Search & Marketing articles

I know I know: Content is king! You’re already sick to the back-teeth of hearing it.
 You’ve made your content, you know your target audience—you just want to build some links and get some darn traffic to that content, am I right? 

Not to rain on your parade, but what if your content really is trash?
 Will anyone actually link to it? If it is subpar, then probably not, and trying to build links to it will be a colossal waste of time....

Businesses have more options today in terms of how they get their goods and services out to customers: strictly brick-and-mortar, 100% online, or a combination of the two. Because of this, web design isn’t necessarily as straightforward as we’d like it to be. Of course, there will always be certain best practices to abide by—abundant white space; responsive and mobile-first design; easy-to-find CTAs; streamlined user flow; consistent...

Including high quality blogs and other forms of useful, interesting content is a great way to boost SEO and encourage repeat visits to a website. However, with everyone playing the same game, getting visitors flowing to a new site can still be touch and go — even if you do everything right. Increasingly, targeted advertising on Google and social media helps bring new eyes to every lovingly crafted website, and companies relying purely...

Let’s not beat around the bush, local SEO is hard. If you represent a business in a large city and you’re aiming for a top 3 maps business listing (the Snack Pack), then it’s even harder. You can spend many stressful hours tailoring every little aspect of your site, trying to achieve this and lose sanity along the way wondering where you’ve gone wrong. It can be a very lonely place. An important thing to do to retain your sanity is to be realistic...

Looking to boost your search rankings? While nothing can help you reach an audience better than great content, there are simple habits that can help you boost search ranking and provide valuable information for users. And it doesn’t require a complete website overhaul or hiring an SEO expert. Here are three hacks to help you boost your website ranking and help more users find your website content. 1. Use Video and Transcription You might...

It’s been three years since Google spent $25 million on the rights to the .app domain. Finally, the company is making this top-level domain available for purchase. Early access ended May 8th. And the domain is now up for public purchase. Why is this so important? For obvious reasons, .app will be ideal for all app developers. The .app domain allows for new domain names that might have previously been taken, as well as makes it easier to remember....

The popularity of video content has increased dramatically over the last few years and it’s easy to see why; videos are engaging for all age groups which also makes them an important marketing tool. Businesses have developed dedicated video marketing strategies which generate more leads and boost sales. Video content is also being used by these same businesses to build a better brand experience and stand out from rest of the competition....

Email remains a resilient form of communication for marketers, despite the myriad of other communication platforms available today. Most people check their emails at least once a day, and spam now has a hard time slipping through the net. What’s more, email newsletters from businesses are a part of everyday life and if someone has subscribed to your list, the chances are they’ll have at least some interest in what you have to say. Having...

Not keeping track of your website’s metrics, or doing it but not taking action based on what you find, is more or less equal to walking around in pitch darkness hoping to somehow reach your destination: both are possible but highly unlikely. But which metrics should you pay special attention to? Some of them you’ve probably heard about hundreds of times as they tend to crop up in every self-respecting webmaster’s watch list. There are,...

Whenever someone asks, “How can I increase traffic to my website?” the answer is invariably, “Regularly post new content.” You could be alone in the forest where the proverbial tree fell when you ask this question, and you’d probably get the same answer from a passing bear. The bear might even offer you a course on making website content for only $49.95 USD, involving three easy web seminars. People keep saying that your company blog...

Once upon a time, the most Siri had to deal with was a few offensive remarks or sexually explicit requests. We probably all did it at least once. But in just a few short years, voice search has exploded to become a serious contender against traditional, text-based search. Microsoft’s Cortana has over 100 million monthly users, 40% of adults talk to their phones every day, and it’s predicted that half of all searches will be done vocally by...

Web surveys are important tools that websites and businesses can use to gauge important feedback from their site visitors and customers. Web surveys are also somewhat unsung elements of a site because their role is primarily to collect data instead of being a main feature. In e-commerce, and in any business really, determining what your customers want is largely based on directly asking them. Plus, doing so will also give you amazing insight...

Content is design, and our content is full of clickbait, these days. Sadly, there are many sites that are still using this technique to draw traffic to their pages. That should bother you. At the very least least, the recent decision by Facebook to update their algorithm such that it can filter out the sensational content should be a wake-up call. This was not their first backlash at such content. A 2014 update of their algorithm had the same purpose....

Marketing is a waste of time. At least that’s how it feels for many designers. They’re not getting enough traffic, clients or sales. In fact, everything about getting customers feels like a slog. It feels like they’re spinning their wheels. Maybe you can relate. Marketing is tough when you don’t feel you know what you’re doing. Which is exactly why so many designers are unsure about what to say, who to say it to or when. No wonder we...