Search Engine Optimization 2 - Old City Web Services

Marketing When Just Starting Out

April 21, 2017 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

So, you've started a great business. It's something you've worked hard on and can't wait to share with the world. This is where marketing comes in handy. Marketing is how you get the attention of your target audience, how you build a following, and how you make that audience listen to what you're saying and interact with you.

Strategic marketing can truly make or break the success of your business. A common mistake among first-time business owners is that they spend a lot of time and money on building their business, website, and brand, and then wait for people to find them. You could have the most innovative business in your industry, but without proper marketing, you could be hard to find.

Think of it this way: If someone doesn't know what they're looking for, how will they find you? How can someone find something they've never heard of?

It's your job to spread the word about your business and get people to know who you are.

How do you do that? Check out our list of 7 ways to start effectively marketing your business:

Define your audience

When marketing any business, it's vital to know your target audience. When thinking about who your target audience is, it helps to include factors like age group, location, and disposable income. Once you narrow down who your audience is, it will help you to figure out other things such as reasonable costs of your products and services. A 21-year-old college student is going to have different budgeting priorities than a middle-aged father of three. Not only are they in different life stages, but their priorities and what they are willing to spend will also be different.

Advertise in the right places

After you've distinguished who your audience is, think about their lifestyle and what will reach them.
How and where does your audience spend their time? Are they more prone to be watching tv, checking Instagram, or researching things online? Look at your competition - what are they doing successfully? How might you implement their techniques into your advertising strategy? Advertising is anything you do to get the public's attention for your business. It could be anything from social media or Google advertisements to rack cards, business cards, and signage. Keep in mind, it's best to spend money where you think you will get the best return on your investment.

Make sure your website is up-to-date with SEO

Having a website is essential for a business, but without proper Search Engine Optimization, a website might not reach its potential and could be detrimental to your business. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the action of using relevant keywords and phrases with a high search volume in the content of your website to optimize the traffic coming to your site. Proper SEO leads to higher rankings and maximized user traffic. A website with well-done SEO is one of the best spokespeople you can have for your business. It does all of the work of bringing in online traffic and customers, which leads to more revenue for you.

Use social media to your advantage

Social media is a great (and free) tool to get your business' name out there. 7-in-10 Americans have social media accounts, a huge increase from the just 5 percent of social media users in 2005. People use social media not only to connect with people they already know but also to connect with people, organizations, and brands that share their passions. When it comes to social media, each platform is unique and appeals to a different audience. Once you research and find which platforms work for you, create accounts and start posting! Hashtags are popular ways to connect with people who are interested in a certain topic. It also helps to follow influencers and businesses in your industry. For inspiration, check out our blog post on local businesses getting it right on social media.

Set up your Google listing

The Google My Business tool is a great way to get your name out there. When people search for you, all of your essential information will appear. It also shows how many reviews you have and allows people to view them. You can also see where people are coming from, how they found you, and how they're interacting with you. Another helpful feature is the ability to go into your Google account and see how many people called you, looked up directions to your place of business, or went to your website strictly from your Google listing. And on top of all that, it's free.

Encourage customers to leave online reviews of your business

Reviews matter. Why? Because no matter how many times you say how awesome your business is, it still means more coming from a consumer. People trust other people's experiences. That's why online reviews are so key. Think about it: If you are looking for an Italian restaurant in town and look up the reviews, are you more likely to go to a 1-star or a 4-star restaurant? Positive customer reviews build trust, and the more positive reviews you have, the better off you'll be.

Make use of email marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective types of marketing you can do. Why? Because the inbox is where your customers are. People may check social media for entertainment, but they check email for important information. When people sign up to receive your emails, they're doing so because they want to hear from you and keep up with what's going on with your business. With emails, you can send your customers important information, highlight services or products, feature a new blog, and much more. Also, read our blog post on 6 Ways to Make Your Email Marketing More Effective.

How we can help

Successful marketing strategies are unique to each business. No two strategies will be completely the same. Starting from scratch can be an overwhelming process.

That's why we at Old City Web Services offer marketing and SEO services.

Our team can help with:

Finding your target audience
Determining where/how to advertise
Search Engine Optimization
Social media management
Setting up your Google listing
Email marketing management

From content creation to design to social media management, our team can help you create a strategy that will help you and succeed. Contact us today for a free consultation and let us help you stand out from the competition!

Holiday Planning For Your Business

October 18, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Why Does Holiday Planning Matter?

Fall is here and that means holidays are right around the corner. Consumers who haven’t already done their holiday shopping will be frequenting the shops and websites more often than normal in preparation for the gift-giving season. So, how do you stand out from the competition and catch their attention at such a crucial time of the year? We’ve put together a list of things you can do right now to prepare for the crowds to come.

Make sure your website can be found easily online

How is your SEO? Your Search Engine Optimization is what helps people find you online. If your SEO needs work, it is better to go ahead and get it done now in plenty of time for the holidays.

Is all the information on your website up to date as well? Take the time to thoroughly check your site for accuracy and try to look at it from a consumer's point of view. Make sure all of your contact information is correct and your services and shop items are current.

Prepare your website & online shop for heavy traffic

Is your store fully stocked? Do you have high-quality images and descriptions of all your items? People are visual especially when shopping online. People want to know exactly what they're getting, so make sure you're giving them all of the information necessary for them to make a purchase.

Check the back end of your website to make sure it is working efficiently. People shop online for convenience, so slow load times can have a major impact on the consumer experience. If people are forced to wait for something, there is a chance they will go to a competitor who can offer them faster service. If your site isn't working as well as it could be, now is the time to perform updates and maintenance.

Give your website/ads a festive look

There’s no better way to put someone in the holiday spirit than by putting snowflakes on your landing page or a Santa hat on your logo.

Save room in your budget for print advertising

The tradition of the vast ad-filled newspaper on Thanksgiving Day is something worth investing in. How can you stand out among everyone else? That would be an ideal time to think of a clever marketing strategy. The holidays one of the best times to get the most out of your print advertising budget.

Make a holiday gift-giving guide or service guide

The holidays are a stressful time for shoppers. Putting together a cohesive guide of what to buy will not only make their shopping easier but will also help them visualize gift ideas they might not have thought of otherwise. This is also a unique way to push products or services. Bundling items for a discounted rate can also be a smart way to increase sales. It’s a win-win for you and the consumer. Take advantage of it.

Create a social media campaign unique to you

Choose a theme you’d like to base your campaign around, whether it be thankfulness, giving or family and run with it. Incorporate your theme into all holiday-related posts. Cohesion and repetition is a useful way to stay on someone’s mind.

Send a holiday card to your clients

This is an excellent time to remind your clients that you’re around. People renew budgets at the beginning of the year, so this is a great time to advertise new things you’re doing in the new year!

You've made your list and checked it twice. Now, what? Whether you need an updated logo, a more efficient website, a clever holiday campaign, or updated print advertising, we at Old City Web Services are here to help. No matter how big or small, we will take your project under our wing to make it the best it can be. Contact us today for a consultation. We'd love to hear from you!

10 Ways to Establish Your Business

September 26, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Being a new business has its challenges, one of the biggest being establishing yourself in the community. A loyal client base and name recognition are vital to your success. Without the support of those around you, failure comes closer to becoming a reality than a fear. So, how do you make your startup stand out before it sinks?

Take advantage of free listings

This is a no brainer. Putting your company’s name out there as many ways as you can for free should be a top priority. Directory listings and community calendars are great resources for the community and an excellent way to get your name out there. This takes minimal time and effort and helps establish your business among other longstanding companies in the area.

Make sure you know your target market

Take a second to sit down and really think about who your target demographic is. Who are you marketing to and how are you doing so? Are they more likely to be on social media or flipping through the latest newspaper? Spending all the time and money in the world in marketing won't make a difference if your audience never sees it.

Utilize social media

Let’s face it. Everyone is on social media these days, and as a business, it is becoming an essential way to reach consumers. Luckily for you, social media is a free and effective way to interact with customers from all over. Depending on what your business is and the age group of people you are trying to reach, you can choose the best social media platforms to reach them.

Start a blog

Think that you shouldn’t start a blog because you’ll run out of things to talk about? What if you are a very specialized business? Not a problem. A company blog is a useful platform to produce content related to your industry. Relevant content will promote you as trusted resource for your trade. Example: Say you run a gym or are a personal trainer. You don’t have to use your blog just to talk about your services. Use your platform to talk about health advice, innovative exercises, and client transformations, etc.

Implement SEO into your website

Search engine optimization is the action of making your website rank for search keywords and phrases that pertain to your website/business. It is important to have the keywords and phrases viewers are searching for installed properly on your website. If done correctly, more people will view your website which will result in an increase in business. Search engines rank your website based on common search terms, the age of your site information, site links, and the relevance of your content.

Create your Google Business listing

Listing your business on Google will make sure your business appears easily when people are searching for you on Google. You can add pictures, and people can leave reviews which add to your credibility.

Take advantage of customer testimonials

When a customer has a good experience with you, don’t be afraid to ask what they thought of your service. Testimonials are one of the best ways to build credibility with potential clients.

Send out emails

Putting customers on an email list is a great way to reach out to them long after they've left your website or store. This gives you the opportunity to tell them about the variety of services you offer, updates from your company, and news in your industry.

Get involved in the community

How do you expect the community to know who you are if you don’t try to get to know the people in it? The more people see your name associated with the community, the more they will come to know you as a local establishment. Sponsor or participate in community events. Donate or give discounts for first-time clients. Give clients an initiative for referring customers. Give back to the community. Serving others is not only great for your staff but is also a wonderful way to get to know the locals.

Network as much as possible

Getting involved with different organizations within the community is essential. Some of your biggest allies in the business world are fellow business owners. The Chamber of Commerce should be at the top of your list for business networking. The St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce’s mission states they are dedicated to improving the business environment in St. Johns County by focusing on Economic Development, Business Advocacy, Member Education, and Business Promotion. Service organizations such as United Way or Rotary are also excellent ways to get involved in the community.

How We Can Help

Here at Old City Web Services, we are dedicated to helping businesses thrive. Don’t know where to start? We offer many services that can help you out.

We can:

Perfect your marketing strategy to reach your target audience
Tune up or revamp your website
Write content for your company’s blog
Assist you with SEO and Google listings
Assist with print design and much more.

Go to our website, call us, or schedule a consultation with our team to see how we can help you get settled and succeed today.

How Social Media & A Blog Correlate With SEO

August 16, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Why Your Business Needs Social Media & A Blog

Social media, Blogs and SEO compliment each other in online marketing. Posting current social media and a blog entries will help search engines recognize your website as relevant. Social media is a great outlet for driving traffic to your website, which helps boost your SEO rank. Even if your social media presence doesn't lead to immediate direct sales, it is excellent for gaining those clicks to you website. This traffic will help boost your SEO rank.

Social Media & SEO

Whenever someone shares your website or your post on social media, this is link building. Link building shows search engines that your website is relevant and interesting. This is why it's important to keep your social media current with a new post at least once a week. By posting once a week, you are giving users the opportunity to share your content more. The more content of yours that is shared, the higher your ranking will be. Google uses Twitter to discover new content; for example: what's trending. Google loves Google+. Even though Google+ might not be the biggest platform of social media, it can improve your SEO. If you just have a Google+ profile and post on it once a month, it definitely helps. An overlap of social media and SEO is an effective strategy; by using social media in the right way, you will reap a lot of benefits.

Blog & SEO

The purpose of having a blog for your business is to get more traffic to your website. We learned earlier this month how more traffic to your website helps your SEO. Creating a blog for your business would be another way to improve your link building. Having a blog allows you to push out fresh content about your business without having to update your website. Search engines like fresh content because it shows that you present the latest information to your clients. Having a blog also helps with being able to present your search term keywords in your website. Blogs also allow you to use your keywords naturally. Having your keywords presented naturally in your blog will not only help your search engine ranking, but it will also help you keep that ranking longer. If you are looking for that extra push with your SEO, consider a blog.

Need to jump way ahead of your competition on Search Engines? Sign up to have your SEO done by Old City Web Services! Contact us today to get started!

Why Having Relevant Content is Important.

August 9, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

First, What Does Relevant Content Mean?

Relevant content means the content on your website is up-to-date and on topic with your business. For example, if you have a business that sells honey in Georgia, you wouldn't want your home page to have content about jams in California. Also, you want the information about your business to be current. Having old or irrelevant information on your website can hurt your search engine optimization. Making your rank on search engines become lower but, how do you write good content for your website?

Tips on Writing Good Relevant Content:

Valuable Content: Make sure your content has some value to your users. Ask yourself; Do my potential clients need this information? Does this topic actually pertain to my business? Will my potential clients even want to know this information? Thinking this way can help you make sure your content is relevant and not just filler information.

Concise Content: Most users on the web are going to skim your website content. You have the tricky part of making the information as brief as possible but with enough impact to inform the user. Short paragraph or lists are always a good fall back for making sure your content is concise.

Stay On Topic: It's important to stay on topic. If you are writing about the company, stick to the company's information. Writing about your services? Make sure to only be mention about your services. Stay focused on one topic at a time.

Check and Recheck Grammar and Spelling Errors: We're only human and going to make mistakes but we can always go back and fix them. If we check and recheck and get a friend to check, this will help from having any errors on our website. It's unprofessional to have a ton of grammar and spelling errors. It can also confuse your customer if your content doesn't make sense due to errors. So, try make sure to check. Get up and walk away, come back and recheck, then send to a friend to triple check.

Write For Your Audience: Your website content needs to be search engine friendly by using keywords, and links. Though, having readable and engaging content for you potential clients is just as important. The goal is to convert your potential clients into clients. If they don't understand what you are saying, then how can they converted. Make sure your writing is easy to understand and connectable for your audience. Forget the fluff and marketing jargon.

Need More Help?

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What Does SEO Even Mean?

August 4, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

How Does SEO Apply to My Business?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Search engine optimization is the action of making your website rank for search keywords & phrases that pertain to your website/business. Knowing the basics of SEO will give you a better understanding of how it will improve your online presence. In plain words, it’s quality control for websites by search engines. Search Engines, such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, will scan or crawl your site for keywords and phrases of what viewers are looking for. If your site has the key words and phrases that viewers are searching for and they are installed properly on your, site it can make your website rank higher sending more viewers and increasing your business.

How Do Search Engines Rank My Website?

Common Search Terms: These are terms that viewers would type into a Search Engine, Google, Yahoo, Bing for example, to find businesses or services. An example would be to type "pizza place" in the search area. "Pizza Place" would be the common phrase you would use to find a business serving pizza. If you are one of those that “serves pizza” you would make sure that it is properly added into your website to increase your ranking instead of hurting your rankings. So it is important to have the key words and phrases in your content as well as other areas of your site. That is where we can help you.

How old is your site information: The information on your site should be the most current information that pertains to your business and services. This doesn't mean that you have to update your website every day. However, if you haven't updated your website in 3 years, it may hurt your ranking on search engines because the search engines see your site as stagnate. You may add another product or service that your company does and forget to list it on your site. So make sure all the information on your website is up-to-date and that your website design is also updated and responsive.

Site links: Having your website linked on another website is like having a recommendation. Linking should be a more natural thing you do for search engine optimization. Meaning do not try to get links that have no relevance towards your site. An example would be that you have a Pizza Restaurant and you have a link to a Plummer. Your website is linked on an irrelevant site to your business and could hurt the SEO. Linking your website on social media or blogs can be very beneficial. Links show search engines that your website is important and relevant.

Relevant Content: Making sure that your homepage has relevant content about your business is highly important. Adding your keywords naturally into the content is important too. That way when search engines "Crawl " your website it will see your site as a relevant website. Crawl or Crawling means when a search engine reads or scans over your whole website to file it in their database. After crawling, search engines will then file your website in a certain area in their database. That way they can reference to it later when someone is looking for your services or business type.

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Need help with Search Engine Optimization? Let us help you with your website. Contact Us Today!

How to Use Links to Your Advantage.

July 19, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Learning to Use Links

Linking on a Blog post.

Linking is when you connect your website to another platform. A platform could be another system or in other words social media. This is important part for online marketing since it helps with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It also helps customers go to your website faster with just one click. A feature of linking is that you can to add it to any platform, from

Linking on Facebook.

Facebook to blogs to Twitter. To create a link to your website, simply type your domain name into a platform and it should auto-populate, see the Facebook example to the right. It's important to link from not only your website to your social media, but also from your social media to your website. The more connections you make with linking the more it will help your SEO ranking, as long as it's relative linking. Relative linking means you don't put your link on random sites just to get back linking.

When you use links for your website on other websites or social media, this creates a back link. Back linking to your website helps your SEO performance by at least 20%. Not only does back linking help your SEO, but it also creates direct traffic to your website. Linking to your website also helps by indexing of your website with Search Engines. This effect also works with your social media. Linking your social media onto your website helps with the ranking of your Social Media. So, don't be afraid to connect your social media to your website and vice versa by linking to each other.

Need more help on getting traffic to your website? Contact us today to get some help!

Check out our Facebook and Twitter for updates and examples!

Old City Web Services Launches New Website!

June 15, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT !

We are very excited to show off our new website here at Old City Web Services! Everything has been updated from images for the website, the "About" section to our portfolio. Not only is it responsive on any device, but it's also easier to navigate through our site. So go explore our new site, and click on everything! See what Old City Web Services can do for your business!

We recognize we have to update our website, Is it time to update yours?
Contact Us Today to Get Started!

SEO Trends for 2016

January 21, 2016 by anoadmin

Last week, we discussed the importance of Conversion Rate Optimization. This is one of the top trends for 2016 as businesses seek to optimize their website for search engines. In addition, there are many other trends that will continue through 2016 and it will be important for you to keep on top of them for your business growth.

Local SEO: You can dominate your local market by taking advantage of local search optimization. Google’s search algorithm is able to detect when search queries and information are local to the user. Since Google favors local results, it is essential to include local SEO on your website in order to be visible to your audience. Your small business can increase its ranking and visibility by using Google Places and Yelp, which have become key components of local SEO.

Updates to Google Algorithms: You never know what Google will decide when it comes to its search algorithm. Already, they have cracked down on scraper sites and emphasized how important quality content is versus the quantity of content. It is immeasurably important to focus not on how many visitors your site has but making sure that you are providing useful information to those who find your site.

Interactive Content: 2016 is likely to see an increasing number of marketers and businesses embracing Interactive content to drive traffic, engage visitors, generate leads and boost conversion. From surveys to infographics, interactive content may be something you want to consider adding to your site in 2016 to help your rank.

If all of this is foreign to you and you need expert assistance in keeping up with SEO trends, we offer that. Contact us today to make use of our SEO expertise!

Is Anyone Finding Your Website?

December 8, 2015 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

You have a great website, but now what? You now have the challenge of bringing in quality traffic that will result in real conversions for your business.

Marketing your website once it's live is so important, especially today as the internet is continuing to explode with new, relevant competition. You may have been the only small business in your niche in town with a website 5 years ago, but now you have a lot more people to compete for search engine ranking with.

SEO, SEO & MORE SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the primary way people are going to find you online. DO NOT let your competition get ahead. Make it easy for people to find you by having your site fully optimized by a professional. SEO trends are constantly changing based on changes to the algorithm used by search engines, so this is something that should be ongoing and maintained to ensure you are one step ahead of competition.

For example, earlier this year, Google changed that websites that are not mobile friendly will fall in ranking and those that are mobile friendly will move higher because of the trend in internet usage by web traffic.

It's also important to have your Google Place listing current, and to be sure that the content you have on your site and continue to add to your website is relevant and bringing you the traffic you are looking for. It is absolutely imperative today to have a professional do these services for your online business.

Make sure your SEO is done right the first time -- contact Old City Web Services so that people will start finding your website online today!