Tag Archive for: seo

E-Commerce Marketing Strategy: Where to Start

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With the recent lift of the nation-wide shut down, the country is slowly opening up on a state by state basis, but the majority of businesses still remain physically closed. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the situation, you may be considering, or have already entered into the e-commerce space.

There is an increasing number of people online and numbers will most likely continue to grow as the year goes on. In light of this growing audience, many businesses are boosting digital ad spend and their online presence in general. Making the e-commerce space even more crowded than before. This can be intimidating for those just getting started, which is why Onimod Global is here with helpful tips for getting your e-commerce marketing strategy started. 

Step 1: Choose Your E-Commerce Software 

There are endless e-commerce platforms out there to choose from. When you’re comparing software, it can be hard to tell how seemingly minor differences in features can have a major impact on overall performance, but they can. When it comes down to it, what’s best for you will depend on a variety of factors, such as the industry you’re in, the size of your inventory, etc. We’re going to talk about the three most popular e-commerce software platforms and give pros and cons to each, but there are many online articles that discuss others and go into greater detail on each. 

BigCommerce: Ideal for larger retail brands. Also a good choice for those who have a brick and mortar store and are looking to expand operations. The interface is user-friendly and allows you to customize your shop without having to know code by using templates in design your store. 

Pros:

  • Excels with multi-channel selling
  • User-friendly 
  • Scalable 
  • Variety of quality themes 
  • Comprehensive abandoned cart feature 

Cons: 

  • Can get pricey 
  • No 1-click selling/up-sells 
  • Cart abandonment feature isn’t included in entry plan

Shopify: If you plan to drop ship, rely on Facebook Ads, or Instagram marketing, this may be the best choice. Two big downsides are weak SEO and rigid URL structure, meaning it’s not as user-friendly. You can change some sections of it, but not others. 

Pros:

  • Quick load time
  • Easy set up
  • Many certified partners 
  • 1-click selling 
  • Allow multiple channel and social selling 

Cons:

  • Poor SEO 
  • Unable to customize checkout process
  • Apps can get costly
  • A developer is needed for advanced features 

3dcart: Has many practical features, such as unlimited storage, no transaction fees, and advanced shipping solutions. The main downside is it’s not for beginners. Set up and customization takes a lot of time to understand and get used to. 

Pros:

  • A nice blog feature 
  • Supports any integrations you would need 
  • Good business user management tools (email, QuickBooks, inventory_

Cons:

  • Dated templates 
  • Lacks customer support 
  • Not beginner-friendly

Step 2: Optimize Your Site for Search and Mobile

Online shoppers are constantly bombarded with advertisements, promotions, product options, etc. This means when they do make it to a site, they’re not going to wait around for a slow performing site because they can easily go somewhere else.  46% of shoppers have said they’ll never return to a slow website. Going even further, Google reported that for every one second delay in page load time, conversions can fall up to 20%. While there can be many causes of a slow site, these are the most common: 

  1. Heavy Page Image: Optimizing images will allow the pages on your website to receive bytes faster, and this makes your page more efficient with a faster load time.
  2. Large Files: We highly recommend a JavaScript compression or a minimization tool to help decrease your download size.
  3. Plug-Ins: Enabling caching with a plug-in allows pages on your site significantly faster. This saves you copies of pages with the same request, which allows your server load in a much more efficient manner.

It may be beneficial to get a professional digital audit done to identify any areas your site might be lacking and to get help with finding the right solution. 

Step 3: Identify Your Niche 

E-commerce sites with hundreds of products, dozens of categories, and no real focus rarely find success, at least not when they’re just starting out. Unless you have a massive budget, you have to find a niche to be profitable. Choosing your niche is one of, if not the most important step of starting your online store. You can start this process by researching different niches and identifying successful companies in that space. You don’t want to pick an overly crowded area, but you don’t want to pick a space with no competition either. This can indicate there’s no market there. The more specific you get, the less competition you’re likely to face and also gives the benefit of having shoulder niches. These are spaces that are similar to you, but not identical. This gives you the opportunity to work with other businesses in those niches to cross-promote, become an affiliate, and grow your customer base. 

Step 4: Utilize Social and Content Marketing

As we mentioned before, people are online now more than ever. Not only are they shopping, but they’re also spending time on social platforms. If you haven’t read last week’s blog, we go into greater detail on social media strategy, but for now we’ll just go over some general tips: 

  • Not every social network is the right one. E-commerce sites are highly visual, so choose social platforms that are image focused and give you the opportunity to show off your products, such as Instagram and Facebook. 
  • Be helpful. Give customers credible, detailed information about the things they need. Make it clear you’re there to help them. 
  • Be active. It’s important to let customers know solutions are available whenever, wherever, even if that means in the late evening or early morning. 

As far as content marketing goes, some might think it’s not needed if you’re just selling products online. Actually, content is extremely valuable for e-commerce sites. Content is one of the number one contributions of SEO, and when your business is strictly digital, SEO is essential. Here are some tips for using content to market your store: 

  • Write relevant blogs. 
  • Create guest posts for external websites. 
  • Publish product-related videos on YouTube. 
  • Include a keyword-driven FAQ section. 
  • Optimize product page copy. 

Final Thoughts

Even if you’re only shifting to e-commerce due to the pandemic, it can have great benefits for your overall business long after it’s over. E-commerce businesses have several marketing tools at their disposal. Using digital and inbound marketing just the right way, you can create campaigns that are designed to help your online store attract customers and grow better.

If you find yourself struggling with marketing in any area, you may want to consider outsourcing for your digital marketing needs. At Onimod Global we are experts in everything from SEM, social media marketing, Google shopping advertising, and more.

Learn more about what we do, take a look at how we’ve helped other brands, and become a client today!

Tips for Making Your Content Stand Out

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Right now, everyone is shifting the focus of their content to COVID-19. Rightfully so, as it’s impacting everyone and everything around the world. People are looking for answers and businesses feel compelled to respond. This creates a new dilemma, however. The “market” of coronavirus content is now heavily saturated. Consumers are constantly being bombarded with new articles and updates around the situation everyday. From this arises the question for many marketers: Should I continue to create content around the same thing everyone else is?

This is a difficult issue and there’s no simple, one-size-fits-all answer. We do know that content is still essential for long-term SEO success and in a time like this, you don’t want to fall silent. The key is finding a balance between creating relevant content but also standing out among the masses. Here are some tips for doing that: 

1. Focus on your audience’s current and most pressing needs. 

Content marketing is really just about helping your audience solve their problems. Currently, everyone is facing unprecedented challenges. There are no pre-existing rules or guidelines for businesses in this situation, so we have all been continually adapting and shifting our strategies accordingly. Marketers need to closely monitor their audience members, what they’re asking, and what they need. 

Your main focus should ultimately be creating content that helps your current and potential customers. Every time you publish a piece of content, ask yourself “is this helping my customers?” If the answer is no, and you’re just putting out content for the purpose of putting out content, it’s not worth it. 

2. Incorporate reliable research and accurate data. 

There is always massive amounts of inaccurate information circulating around the internet. When sharing or creating content, make sure it’s based on real research. Users want science and data to help them make the best decision, especially during times like these. Having solid evidence that supports your claim is extremely important. 

3. Don’t ask for anything in return. 

The biggest mistake a brand can make right now is appearing like they are trying to capitalize on the pandemic. Strive to deliver value without asking for anything in return. Instead of focusing on promoting your products or services, your main priority should be bringing value to users. 

4. Continue to publish regular content. 

Businesses are concerned that posting regular content will make them come across as insensitive or tone-deaf. While you should be careful with what you’re posting, continuing with regularly scheduled content is important for multiple reasons. The first is that, during this stressful and chaotic time, it’s nice to have tid bits of normalcy or light-heartedness. As long as the content is still sensitive to the current situation, it’s more than ok if it’s not addressing or focusing on the pandemic. The second reason being that SEO is still extremely important, and content is key for SEO success. If you delay or stop altogether publishing content, you’re only hurting yourself. 

Final Thoughts 

Right now, times are strange. Everyone is constantly searching for answers, but comfort as well. Making yourself stand out in an extremely saturated market is difficult, but not impossible. The key is finding balance between relevancy and uniqueness, while still providing value to users. Accomplishing this isn’t easy, but we can help. At Onimod Global we’re experts in social media, SEO, and content marketing. We help brands connect with their customers where and when they need them the most. Take a look at how we’ve helped other companies, and learn more about what we can do for you. 

Improving Your SEO Strategy During COVID-19

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A recent survey by Conductor revealed that due to COVID-19 and the extension of the social distancing guidelines, many marketers anticipate a decrease in their annual marketing budget, but still expect goals to remain the same. How are they expecting to reach their goals with a smaller budget? Shifting their focus to SEO. 

Regardless of the status of the economy, people are still going to be making purchases, and more people are shopping online than ever before. Why wouldn’t you want your brand top of mind when users are making buying decisions? 

Here are 4 tips to improve your SEO strategy during this uncertain time. 

1. Build Trust with Your Content 

Many brands are offering deals and promotions to customers once the pandemic has passed and the world starts to go back to normal. Forrester released a report that found that consumers are doubtful that companies will follow through on the promises they make during this time. In a time of crisis, trust is more important than ever. With so much false information and uncertainty circulating, it’s essential to separate yourself as a brand that’s reputable. 

Another Conductor study reported that consumers find brands that deliver educational content are much more trustworthy than those that don’t. Right now, consumers are looking for answers to their questions from brands they trust. This isn’t the time for salesy content. Focus on creating content that brings real value to your audience. 

2. Make Necessary Changes to Current Campaigns 

If you had any campaigns active before the situation of the world changed, make sure to perform an audit on it and make any necessary changes. Be sure to review any social posts or content pieces you had scheduled out ahead of time as well. You don’t want to come across as insensitive or tone-deaf to the situation. 

SEO is much more than just technical efforts, and this is one of them. You want to be the voice of different customers across the organization. During times like these marketers need to have a heightened awareness of customer sensitivity. Even though it’s difficult to suspend a campaign that a lot of time and resources went into creating, it could be more harmful to your brand in the long run if you keep it running. For example, Corona received harsh backlash via social media when they went through with launching their Coming Ashore Soon campaign for its new seltzer line. 

3. Constantly Manage Your Reputation 

Managing your web presence during times of crisis is another crucial element of gaining and maintaining the trust of customers. Dated or inaccurate information can confuse or even hurt your audience, making you look bad in the process. Here are some tips for managing your online reputation during this time: 

 

  • Update any online listings or hours. Review your listings on all search engines, social media, review sites, and any other platform you may be on. Make sure your listings are updated with any changed hours, service suspensions, or revised contact information for any departments or location.
  • Monitor the status of COVID-19 and respond with empathy. Even in times of crisis, consumers are talking about business online. If you don’t already have one in place, it’s crucial to implement a comprehensive review and response strategy. Adjust your response technique as needed, remembering to be as sensitive and transparent as possible during this time. Ignoring comments and reviews puts your credibility and brand trust at great risk during a time of crisis.
  • Engage with customers across all platforms. Businesses are receiving an influx of questions on all levels across all platforms. Prepare to answer these questions on Google My Business, social, and any other platform with timely and accurate information. You might even want to consider setting up a FAQ on your website or third-party directories if you’re getting many similar inquiries. 
  • Monitor the Google Search Console. Web traffic, especially organic, is a big indicator of where demand for your product or services has shifted. Spikes or declines in traffic may show you what information is most important to your audience and help you decide your response strategy. 

 

Improve Your Security Efforts 

Hackers are trying to take advantage of the current situation and those that are in need. Many are using malicious malware to promote discounts, giveaways, etc. Some hackers are even using branding of trusted companies for phishing attacks, including the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now that many people are working from home, the threat becomes even greater. From a business perspective, here’s what you can do to ensure your website’s security: 

  • Monitor log files for crawl errors. 
  • Implement Single Sign On. 
  • Implement HTTPS. 
  • Update any plugins or apps being used. 

Final Thoughts 

Everyone is looking for answers right now. If you can position yourself at the top of a Google SERP with credible information, it can have endless benefits, even after the pandemic is over. Trust is what consumers want and need right now. SEO is a needed investment to build that trust. 

At Onimod Global we understand how vital SEO can be. Search engine optimization is our core attribute and a pillar of our strategy. We develop  organic search engine optimization campaigns that deliver increases in organic traffic through an increase in natural rankings on major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. We are a trusted Google Partner and continually excel with their products. If you need assistance with SEO, or in any area of digital marketing, contact us today. 

Tips for Successfully Going Local with Digital Marketing

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With the current situation of the world, not many are traveling outside of their residing neighborhoods, or even have the ability to. Being able to market your business locally and digitally is now more important than ever. Even not in times of global pandemics local digital marketing is essential. It can increase your customer base, revenue, and overall competitive advantage. Here are 5 tips for successfully going local with your digital marketing strategy. 

1. Optimize Your Site for Mobile 

Today, this is important for any business, but for local businesses it’s even more essential. Users looking for local service or products are much more likely to do a search on a mobile device over a desktop. Having a mobile-optimized website ensures users won’t leave due to inconveniences. Google has even updated their mobile algorithm so that sites that aren’t mobile-friendly may not even fire in the search results. Some tips for optimizing your site include:

  • Simplifying your content and number of pages 
  • Choose a reliable web host
  • Avoid java and flash 
  • Ensure your page load time is low 
  • Redesign or eliminate pop-ups 
  • Utilizing Google Ad extensions 

2. Create Local Business Pages 

Create business pages on Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook, Bing, and Maps. These are the types of results that rank best when local searches are performed. They’re also the types of pages users will look for and trust when searching. It’s important to remember to consistently keep these accounts updated. You don’t want to just create these pages and forget them. Inactive pages can make users weary that you’re unreliable or even out of business. 

3. Encourage Reviews from Local Customers 

Once you have these pages created, you want to start driving reviews, recommendations, and ratings. Besides word-of-mouth recommendations, social proof is one of the most persuasive elements you can leverage when promoting your business. Rarely do customers leave reviews on their own, so you have to get proactive and ask. Some strategies to drive reviews include:

  • Send follow up emails: Following someone receiving your product or service, send an email inquiring if they would be willing to leave a review on your Facebook, Google My Business, Yelp, etc. 
  • Include a note in the package you send your products in: Today, a handwritten note can mean a lot. Including one in your package that thanks the customer for their business and asks for a review is an effective way to get positive responses.
  • Remind followers on social media: Remind your followers to review your products or service. You only want to do this every so often because you don’t want to be overbearing or annoying. You don’t need to offer any incentives, just explain why reviews matter and why you’re asking for their help.

4. Utilize Locally Optimized Keywords 

To identify which keywords are successful, it takes some time and research. You have to test different keywords and combinations to determine which people use when searching for local businesses. Make sure you add the city or region names to your industry-relevant terms. This is an established method to generate localized search phrases. If you’re using paid search ads, you should use geo-targeting. This will limit where your ads are displayed to specified areas.

5. Connect with Other Local Businesses 

It can also be helpful to associate with other local and trusted businesses. Reach out to other businesses in your area that would find your relationship mutually beneficial. Explain that you can share each other’s business on social media, leave positive reviews for each other, and utilize backlinks. Backlinks are links from one website to a page on another website, and can be very beneficial from an SEO perspective. This can be accomplished through more than just other business’s sites. Consider  joining your local Chamber of Commerce and get listed on their online directories which include a link to your website. Another area of interest and value are .gov and .org. If your city’s website lists businesses by sector or service type make sure your business is listed. This will give your website added value. One thing to keep in mind is that you only want to utilize reliable sites for this. If you try to just get as many backlinks as possible, it can be detected and possibly get your site restricted. The key is gradually accumulating quality links. 

More from Onimod Global

To catch up on the latest digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.

The Keys to Successfully Marketing on Amazon

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Today’s consumers no longer use Amazon just to purchase products. 90% of consumers use Amazon to price check a product, 72% of consumers visit Amazon for product ideas, and 56% of consumers visit Amazon before any other site to start their product search. In 25 years, Amazon has grown exponentially. It sees over 2,000 new sellers every day. If that’s not enough, here are some other remarkable statistics:

Amazon can be very intimidating, but it’s no secret there’s immense revenue opportunity there. To be successful, sellers must create a marketing strategy that attracts users to their product pages, then converting them into customers.

If you’re struggling with, or new to Amazon here are 4 tips to better market and sell your products. 

1. Drive Ratings and Reviews 

Amazon was one of the first companies to put a review system on their site back in 1995. Rating and review sections are now a part of almost all e-commerce sites, and many business/service sites, and are an important factor for online consumers. Good reviews can fuel sales for a few days, but a bad review can impact sales for months. When it comes to selling products on Amazon, reviews are vital. Getting reviews can be tricky, especially authentic and positive ones. On average 90% of negative reviews are unsolicited, while 90% of positive reviews are. You have to find ways to invite people to participate in the discussion, without influencing exactly what they say. There are plenty of “black hat” strategies to acquire a massive amount of reviews and fast, but that can get you into trouble in the long run. There are plenty of other strategies that work and are within internet law guidelines, such as:

 

  • Send follow up emails. After a customer receives a product, send a follow up email to inquire if they would be willing to review the product on the Amazon listing page.
  • Include a note in the package you send your products in. Today, a handwritten note can mean a lot. Including one in your package that thanks the customer for their business and asks for a review is an effective way to get positive responses.
  • Remind people on social media. Remind your followers to review your products on Amazon. You only want to do this every so often because you don’t want to be overbearing or annoying. You don’t need to offer any incentives, just explain why reviews matter and why you’re asking for their help.

 

2. Optimize for Search

To ensure your products are seen by people, your listings need to be optimized for search. When your listings are optimized, your products show up higher in search results. Your goal is to show up as close to the top as possible when your target customer is searching for keywords that relate to your products. Here are some tips to help you optimize your products for search and increase your discoverability. 

  1. Create product titles that read naturally and reflect a handful of relevant keywords. 
  2. Use special characters (like | or — or ,) to make your title more readable.
  3. Place the most relevant, searched-for terms first, in an order that makes sense. 
  4. Take a look at what works for competitors. 

3. Utilize Videos

Videos engage users and can help increase rankings more than any other type of content. Creating videos that promote or educate users about you or your products can help boost Amazon sales. While you can’t post your videos directly to Amazon, you can share them across your social channels and on your site and then link viewers to the product listing. 

4. Be a Reliable Resource 

With hundreds of thousands of competitors on Amazon, you need to find ways to differentiate yourself from them. For this to be accomplished you have to leverage your brand as a reliable resource. There are a variety of ways to do this, but here are 4 steps to get started: 

 

  • Determine the value you can offer to others and start sharing it. Users are always searching for answers. If you have those answers, or any beneficial information, find ways to put that into forms of content that educates people and aligns with the passions or hobbies that they care about. Once you’ve found ways to create that content, set up a blog or news page on your website to share it. If you’re struggling with coming up with topics, start with answering frequently asked questions about your products, services, or industry.
  • Send traffic to your original content. Now that you have this valuable content, you have to work to send traffic to read it. You can do this by running paid ads on social platforms and search engines, targeting keyword opportunities to get the content to rank organically, and just sharing it on social directly. 
  • Capture email addresses and nurture leads. Every user that makes it as far as to read your content is a sales opportunity. Put the tools and automation in place to capture email addresses, and build content-focused email drips that continue educating leads and nurturing them down your funnel. 
  • Always include compelling CTA’s in all content. Make sure all of your content and ads have strong and clear call-to-actions. You never want users to be confused about what you ultimately want them to do. Include buttons, use bright and bold colors, and send those people directly to your product listing and brand page on Amazon. 

 

Conclusion

Amazon can seem like a beast, but with so much revenue potential, it’s not a platform you want to ignore. With the right strategy and supporting tactics, it doesn’t take much to be successful and start capturing consumers. If you find yourself struggling with marketing on Amazon, or any digital platform, you may want to consider outsourcing for your digital marketing needs. At Onimod Global we are experts in everything from SEM, social media marketing, Google shopping advertising, and more. 

Learn more about what we do, take a look at how we’ve helped other brands, and become a client today!

Tips to Reduce Your Bounce Rate

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If you’ve been struggling with increasing traffic to your site, acquire downloads, leads, clients, etc. it’s possible that it’s due to a high bounce rate. A high bounce rate is one of the most common conversion killers. If the majority of your users are abandoning your website on the first page, you have no chance to convert them to a subscriber or customer. 

There are many things that can cause a site to have a high bounce rate. If this is something you’re concerned about, learn more about bounce rate and the top 5 ways to reduce it. 

What is Bounce Rate?

A “bounce” is a single-page session on your site. In Google Analytics, bounce rate is a metric that measures the percentage of users that land on your site but do nothing on the page before leaving. It’s calculated by dividing all sessions, or the percentage of all sessions on your site in which users viewed only a single page and triggered only a single request to the Analytics server. In other words, it collects all sessions where a visitor only visited one page and divides it by all sessions. 

What is a “good” or “bad” bounce rate really depends on site and business goals. For example, if your home page is the gateway to the rest of your site and a high percentage of users are viewing only your home page, then you do not want your bounce rate to be high. On the other hand, if you have a single-page site like a blog, or offer other types of content for which single-page sessions are expected, then a high bounce rate is fine. There is a general rule of thumb that: 

  • 80%+ is very poor 
  • 70-80% is poor 
  • 50-70% is average 
  • 30-50% is excellent 
  • 20% or below is likely a tracking error that should be further looked into 

While these metrics are a good start, bounce rates do vary across industry and content, so it’s beneficial to do deeper research depending on your niche. If your bounce rate is higher than average it could be caused by many different factors, such as slow page load time, bad design, lacking clear-call-to-action, etc. 

5 Ways to Reduce Your Bounce Rate: 

1. Optimize Page Load Time, Especially for Mobile 

The most common cause of a high bounce rate is slow page load time. 47% of users expect a web page to load in two seconds or less. It doesn’t matter the quality of the page’s content if the user can’t read it, or even see it. This is even more true on mobile. According to Radware, a connection speed delay of just 500 milliseconds can result in an increase in “peak frustration” of more than 26%, and a decrease in engagement of 8%. Not only does slow page load time increase bounce rate, it can also cause you to slip in Google search rankings. There are endless amounts of free tools to test page load time. If you have problems with page load time you can reduce it by: 

  • Optimizing Caches: This ensures that your mobile browser uses local memory to cache resources in order to avoid unnecessary server requests. 
  • Minimize JavaScript and Style Sheets: This helps to reduce the overall bandwidth consumption and improve mobile caching.
  • Minimize Image Sizes: High resolution images are heavy and usually absorb more bandwidth and take longer to process. Keeping images under 100kb can help achieve the ideal page load time for your site.
  • Apply CSS3 and HTML5: This framework is lightweight and makes it easier for mobile web pages to load quickly.

2. Use Pop-Ups, Sidebar Widgets, and Promotions Sparingly 

It’s no secret that pretty much all users are annoyed by pop-ups. Most marketing experts advise against using pop-ups just because they usually lead to a higher bounce rate. Sometimes, well designed pop-ups can be beneficial for growing email lists quickly. If that’s the main goal of your site, then pop-ups can be valuable, but if you want to build a long-term site that generates a good amount of organic visitors, it’s best to limit pop-ups or avoid them all together. 

Some webpages are ideal vehicles for offering relevant content, offers, and other material. However, cramming the digital margins of your content with ads, offers, award emblems, etc. is a surefire way to overwhelm visitors, tempting them to bounce. If you want to highlight additional content from your sidebar, it should be done so in a way that offers value to the reader. For example, related article recommendations that expand upon the topic covered in a blog post is a great way to make your site “stickier” as well as provide genuinely valuable and useful content to your readers. Also, be sure to give users enough time to immerse themselves in the content before pouncing on them with promotions.

3. A/B Test Multiple Landing Pages 

It’s possible that your headline, call-to-action, or page design is just not working. This is why it’s so important to run A/B split tests to see how different factors perform. To run an A/B test, you need to create two different versions of one piece of content, with changes to a single variable. Then, you’ll show these two versions to two similarly sized audiences and analyze which one performed better over a specific period of time. It’s important to make sure you run the test long enough to gain accurate results. Once the test is complete you can see what performance best among your audience. You should never stop A/B testing, though. It’s best to continue to tweak different factors and create new pages to ensure your site is the best it can be. 

4. Improve Site Readability 

Another reason users may want to quickly leave your site is lack of readability. Readability is an essential part of user experience. You need to make sure that your content is easily readable on all devices. This isn’t just limited to font size and color, this also includes line spacing, margins, language style, tone, etc. Some ways to improve your site’s readability are by: 

  • Making headlines and subheadings big and bold
  • Using bullet points for lists or anything worth noting 
  • Including charts, images, screenshots, etc
  • Bolding keywords 

5. Utilize Images and Videos to Engage Users 

High quality images and videos are two of the most effective ways to engage users. Today, many websites use high-quality images as fullscreen backgrounds because they’ve proven to be effective. You can purchase professional photographs from various stock websites, but there are several sites that offer royalty-free images as well. You can use these images as fullscreen backgrounds, parallax backgrounds, background slides, or as inline images next to your call to actions. Videos are even more effective in grabbing users’ attention and engaging them. You can use animations, music, audio, narration, colors, and so many different forms of persuasion tools. You can create a very effective video presentation with a small budget by hiring a freelancer.

Contact Onimod Global 

Struggling to make your landing page convert or just need some digital marketing advice? Contact us! We are experts in all things digital marketing including SEM, Web Dev, Automation, Analytics, and much more. Learn more about what we do here, or keep up to date with all things digital marketing on our news page.

Infographic Tips Every Marketer Should Know

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Infographics are a great marketing tool, as they allow for easy communication of complex ideas in a visual way. Over the past few years, they’ve been forgotten due to the mass production of extremely low quality infographics strictly for link building. But infographics are not dead. When properly crafted, infographics, like other forms of visual content, are still highly effective at cutting through clutter and engaging online audiences. It was actually found that high-quality infographics are liked and shared three times more than any other type of content. As your goal is to provide value to your audience rather than generate link-bait, infographics are still highly effective as a content marketing tool.

Here are 5 important tips to keep in mind when creating and marketing a successful infographic. 

Determine Your Target Audience and Goal 

For an infographic to succeed, it needs to meet the needs of an audience. The first, and one of the most important, steps is identifying the audience you want to reach. Then determining their pain points, desires, etc. A common mistake made when creating an infographic is choosing a topic that’s popular in general, rather than specific to their audience. Infographics that gain the most attention and traffic are specific, relevant, targeted, and meet audiences where they want it most.

Next, determine what you’re trying to achieve with this piece of content. Where and how does it fit into your ultimate marketing goal? It’s important to be sure that an infographic is the best format to communicate your message. You don’t want to waste time on something that doesn’t fit into your larger strategy or miss out on a better solution.  

Chose a Compelling Title 

The headline of the infographic is extremely important. It needs to be compelling enough to grab readers’ attention, while priming them for the data they are about to digest. Clearly defining what the infographic will be communicating right at the beginning makes it easier to understand the rest of the graphic. You also want it to be simple. Titles that get too wordy may not keep someone’s attention long enough for them to make it through the rest of the content. It’s also very beneficial to try optimizing your title for SEO. Although infographics are technically images, they still contribute to the search relevance if part of a blog piece. If optimizing for search is part of your content strategy, we recommend including keywords in your title.

Stay Focused 

It’s best to keep infographics simple and focused on one main idea. It can be tempting to try to cram as much information as possible into the story. You don’t want your infographic to look like an attempt to randomly assemble as much data as possible. An infographic is most effective when it tells a strong and straightforward story that brings more clarity to a topic. 

It’s also important to establish a flow for your design. The reader’s eye should naturally go from one block of information to the next, moving them through a thought process. Once all of your information is in the right sequence and you begin to work on the first draft of your infographic, you can also use images and symbols to help reinforce the flow of your infographic, such as arrows.

Make Viewing Easy 

This tip is applicable in more ways than one. You want the infographic to be physically easy to view. Often times infographics are designed very large and must be downsized when published. This can cause readability to easily get lost. Make sure the smallest fonts can still be read without too much difficulty, whether the viewer decides to enlarge the infographic or not. This can also be done through using contrasting colors.

You also want to make viewing easy by making the infographic easy to find. Just as any other piece of content, it doesn’t just magically go viral. To help your team distribute the infographic effectively, there are a few extra steps to be taken. First, you should optimize your infographic for SEO, as we mentioned previously. Make sure you have the best file names and keywords to get the most traffic. Next, make sure your infographic is easily shareable. Make sure you have the right resolution, file formats, and sizes, whether it’s going out via email, blog, or social. You can even break up the infographic into different assets to get more mileage from one piece of content. Lastly, create a compelling pitch that explains why the content is interesting and relevant. You can do this through highlighting key takeaways, making the pitch personal and brief, etc. 

Double Check Facts and Cite Resources 

Infographics usually include a lot of specific data. It’s important to make sure the pieces of data used are accurate. This can be done by making sure the statistics themselves are true and the sources you’re using are reliable. When using outside sources, it’s also important to make sure you’re citing them. Try to use sources that are as up-to-date as possible. Using old stats, especially in an industry where information is always changing, makes you seem out of touch. It’s easiest to include those citations at the bottom of the piece, but you can include them in the body if it’s not distracting. 

Conclusion 

Infographics are alive, well, and very valuable when it comes to content marketing tools. They require a delicate balance between telling a story and providing hard-hitting points to drive your message. Creating a successful infographic doesn’t have to be difficult. It just takes a strong understanding of your audience, your goals, and willingness to put in high quality effort. 

More from Onimod Global 

To catch up on the latest digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here!

 

Optimizing for Voice Search in 2020

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It’s estimated that 50% of searches will be done with voice search in 2020. Optimizing for voice search is no longer a latest marketing trend–it is a necessity. Those who ignore its popularity risk losing a lot of ground compared to those who have already positioned themselves to capitalize on it. As voice recognition continues to improve, and usage of voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google continues to grow, it only becomes more essential. If you haven’t started already, here are 4 ways to start optimizing for voice search in 2020. 

Optimize for Question-Based Keywords 

It’s important to figure out how your audience speaks when searching for your business and products. Voice searches are more conversational and longer than text based searches. Most start with who, what, why, how, etc. Google and other search engines continuously crawl the internet to look for answers to these types of questions. To rank on the top of SERPs for voice searches, long-tailed keywords are key. While long-tailed keywords aren’t a new concept, the way they’re being used and why is changing. Before, they were mostly for the purpose of SEO. Digital marketers are now gravitating towards longer phrases for search queries. Those that have applied them have seen excellent results in search engine rankings. There are a variety of online tools that assist in coming up with relevant long-tailed phrases and optimizing content around them. Answer the Public and BuzzSumo are few examples. 

Optimize for Mobile and Featured Snippets 

Optimizing your site for mobile only becomes more and more crucial for businesses. When it comes to optimizing for voice search, it’s even more important. Most voice searches take place through mobile devices. A few things you can do to ensure your site is mobile-friendly are:

  • Make sure your site is responsive. 
  • Avoid software that’s uncommon for mobile, like flash. 
  • Make the information people look for easy to find. 
  • Use large and easy to read font. 
  • Compress images and CSS. 
  • Make sure links are far enough apart to avoid tapping. 
  • Perform regular mobile and page load time tests.

You’ll also find a strong correlation between voice search and featured snippets. Featured snippets are selected search results featured on top of Google’s organic results, just below the ads. They aim to directly answer the user’s question and give additional brand exposure to the company that’s featured. Getting a featured snippet is difficult, but not impossible. You can increases your chances by:

  • Making an entire search query the title of a content piece. 
  • Using the question explicitly in the content. 
  • Summarizing the answer in a single paragraph. 
  • Using lists when relevant. 
  • Using question and answer formatting. 
  • Re-optimize pages that already rank highly. 

Pay Attention to Readability of Content 

As we mentioned previously, people use a more natural and conversational tone when performing voice searches. To appear in search results, your content has to match the search terms. Avoid complicated jargon or lengthy responses. The simpler the language, the better the chances of your content appearing in the search results. On average, Google gives voice search results of only 29 words. Using clear, concise content is key when it comes to voice search optimization. There are a variety of online tools that check the readability of your content, such as Hemingway.  

Utilize Google My Business and Implement Local SEO 

Another extremely beneficial tool when it comes to voice search is Google My Business. Having a listing makes it easier for customers to find you and get more information. It’s also important to use the right keywords to describe your location. One of the most common searches people do is “___ near me.” Strategically inserting phrases like “near me” in Meta descriptions, internal links, anchor texts, and title tags increases chances of resulting for those searches. If there’s a well-known landmark near your business, it may help to include that somewhere as well. Structure your data in a way that makes it easy for users to get as much information as possible. It’s essential to have contact information, open hours, etc. This all makes it easier for your data to be processed and for people to find you. 

Conclusion 

The use of voice search will only increase in popularity as time goes on. It might not be used by everyone just yet, but that’s where we’re trending. Whether marketers like it or not, it can no longer be ignored. To be digitally successful brands have to start optimizing for mobile, voice, search, etc. 

More from Onimod Global 

To catch up on the latest digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here!

Tips for Finding Your Ideal SEO Company

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SEO, or search engine optimization, can seem confusing, complicated, and difficult. That’s why many businesses turn to an outside SEO agency. With thousands of different agencies to choose from, it can be even more difficult to find a qualified and reliable one. When you know what to look for, it can become easier than you’d think. Here are 4 tips for finding your ideal SEO company. 

Clearly Establish Your Goals 

First, you want to be specific about your goals so you can find a company that can meet them. This should be more than just trying to get more organic traffic or rank for specific keywords. Establish exactly what you want to accomplish with SEO, whether that be to boost revenue or get more downloads or signups. No matter which company you chose, make sure you’re clear on the type of results you’re looking for and what services you need.

Their Strategies are Concrete 

SEO isn’t magic, so you should avoid any company that talks about it abstractly. There are no “secret” optimization techniques that manipulate search engines. The process of optimizing your website to drive organic traffic takes time and can be hard to understand. Those that claim to have “special insights” are misleading. Usually these “insights” include black hat SEO techniques, such as buying links and keyword stuffing. This can actually lead to search engines demoting your site because it violates terms. These techniques may drive traffic quickly, but you’ll lose rankings in the long run. Good SEO requires a deep understanding of search engines, algorithms, and following frequent updates. 

Avoid Google Lists 

Often times people will just search for which companies rank best in their area or for top SEO lists. It’s not always a good sign for a company to have outstanding organic rankings themselves. If the company has the time to constantly work on their own rankings, it may be because they aren’t doing that for others. The best agencies typically have a list of long-term clients who have and will refer other companies to the same service. It’s also important to remember that lists such as those are generally not impartial. Many of the lists are pay-to-play. The websites that post the lists require payment from the companies that they feature on them. The more they pay, the higher on the list they will be. That’s why using word-of-mouth advertising may be the best to find a qualified and trustworthy SEO company. 

Expert Employees 

Speaking with the CEO of a company is always compelling, but it doesn’t give true insight into the expertise and capabilities of an average employee. The CEO is going to be the most knowledgeable and persuasive person in the company. It’s important to speak with regular team members to evaluate the expertise of who you’ll likely be working with. Your ideal company will have equal expertise at all levels of the chain. The sales team should have a deep understanding of SEO, their strategy, be able to answer questions, etc. 

How Onimod Global Can Help 

An SEO company can have a major impact on your business and budget. At Onimod Global we understand how vital SEO can be. Search engine optimization is our core attribute and a pillar of our strategy. We develop  organic search engine optimization campaigns that deliver increases in organic traffic through an increase in natural rankings on major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. We are a trusted Google Partner and continually excel with their products. 

Take a look at how we’ve helped other companies, and learn more about what we can do for you!

We Are Ten! Celebrating a Decade of Innovative Digital Solutions

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Onimod Global is officially 10 years old! We’re celebrating a decade of providing expert and innovative digital marketing solutions for our clients. Working with companies of all sizes, in many industries across the globe has given us the opportunity to develop and perfect many different digital marketing strategies. 

We’re thankful for you, our wonderful clients, for putting your trust in our expertise, and allowing us to grow and perfect your marketing business goals year after year. With an innovative vision and a lot of hard work, Onimod Global quickly became one of the Midwest’s, America’s and the Globe’s fastest-growing digital marketing & SEO companies. Now spanning across six continents, our clients come to us – and stay with us – due to our proven business goal satisfaction rate and unique consultative approach. 

Over the last 10 years we have learned a lot about the changing face of digital marketing, but these are our core digital strategies we wanted to share with you. 

 

Our Core Digital Strategies:

SEO

Search Engine Optimization has always been our core attribute and the pillar of our digital marketing strategy. SEO has become vital in achieving long-term visibility for websites, especially with the continued expansion of new internet and search engine users. We’ve learned how to develop search engine optimization campaigns that drive organic traffic through increasing natural rankings across all major search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. We accomplish this in a variety of ways. Some of our best practices include improving website crawlability and indexability, developing high quality content, and implementing proper metrics. 

Crawlability describes the search engine’s ability to access and crawl content on a page. Indexability refers to the search engine’s ability to analyze and add a page to its index. While these two elements are not mutually exclusive, it is extremely beneficial to have both for a site. If there is an issue with either, it prohibits search engines from analyzing and adding pages to their indexes. This ultimately makes it more difficult for your site to come up in search results. Our strategy starts with making sure that is not the case. We make sure there are no dead or broken links and that a site’s robot.txt file is properly updated. Following fixing all technical issues we start focusing on content optimization. Rankings continue to improve when quality content is consistently added to the site. This includes practices such as dropping relevant keywords into appropriate site places, using video and images when possible, and blog sharing. 

While these elements are extremely important, consistently measuring success is just as, if not more important. How will you know if your efforts are effective if you never check your progress? Measuring SEO success goes further than just tracking traffic and conversions. Time on page, pages per visit, bounce rate, scroll depth, and backlinks are all data points that give valuable insight to SEO performance.

SEM

Paid advertising across all search engines and social media platforms has become one of our specialties. Over our 10 years of SEM work we have become a trusted Google Partner, meaning we are a digital marketing company that is trusted by Google and excel with their products. We have learned to optimize our SEM strategy in a number of ways. A few of these include utilizing keywords and negative keywords, landing pages, and A/B testing all efforts. 

Finding relevant keywords and correct match type is essential for any paid search campaign. Irrelevant or low search volume keywords can result in a low quality score, which can prevent your ads from getting shown in search results. Generally, we suggest using on optimization for conversion match type, but it can differ depending on the campaign’s objective. Finding effective keywords takes a lot of trial and error. You want to use as many words or phrases as possible that align with what users are actually searching for. The use of negative keywords is important as well. You don’t want your ads firing for searches that are completely irrelevant to your services. We consistently watch the searches our ads fire for, ensuring we don’t waste budget on something that will never turn into a real customer or lead. 

Landing pages are something we suggest almost 100% of the time. Sending PPC traffic to a homepage can be a huge mistake. We believe that every search request is an opportunity and users are always looking for immediate solutions. If a user has already went as far as to click on your ad, make it easy as possible for them to actually convert. Sending them to your homepage means they will have to spend even more time searching through your site for what they actually want. If they don’t immediately find it, they’ll likely bounce and search elsewhere.

A/B testing is something that is widely underutilized when it comes to all aspects of websites and campaigns. You never really know how something is performing if it has nothing else to be compared to. We try to create different variations of ads and landing pages with various headings, keywords, body copy, placements, etc. To get clear results from tests it’s important to remember to only change one factor at a time and let it run long enough to gain accurate results. 

Social 

Mobile and social media have now established themselves as indispensable parts of the marketing mix. We utilize social media marketing to create social synergy for our clients. Social synergy is all about having visibility in the social spaces your consumers are searching, interacting, and engaging. The reason creating social positioning is so crucial is because it is now a great driver of leads and sales. An integrated social media platform can enhance marketing campaign effectiveness, help improve brand building across the enterprise, and make a real impact on sales and the bottom line. Integrated social capability brings another great benefit by keeping the enterprise updated with the latest innovations in social media. Sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn are constantly innovating and updating their collaboration tools, content-sharing formats, etc. With integrating social capability, customers don’t need to change business functions in sales or marketing to catch up with these changes.

We help our clients leverage the power of their content to elevate their audience and customer base in dramatic ways. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. For content to be effective it must be consistent and high quality. We create and stick to monthly content calendars that guide our blog and post topics, which tags are used, where everything is shared, etc. Not only should the content you’re sharing be consistent, but it should have a purpose. Content should be based on questions potential customers might search for. The more direct and detailed the answer is, the better it will rank. It should also be actionable. Inform your audience about specific steps to take or resources they need to carry out the advice you’re giving. Content should always include a clear and a strong CTA, because the end goal is driving sales. In today’s much-hyped world of social media marketing, integrated social capability can make a direct and positive impact on the business.

What We Do Best 

We have a lot of digital strategies and solutions, expanding further than just SEO, SEM, and Social. But what we really do best is being our clients’ true marketing partner. Onimod Global can power entire corporate marketing departments or simply provide custom solutions for local businesses. We’re here for our clients 24 hours a day and live for the moment they’re in a pinch and need our help. We excel in customer service and serving as our clients consultative marketing team, delivering custom digital solutions client by client. 

Again, thank you to all our clients over the last 10 years, as without you, we would not be where we are today. 

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