Ongoing development and refinement of search engine algorithms, especially at Google, is applying new pressure on websites to present and maintain quality content. Over the past year, Google has changed its search engine algorithms to put more focus on quality. One of the driving forces in their change is identifying websites that have high-value content. Other web search engines have focused their search results on content quality all along.

These ongoing changes and adjustments are affecting SEO tactics.

If you are using any of the various forms of digital marketing, and especially if your small business website is important in your marketing, you need to be looking closely at your content and take steps to ensure that you are providing high-value and high-quality content to website visitors.

If you are serious about your digital marketing efforts, you have probably been trying to provide this value. How do you know if you are succeeding?

The place to start is to look at your website, or better yet, have someone you trust look at your website.

Look at the writing. Are all the text components on your website well-written? Are they free of typos? Are they grammatically correct? Are they logical and easy to understand? And, most importantly, do they convey the message that you are trying to get to your visitors?

Now look at your design. Is the website easy to follow? Are your visitors able to easily find the information you have posted for them? Do you have high quality links that help your readers find information compatible with the message you are delivering?

Now look for a blog. Do you have one? If you do, is it regularly updated and do the posts conform to all the criteria in step one above? If you don’t have a blog, do you need one? Could you use a blog to provide even more information of value for your visitors?

The content you create for your website should not be just a bunch of words and pictures and maybe a video thrown together. It should to be an integral part of your communication’s strategy and have value to your visitors. It also should incorporate SEO best practices for small business websites.

If you haven’t lately, now would be a great time to give your website content a thorough check. If you would like to learn more about business websites, content creation or content marketing, contact us.

You know what they care about? Themselves. There, we said it.

So as a matter of fact, maybe people do care about your company, but only in terms of how your product or service relates to them. That’s why a successful inbound marketing campaign should focus on engaging with your target audience. As this article emphasizes, the thing to remember is that it’s not about you or your company. It’s all about the customer.

Consumers are bombarded with so many messages via so many avenues that it has become overwhelming. If you’re not engaging with and listening to your audience, they can easily ignore you. In fact, according to this Huff Post article, people are even overwhelmed by all the personal information shared by their “friends” on social networks. People are sick of hearing so much about each other, the author claims, and this helps to explain the explosive popularity of Pinterest.

While at first glance Pinterest might seem to be about the individual posting items on their personalized pinboards, it’s truly more about the items themselves than the person who pinned them. As the author points out, Facebook and Twitter are mostly about telling people who we are–or rather, a carefully edited version of ourselves:

In short, too many of our posts come with the silent subtext “Here’s how great I am.” On Pinterest, the tone seems to be “Wouldn’t this be great?”

Pinterest users want to find cool, useful stuff and share that stuff with their friends. They want to interact with other people who have similar interests. Sure, the whole concept is quite materialistic and consumerist, but people are connecting with each other in ways that haven’t happened on other social networks.

As a business owner, you can use this to your advantage, but only if you constantly remind yourself It’s about the customer. People buy things for their own reasons, and they like it when you listen to them, engage with them, and offer them something of value that they care about.

So, sure, you can use your boards to display your own products and promote yourself, but that should be only a small piece of the total picture. The goal is to incorporate your own stuff into a much larger collection of items that interests your target audience. What do they want and need and care about? Think sharing and collaborating. Think “repinning.”

Effectively using inbound marketing channels like Pinterest requires putting yourself in the shoes of that person you want for a customer. It means taking a step back from your business and forgetting how awesome it is. That’s not an easy thing to do, because after all, it’s not true that nobody cares about your business. You care. You care a lot. Your business probably takes up most of your time, energy and brain capacity. But if you can remember that it’s really about the customer, your awesome company will have a much better chance of success.

We can help you develop an inbound marketing strategy that will let you better engage with your audience. Contact us to learn more.

For more successful content marketing, it can help to repurpose your content. According to this recent article, there are two reasons:

1. People have different learning styles. Some are strictly visual learners while others learn by discussing issues. Keep in mind that many people today are used to the nearly instantaneous availability of information online, and they seek information that’s written or spoken in short blurbs.
2. You might have to reach out to various demographic groups and appeal to different audiences. Perhaps you want to target a particular age group. Tweaking one of your best informational pieces can help you approach your intended audience from a different angle.

Here are some specific tips for repurposing your existing content:

• Transform your written work to video. If you provide a service, create a video with customer testimonials or a simple demonstration of your service’s best features. If you sell a tangible product, highlight its advantages over the competition. People love to learn how to do things; “how to…” is one of the most common search terms online. A short instructional video could make all the difference to someone who’s undecided about buying your product.
• Create podcasts or audio books from your content. The technology is readily available and easy to use. A small amount of effort here can go a long way toward increasing traffic to your small business website.
• Include interviews and guest posts on your blog to incorporate some fresh perspectives. Interviewing an expert in your field can provide valuable information to your customers and establish your site or blog as the “go-to” resource.
• Design a slideshare or infographic from your most useful data. There are several programs available to help you, especially if you don’t have an in-house graphic designer.
• Reach more potential readers by adding your blog content to an email newsletter and vice versa. Furthermore, you can cover all of your media bases by publishing your content online and in print materials.
• Finally, compile blog posts with related themes into comprehensive guides or e-books. Offering them for free at first is a great way to attract subscribers. If you decide to sell them, you can increase your revenue through paid subscriptions and book purchases.

Repurposing your content using one or more of the methods listed here can greatly enhance your effectiveness at reaching potential customers. That translates into increased traffic and higher sales! If you’re ready to get started, contact us to discuss how we can assist you with your inbound content marketing strategy.

In a preliminary release on the 2012 report, which just came out, the trend toward driving website traffic with richer content using blogs, videos, webinars and more effective SEO tactics is lauded by the researchers. The focus on more immediate goals, including more immediate ROI, is questioned.

“(Many organizations) know to achieve good organic rankings and ensure that their products and services are found across all formats and venues. To do this, they have to be strategic with their planning and processes, and savvy with the creation and optimization of all digital assets,” the report says.

Digital marketing is continuing to evolve and develop. One of the primary drivers of the future is going to be social media. Business owners who want to stay abreast of the quickly shifting social media wave need to have a solid base for their digital marketing efforts and develop a plan that targets their goals and objectives, while allowing maximum flexibility.

There is nothing static about digital marketing. The users are demanding and what they wanted yesterday is boring tomorrow. The key to success in this unbridled environment is developing deeper, more personal relationships with users and focusing on quality content is crucial. Chasing page rankings, leaping on new bandwagons and operating a digital marketing campaign on the whims of today’s trend is not going to bring consistent success.

Businesses investing heavily in their digital marketing campaigns must do all they can to make sure those dollars are spent wisely and that they are spent effectively. Planning and strategic decision making are the tools needed to accomplish that goals.

That is where we can help. Is your digital marketing plan suffering from the lack of solid planning? Contact us to discuss the possibilities with a Certified Inbound Marketing Professional.

Where once the mainstream media companies (newspapers, television, radio and magazines) determined the flow of and the timing for releasing information, business people today can hold the most powerful tools for communication and marketing in the palm of their hand.

Most business people already own or can easily access the tools needed to connect with their customers in imaginative ways. Most still are not using them effectively.

This dynamic shift in the marketing landscape has created opportunities few could imagine just a few years ago.

Where once marketing was relatively static, today it is dynamic, it is individualized, and it can be immediate. Business owners today can engage customers and potential customers in personal conversations. They can talk to them about the news, the weather, the events happening around them. They can share tips and ideas. Customers, too, can speak directly to business owners about their likes and dislikes. They can tell business people what they want or need.

The potential marketing ideas brought by the Internet have exploded with the arrival of cellphones and tablet computers that add mobility to the equation. Restaurant owners can broadcast a special via e-mail or Twitter just before they open the doors. Shops can blast reminders about today’s sale. Sales people can wish clients a happy birthday or offer congratulations with a quick message or on Facebook.

Business marketing has become an extension of our personality and it is ours to control, to manage and to use to our advantage. You hold the keys. You run the show.

If there is one problem with this new world of marketing for business, it is the abundance of opportunity that it brings. If you are interested in discussing how to gain control of your digital marketing, shoot us an email to start a conversation.

The use of game mechanics in business is certainly getting a lot of press right now, as more and more companies are embracing the idea. As this article points out, simple gamification tactics like customer rewards and loyalty programs have been around for a while. But these types of programs that only reward customers when they make a purchase have become outdated. As the article puts it, “the modern gamification of a fully integrated loyalty and reputation program across a brand’s Web and mobile presence is the advanced evolution of these humble roots.”

According to this story from Entrepreneur, an estimated 70 percent of the top 2,000 public companies in the world will have at least one gamified application by 2014. But before you jump on the gamification bandwagon, Dustin DiTommaso, an experience designer, recommends you think seriously about whether game mechanics is a good fit for your business. Before investing your time, money, and energy into building a gamification platform, you should consider your motives, you audience and your goals. He suggests asking yourself these six questions:

• What is the reason for gamifying your product or service?
• How does it benefit users?
• Will they enjoy it?
• What are your business goals?
• How do you get users to fulfill those business goals?
• What actions do you want users to take?

If you can come up with solid answers to all of these questions, there’s a good chance you would benefit from incorporating game mechanics into your business plan. Keep in mind, though, that it will take some time and thought to do it right. The Entrepreneur article highlights three companies that have had great success with gamification — USA Network, Verizon and Samsung. The takeaway from these case studies: A gamified social experience can turn engaged fans into valuable brand ambassadors; the gaming experience should be personalized to make the users feel special; and the most effective strategy is to focus on engaged users who are already passionate about the brand.

Smart gamification involves much more than simply adding a few badges to your web site. To achieve a sustainable, long-term positive impact, you should create a sophisticated, deeply integrated program that spans the entire user experience.

We can help you build and engage your audience with a comprehensive marketing strategy that works for your company. Contact us to learn more.

Sure, it was just a scene from a sitcom–a joke, an exaggeration of the truth. But it’s not so far-fetched to imagine a future without traditional advertisements like television commercials. Already the face of marketing is changing dramatically, with inbound marketing and owned media creating a shift in the way consumers hear about companies and products.

In fact, the phrase “death of advertising” has been thrown around for quite awhile now. This video discussion from the Motley Fool brings up a great point. Out of a one-hour TV show, 25 percent of the time is spent on advertising. Yet, would anyone be willing to spend a quarter of their online time watching ads? How about on a mobile device? Different mediums necessitate different approaches to reaching your audience.

According to this article, crowdsourcing, viral Internet campaigns, product placements and guerrilla promotions will soon make traditional ads a thing of the past. At least that’s the belief of Seethu Seetharaman, Professor of Marketing at Olin Business School. “Traditional expensive advertising is no longer effective given all the clutter, as well as the emergence of technologies, like digital video recorders, that block the ads from even being viewed, much less absorbed, by consumers,” he says.

While product placement is definitely on the rise, the biggest changes taking place are related to social media, mobile devices and the rapid spread of information. This evolution in the way we absorb media suggests that in the not so far off future, there really may be a generation of kids who will ask, “What was a ‘commercial’?”

Whether or not the demise of advertising is imminent, inbound content marketing is already proving to be more effective and less expensive. What is your company doing to reach out to and interact with your desired audience? At Accendo Digital we have an in-depth and well-rounded perspective of the internet, marketing and digital platforms, so we can help you develop the web strategy that will work best for your business. Contact us to learn how our Inbound Marketing Certified Professional can help you maximize your inbound marketing efforts.

Bill Prescott for the Times-Standard explains the broad scope of inbound marketing, as well as offering some very useful tips on getting started.

• An easy place to start: creating and maintaining an eNewsletter for your company.

Ask your customers to sign up for it, have an easy-to-sign-up button on your website and take signup sheets when you go out to public, industry or trade events. You will be surprised by how many people want to learn more about your company or your products.

Inbound marketing is sometimes called “permission marketing,” and the simple technique of having potential customers sign up for an eNewsletter leverages the power of that given permission. Those who sign up are, in effect, “pre-qualified” customers – you already know they already want to know more about your company, your product, etc.

• Another easy way to put inbound marketing into practice? Start a blog.

This is an informal appendage attached to your website where you can share your insights or your recipes and, most importantly, your expertise with your customers. The blog format is easy to deal with on a technology level, and many platforms are available for free. Readers have the option to subscribe, and it can easily be shared with your Facebook community, your Twitter stream or on your website. The neat part of the blog is that people will find it if you post information they want.

The more you can provide quality content to your customers, the more you can educate and inform them, the more value they attribute not just to your product and service, but to your business as a whole. Your business becomes, in effect, a friend, a contact — not a nameless corporation trying to separate them from their cash. As Bill points out in his article’s conclusion, “in the digital age, where spam and robo-calls are the norm, giving your customers great personalized content is a sure way to improve your marketing efforts.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Would you like to learn more about inbound marketing and how it can help you grow your business? Please don’t hesitate to contact us!

This article from Mashable gives 10 steps you can take to improve your content marketing.

1) Determine Organizational Goals.
First decide what your goals are, then figure out how your content marketing plan can help you accomplish them. Your goals should be specific and measurable.

2) Identify Target Audiences.
Research your audience, ask questions, research website traffic data and determine their demographic information, including age, gender, education, and location. Figure out what your audience is interested in, both online and offline.

3) Develop Key Messages.
Determine what will differentiate you and your product and what will help you to achieve the goals you have set. The end result should be one to three main messages, each with one to five sub-messages that offer a bit more detail.

4) Decide on Overall Content Marketing Strategies:

There are three different types of content marketing strategies: long-form, short-form and conversations (e.g. sharing). Long-form includes blog posts, articles and press releases — basically, anything longer than a couple of sentences. Short-form includes tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn status updates and graphics. Conversations and sharing includes participating in and driving conversations through blog commenting, link sharing and comments on videos. This type helps to encourage discussions between other thought leaders within your industry. You can stick to one of these forms of content marketing, or you can use all three. They are each effective on their own, but they are also powerful when used together.

5) Draft an Editorial Calendar.
Developing a plan is one of the most important steps to content marketing. But because things can change, your plan should be flexible. Your editorial calendar should include strategies, specific tactics, suggested headlines, content deadlines and allocated responsibilities.

6) Develop Content.
As you create content, subtly incorporate your key messages without overtly selling your product. Content marketing is about creating trust through education and information, not using traditional sales tactics.

7) Establish Relationships.
Build a relationship with your target audience by tapping into existing communities and establishing your own communities across various social networking platforms. Share plenty of curated content and focus on providing something valuable to your audience.

8 ) Spread the Word.
Use SEO by adding tags to your blog posts that will generate traffic, and communicate with your audience through Twitter, Facebook, and e-newsletters. However, be careful not to turn off potential customers by overdoing it or forcing your content where it doesn’t belong.

9) Measure Effectiveness.
Keep track of pageviews, retweets, Likes, +1’s, shares and so on. Anything your audience can take action on is something you need to pay attention to. Figure out what’s working and what’s not.

10) Change the Plan As Needed.
Remember that flexible plan you developed? If something isn’t working, make changes. The most important thing to remember about content marketing: It’s all about building connections and improving your audience’s product loyalty.

We can help you develop your web strategy, including the most effective use of content marketing for your business. Contact us to start a conversation about using your web presence to grow your business.