Why Use a Digital Agency for Your Digital Marketing?

Posted on May 4, 2017August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

Why You Should Use a Digital Marketing Agency to Rank Your Site

When it comes to marketing online, many small to medium sized businesses decide to tackle their digital marketing themselves. But, unfortunately, DIY digital marketing does not yield the same results. Business owners rarely have the time to add another skill to their already busy schedule; understanding the jargon, tools, and strategies involved with digital marketing takes time; it is so much more than posting and pushing content.

Business owners may find that the amount of time it takes to research, develop, and deploy a strategy is not an effective use of skill sets or budget.

And that is why it makes sense to hire a marketing agency to develop an effective marketing strategy, drive it forward, and get the results you want.

What does a Digital Marketing Agency Do?

Digital marketing is the most cost-effective marketing method available to reach the maximum amount of prospective customers, but to make sure it delivers the maximum ROI there are multiple paths within the strategy that must be developed and integrated. A professional digital marketing company hires a team of people who specialize in each area – graphic designers, web developers and programmers, marketing, and copywriters. When you hire a digital agency you have access to an entire team of experts, all working together to deliver your strategy and results. The services they provide include:

Branding
Target Market Research
Competition Analysis
Keyword Analysis
Web Development and Design
Content Strategies
Search Engine Optimization
PPC
Inbound and Outbound Marketing
Earned Media Strategies
Social media Content Strategies
Social Media Advertising Campaigns
Creative Consultations
Analysis, Review and Continue Strategy Development

A digital marketer will be able to read the statistics and data from your Google Analytics to understand your market, who they are, where they are, how they search and what content engages them most. From the in-depth information gathered, a highly-effective marketing strategy can be developed that will integrate all the marketing channels mentioned above with a creative content strategy designed specifically to engage your market.

Complicated? It sure is! Now throw in a whole new lexicon of jargon, constant changes to the Google rules (sometimes daily) changes in technology and tools, and cultural trends, and you quickly realize why you should hire a digital agency to handle the digital marketing for your company.

DIY Digital Marketing Can Result in Penalties

Many people who have a basic understanding of SEO and social media may decide to do it themselves; unfortunately, this can cause a lot of problems. Incorporating keywords into copy seems simple enough, but too many keywords will result in heavy penalties from Google. So how many are too many?

That magic number changes according to updated Google algorithms.

Black hat SEO tricks, duplicate content, spammy links, and breaches of copyright regulations can all result in penalties that will remove your site from the search results. The Google bots are programmed to find evidence of these black hat tactics, and social media also has rules of engagement for businesses that differ from personal sites.

Getting New Customers and Conversions

Penalties aside, the main reason a small, medium or large business should use a digital marketing agency is the incredible ROI. Online marketing can reach more people, it can target them by location, interest or language; it can determine where they are on the sales funnel and what kind of products they would like to buy. It can send them information they will find useful, and when they are looking for a new pair of shoes or a house, digital marketing can send them ads on just what they are looking for.

Are digital agencies marketing wizards? Yes, kind of, but relax, your business is in good hands – and our ‘wizarding’ hats are most definitely white.

Lead in Local – Local Marketing Uncovered

Posted on April 27, 2017August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

The Importance of Improving Your Local Page Rank

For all small to medium business owners, ranking in the top 3-pack for local search is hugely valuable and results in more visits and higher conversions. But how do you get your business in the top three organic search results?

The good news is that there are certain concrete steps you can take to increase your page rank. These steps include:

Local listings
Reviews
Name, address, phone number (NAP)
Keywords for local SEO

So let’s take a look at these steps in more detail.

1: How to Use Local Listings to Improve Your Page Rank

Google loves local. Google constantly updates the search algorithms to provide users with relevant search results, and most search queries for products and services are best served by local businesses. Make sure your business is listed with as many local and national business directories as possible. This will help Google verify that your business is real. Embedding a Google map on your site will also help verify and place your business in local search.

2: Why NAP Improves Search Results

Listing your business with directories is a first step, but you must also make sure your name, address and phone number is accurate and consistent across all listings and your website. Place your NAP in the footer or header on every page of your website in addition to the contact page, and if possible use the schema markup to do so.

Enter your business address with Google My Business. Keep in mind that if you are promoting your business with a PPC campaign, AdWords will take your contact information from your Google My Business settings.

3: Why Reviews are Good for Local Search

Google loves quality, and has a list of many factors that determine the quality of a site. One of the ways they try to ensure quality is through social proof. Engagement through social can be a good indication of the quality, and reviews are an easy way for the algorithms to determine the quality and value a business is offering its customers. It is well worth the time invested to follow up with customers and ask for reviews. Make it easy for them by sending them the link to make the review. And don’t forget to say thank you. A little love goes a long way.

4: Keywords for Local SEO

When incorporating keywords into the copy of your website, incorporate a little user psychology. Take some time to think how people search, and most importantly, think about how people search with voice commands. Not only do you need the products and services, but also the locations. A popular voice search term for local is “near me”.

These are just a few tips in digital marketing that can help improve your search results. If you would like advice on a digital marketing strategy tailored specifically for your business, call us, we’ll be happy to discuss your needs.

What Are Retargeting Ads – How Can They Be Done Right to Help Your Business?

Posted on April 20, 2017August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

What Really Happens When You Retarget Ads?

Retargeting, remarketing and pixels… They’re marketing buzzwords you’ve probably heard thrown about in conversations, or perhaps even told you need, but what exactly are they and how will they boost your business?

How Remarketing and Retargeting Works

Many people use the terms remarketing and retargeting interchangeably; and while they are very similar in strategy, they can differ in tactic.

Retargeting: Nurturing a website visitor into a lead with reminders of your brand, business, products or services through display advertising on other websites they visit. And, just to confuse things, Google calls this method of advertising ‘remarketing’ which is why the terms are often used interchangeably. We’ll refer to this method of advertising as Pixel-Based Retargeting.

Remarketing: Remarketing is the term typically used to refer to re-engaging customers or past website visitors via. Email campaigns. We’ll call this form of advertising Email List Based Marketing.

Essentially, both forms of advertising serve to remind potential customers about your brand.

Pixel-based retargeting

Pixel-based is the most commonly used. If you want to use retargeting as part of your marketing campaign you will need to place a piece of Javascript code (known as a pixel) on your website. This code will not be noticed by your visitors, but when they visit your site, the code will drop an anonymous browser cookie.

And as your cookied visitor browses your website and then the web, the cookie notifies your retargeting provider to serve your ad to the people who have visited your site.

Most online shoppers browse before they buy, in fact the percentage of first-time conversions is less than 3%. Retargeting helps brands market to visitors who have bounced off site, but might still be interested in the product. It also helps visitors by offering them easy access to the products and services they searched for without having to dive into their search history to find that site with the swimsuits they like.

Email List-Based Remarketing

Email List-based remarketing involves collecting a database of contacts from your website visitors. Depending on your business you may further segment the list into various categories/actions/themes.

The benefit of a list-based campaign is the ability to segregate lists and develop highly-focussed email campaigns to serve as a reminder of your brand, business, products and services. These campaigns can be simple in nature (regularly scheduled email newsletters) to more sophisticated (product-based emails to subscribers based on what they have browsed on your website.

Define Your Retargeting & Remarketing Campaigns

To make the most of your campaigns, you should begin by defining your goals.

Is it to create awareness? – an ad that wants to drive awareness will direct the customer to pages that provide information about the products or services.

Is it to drive a conversion? – if the ad is to drive the conversion of a product, it will direct the customer to the product page where they can easily add it to their cart.

If the conversion is for a service, the ad may direct the customer to a landing page or contact page where they can book an appointment or call for service.

Do it Right – 10 Point Retargeting Checklist

Make sure your ad is clearly branded with your company logo
Make sure the CTA is clearly defined – so visitors know what to expect
Use power words in the ad copy
Create a few different versions of the ad to avoid consumer fatigue and irritation
Try A/B Testing of the ads to determine best conversion rate
Display the value of the offer
Make sure the ad is bold enough to stand out from the rest of the page
Think about the length of the buying cycle to make sure you don’t run redundant ads
Create several banner sizes to be compliant with different ad placements
Make sure the pixel tracking code is on every page of your site or properly strategized and implemented if the goal is to provide specific ads to specific interactions of your website
Create different ads for each target segment

Retargeting is a useful means of advertising but it can be confusing. If you would like learn more about how retargeting can help your business, contact GetOn Marketing Inc, as your digital marketing consultants we will be happy to help.

Google Adwords, Bing PPC or Facebook Ads? Where Should You Spend Your Marketing Dollars?

Posted on April 12, 2017August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

Where Should You Spend Your Marketing Dollars?

It is a well-known fact that advertising through pay-per-click is a cost-effective means of reaching your market with highly-focused ads. But, as you start planning your PPC campaign, you may wonder which platform to use? This article will help you understand the pros and cons of placing your pay-per-click campaign through Google, Bing or Facebook.

Google, Bing and Facebook all reach a large audience, and there is no doubt any one of these platforms will give good return on your PPC investment. Google and Bing are search engines and the ads used should be focused on the searcher’s intentions and the keywords they use to search.

Facebook targeting is based on demographics and interests. Ads can be highly-focused on terms that relate to each demographic.

Generally, the cost per conversion is less with BingAds than with Google AdWords, however, Google is still the most widely used search engine with a larger reach. But, you should also factor in who your demographic is. Bing users tend to be between 35-54 years old, 44% are married, with a higher household income.

To decide which platform will work best for your marketing needs and marketing budget there are a few factors to consider.

Your Budget and Average PPC
Your Industry and Competition
Your Objective
People Sensitive Product or Service
Product or Service Search Volume

What Is Your Budget and What Is the Average CPC?

The budget you have to spend is a key factor in determining where to put your advertising dollars.

Google is still the most popular search engine in use; for this reason alone, it makes sense to use Google Adsense for your CPC marketing. But, where there is high volume there is also a higher cost on each CPC bid. According to Search Engine Journal, in 2016 Facebook ads were approximately 88% cheaper than AdWords.

What Is Your Industry and Who Is the Competition?

The type of industry you are in and the level of competition in your industry should also be taken into account. For example, the legal sector has one of the highest cost per keyword for certain terms, but the return on legal The studies have shown that Ativan similarly acts to all functions of the central nervous system and does not give more sedative or anti-anxious characteristics cases makes it worthwhile chasing these high-cost key terms. If your industry is legal, finance, health, tech or education you may find the cost for keywords with Google is too high for your budget and Facebook may be the better choice.

What Is Your Marketing Objective?

The next step is to clearly define your marketing objective. Is it to create awareness? Is it to generate leads? Is it to close the deal? Your customers will be on different levels of the sales funnel, and the direction of your advertising campaign will depend on which customers you decide to target.

AdWords is generally a better choice if you are ready to generate sales and leads, because people searching on Google are searching with the intention to buy and are specifically looking for your product or services.

People Sensitive Product or Service

Because it is a platform that is designed to connect people with people, Facebook is generally the best platform to use to connect with customers on a more personal level. Because of the data that Facebook has on it’s users’ personal details, Facebook ads can be more highly targeted by demographics and interests.

Product or Service Search Volume

If your product or service is new to the market and consumers do not know it exists, they will not be searching for it, and therefore there will be no search history for that term.

Think of the iPod before we knew what it was. Sure, the cost of the keywords will be low because there is no competition, but if no-one is searching for the keywords you use, your ad will not be shown.

However, if you decide AdWords is the best channel for you, you could bid on keywords that are related to the service or value you provide.

As with all good marketing initiatives, you need to know your market: who they are, where they play, and what keywords they use to search.

If you want to learn more about the digital platform that would work best for you, contact us, we’ll be happy to help you plan an effective PPC strategy that gets results.

5 Tips for Successful Content Curation

Posted on September 21, 2015August 20, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

Get Ahead with 5 Tips for Successful Content Curation

Content curation is a term we use when we talk about the task of finding and sharing quality content on a specific content. Curating content is both an art and a science. Our 5 tips for successful content curation can help you improve in this critical area.

Curation helps you build a larger audience with whom you can share your own content with, and who can spread the word. Curating content should be an important aspect of your long term social media plan.

If you’re thinking about engaging in content curation, you’ll want to think of yourself as a librarian of sorts. The Internet is filled with knowledge and articles and it will be your job to pull out the reliable and relevant articles based on your subject.

Of course, just like a library, there is always room for new sources. When you come up with an angle that has yet to be discussed, that’s when it’s time to start writing.

Content curation might seem simple, but it isn’t quick. Incorporating content curation into your social media strategy will take time.

Our Top Tips for Curating Your Content

Who is Your Audience ? you need to be able to answer this question before you know what kinds of articles will be of interest and engaging.
What’s Your Focus ? Once you have identified your audience and your business goals, pick one or two topics that will be of interest. You want to be labelled an expert so you here’s where it is important to specialize.
How is the Quality? Remember, you are the librarian. You are the gate keeper of knowledge. You want your readers to be able to count on you to deliver good information.
How often do you post? You need to share content on a regular basis since regular sharing helps you gain visibility. Remember to stay on topic and keep your content relevant to your target market.
Who wrote the original piece? Always give credit where credit is due. Tag the original author/publisher at the end of your post.

Curating content is a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Use it to fill in the space between your own well-written original articles.

25 Most Popular Passwords You Shouldn’t Be Using

Posted on August 18, 2015August 20, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

“trustno1” and “letmein” are both clever and witty passwords … or so you might think.

Every year Splash Data makes a list of the 25 most popular passwords and both make the list.

“password” is also quite common. You might think you’re going simple in order to avoid detection but it’s more common than you might think.

With the rise in website hacks and compromised data, it’s more important now than ever before to ensure your data, personal information, and banking details are under proper encryption and security.

It’s important to update your passwords on a regular basis. If you find you are using a password below, or a variation therof, now may be the right time to do a full password audit and change.

The 25 Most Popular Passwords You Shouldn’t Be Using

123456
password
12345
12345678
qwerty
123456789
1234
baseball
dragon
football
1234567
monkey
letmein
abc123
1111111
mustang
access
shadow
master
michael
superman
696969
123123
batman
trustno1

Chances are, if you’re utilizing one of the above passwords, it’s because it’s easier to keep track of. But, now there are a variety of password storage options and apps to make it easier to have passwords at your fingertips, so you can create passwords that are properly secure so your data and important information remains safe.

The Best Free Password Managers for 2015

9 Steps to Creating the Perfect Content Calendar

Posted on July 11, 2014August 20, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

One way to ensure you stay on track with your content marketing goals is to create the perfect content calendar. While you might think you don’t need one because there will always be something to write about, blogging or posting on social media without a plan won’t get you anywhere.

9 Steps to Creating the Perfect Content Calendar

Write down all your ideas / original angles etc.
Identify the requirements of each idea (ie. Imagery needed, data needed, research needed etc.)
Identify the objective or goal of each idea (ie. Sales, education, newsjacking, inbound lead generation, promotions, branding etc.)
Know your keywords. Identify the keywords/target you are trying to reach. Write them down alongside the topic idea.
Utilize the 80/20 % rule. 80 % of your content should be what the visitor wants to read and 20% should be sales/promotion/company news related.
Look at your sales cycle and seasonal themes and plan ahead. Did you know large publishing outlets often plan 6 months ahead? That’s right, while we’re all at the beach, they are planning their Christmas content!
After you have brainstormed topics, and identified requirements and objectives, place your ideas into the various categories of your business.
Create the calendar. Whether on paper or on the computer, use an actual calendar to schedule your posts. You may wish to color-code by category or type (ie. Social media or blog).
Be flexible. While it is important to stick to you calendar, it is also important to allow for flexibility. Important, time-sensitive ideas come up that need to either be added in or may need to replace a post in your calendar.

Need more assistance? Our team has created successful content marketing plans. Whether you simply wish for help in the planning or you are looking for a copywriter to make the ideas reality, we can help. Contact GetOn.com for more information.

Build Your Brand Mentions

Posted on May 2, 2014August 20, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

How to Reliably Build Your Brand Mentions

One way to boost SEO and your online presence is to build your brand mentions.

What does this mean? Well, it’s time to think outside of simply generating links to your website content and to start building your brand and content in order to get mentioned.

Your content strategy should be based on building content (page content, blog posts, news articles, social media posts, hash tags, videos, infographics, images etc.) that is worthy of being mentioned and shared.

Five Types of Mention-worthy Content:

Content that plays on people’s emotions. Positive emotions tend to be favoured here
Enticing content that asks (then answers) important questions
Content that provides something for free
Awe-inspiring content
Humorous content

Five things you can do regularly to ensure you are tracking brand mentions, no-follow links and shares:

Google your brand regularly
Set up Google-Alerts
Consider the paid brand reputation management software Trackur
Search related hashtags on all social media
A free solution to monitor your brand on social media is Social Mention

What Your Blog Headlines Say About Your Business

Posted on January 28, 2014August 20, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

The Importance of Compelling Blog Headlines

Your blog headlines need to be engaging and contain just the right amount of information to draw the visitor to read the post.

Writing the headline may well be the hardest part of writing a blog post, and if you are not putting the effort into writing an enticing one, it may show (to your visitors and your results).

Typical newspaper headlines are short, snappy and to the point. They usually start with the main keyword and then use the next few works to describe what the reader may discover from the article.

For example: Blog Headline Tips For Your Business

Sensational writing will draw you in by playing on your emotions.

For example: If You Do Not Follow Our Blog Headline Tips, Your Blog Is Doomed To Be Read

Both examples leave something to be desired, right? The first may be too ordinary to bring you readers and the second is not appropriate for a good business blog.

The happy medium really is somewhere in between.

Spend some time reviewing blog posts that draw you in. What is it about the headline that grabs your attention?

We are bombarded with information in our emails, our social networks and our day-to-day lives.

It is important that your headline stands out from the crowd and shows your intended audience it is worth reading.

So, what do your blog headlines say about your business? They should show you have some piece of information that is special and deserves to be read. They should show you value the interaction your blog provides. They should show you are of value.

Utilizing your keywords and playing on emotion (without going overboard) is a good strategy to ensure your posts get the attention they deserve.

After all, you spend an hour or two working on your blog post and it would be a shame if they don’t stand out in the sea of information.

6 Myths of SEO

Posted on July 26, 2013 by GetOn Marketing

Good Search Engine Optimization should be a part of your overall Internet Marketing Plan. That being said, there are plenty of myths surrounding what proper Search Engine Marketing really is.

6 Myths of SEO You Should Not Fall For:

Keyword Stuffing – Stuffing your keyword metatag, website content, H1 tags, headers etc. with keywords will not increase your chances of getting higher in the organic search results. If you are advised to use white text to hide keywords, or to use a bunch of unrelated keywords in your website, don’t do it. Instead, do proper keyword research and then use the appropriate 1-3 keywords that fit the page you are working on.
Tons of Links to your Site – Link building can be part of your overall SEO strategy; however, the key is to get relevant links from relevant websites using relevant keywords. Relying on link building will not increase your overall ranking within the search engines.
Multiple Websites – Building multiple websites to link to your website is not a reputable SEO strategy. Instead, work on building your current website with relevant content.
Optimized Sites are not User-Friendly – A website that has been well-planned and designed for visitor experience can also be SEO-friendly. It all starts with strategy.
You Can Buy Results – You cannot buy organic listings in Google. Google and other search engines do offer Pay-Per-Click listings that you can pay for.
SEO Is All About Meta Tags – There is more to SEO than filling out your Title, Description and Keyword meta tags

Professional web design and Search Engine Optimization starts with proper planning and strategy. In fact, SEO is just a portion of what should be your overall Internet Marketing strategy.

By Michelle Collie
Internet Marketing Specialist
GetOn Marketing – Kelowna Web Design

How Consumers Can Utilize Online Reviews

Posted on July 16, 2013 by GetOn Marketing

When my family takes a vacation, I scour Internet review sites to help plan possible restaurants to dine in, hotels to stay in, and activities to take part in.

While I do enjoy happening upon surprises when we travel, we have children and a budget so it is important that I do a little bit of research.

On a recent trip we were able to find some activities we may not have discovered had the reviews not been so glowing. The same goes for some local eateries.

There are reviews for everything. Whether you are looking for a new doctor or veterinarian, a realtor or photographer, a restaurant or hotel, you can find websites dedicated to providing you with people’s views.

That being said, just as there is a right way (and a wrong way) for businesses to handle their online reviews, there is a right way (and a wrong way) to use Internet reviews in your day-to-day life.

7 Tips For Consumers To Make Good Use of Online Reviews

Take Them With a Grain of Salt – People tend to only write reviews when they feel passionately about something – whether good or bad. Or, if they are given an incentive to leave a good review. That being said, if the same negative comment comes up over and over again, perhaps there is some truth to it. Or, if a place is laden with a variety of positive reviews that seem legitimate, that once bad review may be a case of sour grapes.

Consider The Source – As mentioned above, some establishments provide incentives to leave (positive) reviews. Sometimes the competition will leave negative reviews. Sometimes after a negative review an establishment will gather friends and family to leave a bunch of good ones.

Take the Average – Most review sites will give you the average. If there are too many reviews to read them all, read a few reviews from the low end and a few from the high end and make a judgement call from there.

Spot the Gems / Spot the Fakes – Look for reviewers that have left multiple reviews for various establishments. Regular reviewers usually provide valuable feedback. Reviewers with weird user names, only one review, and especially glowing or scathing reviews could be fake.
Trust Your Gut – Try out the establishment for yourself. That’s a great way to know if it is right for you.

Remain Objective – Reading reviews can compromise your objectivity and flavour your own experience. For instance, if every review says how amazing the pancakes are, you may try the pancakes and think they are amazing too, simply because you continue to read that they are. Or, if every review states how you must try a certain activity because it is so fantastic, your expectations could be heightened and you may not find the activity as exhilarating as you were expecting. Had you not read so many glowing reviews, you may have found the activity would have met your more realistic expectations.

Leave Your Own Review – Take the time to leave your own review after visiting an establishment, whether you are happy, unsatisfied or indifferent. Be thoughtful and truthful. The more reviews you leave the more you may be able to see what is valuable incite in other reviews.

People are starting to trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends. And, more than ever, online reviews are impacting purchasing decisions.

We often advise businesses to encourage patrons to leave a review. After all, it is a good way to increase users to review websites, build review communities and increase awareness about the business.

So, the next time a business asks for your review, go online and leave it. But be truthful.

And, the next time you read reviews online, remember that while there are plenty of fakes, by looking for the truth within the reviews you may find some new favorite places of business.

Businesses: Learn the Right Way To Handle a Bad Online Review

Which review sites are your favorites? Has your opinion ever been swayed by online reviews? Do you think online reviews are generally accurate?

By Michelle Collie
Internet Marketing Specialist
GetOn.com – Kelowna Web Design and Internet Marketing

6 SEO Tasks Every Small Business Should Do … Every Single Month

Posted on February 6, 2013 by GetOn Marketing

Updated: Feb. 17, 2014

We get asked regularly what tasks a business should be doing regularly. In addition to the article below (items that still hold true), businesses should:

A) Update their content – Utilize analytics to determine what your visitors are looking for and what content pieces are getting read the most. Continue writing in-demand pieces. Don’t simply concentrate on the blog. Go through your site’s main pages and make regular updates as needed.

B) Get social – Choose your social media platforms and then set aside time and resources to post regularly and interact with your audience. This includes responding to posts, generating conversations, posting on other people’s pages, and reading others’ updates.

C) Stay in the know – Continue learning by staying up-to-date on industry related news and updates.

If your small business has a website, there are some essential tasks you should be doing on a monthly basis to maintain or boost your rankings, traffic and conversions. Failing to perform SEO correctly could cost your business website visitors and customers.

1. Identify Your Demand

It is important to regularly identify your demand. In terms of SEO and Internet Marketing, this can be easily accomplished by performing regular keyword research using a keyword tool such as Google’s Free Adword’s Tool.

2. Measure Your Market

Learn how to read your website Analytics and peruse them regularly. When you can identify how is coming to your website, how they are getting there, how long they are staying and why they are leaving you can work your site to your benefit. Plus, your analytics can change by the season, the month, the day or even the hour. Additionally, if you are running additional advertising campaigns, it is always wise to search your website analytics for traffic that may be in correlation.

3. Build Your Audience Base

Establishing quality links to your website and content, engaging with current visitors and promoting your website should be a regular task. Offer new ways to share content with friends, hold a contest, or encourage customers to re-visit your website. You should also try and get a few websites to link to your website on a regular basis as well.

4. Check Your Competition

It’s important to regularly check your competition online. You may be able to uncover tactics that are working for them, find things to avoid, or discover new things. Check who is linking to them (so then try and get those same websites to link to you) and how they rank. If their ranking has improved substantially, can you see what they have done differently that may have prompted the change?

5. Pay Attention to the Details

It’s a great idea to regularly go through your website with fine attention to the details. Look at your metatags, your H1 tags, your links, your spelling and your grammar. Periodically change your title, descriptions and keywords. Make a couple changes to your headings. Make sure all of your links are working correctly. Then, fill out your ‘contact’ form to make sure it is working properly too.

6. Remember that Content is King

When you go through your analytics, have a look at what pages are receiving the highest number of visitors or have the longest time spent on the website. Take a look at what pages have a high bounce rate. Then, use what you uncover to update your content to take advantage of your visitors. In addition, you should create a content plan to grow your website to meet visitor demands. Whether you continue to add pages to your website or regularly post a blog or news item, adding new content to your website is great for your visitors and the search engines, too.

Ideally, you should check your statistics and website positioning on a weekly basis. You should also strive to write a minimum of one blog post and fine one or two new links to your website each week, too. The rest of the tasks you can tackle once a month. Paying attention to your website and learning how to make your website work for you does require regular work; however, the benefits will come!

Social Media – Not Always About SEO

Posted on November 30, 2012 by GetOn Marketing

Social Media Marketing – It’s Not All About SEO

It’s easy to get carried away in the battle for that #1 spot in the Organic search engine rankings. And while search engine ranking and organic search engine results is still a top facet of your Internet marketing plan, when it comes to social marketing and content, it cannot be all about SEO all of the time.

Write Content For Your Visitor

When it comes to your web content, blog posts, news articles etc. it is very important to write compelling content that will entice your visitor to action. All too often, we come across websites where it is obvious the page was written specifically for Google. Keywords are inserted everywhere and the text becomes hard to read and does not flow. Headlines and titles don’t make sense and instead of drawing the visitor in, they end up screaming “Google, look at me”. With the write writing, SEO and Internet marketing skills it is possible to have well-written content that appeals to both the visitor and the search engines.

Be Social For Social

There is a lot of buzz in the Internet marketing industry about social media and its impact on SEO. Whether social media directly impacts your SEO is a highly debated topic. Social media should be an important part of your Internet marketing strategy, but for its own value, not with the sole intention of increasing your search engine positioning. Social media holds value on its own and that value is lost when your main focus within your social media plan is on keyword density.

Of course, there is a crossover point between SEO and Social media and when done well, it can be highly effective but your primary goal when engaging on your social media platforms is to be social, generate buzz and start a good conversation. While you might earn click throughs and traffic to your website from your social marketing channels, you cannot forget that these are social media websites have a built in audience and it is important to capture that audience right there within your social media account.

On social media websites you have an audience right in front of you. Forget about bumping up your search engine positioning for a moment and speak directly to them. Engage that audience and grab their attention. At the end of the day, if they are interested in what you have to say, they will click through the link you post, they will contact you and they may convert.

Of course, keep your top keyword list handy and utilize those when appropriate in your titles, headlines and content but don’t get so caught up in your keyword density that you lose site that by and large, it is a real person reading your social media posts and content and not a search engine.

By Michelle Collie
GetOn Marketing Internet Marketing Specialist
Kelowna Web Design & Internet Marketing by GetOn.com

The Right Way To Handle a Bad Online Review

Posted on November 6, 2012 by GetOn Marketing

With all the review websites online (Yelp, Google+ to list a few), plus social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, it is very important to become a watchdog of what is being said about your business brand online.

By and large, reviews offer word-of-mouth advertising and many consumers do look to reviews before deciding on a purchase/business/service.

But, what happens when your business receives a negative review online? What can you do to limit the impact the review(s) will have on your business?

Three Ways to Handle Negative Reviews

1) Do Nothing – some businesses choose to take a passive response to online reviews. By doing nothing, they are allowing the reviews to speak for themselves, positive and negative. Depending on the tone of the review, or the complaint, some businesses find that it is okay to simply do nothing.

2) Try and Have Review Removed – for some, they will dispute negative reviews through the proper channels laid out by the review websites. This is an important avenue, especially if the review seems excessively harsh or even untrue. Perhaps the reviewer has reviewed the wrong business, or the business does not have record of offering a service/product as described in the review.

3) Be Proactive and Positive – a great strategy for managing online reviews is to respond to as many reviews as possible – negative and positive. When responding to a review it is important to remain calm and positive. Offer apologies for whatever went wrong and then offer a way for the customer to contact you to make it right. You can even offer a reason as to why or how the problem occurred if you think it may make a difference.

It seems to be human nature for people to speak out more when they are upset, rather than when they are satisfied and happy. Therefore, businesses may find the ratio between positive reviews and negative ones to be inaccurate. By responding to negative reviews in a positive manner, future clients/customers will get the impression that you care about your business and value client relationships and service. How you handle yourself in the face of negativity could mean more than a long list of positive reviews.

Since there is no way to get around what others may post about your business online, it is important that you become a watchdog of your online image and then act accordingly and in a manner that is true to your business philosophy and spirit.

By Michelle Collie
Internet Marketing Specialist
Kelowna Web Design and Internet Marketing

Top 5 Ways to Optimize for Mobile Search

Posted on July 25, 2012 by GetOn Marketing

According to Aaron Goldman in MediaPost’s SearchInsider publication, in 2011 15% of Google searches were done by a mobile device. Using mobile devices to search continues to grow. In fact, according to a comScore Local Search Usage Study, 61% of smartphone users make local searches from a device and 49% of mobile and tablet users conduct local business searches on apps.

Ensuring that your business is optimized for local search and mobile search is essential to compete in today’s marketplace.

Here are 5 Things To Optimize for Mobile Search

Keep It Simple – A clean and simple site is a great way to ensure that your mobile users are finding the information they are looking for.
Mobile Ready Content – Mobile users are coming to your site for quick information. Concise content, visible calls to action and displaying your address and phone number on the top portion of your website will result in more conversions.
Optimize for Local Search – As the Internet began to grow in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, their was a push for the ‘world marketplace’. Suddenly, businesses were able to market across the world with ease. Search campaigns focused on general terms to capture a big audience. While all of this is still true, the growing usage of mobile devices used to search for local businesses makes ensuring you are locally optimized even more important. Research is showing that mobile users are more likely to click on a listing if it matches Using Ativan significantly reduces an agitation of the central nervous system and inhibits hypernormal reflexes their local search query (for example: Kelowna chinese food restaurants or Vancouver hairstylists).
Try a Google Pay-Per-Click Campaign – Try doing a Google search from your own smartphone or tablet and you may notice that only a few results show up and the shading separating the pay-per-click results from the organic search results is getting harder to differentiate. Mobile users want quick information and they do not want to scroll through pages of search results to find what they are looking for. A properly run pay-per-click campaign with a local focus is a great way to ensure that your website is up on top to garner the most impressions and clicks.
Increase Customer Engagement – A top mobile marketing objective is to increase customer engagement. What do you want your visitor to do to engage with your business while on their phone? Do you want them to email you? Text you? Phone you? Is your business a bricks and mortar business and people are merely looking for your address? Mobile users like to use social networking devices and YouTube while on their phones so providing ways to link up with you or providing a video for them to watch is one way to increase customer engagement. Maybe you will offer your mobile users a coupon? Just be sure you have clear and visible Calls to Action that lead them back to your business.

Is Your Site Optimized For Mobile Search?

The True Cost of a Website

Posted on June 10, 2012 by GetOn Marketing

The first question a person usually asks when wanting a website is “what’s it going to cost me?”.

For people who haven’t had a website before or perhaps used an out-of-the-box solution, the expectations on what you get vs. what you pay for do not usually match.

The following are a few items to think about when getting a website and how your expectations may affect the end cost.

1) Design – There is a cost involved in the general design and layout of a website and generally, you get what you pay for. The more individuality and creativeness you require for your site, the higher the cost. A low end, low budget website is usually designed based on a template. These sites can still be very professional and visually appealing; however, customization will increase the cost.

Determine what exactly you are looking for in the look and feel of your website, as well as its layout and talk with your designer about a solution that will work for you.

2) Functionality – What do you want your website to do? A basic site that provides general information is what you can expect for a low-end budget or starter solution. Once you start adding features and functionality, the cost will increase. Features can include a blog or news system, a photo gallery, interactivity, database driven functions, shopping carts etc.

Determine your requirements with your web designer so that your end result works to meet your needs.

3) Strategy and Consulting – You should have specific goals for your website and your site should be built to match those goals. Are you trying to attract new business? Are you providing a service to your current clients? Is your market local? Is your market international? Determining your goals, market and reach is an important step to strategizing and building your website. By doing so, you can then get a site that is built to meet your goals, strategy and market.

4) Marketing – Who is your target visitor and how can you reach them? How you market your website is an important factor in the overall success of your website. Reaching your target visitor can depend on who they are and how they will find you. Will you reach them through the organic search engine results? Through the pay-per-click search engine results? Will they find you off links off other websites? Through social media? The saying “build it and they will come” does not work for your websites if they don’t know your website exists. Expect to include marketing into your web site budget.

5) Content Writing – Your message is important and it is critical that your content reflects your business. Why are your visitors coming to a website like yours and what are they looking for? You need to provide more than just useful information, you need to provide your visitors with a reason to do business with you… hook, line and sinker. There are options to hire a professional copywriter to write or edit the content for your website.

6) Formatting, graphics, images etc. – Making your words look nice is equally important. You want clear calls to action that entice the visitor to action. Perhaps you want a few graphics or images on each page. Choosing the right image and formatting it so it displays properly is an important task.

7) Hosting, Domain Name, Email etc. – You need a domain name. This is the URL that visitors will type in to reach your website. An example is getonmarketing.com or google.com. There are registration fees involved with securing a domain name. Next you will need hosting for your site. This is the server space required to hold your website on the Internet. There are monthly fees involved for this service. With your hosting and/or domain name you should get email services. Depending on your plan will depend on the number of email addresses you get. You can always add more but there will be a cost associated with additional accounts.

These are some of the most common factors that play into the cost of a website. This is why many companies provide an estimate for web design instead of a hard cost.

After all, as clients get more involved in the building of the website, or learn more about features and functionality, they often decide to add additional elements along the way.

While it is completely appropriate to want to know what your website will cost, the bigger, more important question you should be asking is what can a website do for you.

Higher ROI, conversions, increased branding, increased sales etc. can all be achieved with a website planned from the beginning with a good strategy and functional design.

By determining what a website can do for you, you will often come to your own conclusion of what you need out of your website which will then help determine your costs.

After all, if you know you are going to get more out of your website, you will be willing to put more into it. Likewise, the more you put into it, when done right, the more you will get out of your site.

Determine your goals and we will help define a strategy and design the tools and platform to reach them! Contact GetOn Marketing today!

Make The Most of Mobile

Posted on April 27, 2012 by GetOn Marketing

More and more Internet users are turning to their mobile devises and tablets to browse websites online. While many of our own clients are seeing big increases in traffic come from mobile users, mobile web browsing is increasing in general. According to an Ipsos Interactive Reid Report, Canadian smartphone users spend an average of 17.3 hours per week using their device. Smartphone users are using their phones to check weather, access social networking websites, look at maps, find a phone number, text, online bank and search the Internet. Ensuring your website is mobile friendly is a great way to take advantage of this growing way to surf the net.

Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

1) Currently, mobile users are likely visiting your website to find quick information such as a price, your phone number, your address or directions to your place of business. Some businesses offering products or services find that having a separate mobile website is a great way to capture this audience. Others, find ensuring their own website is mobile-friendly with clickable phone numbers, the business address in the header or footer and even a map to their place of business is enough.

2) There is more to being mobile-friendly than simply ensuring your website works on a mobile phone. Is your website listed where the users are searching? Having a listing in Google Places, the Yellow Pages and other local directories can be very helpful in ensuring your site is found by mobile users.

3) Some businesses are finding that they are capturing the mobile user market by running an AdWords campaign. How does this help? Mobile users are turning to Google to find what they are looking for. A well-positioned and managed AdWords campaign will have your ad showing up at the top of the search results. On a small screen such as an iPhone or SmartPhone, searchers will see these ads without having to scroll down for the organic search results.

4) How does your website connect with a mobile user? Are you offering your visitors a way to connect with your business from their phones? You can ensure your website provides a way for users to quickly call, text or email your business, or offers a way for your visitors to share your products/information with their friends or themselves (when using the Internet from their computer), your website should offer a way for users to connect and revisit.

The mobile market isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and continues to grow. Now is a good time to make sure your website is up to the task of quickly providing mobile visitors with exactly what they are looking for and giving them an easy way to connect with your business form the comfort of their smartphones.

For more information on mobile-friendly websites or to have your website analyzed for how it can best capture the mobile market, Contact GetOn.com.

Local Search Marketing

Posted on April 9, 2012 by GetOn Marketing

When businesses first began publishing websites online, the goal was to reach a bigger market. It was “The World Wide Web” and suddenly the entire world could be considered a potential prospect. Businesses had increased opportunities and the power of the Internet was easily recognized.

Back then, businesses relied on phone books, billboards, and local advertising mediums such as newspapers, radio and television to increase their branding and marketing efforts within their locale. The Internet was for ‘the world’ market.

Today, the power of the Internet is being harnessed to increase a business’ profile within their local market. More and more businesses are seeing the relevance and usability to positioning their website within the local search market, too.

When was the last time you opened a phone book? When you are looking to order a pizza or call up your mechanic or schedule a hair appointment, how do you go about finding the phone number? Google?!? How many of these searches are you doing on your mobile device or tablet?

Technology, once touted as making the world smaller, is now making it even easier to reach out to your neighbours.

Is your business being found?

Whether your not your business has a website, your business can still utilize the Internet to grow your local business. A Google Places listing is a good start. Plus, there are a number of other local directories that are regularly being used by Internet searchers.

The GetOn.com team can work with your team to ensure your business is being found in the right places by the right people. Contact us today to learn more about how your business can increase your Internet exposure locally.

Website Maintenance – Are You Doing it Right?

Posted on September 22, 2011August 31, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

You launch your website and have a plan to maintain, update, enhance and market it.

Some businesses need to update their website more than others, but regardless, every website should get updated when needed.

Perhaps you are a realtor who is constantly adding and updating real estate listings? Or, maybe you run an online shopping website and are updating with inventory changes? Maybe you are a veterinarian who routinely answers frequently asked questions or shares patient-care stories on your blog? Maybe you are an artist and need to update your portfolio? Maybe you are a small business and are building upon your information pages?

In any case, when you update and maintain your website you should be sure that it remains consistent with your message, look and marketing plan.

Whenever you add or update a page within your website you should remember the following:

1) Your Top Keywords

if the page pertains to any of your top keywords you should be sure to include them within your page heading, website text and metatags (Title, Description and Keywords) where appropriate.

2) Formatting

if you are adding onto a page or adding a new page, is there a style or format that you need to keep for the sake of uniformity? For instance, perhaps all of your pages have a heading and a subheading? Perhaps you utilize an image on the right (or left)? It is important that as you grow your site that you do not lose the design and functionality that your site was built upon.

3) Page Links

can you link to other content within your website? Do you need to provide a link to an outside source? Linking to other pages within your website provides your visitors with a guide to help them find related information/products/services that they may find useful. In addition, a realtor likely wants his visitors to visit the real estate listings page and/or the contact us page; whereas a shopping site wants visitors to visit a product page. It is very helpful to link to these pages when appropriate.

4) Tone and Message

Often businesses ask a number of employees to udpate, manage and maintain a website. Each person may have their own writing style and/or vision; however, a similar tone, message and style should be used throughout the entire website.

5) Your Marketing Plan

Whoever updates your website should understand your Internet marketing goals and plan so that they can ensure that whatever they are adding will help (and not hinder) what you are trying to achieve.

Maintaining, Updating and Growing a website can take a lot of work, but ensuring that it is done right can make all the difference.

5 Link Development Strategies

Posted on December 15, 2010August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

If you have a domain name and a website, chances are you are regularly inundated with requests to exchange links. While being linked to can boost your Search Engine Popularity and in turn help with your website positioning, it is very important to employ a proper strategy to your link development.

Our Favourite 5 Link Development Strategies are:

Natural Linking
Relevant Directories
Social Networking
New Media Linking
Link Exchange/Reciprocal Linkin

Natural Link Building

Just as you naturally link to other websites of interest, others may link to you. Perhaps you have a links page, or periodically showcase another product/service/website in your newsletter, blog, or general content areas. Because these types of links normally offer value to the visitor, are relevant to your website and provide good information they usually provide good ‘link weight’ with the search engines. By sharing a link with your visitors, you are also telling the search engines that the other site is of value. Natural Link Building starts naturally and it starts with providing content that encourages others to share.

Relevant Directories

The jury is still out on just how important directory submissions will be in the future; however, hand-submitting your website to local portals and directories, as well as industry specific directories, and directories that have NOT been penalized by Google and other search engines can serve you well in the long run. Ideally, your rule of thumb should be “will my potential client/visitor be visiting a directory like this and does my site provide value to their visitor”.

Social Networking

If you are using Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In as part of your Social Networking Strategy and you are sharing links to your website then you are engaging in a positive link building strategy. Your Social Networking Strategy should ensure that you are not inundating your friends/followers with links/marketing etc.

New Media Linking

If you are sharing photos and videos online through any number of popular websites including Flikr and YouTube then you can also share a link to your website/product/services etc.

Link Exchange / Reciprocal Linking

In the past, many thought that the more links you had to your website, the better. It did not matter where the link came from, or what sort of content was provided alongside the link, people began massive email campaigns to encourage others to exchange links. Today, your site could be penalized for sharing links in this manner. If your site is found on sites that are considered link farms or have been penalized for not providing valued content then not only will you not receive weight from that link, but your site could be penalized as well. This is why hand submission to directories and websites is so crucial.

You can do link exchanges / reciprocal linking without being penalized, if you go about it properly. Again, you will want to exchange links with other sites that are relevant to your visitor. For instance, a real estate agent may wish to exchange links with a mortgage broker or local moving company, a winery may wish to exchange links with a local real estate agent, and a health food store may wish to exchange links with a fitness centre or personal trainer.

When taking part in a link exchange you want to ensure that:

the site is relevant to your viewer
adds valued content/resources to your viewer
may or may not be local
the page you are listed on does not have a long list of other links
allows you to offer a description to go along with a Keyword Phrase Link

There are still many ways to build your link popularity and encourage proper link development to your website. By utilizing the best practices, your website stands the best chance of taking advantage of the leads, traffic, and potential search engine positioning that comes with proper Online Marketing.

Get Started With Google Ads

Posted on March 3, 2010August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

4 Reasons to Get Started with Google Ads

As important as Organic Search Engine Marketing is for your long-term Internet Marketing goals, sometimes it is hard to have the patience to wait for the rewards.

While you are waiting to reap the rewards of your Organic Search Marketing campaign you may want to consider a Google Ads Marketing Campaign.

1. The Results are Immediate – once you get your campaign set up and going, you will start to see new visitors almost immediately.

2. You Can Experiment with Keywords – Your adwords campaign is a great way to experiment with some of your top keywords to see which keywords bring traffic and results. The results from your adwords campaign can help you with your Organic Search Marketing work.

3) You can Experiment with Target Markets – Google Ads gives you the ability to target your ad to specific locations. This is a great way to really target your users – especially if your market is location-specific.

4) You Can Monitor How Targeted Traffic Flows Through Your Website – Because the results are immediate you can quickly determine which keywords bring visitors that spend more time on your website and visit more pages.

While the results of an adwords campaign are immediate, you can quickly learn a lot of valuable information on your targeted visitors as well. This information can be highly useful for your Search Engine Marketing Campaign. Therefore the importance of Google Ads is two-fold: immediate results and immediate analytical information.

A Weekly Social Media Strategy

Posted on January 15, 2010August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

Follow up on your good intentions with a weekly social media strategy.

We sign up for Facebook or Twitter, or sign-on to write a blog and then we’re bombarded by that pesky little thing known as “Writer’s Block”, sometimes coming in the form of procrastination. We don’t know what to write about, what to tweet about, and what to share with our Facebook friends. Or, we’re simply just too busy. Sometimes, all we need is a plan to get us started. A simple daily task list that will encourage us to use the Social Networks in the beginning phases, until they become a habit.

The following is a day-to-day guide and examples of ideas to help get you started on a weekly social media strategy.

Marketing Monday

Pick Monday as your day to spread your marketing message. Maybe you have an event or sale, want more visitors to visit your website, or are trying to encourage people to sign up for your newsletter. You do not want to market to your visitors every day, so make Monday your day to market.

Other ideas for Monday include:

Mentor Monday – write or share an article that acts as a mentor to your visitors
Media Monday – share a general news story
Market Monday for Real Estate Agents – give an update on the real estate market
Mortgage Monday for Real Estate Agents – update local mortgage rates

Teamwork Tuesday

Tuesday is a great day to showcase your team’s work. Share from your portfolio, announce a product/house/service sold, or congratulate an employee for a job well done.

Other ideas for Tuesday include:

Tutorial Tuesday – share or write an industry specific tutorial
Time Zone Tuesday – Write or share about something local or at least within your time zone. Maybe you visited a fabulous restaurant, attraction, or place of business. Give kudos.

Wacky Wednesday

Has something silly or out of the ordinary occurred? Do you have a good, clean, tasteful joke that begs to be shared.

Other ideas for Wednesday include:

Webnesday or Website Wednesday – share some of your favorite links (also known as word-of-month Wednesday)
Worldly Wednesday – what’s happening around the world? Any good news stories you would like to comment on?

Tell-all Thursday

Thursday is your opportunity to tell a little secret, or share a good industry-specific tip. You will want to tell it all, like it is. Whether it’s a guide to getting your house ready to sell, a tell-all on a new way to market your business, or a list of healthy recipes – today is your day to give away some of your secrets and share them with your visitors.

Other ideas for Thursdays include:

Top-ten Thursdays – everyone loves a good top-ten list.
Talented Thursday – share the love and recognize other talented individuals/businesses
Tradeshow Thursday – hold a virtual tradeshow on your social networks

Follow Friday

Friday is a great way to encourage your followers and friends to follow and friend your other followers and friends. Choose a couple people to highlight and showcase.

Other ideas for Fridays include:

Friendly Friday – use Friday as your casual day to be friendly, encourage friendship, and build your friend/follower list
Factual Fridays – spread some facts across your social networks

Whatever you choose to do on whatever day you choose to do it, the key is regularity, consistency, and engaging your readers with more than simply your marketing message.

Perhaps you are a realtor with a finesse for food. You may choose to focus your Twitter tweets with restaurant reviews. Maybe your business is very engaged in charity or social causes – you may wish to Facebook or Tweet about these accomplishments and causes. The real plan is to make a plan in the first place, at least until you get going.

And, if you have a sudden burst of inspiration? Write a week or month’s worth of blog posts at once and schedule them for publishing every Thursday (for tell-all Thursday). Or, use a program like hootsuite that allows you to program your Twitter updates and Facebook status updates. Then, you can do a week’s work of social networking work all in one sitting!

7 Tips for Good Website Content

Posted on December 2, 2009August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

We Share Our 7 Tips For Good Website Content

You wouldn’t write a letter to your Grandma the same way you would e-mail your best friend. The same is true for your Internet copy —it needs to be different than a business whitepaper or marketing pamphlet. Your copy needs to be catchy, informative, relevant, succinct, portray your marketing message (if applicable) and be search engine friendly. When writing content for your website less is more but only if you are able to say what you want to say, have your viewers read it, and encourage them to visit other pages.

Take the real estate industry, for instance. While offline marketing techniques are still widely used and successful (newspaper listings, hand-outs, magazine and newspaper advertisements, mailers etc.) the Internet has quickly become a huge target for realtors. Home buyers are turning to the Internet to begin their property searches. In fact, 9 out of 10 home buyers begin their property search online.

Do you know what terms they are searching? Are they finding your website?

This is where your website content comes into play. If your website content is not related to the search term, your pages will not come up in the Search Engine’s results pages. Or, if your visitor doesn’t find what they are looking for at first glance, they will leave and try another website.

Good website content is:

easy to read
easy to scan
succinct
incorporates keywords and keyword phrases to match the terms your potential visitors will be searching
portrays your marketing message
is informative
encourages visitors to view more pages or to contact you directly

For Realtors®, special attention should be placed on the copy they are writing for their individual listings. Many realtors simply copy and paste the content from their print listings into their website. While this may be efficient, it may hinder your ability to be found online.

It is important to have your top keywords handy

Stick them on a cork board above your desk or on a sticky note attached to your monitor. Realtors should refer to their keywords every time they publish a new listing online. Utilizing one or two of the most appropriate keyword phrases within the listing content can go a long way in helping your website be found by potential home buyers.

As with most things, balance is key.

When writing website copy you need to balance your use of keywords with easy to read, succinct content and your marketing message. This way, you have the best chance of being found, being read and converting your visitors into clients.

How Long Does It Take To Rank?

Posted on November 16, 2009August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

How long does it take to rank – One Week? One Year?

You have signed up for a monthly SEO program with GetOn. Your website has launched and you’re excited to begin seeing results. So, how long does it take to rank? Although patience is key, when and how you rank can depend on a number of important factors.

1) Are your keywordscompetitive or non-competitive?

If your target search results are not competitive you may be able to rank within a few weeks of your website and optimization program’s launch – even if your domain and site is brand new. However, with the growth of the Internet, there are very few uncompetitive categories remaining.

2) Is your website and/or domain name new?

Google (and the other search engines) treats new websites as new businesses. Many of the top ranked websites have been providing Internet users with valued information for years. It takes time to build that same credibility and trust. The search engines watch a new site, monitor them for their value, and make sure that the new sites are practicing proper SEO methods, are not spam, and are not trying to manipulate their results. In other words, you have to earn your position for keyword searches. While the search engines do not always get this right, they do work hard to provide clients with the best matched websites for their search query.

It will probably take at least a year to catch up to already established websites, especially if they are practicing good Search Engine Optimization methods and are link building. Even if you have a great marketing idea that will help you build many organic links, if your competition is a large corporation, a household name etc. it will take much longer to out-rank them, if ever.

3) How much time is spent on link building?

New websites require slow and steady link development over time. While it may seem easy to take part in one of those “Get 100 links in an hour” advertising schemes, these mass-submission marketing methods only serve to penalize your website in the future. It is best to grow your links and popularity manually and over time. For instance, if you grow x links this month, then next month you will want to create x more links, and so on. It does not matter how new or old your website is; link-building should be done regularly.

5) How many hours do you spend optimizing?

Organic Search Engine marketing is an ongoing process. Even when target rankings are achieved, there is still work involved to maintain the results and to keep up on and implement new search engine optimization practices.

Websites with non-competitive keywords could begin ranking in a few weeks after 4 hours of initial SEO work, followed by a couple hours per month thereafter. Of course, the website has to be utilizing search engine friendly code and navigation practices.

For websites with competitive search results, we could spend hundreds of hours of SEO work and still not see the results we are looking for. In other words, the number of hours that need to be spent is in direct correlation with the competitiveness of your keywords and search results and the age of your domain/website. Your success is our success, which is why we work hard to help you achieve those top rankings.

6) What other factors affect ranking?

Competitive keywords, age and time play a big role in when you will see results; however, there are other factors that influence rankings, including:

Not only do you want to look at the age of your competitors websites, but you also want to look at how hard they are working on their online marketing campaigns. We track their current link count, link growth and inbound link quality. We also check their social marketing activity and the partners they associate with.
Your Internet Marketing Budget has a role in your success. How much are your clients investing and how is their money allocated? Does your budget allow for implementation of all SEO recommendations?
Your off-line branding can help with website traffic. In addition, if your brand is more focused or narrow you may see results more quickly.
Is your website adapting to the ever-changing technology? You may launch your site in June and by July there may be a new technology or a changed SEO practice. How flexible you are with your online marketing strategies can help influence ranking.
Of course, a little passion never hurts. If you are passionate about your business or topic, it will come out through your website, your content, your blogs and your newsletters. While passion alone may not influence your results, when you combine it with hard work top rankings could come faster.

One of the most important SEO practices is competition analysis because it really does play a role in when and where your website will rank well. It is our job to analyze what your competition is doing in terms of their organic search engine marketing strategy and then utilize that knowledge for the benefit of YOUR strategy. For the websites that are already ranking where you want to be, it takes hard work, determination, knowledge, and time to overtake them. Patience is key.

The quick answer to “how long does it take to rank?” is about a year; however, as noted above, there are so many other factors that can play a role in determining when and where your website will rank. With search-engine friendly web design, proper SEO development, and a little bit of patience you will see your website climb the rankings. An investment (time and budget) in organic search engine marketing is a long-term marketing strategy and, if done well, can offer far greater returns on investment than most other media outlets. That’s where GetOn comes in and specializes in your personal organic SEO marketing plan.

SEO Myths: Multiple Domain Names

Posted on November 1, 2009August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

Multiple domain names aren’t as helpful as you think.

It’s a common myth that purchasing multiple domain names and pointing them toward your main website address will help your website rank better. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t approve of “parking” and it won’t improve your SEO. That being said, there are a few reasons as to why you may wish to purchase multiple domain names:

Protect your brand/business name

It is often recommended that businesses purchase domain names related to their brand or business name. This is for purely protective measures only. Not only does it protect your business from another company purchasing your name but can also help your clients find you. After all, how many times have you gone to a domain name only to find that the website was nowhere near what you were looking for? Or was a site of the competition?

Purchase common misspellings and typos

If your domain name can be easily misspelled or mistyped, it is wise to buy the misspelled versions as well. By doing this, you are giving your clients another way to easily access your website.

Purchase variations of your business name

Can your business name be shortened? Do you often go by an abbreviation? Are you often referred to by your products? If you can think of any reason why someone might type something else in as a URL (than what you currently have as your website address) then it may be useful to buy that as a domain as well.

So, now just what do you do with all of these domain names? You absolutely do not want duplicate content or websites on each of the domains because the search engines will penalize you. Instead, you need to redirect the additional domains to your website URL. Of course, there can be additional costs involved in maintaining a domain with a redirect. This is when you need to reevaluate your list of domains and determine which names bring about a positive return on investment by directing qualified visitors to your site.

Once again, multiple domain names pointing to your main site will not help your rankings, though they may help your traffic if they are being used. It is unwise to buy large quantities of keyword rich domain names with the intention of forwarding them to your site to help with rankings. This will not work. It is also not recommended to post a one-page site on a domain name and then link it to your main website. The search engines will catch this one quick.

Keeping Up With Google

Posted on September 10, 2009August 19, 2020 by GetOn Marketing

Google has begun making changes to its algorithms in 2009. From a speculated behavioral search update, spidering video, and the ability to spider blogs better, there are changes afoot at the popular search engine. We inform you on the latest industry notes on keeping up with Google.

Keeping Up With Google Changes – April 2009

Google is expected to make some changes to their algorithms in 2009. It is widely speculated that one of the changes may involve more importance being placed on ‘behavioral search patterns’ in order to give the search user a custom, and hopefully more appropriate, set of search results.

What Does This Mean? Industry insiders are speculating the following:

Analytics Reports and Reviews will become even more important.
Personalized search results may provide better and more appropriate search results for the end user.
Well built, well optimized websites will continue to receive qualified leads.
Google may be better able to crawl Flash.
Google will be able to crawl video content.

Google has begun to implement changes and you may notice search results fluctuate over the next few months. None of this is not cause for alarm.

Other Google changes include:

Google has also pushed through a change to the blog algorithm. This change is good news for those who utilize the blog search function. In the past, blogroll links were coming up as text for the blog article. Now, just the blog itself will come up for the specific search. The blog search function is becoming more and more popular and industry insiders predict this change will provide even better search results.
Google has also implemented a new semantic search function. This algorithm change should provide users with the best results for their search by using similar phrases and words within the search as well. Google will now be able to decipher the meaning of the search query and deliver results based upon that meaning. This attempt to make Google results more relevant to the user can also be beneficial to websites that provide users with quality content.

We are closely watching these developments and working through all the information as it becomes available. By monitoring analytics, industry developments and rankings, we are working with our client’s websites on an individual basis to achieve success.

Why You Should Use a Digital Marketing Agency to Rank Your Site

What does a Digital Marketing Agency Do?

DIY Digital Marketing Can Result in Penalties

Getting New Customers and Conversions

The Importance of Improving Your Local Page Rank

For all small to medium business owners, ranking in the top 3-pack for local search is hugely valuable and results in more visits and higher conversions. But how do you get your business in the top three organic search results?

1: How to Use Local Listings to Improve Your Page Rank

2: Why NAP Improves Search Results

3: Why Reviews are Good for Local Search

4: Keywords for Local SEO

What Really Happens When You Retarget Ads?

Retargeting, remarketing and pixels… They’re marketing buzzwords you’ve probably heard thrown about in conversations, or perhaps even told you need, but what exactly are they and how will they boost your business?

How Remarketing and Retargeting Works

Email List-Based Remarketing

Define Your Retargeting & Remarketing Campaigns

Do it Right – 10 Point Retargeting Checklist

Where Should You Spend Your Marketing Dollars?

Get Ahead with 5 Tips for Successful Content Curation

The 25 Most Popular Passwords You Shouldn’t Be Using

Improving Your Online Presence with Reputation Managament

9 Steps to Creating the Perfect Content Calendar

How to Reliably Build Your Brand Mentions

The Importance of Compelling Blog Headlines

6 Myths of SEO You Should Not Fall For:

7 Tips For Consumers To Make Good Use of Online Reviews

Three Ways to Handle Negative Reviews

You launch your website and have a plan to maintain, update, enhance and market it.

Whenever you add or update a page within your website you should remember the following:

1) Your Top Keywords

2) Formatting

3) Page Links

4) Tone and Message

5) Your Marketing Plan

Our Favourite 5 Link Development Strategies are:

Natural Link Building

Relevant Directories

Social Networking

New Media Linking

Link Exchange / Reciprocal Linking

When taking part in a link exchange you want to ensure that:

4 Reasons to Get Started with Google Ads

Follow up on your good intentions with a weekly social media strategy.

Marketing Monday

Other ideas for Monday include:

Teamwork Tuesday

Other ideas for Tuesday include:

Wacky Wednesday

Other ideas for Wednesday include:

Tell-all Thursday

Other ideas for Thursdays include:

Follow Friday

Other ideas for Fridays include:

We Share Our 7 Tips For Good Website Content

Do you know what terms they are searching? Are they finding your website?

Good website content is:

It is important to have your top keywords handy

As with most things, balance is key.

How long does it take to rank – One Week? One Year?

1) Are your keywordscompetitive or non-competitive?

2) Is your website and/or domain name new?

3) How much time is spent on link building?

5) How many hours do you spend optimizing?

6) What other factors affect ranking?

Multiple domain names aren’t as helpful as you think.

Protect your brand/business name

Purchase common misspellings and typos

Purchase variations of your business name

Keeping Up With Google Changes – April 2009

What Does This Mean? Industry insiders are speculating the following:

Other Google changes include:

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Services

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