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Be relevant to improve website optimisation

08/19/202201/22/2021 by scmarketing

Lockdown has pushed many businesses to take a good close look at their online presence. With so much business being conducted online, understanding how to get the most out of your website could prove a gamechanger in 2021.

One of the key things to think about is relevant keywords for your website. Creating a list of specific keywords and phrases for your business is essential and it’s as simple as thinking about what phrase or words you would like to be found for when people search online.

If you think about the products and services you offer then you can start to create a list from that.

Then, the more content you produce using these relevant keywords, the more your website is recognised by search engines and this helps improve search engine optimisation (SEO).

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Review your website content

So, why not conduct a review of your website and check that what you are saying on your website is relevant to what your target audience will search for. If your content doesn’t explain what you offer in a concise and simple way, then how can a search engine find your business?

How can you get noticed by search engines?

Once you have updated your web pages then you need to keep on adding content to your website. Search engines look for fresh content to return the most relevant pages in search results.

A great way to add new content is in the form of a blog or news page. This allows you to add timely articles that answer questions that your target audience will be looking for when they ‘Google’ (or use other search engines of course!). Then think about those keywords you’ve listed and make sure that you mention relevant phrases in your blog.

Can video help with page SEO?

Videos can also help optimise your website. We’d recommend having accounts on channels such as Vidyard, Vimeo and YouTube. This all helps with your rankings in search.

Think about the name of your video file and its title when you upload to the video channels as it should contain keywords. On YouTube you can add an SRT file to enable you to add subtitles and closed captions rather than burn them onto the video file. This can help with long term SEO within the YouTube channel. Don’t forget that Youtube is another search engine.

But don’t forget that it still needs to be relevant content for your brand to help with optimisation. When creating your video, it’s useful to write a script so that you incorporate your keywords. Memorise it as best you can and then speak naturally to the camera offering your clients and prospects tips and advice.

SEO company Croydon

As a digital marketing agency in Croydon, we’re well placed to offer local businesses digital marketing services and online marketing advice on relevant Local SEO Services and content marketing to help increase presence in search engine results pages (SERPs). Get in touch to chat about your business goals and how a tailored SEO campaign can help.

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Tips for being on camera

08/19/202201/20/2021 by scmarketing

If you’ve read our Think virtual in 2021 blog then you’ll know that there will still continue to be a lot of emphasis on online events and video for your digital marketing activity throughout 2021 and well into the future.

With this in mind, we thought it a good idea to revisit some tips for working with video so that you can produce a great looking piece of content marketing for your business.

Video is perfect for content marketing. Not only is it a great way to bring products and services to life, it also keeps people engaged for longer on your website and provides content for sharing on social media and email marketing. With one-third of online activity spent watching video, is it time to add this to your digital marketing strategy?

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Tips for video

Adding a face to your brand is a fantastic way for making your marketing more personal. With so much technology at our fingertips, it’s still nice to know that there’s a person dealing with orders and enquiries. So, here is our tips for when you do a piece to camera.

Look at the lens.
Keep your hands away from your face.
Try not to fidget.
Avoid looking at notes when you’re talking. You don’t need to be word perfect. You want to come across as natural.
Smile or make sure your face is animated. Be expressive, much more than normal.
Keep the message concise. Stick to one point.
Speak slowly. This helps make the piece authoritative, easier to understand and easier to edit.
Try to stick to under a minute for an informative soundbite.
Practice, practice, practice.
Above all – be natural.

Tips for video set up

Appearance: Check your appearance, hair, collar etc.
Background: Keep this as clear as possible. It also provides a great canvas to then add text post-production.
Lighting: Soft light to the face, also a light to the wall behind works well, if possible.
Sound: Make sure there is as minimal background sound. Reduce the hum of your PC, fans, air conditioning, switch of the ringtone of mobiles, and your messages on PC/Laptop etc.
Check your sound recording is good.

It’s not just about sharing your videos on social media and adding to video channels such as YouTube. Remember that you should be adding the video to your website. Placing a video higher up the page, above the fold, is much better for engagement with website visitors. and therefore an incredibly useful tactic for lead generation.

Digital marketing Croydon

If you would like help with creating video content for your business, get in touch with us.

Smart Cow is a digital marketing agency in Croydon. If you’d like a free website review to look at how your website is performing in search to find out how a digital marketing campaign can help you in local search results, complete our form and we’ll take a closer look for you.

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Alternatives to Google My Business

08/19/202201/18/2021 by scmarketing

As you may have guessed from our previous Marketing Minute videos, Google My Business is our favourite business listing tool. However, this doesn’t mean it has to be yours.

There’s no shortage of free online business listing tools, so why not have a look at some alternatives to Google My Business in our video.

Alternatives to Google My Business

Free listing websites

A good alternative that we recommend is Bing Places for Business. We also recommend a Facebook Business page, making sure that all the details on this page match the information on your Google My Business page.

Additionally, for those of you in the UK, here are some additional free listing sites to take a look at:

The Sun
The Independent
Yell
TomTom
Amazon Alexa
FourSquare
Here
Opendi UK
The Mirror
The Evening Standard
NextDoor

Although these are the main ones, there are still many more that you can get onto.

There are also directories for specific trades, such as Checkatrade for tradesman.

If you would like more information on Google My Business, you can view the rest of our videos and blogs about the listing tool here.

SEO agency Croydon

If you need help then give us a call at Smart Cow on 020 3137 1826 or book a free consultation to discuss our SEO services and other digital marketing tools such as social media management, Pay Per Click (PPC), email marketing and CRM – read more about our marketing services.

Adding a post on Google My Business

08/19/202201/14/2021 by scmarketing

Google My Business allows you to share information with your clients and potential customers that find you on search engines.

This can include offers, updates, events and in the current climate COVID-19 updates.

In our recent series of Marketing Minute videos we’ve been providing tips on optimising your Google My Business page. Here’s how you can share updates.

Posting On Google My Business

Log into Google My Business and select posts on the left-hand side.

The one we use the most is ‘Add Update’ and we use this to share news or a blog. To do this, upload a picture and make a summary of one of your most recent website blogs. We then add a button and select ‘learn more’ and point back to the original post with all the detail.

You can also add events and offers, both of which have very simple instructions to follow. Depending on your listing, you may also be able to add new products and price them.

As we stand now, there are also options for adding COVID-19 updates from your business to share any changes to your daily business.

You may also get an option for how people can support your business over COVID-19 with a gift card or donation link.

Make sure you keep posting updates often and this will be looked on favourably by the search engine helping you to improve your online presence.

Setting up Google My Business

If you missed our video on how to set up your Google My Business page you can watch it here.