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There is nothing more frustrating than navigating a website with a poor load speed or inadequate performance. Every aspect of our daily lives is fast paced, and a rapid, effortless user experience is essential to stay ahead in the business world of today.  

A website’s load speed is crucial to your online presence, conversion rates and even sales and it has a major impression on SEO rankings. All top website design companies will tell you that slow websites all have low conversion rates, high bounce back rates and unimpressive amounts of visits per page.

For your website to lead your digital presence, you need to avoid this at all costs:

1. First impressions always count

Your website speed is the first impression you will make. It is vital that your customers (or readers) make a positive instant judgement about your business. In your customers’ minds, you are efficient, trustworthy and confident if your website proves to be professional and reliable.

2. Your Users’ experience

One of the few ways you can set your website apart from others is through your users’ experience. With an efficient website load speed, this can be achieved by giving your visitors what they want and giving it to them quickly.

3.  Website speed effects your Google ranking

Google takes website speed into account when ranking websites with a very small ‘signal’. This means that the average website won’t see much change but if your website lags, you will suffer. If your server is slower than two seconds, the chances that Google will pick up your content (or any other relevant changes) are slim and this could be harmful to your ranking.  

4. Your site’s speed impact on paid searching

Google views a slow website’s speed as a poor user experience which in turn, brings down your quality score. When it comes to pay per click advertising (PPC), paying the most affordable rate for your keyword bidding is determined by your quality score. In paid media terms, your quality score is determined on how relevant Google finds your website’s landing page to a search term.

Your quality score determines what your cost per click is and your average position on the Search Engine Results Page. With a slow website speed or quality score, it will be hard for your website to show up in the top positions on the Search Engine Results Page. Your ranking also depends on how competitive the keywords are.

At WSI New Media, we will help you to benchmark your website and to improve it. We will analyze your website’s performance, eliminate all unnecessary elements ‘weighing’ it down and, optimize your website to ensure that you have the best and most efficient website speed to stay ahead of your game.

Contact us today for more information.

We all know we need to select appropriate keywords to make our SEO strategies effective. There’s nothing new about that. However, you may not be using keywords to their fullest potential and, therefore, your website or blog may be lagging behind as a result. The problem with most keywords is that they tend to be generic and broad. Thousands of other websites will be using these short-tail keywords, and this means greater competition. If you rely only on short-tail keywords, you will be just one of many competitors, all fighting for attention from the same readers and possibly getting lost in the process.

The solution to reducing competition in this arena is to get more specific. This involves using long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords enable you to tailor search items specific to your business, as opposed to those that would be common across your industry.

For example, say you operate  a heating and air conditioning business in the Greensboro area, and you specialize in heat pump installations. If you use a keyword like “heating services,” you are unlikely to get the specific search engine hits you need. If you extend it to something like “heat pump installer,” you’re being more specific and, in so doing, narrowing your offering. The result is that your website is more likely to come up in search results. If you go even further and create a keyword like “heat pump installer Greensboro,” you have now created a long-tail keyword that is especially likely to bring your website up near the top of the search results.

What this means is that you’ve reduced your search competition by a pretty respectable order of magnitude. If people in your area want your services, they are not likely to type in a generic search phrase that brings up results from elsewhere in the state or possibly from around the country – depending on which of your colleagues in other towns are putting more into their SEO and PPC strategies. Somebody searching for a heating technician in Greensboro is likely to be specific in their search. So, you’ve given yourself a competitive edge.

What this really comes down to is focusing on your unique selling point (USP).  This is an old idea in marketing. The concept of the long-tail keyword takes the USP into the digital realm, enabling you to differentiate yourself from your hordes of competitors. It requires you to think deeper about your business and refine your offerings, an effort that is sure to be rewarded with higher search engine rankings .

Contact New Media Marketing to assist you in creating a winning SEO strategy.

Major holidays have long been used effectively as pillars around which to structure powerful marketing campaigns. Christmas, Easter, Halloween, July 4th – these are all obvious sales boosters. In the world of social media, however, there are many more notable days you can use to boost your brand and increase sales. Almost every day there is some lesser-known quasi-holiday that brings with it opportunities to stretch your brand, add a little personality, and up your profits. Here are just a handful that can really help you increase your profile on social media. Before you try to leverage any of them, remember to make sure that they can fit your business; never try to force anything.

• Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday

Grouped together, the days of the Thanksgiving weekend already make up a well-established bumper period for retail – and increasingly for other businesses too. The basic strategy with these days is to sell products at a large discount so as to increase the number of items sold and achieve economies of scale. Discount your goods strategically, calculating what you can afford to sell at a hugely reduced price and what you think will draw the most buyers. Post your discounts on social media and make sure that your value offering comes through clearly, bringing attention to the benefits of dealing with your business, as opposed to any others, during the crazy, Black Friday rush.

• International Coffee Day (September 29)

You don’t have to be directly involved in the making or selling of coffee to make use of this one. Coffee is pretty much the core ingredient of almost all social and business interactions. This is a perfect opportunity to invite prospective clients in for a free coffee, giving you the chance to make your actual offers. It doesn’t matter what you do – coffee goes with everything!

• National Friendship Day (1st Sunday in August)

Friend referrals are an old marketing tactic. This day offers a great opportunity to have a little fun with them. Offer discounts or contest entries to everyone who brings or refers a friend to you, for example. Or you could devise a twofer deal – buy one get one free – if that’s what will work for your business. Think about your brand and how this will work, then get creative. It’s an opportunity for fun, uplifting, perhaps even emotive marketing campaigns.

There are many others: National Doughnut Day, National Flower Day, National Emoji Day, and many more! Look them up and create a roster, plan ahead and have fun with them. They are an excellent opportunity to engage your audience and give your sales that little shove they may need at certain times of the year.

WSI can help you develop a highly effective social media marketing strategy that works all year round. Contact us for help with your campaign.

 

 

With YouTube being the second largest search engine after Google, many business owners and marketers are focused on growing their influence on YouTube. But, how do you do that if you are starting from scratch with zero subscribers? In this blog, we will share some key tips on how to build your business’ YouTube presence.

• Tip No. 1: Get Started

Don’t wait until you have all the skills to create a Steven Spielburg-like video. The sooner you start uploading your own videos, the sooner people will have something to subscribe to. Remember that your first videos will probably be your worst videos. Everyone starts somewhere, but the important part is that you get started.

• Tip No. 2: Tell People About Your Channel

The first people you will want to alert are your friends, family, clients, and employees. Consider a YouTube launch campaign where you send out an email newsletter to your database announcing your YouTube channel and your latest blogs. Be sure to add the YouTube logo to your website and other social media profiles.

• Tip No. 3: Create Compelling Content

As you start creating videos, gaining subscribers, and interacting with them, you will learn what type of content elicits the most responses and engagement from your audience.

• Tip No.4: Share Your Content

Every time you post a video, you need to make sure it is reaching as many people as possible. Share your YouTube on Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, and LinkedIn. Also, create a blog post with an introduction to the video and host the videos on your website.

• Tip No. 5: Optimize Your Videos

Just like you optimize your blogs with keywords and optimize images with keywords in your ALT tags, you need to focus on optimizing your YouTube videos as well. Find smart ways to incorporate the keywords your business is targeting into the title and the description of the video. At the end of videos, include a call to action for viewers to subscribe to your channel.

• Tip No. 6: Create a Content Calendar

Once you have gotten used to video creation, plan a content calendar so that you regularly film and upload videos. Consider filming interviews with key people at your company, product assembly demonstrations, FAQs or anything else that may be valuable to your viewers.

Need help with your SEO optimization and social media marketing? Then get in touch with WSI New Media Marketing, a local SEO company in Greensboro.

So, you are considering getting in touch with a few website design companies to request quotes on installing a chatbot on your company website. The question is, are customer service chatbots really worth the investment? We investigate below: 

• What Are Chatbots?

Chatbots are essentially artificial intelligence software. They are created to be able to simulate a conversation with a customer on your website or mobile app. They can be programmed to provide answers to frequently asked questions, or direct customers to specific pages on your website depending on what they are looking for. 

• The Benefits of Chatbots 

Chatbots can save you quite a bit of time and money in the long run, especially considering that you probably will not have to employ as many customer service agents to deal with customer queries and complaints. Chatbots also help your business to seem super responsive to customer needs, and this can assist in building brand loyalty and trust. 

Chatbots will ultimately lead to improved customer satisfaction and may also help to cut down on human error. Plus, you can always count on a chatbot to be in a good mood – no need to worry about a grumpy employee giving a dissatisfied customer an attitude and losing them as a result!

In our current day and age where instant gratification is a must and an always-on approach to doing business is expected, there is no denying the value of being able to get a quick response from an intelligent chatbot when you are looking for answers. In short, a chatbot is definitely worth the initial investment cost!  

If you have decided that a chatbot is the right decision for your company, you may be on the lookout for website design companies for small businesses that can assist you in creating and installing one at a budget-friendly price. Get in touch with New Media Marketing! We specialize in chatbots and website design. And, we are known for being one of the most reputable responsive website design companies out there. We look forward to helping you boost your business! 

 

If you ever needed a reason to embrace mobile marketing with open arms, Google’s new mobile-first indexing is it! Below, we explain what this type of indexing actually is and what it means for your company’s website going forward. 

• Mobile-First Indexing 

In December of last year, Google made a big announcement that detailed how over half of the pages shown in search results globally are from mobile-first indexing. In other words, the vast majority of the pages that you visit from a Google search are based on how Google crawled and indexed that content based on the mobile version of that page.

• What Does This Mean for My Business? 

Ultimately, what it means is that if you are not paying attention to mobile marketing and making doubly sure that your company website is mobile-friendly, you are likely losing out on half the traffic that you could be getting to your site if you were. 

In order to maximize your mobile marketing and SEO going forward, you should keep the following guidelines in mind:

• • Your mobile site should contain the same content as your desktop site. It is not recommended trimming your content for your mobile site. 
  • Structured data should be present on both versions of your site.
  • You should include metadata on both versions of your site. Meta titles and meta descriptions, in particular, are of the utmost importance. 
  • Make sure that all images have alt tags on both versions of your website. 

Need help with mobile marketing, mobile app marketing, and mobile content marketing? When it comes to expert mobile marketing services, you cannot go wrong with New Media Marketing! For more information on how we can aid you in improving your Google rankings, do not hesitate to get in touch with our team.

Over half of all vacationers and even more business travelers are using mobile apps to plan and book their trips. Whether you are renting out rooms in a B&B or trying to sell tour packages, the question is not whether you need to ramp up your mobile strategy, but rather how you are going to do it. Here is a brief guide to mobile marketing for travel companies:

• A Mobile Friendly Website Is Only the Start

If your website is not easy to navigate on any of the mobile devices, then you are undoubtedly losing out on major sales. Not only are websites that haven’t been optimized for mobile searches penalized in Google, but your potential customers need to be able to easily click through your room options, travel plans, submit an inquiry and get a quote – all from their tablet, phone or desktop computer.

• Get Your Mobile App Ready

Many travel purchases occur in mobile apps as opposed to on websites. Instead of forcing a customer to email your reception desk to make a booking, make sure you have a mobile app where they can book air travel or make a hotel reservation directly in the app.

• Make Customization A Priority

In the past, travel companies would market their packages to different target audiences. Today’s travelers, however, want to be their own travel agents. Your website, mobile app and the communication you send to potential customers need to be personalized according to their travel preferences. Travelers have a do-it-yourself approach to travel bookings and they tailor their trips themselves from start to finish, so be sure to have easy-to-use drop-down menus where they can select their own travel dates, room preferences, tour options, or anything else your company offers.

• Offer Add-Ons That the Customer Would Be Interested In

If you are selling safari packages or shore excursions, offer relevant products and extra services as custom add-ons. You could, for example, offer an expert tour guide, pet-friendly dining options, trips to nearby heritage sites, and so forth as custom add-ons, so that the customer can further tailor their experience.

• Localization

Your website and mobile app should allow people to save local information for later viewing. Offer maps, city guides, and options for the customer to save their favorite spots for later in a ‘Travel Bucket List’ feature, for example.

WSI New Media Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Greensboro, North Carolina that specializes in mobile marketing services. Contact us to help you tailor your digital marketing campaigns in the travel industry.

Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google? People increasingly want to consume content in more digestible formats so if you’re not already including YouTube as a part of your social media marketing strategy, you’re missing out on connecting with a large part of your target audience.

Many times, people assume that a good or quirky video will go viral and bring them tonnes of traffic. More often than not, they miss the mark. Here are a few tips to help you on your journey of creating a successful YouTube marketing campaign:

1. Tell a story

For a video to go viral, you need to focus on telling a story, not making a sale. People are tired of being ‘sold to’ and they actively avoid content that is centered around marketing messages and sales speak. Tell a story that entertains your audience as well as speaks to their needs or desires.

2. Make every second count

Most people will never make it to the end of a video they start watching and research shows that the majority of people click away in under 10 seconds. One way to make sure your audience keeps watching after the first few seconds is to make every second count. Be upfront about what your video is about and spark the viewer’s curiosity by asking questions that get them thinking.

3. Make it FUN

Dull elevator pitches and videos filled with sales speak don’t spread. Your audience wants to be entertained and engaged. They want to be educated and enlightened. People click on videos because they want to escape from the minutiae so make sure your video is worth their while. Even a B2B audience appreciates humor, so keep it light and fun.

4. Use SEO principles

You want your video to come up in search results when people type in relevant keywords, so include the keywords in the title of your video and your video description. Also include links back to your website for more information.

5. Consider distribution

Where will you be posting your video besides YouTube? Share your video on all your social media profiles, your website, and embed it into an email newsletter.

Do you need help with your social media marketing strategy? Then contact WSI New Media Marketing today.

Any company’s marketing budget is a closely monitored part of their business expenses. Whether you are a large company with a lot of leeway in terms of marketing or whether you are a young, small business that is looking to get your name out there, digital marketing should be a crucial part of your marketing spend.

Year-on-year annual growth starts with investing in the right tools and vehicles to boost sales. Product innovations, production optimization, and distribution channels do play a big role in making and saving money. But, few things can increase your turnaround as effectively as a well-thought-out and executed digital marketing plan. If you are not already convinced that you should go digital with your marketing strategy this New Year, then here are a few other important factors to keep in mind:

• Quick-To-Market Solutions

With digital marketing, you can take advantage of unplanned opportunities in your industry. While traditional, above-the-line marketing has its advantages, consider the costly consequences of having stacks of brochures and print ads that are no longer relevant. Or the considerable costs of investing in a television advertisement production only to learn that you could have invested in a much more timely and relevant campaign once it has aired. With social media marketing, content marketing, online communities, and mobile media marketing, you can get your message to the right people at the right time at a fraction of the cost.

• Targeting the Right People for Less Money

Search Engine Optimization is one of the best ways to make sure that Google users are able to find the products and services they are looking for online. Even if you are in a particularly competitive industry, experienced digital media consultants can refine the keywords that you are using to include specific geographies and long tail keywords that will appeal to a hot lead at the right place and at the right time.

• Measurable Results

With digital marketing, everything can be tracked and measured. If you have clear goals, then a digital marketing consultant will be able to set up analytics and provide reports showing you how you are progressing in achieving these goals. Instead of assuming that your phone is ringing as a result of the billboard space you have purchased, website analytics and Click Through Rates can show you exactly how your digital marketing strategy is performing and how you can improve on it.

WSI New Media Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency and is one of the top social media agencies around. We will help you achieve your business goals with a range of digital marketing solutions. Book a consultation with us today.

Are you sabotaging your brand’s internet marketing strategy without even knowing it? For many SMBs who don’t have the resources needed to hire someone for the job, the answer can be yes. SEO and content marketing are often left to an existing team who may lack the necessary skills to create content that attracts visitors to your website – particularly visitors who will convert to long-term, loyal customers.

If this sounds like your company’s current situation, read on to discover what some of the most common mistakes are, and how you can deal with them.

Reimagine Your Internet Marketing Strategy

Inbound marketing is one of the most effective internet marketing strategies available, but doing it right is no easy feat. If you make some improvements aimed at avoiding these mistakes you, too, can be a force of nature in the world of internet marketing.

Mistake #1: Your Content’s Lacking

Lead nurturing content is key to a successful internet marketing strategy. Churning out irrelevant blog posts will not work to gain you the traffic you need. Better content will get results, but just what is “better” content? To start, it’s original, has great headlines, and offers something of value to the people reading it. To boost SEO rankings and generate leads, you need to create a high-quality site that Google rewards with a higher ranking.

Mistake #2: Your Content’s Not Providing Answers

People use search engines to find the solution to a problem they have. It’s the search engine’s job to deliver that answer to them. If you’re writing great content, your high-ranking site will be one of the first a search engine like Google directs readers to. Once they arrive at your site, your blog posts, infographics, videos, and other marketing content must offer them something of value. Keep in mind that people want that value delivered quickly. Make your content easy to scan and be sure it’s clear what action the reader needs to take to get the help they need.

Mistake #3: Your Website’s Not Equipped to Convert

Many businesses do a great job with their websites and see excellent returns when it comes to those who visit. Many, though, also fail to provide visitors with what they are seeking. Websites that are difficult to navigate, don’t accurately reflect what you have to offer, and do not deliver a strong value proposition tend to leave customers wondering, “What’s here for me?” Don’t let a poorly designed website get in the way of reaching those people who could benefit from your product or service most.

Mistake #4: Your Website’s Not Optimized for Mobile

Today, a flawless responsive website design is absolutely required. Most people – 80% – now use their mobile devices for searches, and if your website does not offer a fantastic user experience on their smart phone or tablet, you can significantly damage your bottom line. Your site should be easy to navigate, offering visitors a superior experience no matter how they access it.