in the last year but it was at least 5 or 6 and they all tell me they do it because it works. Ironically, their services promise more warm leads with fewer cold calls.

As a potential reseller, I’m a good target for their calls so I expect and welcome them.

This is not about cold calling nor is it about getting back to basics.  Rather, you need to start thinking about having the data/intelligence to make really effective outbound calls and get well-qualified inbound calls as well. Then your firing on all marketing cylinders!

Create and Use Intelligence!

You can have realtime market intelligence coming from individuals at known companies that tell you when to call the prospect and what they’re interested in. At the same time, you’ll be receiving inbound calls and leads based on your strategic online campaign that’s bringing intelligent content to your target audience.

Hopefully, you’ll close more deals when that happens.

The Digital-Human Nexus

Here’s the crux of it all. Boatloads of people are online right now either searching for products and services related to your business or they’re passively educating themselves on personal and work-related topics. They really want to find that ideal solution online and when they find it, they want you, a human being to help them get exactly what they want.

Small companies that decide to step it up with integrated search and content marketing campaigns tend to up-level their businesses faster than they expect.

When you discover the abundance of the realtime, electronically-connected marketplace, you can’t wait to get your message circulating in it. You want to personally connect with all those business prospects who are online. You can actually witness the digital-human nexus and experience it with a voice conversation once your communications jump from the screen to the phone or a meeting place.

Moving Out of the Desert

If you want to move your brand from nowhere land to the bustling bazaar of daily commerce, you’ll need to make a modest to perhaps moderate investment in a couple of digital platforms that will support your organic website – the hub of your brand. Costs for these services have settled at reasonable rates and the tools work better than ever! The best thing? Everything is fully transparent, measurable and accountable. You’ll be in the know!

You can see your investment working (or not) without any smoke and mirrors.  In other words, your marketing team won’t be using dubious analytics and vague forecasts. They’ll be giving you qualified sales leads and you’ll be measuring new business results from your campaigns. You’ll know the real bottom line.

Double your Sales Pleasure!

Do you want to grow? Call or be called. Better yet, make great calls and get great calls too. When your campaign is set up and integrated, all you really need to do is have the conversations that close new business.

If you have questions about how this program can help you grow your business, feel free to call us at 603-345-7223.

The post The Two Ways to Grow Your Business appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

So, why is there so much reluctance among some businesses to develop and maintain an effective advertising campaign?

Jumping into paid advertising, especially in an untried medium, is a scary proposition to a lot of small business owners who must dig into their own back pockets to help fund an effective campaign. Aren’t you reluctant to spend a significant sum on a service whose success relies on the whims of other people, in other words, isn’t predictable? That’s what advertising is but thankfully, those whims can be effectively harnessed into buying action if you play your technology, data, messaging and media cards right.

Your return on investment depends on a few simple factors – reach, frequency and relevance. These are the crucial elements of a campaign and if you put effort into all three, you should see a positive ROI.

After some experience, you’ll have the confidence to invest more as you begin to measure the results based on actual response rates. The great thing with digital is that results get better and better as you dial in your data-driven campaign to more qualified prospects!

When do you advertise?

Ask yourself a couple of questions.

• Have traditional business channels like word-of-mouth, networking and direct sales taken a pause or lagged in bringing in enough new business?
• Are you unable to devote sufficient amounts of time to develop your sales & marketing channels due to other business priorities?

These are key questions that should lead you in the direction of at least a test marketing campaign with a sufficient advertising budget to move the needle in revenues. Determining the campaign scope and duration depends largely on your sales cycle. The goal is always a profitable return on investment and you can accurately calculate the cost per lead and cost per sale in real dollars & cents.

How do you measure success?

Let’s say your average new customer takes about one month from an initial inquiry to placing an order. In as little as 60 days from a campaign launch, you should be closing on some new business and have a bevy of leads in your sales pipeline. Unfortunately, there’s no surefire way to forecast your actual advertising ROI until you have sufficient data gathered from the digitally tracked campaign. But you can begin to make educated calculations within the first 90 days in most cases.

Hitting Paydirt

After a few months of dialing in your messaging and target market based on specific interests, you will begin to have a throttle-like ability to manage business growth and it can be very profitable!

Digital advertising campaigns using Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and other platforms work fast because they actively find the people you’re looking for while those people are happy to see your ad pop up, answering their current need.

Campaign effectiveness and tracking accuracy are the two reasons so many corporate marketing budgets are moving out of traditional print and broadcast, which are expensive and hard to measure, to digital which can predictively deliver results when it’s professionally managed. That’s how advertising works in the 21st Century!

The post Knowing When to Advertise appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Every online platform except for one can modify, add to, or even ban your company messages. Your brand can be all over the place; Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Google, YouTube, directories, blogs, guest landing pages, etc.

You can maximize your presence in all these online media and the brand experience visitors have will be limited and in many cases disappointing. Why? Because these spaces don’t belong to you and you are being used by them, not the other way around!

The hard truth of social media marketing: Your company information and, very likely, personal employee information are actually the product of social media companies, sold through advertising to other marketers. Your data (which is cumulatively collected with each login) belongs to them as much as it belongs to you. And if you want more than 5 or 6 people to see your posts, you must pay to have it distributed, even to your own friends, followers and connections!

So where is this one place on the Internet that you control completely? Hopefully, it’s the one in which you invest the most time and money – Your Website.

Your own Company Website gets top priority in all matters concerning online marketing. You can totally customize the experience for your specific target audiences. Social platforms, search engines and other channels are fine for distributing Your Website content, but they are not where your brand resides. Metaphorically, you should be entertaining your customers right inside your Home rather than having a quick chat inside a Starbucks.

Content Marketing at Work

I suggest getting busy writing about how you solve specific problems better than your competition. Take pictures and shoot video! At a minimum, hunt down some appropriate stock images for your campaign messages (just know how to choose them).

My company website has been producing higher quality leads in recent months following a content marketing campaign that resides, guess where?  Right where your eyes are focused now. This blog.

Questions? Ask a content marketing expert at
Chuck Sink Link.

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When you understand the pitfalls, paid search can boost web traffic and sales very quickly when properly executed. In the world of paid online advertising, you need to understand the Google platform and this is best reserved for specialists. It also takes a significant ad budget to generate enough clicks to make paid search pay off.

Great SEO Results – Naturally

But today we’re focusing on Organic SEO, that is unpaid, high internet search engine optimization results based on the structure and content of your website. The good news is, your website can rank and perform highly in search engines if you simply do a good job with your website development and content quality as well as keep it maintained!

Many businesses are in a position to forego the high cost of a Google Ads campaign if they don’t need to push results immediately but instead want to grow their inbound leads and sales results over time. With a little patience and conscientious website development & maintenance, Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. will start to visibly deliver your website to people searching your site’s keywords and phrases. This process may only take several months or a year to start showing impressive results!

Your site’s organic ranking will get higher and higher as your content quality improves and more people reach your site through searches and link referrals.

Content Relevancy and User Experience

The ticket to high organic search engine ranking is the situational and contextual relevancy of your site’s content to an established industry or the specific needs of a target market. Another critical factor is the quality of user experience (UX). The time people spend on your website; how they interact with it and download information can affect search ranking considerably.

Ask yourself these crucial UX questions: Do people who search for your product & service expertise get rewarded when they land on your website? Just how authoritative is your site’s content when judged by an objective marketplace? How well do your competitors’ sites stack up against yours? Are you envious of competition websites? How current is your information? How quickly do you respond to the market with updated content about technology changes or new trends? Do you have an active blog with videos, downloadable content and easy contact forms?

You know what the answers to the above questions should be. All you need is some focused dedication and your website will generate the inbound leads your company needs to keep growing.

High organic search engine performance is reserved for the businesses that take their websites seriously and continually maintain them. It’s really that simple.

The post Organic SEO in 2018 appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

You need to have your own name and hopefully links on other great websites, and we’re not talking about social media pages. We’re talking about your credentials, independently validated and promoted by respected organizations and companies.

For example, a custom builder of a featured home in an architectural magazine’s website is contacted directly by a wealthy prospect looking for artisans capable of creating similar features in her dream home. A link to the builder’s website further demonstrates to the prospect that she’s found the right construction partner.

Build up the flanks to bolster your online marketing campaigns!

I had the recent experience of noticing a slowdown of new business leads. On that very day I received an email from someone who found me through her online research. I was first found by this person on my faculty page through my affiliation with Plymouth State University. She had to read through my CV before finding my business name and then Google searching for my website, which further demonstrated our professional work. It’s a nice new opportunity for my business and we have a kick off meeting scheduled very soon.

Believe it or not, there are people who research and thoroughly read things on the internet, and take what they read seriously. If you’ve been written about on a site with much higher traffic than your own, well, that’s good right? Then get your name out there in some juicy, high traffic places like universities, respected media outlets, trade associations, established customers and the like.

Hitch your star to some high up wagons and make sure your own website experience is great when people link off the affiliate site to yours.

Specialize to better affiliate.

Developing a niche or sub-specialty in a specific industry is a great way to affiliate your brand name nationally or globally with industry leaders. People from every business category are always looking for the best quality, or that perfect-fit vendor. So I’ll close with one more example.

A local promotions company I’m familiar with took themselves out of the advertising specialties (commodity) business and positioned the brand in a couple of niche industries that happen to be easily penetrable. The product focus is very specific and now they are known nationally as leaders in this field, even though any of their thousands of competitors could readily produce the same products. Thanks to their affiliations in these industries, they are the nationally recommended suppliers and their corporate sales soar above their generalist local competitors.

If you’re really great at something, team up with the people, businesses and other organizations that you can help most. Then work reciprocally in your affiliation links to help users of your products and services find the very best of what they’re searching for.

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