What is and how can Google My Business help you?

posted in: SEO

The Marketing StuffIn a global economy, competition is a lot bigger than what your grandparents faced in their time. Currently, there are over 400 million small businesses that compete for attention all over the world. Actually, we don’t know the exact number and can’t possibly find it, simply because an official number would not consider how many people start their businesses in their basement or their backyard shed or kitchen table and just go for it before even registering. In some countries, that can be the majority of people!(more…)

Get more clicks without affecting Rank

posted in: SEO

It is possible to get more organic search traffic without increasing your google rankings.

When users look for a service or product online, the results from Google all compete against each other for attention. Since the use of images in search results is limited (or non-existent) and all you have a words to compete, these words are the most important asset. The information that Google displays on search results is called the “search snippet”. (more…)

Online marketing for construction and renovation companies

posted in: SEO
Good SEO is like money in the bank
Good SEO is like money in the bank

The construction market is an important pace maker for the economy in Canada. A healthy housing market means that the economy is in good condition and consequently, this is reflected in the renovations market. When people are interested and can afford home renovations companies that offer kitchen, basement, bathroom or other similar reno services should take notice. Even though your business may be successful now, ensuring that you take every opportunity to continue to grow is the best way to protect your business for years to come.

Doing online marketing for your home reno business is not only smart, but an important decision that will keep your business going even when those bad times come.

From our blog, we review some cases in which online marketing has been an important part of their success be it directly or indirectly. (more…)

How to choose your keywords for SEO

posted in: SEO

The very first step in search engine optimization is always keyword research. It is not advisable to start SEO without having done a proper analysis of the keywords we want to target. Running an SEO campaign without keyword research is like driving a car with your eyes closed. (more…)

Why is my ecommerce store not selling?

posted in: SEO

The internet is a world where many believe that by simply setting up a webpage or a basic ecommerce website all the awesome benefits of online marketing will happen in a few weeks. Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, you may be wondering, why is my ecommerce store not selling?

This type of thinking is usually not associated to the offline world, where most people believe (to varying degrees) that it is necessary to invest in paying your retail location’s lease, setup distribution methods and provide products that relate to market needs. Most understand that to start a business you have to invest in a physical location, setting up shop and doing some traditional promotion. Furthermore, most agree and accept the costs of traditional media. Not so much with digital media.

This is why the starting point of all marketing is always the same fundamental principle. More than once have we heard from business owners that they expect to invest as little as possible (‘I don’t have much to invest’), without understanding what is required to attain the level of success required for their business (‘I don’t believe in online marketing, but everyone is doing it’), asking for the minimum and expecting the best. It should be no surprise that many of these businesses end up struggling. (more…)

SEO benefits for small businesses

posted in: SEO

The internet has become one of the main business drivers for small business owners. It is so, that one of the first things that people think about when setting up a business is having an online presence that represents their brand’s identity. The ease and convenience of using the web to find out information or make purchases without having to go out or listen to a sales pitch are some of the big reasons why the internet has become such a powerful global economy driver. (more…)

Design the right website

posted in: SEO

The design of the right website is one of the most essential points of any digital marketing plan. It is no longer enough to have a simple brochure webpage, it is important to consider several different paramters surrounding it that can be critical to obtaining the expected results. (more…)

Counselling on the web

posted in: SEO

Small businesses and independent professionals (like consultants) are experiencing a rapid presence growth in the web. This is particularly true if we talk about professionals related to the health markets.

Doctors, dentists or simply businesses that related to the medical field like plastic surgery or even ophthalmologists have learned how to take advantage of the web to promote their services to prospective and real clients.

In the case of counselling, it is one of the health services specialties that have the great benefit of connecting potential customers with providers through the internet. Lets review on specific examples of how to have website of this type and how to improve results.

What should a Counselling services website have?

A website about counselling services should of course have the basic elements of the rest of websites should have. Information should be clear, specially information related to the people who are behind the website, including contact information, office address, phone number and ideally, the name and professional background of the person offering counselling services. Web design Guelph trends should be kept in mind while designing for its target audience.

Colours are important. White backgrounds with green or blue elements, preferably pastel tones would be the most adequate for this type of websites. White, greens and blues are colours associated with health professions and well-being.

Once established the previous elements, it is important to present the specialties and services offered. If the site is about family counselling Guelph or online counselling, it is important that the home page have direct access to that information.

counselling on the web

Important: Where is the counselling provided?

If it is about counselling Kitchener or Guelph, it is important to provide this information to the users and visitors right away. People will want to know if the services are within their travelling distance or if an alternative like online counselling is available.

Fot this, we have several options that Google provides, which means that getting good ranking would be essential. It is convenient to have an SEO agency create a plan or strategy to achieve those first page rankings when someone is typing the search keyphrases related to counselling Guelph or counselling Kitchener.

This way, we will not only have a great website for this type of services, but we will also be available and easy to find by those prospective clients who are searching for the services.

As in many industries, it is all about location, location, location. Where do you put your calls to action? What is the service area? Where is the office located?

Planning is the best way to ensure the results are what is expected. Starting a project without any planning or at least some basic research is a risky endeavor that should be avoided.

Multiple rankings for one keyword

posted in: SEO

To obtain the first place in some keyword phrases that have a high conversion rate is one of the most important goals in our business, this is also to improve the benefits obtained for a company working with us. (more…)

SEO… what?

posted in: SEO

We online marketers and web world people like to think our language is as universal as music. However, majority of people, even people who use the internet fairly regularly, have difficulty understanding the whole concept of “online marketing” or ideas like “SEO“. But what are these concepts really? (more…)

Should you get SEO for your website?

posted in: SEO

Don’t wait until your competition out-ranks you, get SEO right now!

Really. SEO is an extremely important element for your website. Back in 1994, when there were a handful of websites, SEO was meaningless (doubt if it even existed beyond getting the proper domain name). In 2011, launching a website that is not search engine optimized with clean code, proper tagging, well written, etc, will only mean you are spending money to have a pretty brochure that only the people you give the domain address will see. Its not bad, you can use it in your printed materials to give people more information online. However, most businesses want their websites to be a strong sales tool that gets them prospects and customers. (more…)

SEO for fun

posted in: SEO

SEO is sometimes referred as an art, a skill, a craft and even a science. However it is never referred as something people just do for fun.

Search engine optimization is complicated and time consuming. There is no serious SEO who will tell you otherwise. Most serious SEO companies need to have a large team of programmers and SEO experts to provide proper services to their clients. (more…)

Enter title here (how to write)

posted in: SEO
Pen en papier / Pen and paper
Image by Nationaal Archief via Flickr

Writing is not necessarily easy. Some people just get it, you have an idea, write a title and off they go. For most of us, however, the creative writing process can be somewhat more of a challenge.

Experts give different ways of coming up with new articles. Perform a Google search, throw words randomly, read the latest news, pray to your deity… but reality is, people write what people can write. Some write great thought provoking stuff, others simply write stuff.

Writing stuff is ok, every now and then you find a little pearl of wisdom and amaze yourself. What really matters is that you have to keep trying if you really want to write. (more…)

42 strategies to successfully optimize your website! (Part 1)

posted in: SEO

If you are on a tight budget and want to do website optimization yourself, here is the list you were looking for. The following list of optimization strategies will help you on your way to online success.

01. Write a brief description or introduction and submit it to share sites like Digg, and Reddit.

02. Write articles related to your product/company/service and submit them to article sites. Remember to use your keywords and links to your site in the content. (more…)

What does it mean that Google is rolling out Caffeine? (to SEO)

posted in: SEO

Google is taking caffeine and its about to become a little brat running around the house and messing all the stuff… or is it?

So Google has been rolling out Caffeine. As per their announcement before the holidays, Google was not going to commence rolling out the new changes in their indexing algorithm until after the seasons. According to several people among the SEO community, Caffeine has been seen in several servers across Google US. (more…)

PPC vs. SEO: Which is better?

posted in: SEO

During the last couple of weeks, I’ve been drowned with work. During this time I’ve been going through some interesting stuff (while working like mad). Someone asked me, what is better: Paid marketing (PPC) or Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

The answer is simple. It depends. (more…)

Content management systems… why use them?

posted in: SEO

I’m constantly asked by clients why we always suggest using a content management system. Most traditional web designers prefer to use the one-off approach of developing a website without a content management system (CMS) such as Joomla, Drupal, DNN, Mambo, WordPress,WordPress (our favourite) etc. While this simplifies the development process as there is no need to create a template for the system, it complicates the management of the site in a regular basis, specially, if you are planning on actually having a business online as opposed to an online business card. (more…)

Can I be on top? And why should I be on top… in Search Engines?

posted in: SEO

Marketing is about exposure and being in the client’s mind when the need arises. That is why marketing gurus talk about “Brand Awareness” which is the knowledge a consumer/prospect/client has of a brand’s existence. This is specially important for products or services that have a high cost and require a long sales process. Examples of these are Real Estate, Cars, Mortgage Brokers. This also helps with services or products that are not a regular need, that are only needed in particular situations. Examples of these are some Translation Services, Lawyers and other situational services.

What’s this got to do with Search Engines and on top?

(more…)