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What is SEO and why consider it?

08/19/202212/09/2020 by scmarketing

Your website is the centre of your digital world. Everything you do should lead back to it. Therefore, what it looks like, where it is found, how up to date it is and how easy it is to navigate are all crucial factors to keeping visitors on your website for longer therefore making it a success.

So, factoring in a tailored Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign into your 2021 marketing strategy will help your business be seen online.

SEO is a collection of processes that make it better for a website to be found through the search engines. Most online searches start with a few words relevant to what a prospect is looking for. So, if you’re an ‘accountancy’ practice in ‘Guildford’ then you would likely be interested in your company showing up on page one of a search relevant to these keywords.

Website optimisation involves looking at how your website is built, the keywords within content on your website as well as understanding your target audience and their search behaviour. Armed with this background you can build a strategy to improve your rankings in the organic (non-ads based, natural) search results.

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Target audience

As part of your SEO strategy, you will need to think about who books your services and buys your products. If you don’t already know who your target audience is then take a look at our blog to help you create a persona.

Then make a review of your website and seen what updates you may need to make to content or imagery.

It may be a simple case of adding more call to actions, contact forms or changing content. However, if you think a new web design could be in order then drop us a line to discuss as we can also provide a website audit for you.

Keywords

Be specific with keywords for your business. Think about what your target audience would type in the search engine function to find what they are looking for. This is a great place to start to help you create a list of the keywords for your audience. We can help you build this list with reference to search volume and keyword difficulty so that you can factor in the right keywords to attract the quality leads.

Our blog on how to improve onsite SEO with keywords provides further insight.

Link building

As part of the ranking process, search engines consider the quality of links, awarding scores based on the usefulness and relevance of those links. Internal links can ease navigation within the website itself, so when you add a blog to the website make sure there’s at least 2-3 internal links included.

Getting your company details on directories is also useful to help with incoming links to your website. This provides an indication of how useful your content is to others. Less links will have an impact upon where you return in a search result for a given term.

We always recommend setting up your Google My Business page as it allows for you to post updates. Therefore, this is a simple repurpose of your own blog and provides a fantastic link back to your website.

Meta descriptions

Think about when you’ve recently searched online for something. You see a return of results where companies have great headlines and a paragraph of succinct copy that entices you to click the link instead of others. Behind the scenes you can create these paragraphs or meta descriptions on pages on your website – these are really good when it comes to blogs you may upload. Meta descriptions tell Google and other search engines exactly what each web page is about, what to display and how to display it in the results.

SEO Agency Croydon

By incorporating SEO into your marketing strategy, you can enhance brand perception and online presence as it helps your business rank better in search engines. This can help generate a better rate of enquiries due to improved visibility.

If you feel you need some support in getting your website Search Engine Optimised, then get in touch with Smart Cow Marketing. As an inbound marketing agency in Surrey we’re prepared to discuss your digital marketing needs further.

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Smart Cow becomes Google Certified Partner

08/19/202212/04/2020 by scmarketing

Each year at Smart Cow Marketing we ensure that we are Google AdWords certified and we have just received news that we are now a Google Certified Partner and the only Google AdWords Partner in Croydon.

We’re really proud to achieve this additional accolade of being Partner. While gaining the AdWords certification qualification year on year highlights our indepth knowledge and expertise on the fundamentals of setting up and managing successful AdWords campaigns, being a Partner shows that Google trusts us even more with the support we offer clients. Now we are a Partner, as an agency we also benefit from additional support from Google which is an added bonus for clients.

Our specific areas of specialisation include Google Ad Search and Display Advertising. This means we have the know-how to create and optimise compelling ads that show up on Google Search for the targeted audience. We also provide advice on keyword strategy and budget planning ensuring that your campaign performs at its optimum. Our expertise also ensures we create captivating visual display ads that reach targeted potential customers across over two million websites and 650,000 apps.

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Google AdWords certification

Google AdWords certification is one of the most important certifications there is with regards to Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and in particular Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.

In order to pass, businesses have to learn extensive academy content working through numerous modules for Google Ads Search and Google Ads Display which are regularly updated and completed time-based exams with a minimum pass of 80%.

To achieve certification, a business is required to pass a Fundamentals exam as well as exams for areas of expertise. Smart Cow has managed to stand out in two areas which are Google Ad Search and Display Advertising.

Google Partner Croydon

Being a Google AdWords Partner means that Smart Cow Marketing continues to be recognised as being experts in digital marketing and Pay Per Click advertising.

If you’re looking for qualified leads to grow your business, book a consultation and we can discuss a digital marketing strategy that is best to achieve your business goals.

Why create specific landing pages?

12/03/2020 by scmarketing

In this blog, we give you an overview of why you should consider creating specific landing pages when you set up a Pay Per Click (PPC) ad campaign.

What is a landing page?

Firstly, let’s clarify what a landing page is. A specific landing page is about helping to get you more leads. These pages usually contain forms where you can collate contact information as a result of the visitor completing an action on your page – this is usually an offer or a download. Whatever you choose for your landing page the offer has to be good and provide a reason for people to hand over information.

How a specific landing page can help your PPC campaign

For a PPC campaign to be successful it’s about having the right copy in your advert in the first instance so that prospects click the link to your website. Then once on your website it’s about keeping that potential customer there for as long as possible.

This is where a specific landing page can help your campaign. The page is a place where your prospects will learn to trust your brand and be inclined to read more. So, be relevant to the advert that has just been clicks on that leads to your website. This way you are more likely to keep them on your website for longer. Your content should be insightful, offer tips and advice.

What your landing page should look like

Here’s our advice on what you should look to include on your landing page to help create a great marketing campaign.

Content

To keep visitors on your website as long as possible, your landing page needs a headline that tells the visitor what to expect.

Once you’ve sorted the headline, the content needs to be to the point, clear and engaging. And, provide a clear call to action.

Be image led

An image helps to convey your brand and help to illustrate what the content of your landing page is about.

If you have video content then this is great for engagement but only if it’s relevant to the content of the ad. If it is, then place this towards the top of the page.

Lead form

The ‘contact us’ form or rather the ‘lead’ form should be near the top of the page – above the fold. A name and email address should be enough information for a new lead.

Call to action

Make a bold and colourful call to action with clear instructions about what you want the visitor to do. Depending on the purpose of your ad and its call to action will be dependent on what you offer on that page. It may be useful to add a relevant download, ebook or discount to help build that trust further.

Remove menu navigation

With a specific landing page, we advise to remove the main menu from sight so that the visitors focus is purely on the action you want them to complete on that page.

Mobile optimised

Remember to optimise your specific landing page for mobile. The last thing you want is less leads because it isn’t suitable for viewing on mobiles.

Landing page layout

The following layout is best practice to follow:

Headline
Image
Lead capture form
Call to action
Relevant content

PPC agency Croydon

We’re a digital marketing agency in Croydon. With many marketing tactics whether organic or PPC advertising, we can provide a tailored marketing package to help you generate leads for your business. Book a free consultation.

Part 1: Digital marketing trends 2021

11/26/2020 by scmarketing

At this time of year many of you will be making business plans for the year ahead. It’s time to look ahead to 2021 with hope. In our series of digital marketing trends blogs we’ll be highlighting some key areas to consider that can help your business attract leads and grow.

Digital technology and ‘agile’ marketing

Digital transformation for businesses has accelerated beyond imagination in 2020. Where possible, businesses have quickly had to move employees to remote working this year. A move that you could never imagine prior to March 2020. This has therefore brought ‘agile’ marketing to the fore. While agile marketing is a specific process, put simply it’s about placing the customer first and identifying opportunities through data analytics and being able to act on the analysis in an ‘agile’ way. Many smaller businesses we work with can take the core principle of this approach for their own business growth strategy.

At a basic level this could mean the ability to test marketing campaigns and act on results such as with a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign by amending ads, adding or removing keywords. Or with an email marketing campaign conducting an AvB test. However, at the heart of agile marketing should be the understanding of who your customers are that you want for your business and their journey with your firm.

Therefore, when you look to 2021, don’t just think that you need to get on social media because everyone’s talking about online presence and digital technology. Social media may not be right for your business, but a mix and match approach to your digital presence will be. Therefore, getting a marketing strategy in place to kick start 2021 will help your business be flexible for targeting leads that are right for your business.

Personalisation

To be flexible with your marketing, it is vital to contact your prospects in a personalised manner and at a time convenient to them.

This is where understanding your target audience is key. If you haven’t already conducted the exercise to delve into who your core customers are then now is the time to do this. This will ensure that your marketing content in 2021 is tailored to your audience therefore helping to attract the right leads.

Creating an online persona will help you in this process as you will understand the challenges and pain points of your prospects and existing customers so that you create informative blogs, email marketing or social media posts that answer their questions. This will help you build awareness and trust as well as position you as a thought leader in your field.

Video and images

Whether you embraced video content in your marketing plan before lockdown earlier this year, we’re certain you will have touched on this in some way during this year. Whether you joined virtual events with recorded videos or you’re looking more and more at social media and finding yourself drawn to video content, now more than ever video should form part of your content marketing plan.

You can make videos efficiently, simply and at no extra cost on your mobile phone.

Repurpose content from your blogs and make short and snappy videos to bring your blog web page and social media posts to life.

Read our blog on using video for business for tips on setting up videos for your business for some useful dos and don’ts.

We also have some top tips on using images for digital marketing including keeping your website engaging with images and a summary of image sizes for social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Free digital marketing resources

We’re a digital marketing agency in Croydon and we have the following resources you can draw on during this time. Get in touch with us today to talk through your requirements.

Free website review: Find out how to improve your website’s performance.

Free digital marketing consultation: Our Free consultation should be between 15 and 30 minutes. The goal is to provide you with thoughts on how to start an effective marketing campaign and for us both to see if it would benefit your firm. No obligation at all, we just want the best for you.