Yearly Archives:2018

ByJulianC

Local SEO Services and Branding Strategy

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not the exclusive property of big businesses, the Home Depots and Lowes, or the Walmarts and Targets of the world. There is also room for local interior decorators and small specialty shops. In fact, it is probably true that most business, professional services and non-profit websites are aimed at a local audience.  All of these websites should be employing local SEO services aimed at driving their local branding strategy, but many fail to do so.

What is meant by the terms “local SEO services” and “local branding strategy?” Local SEO is about optimizing your site for better rankings for a local audience, a town, city or just an area of a town or city. Do not confuse this with “small business SEO;” a small business is not necessarily local. The internet has made it quite possible for many small businesses to operate worldwide. Local SEO services are intended to brand your business in a given area and get you or your business to the top results for local searches like this – “pool services in Daytona.”

GoogleEntering that search term will return a SERP (search engine results page) with numerous headlines and snippets plus another very important element, the Google (or Bing) Map. If you have a local business, a shop, showroom or office location, then optimizing your website is about getting on to the first page of SERPs, and also making certain that people are able to find you in real life. This means that you must use local SEO techniques for your city’s name, address and even zip code. Even if you are not actively getting visitors to your physical location, you are targeting an audience that is located in the same geographical area as you. Being seen on the map will help accomplish this purpose. This is “local SEO.”

It is easiest to achieve local SEO if you have a proper physical address, even if most potential clients are not likely to come to that physical location.  Look at this SERP result for the search query, “marketing services Ormond.”

BingYou can see that Axiom Administrative Services appears on the map even though the first contact with clients is likely to be by telephone or email. Axiom’s presence on the map is still a reminder that it operates in the Ormond-Volusia-Flagler area.

If you want to optimize for a service area in which you are not physically located, quality content must be your main tool. You should write a lot about that area, and do not try to fake it or to use cut and pasted material from other sites. Search engines are becoming more and more accurate in detecting this, and it will lower your ranking.

A critical step in a good local SEO strategy is to claim your business listing in all of the major portals that browsers use to find products or services. These include Google My Business, Facebook for Business, Yelp, Bing Places for Business, the Yellow Pages (YP) and any of the others that are commonly used in your geographic area or in specialized markets. Each of these listings should include your business name, address, phone number a link to your website, a description of your business (approximately 250 characters), business or service category, your logo and at least one graphic or photograph.

All of this is sound advice, and much, much more is at numerous sites on the web. The “catch” is that doing this is beyond the time and interest boundaries of most business or professional people. Even with good instruction, building a good local SEO strategy requires time, effort and resources that most business people simply do not have. If you are struggling to find digital marketing solutions that work and branding strategies that make your business stand out, turn to Axiom. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves.

Our business marketing team can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services to build your branding strategy. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.

ByJulianC

The Importance of Good Web Design

mobile friendlyThere are literally billions of websites on the internet today, and yours is just one of them. If you are operating a small business, professional practice or non-profit organization, your website is just one small fish in that internet sea. That ocean is a crowded, competitive place, and to get the attention you deserve, you must have a web presence that stands out.

Your website has a visual impact that is just as important as your storefront, your signage or even your personal appearance. In fact, your website is very likely to be the first impression that a customer, patron or patient gets. It may very well be the deciding factor in a buying decision. Given those facts, why do so many business and professional people choose a mediocre or amateur web design?

Part of this problem may be laid at the feet of people who run internet marketing agencies and construct SEO strategies. They may sometimes pay more attention to little known Search Engine Optimization techniques like page and image titles than to the appearance and the usefulness of your page. There may be many opinions, preferences or tastes when it comes to any design, but there are some guidelines to which all (good) design must subscribe.

Here is a basic list of those principals:

  • Good design must be pleasing to the eye (“aesthetically pleasing,” as experts say). Good appearance is integral to the usefulness of most products, and your website is a product. It is an object that viewers use to discover what they want to know about you, your businesses and your services. In many cases, websites have completely replaced older tools for this purpose. How long has it been since you consulted a physical copy of the Yellow Pages to find any product or service? Printed flyers and brochures are still used, but they are a niche medium, usually distributed in parking lots or found in mail boxes.
  • Good design must be useful. Why do searchers go to a website? There are many frivolous reasons, but if you are a business, service or professional person, people go to your site to fill some need. They want to buy wallpaper, find a CPA or satisfy some other desire. Do not load your website (especially the home or landing page) with too many words, buttons or sidebars.
    Ask yourself and some other people what information is most likely to be useful to a viewer, and keep the NAP principal (Name, Address, Phone number) in mind. This information should be on any good business or professional website.  Be certain that the most commonly sought information is easy to find. Images are extremely important to getting and holding attention, but pick only a few for the landing page.
  • Good design keeps your landing page messages “short and sweet.” Of course, you want to stimulate the customers’ basic emotions and thoughts, but people are gravitating more and more to small bits of content like, “how much does it cost” or “what are your services?” Be certain that it is easy to find an answer to a question like that on the home page. If longer, more in-depth content is necessary, there should be an optional link to learn more.
  • Good design absolutely has a strong logo on your landing page. This is the visual reminder of all you do and stand for, a single image that summarizes your branding strategy.
  • Good design means that it is mobile friendly. Mobile optimization should be part of all good web design. More than half of all web traffic is now generated by mobile devices, so you must ask, “How will this design look on a tablet, Android or iPhone?” Make certain that your web designer or internet marketing agency knows that mobile optimization is a must-have.

 

Overall, your website should be well constructed, not a cheap web design, it should be updated frequently with useful content and it should reflect a well thought out branding strategy and SEO strategy. This is what the professionals at an internet marketing agency like Axiom do best. If you are struggling to find digital marketing solutions that work and branding strategies that make your business stand out, turn to Axiom. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves.

Our business marketing team can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services to build your branding strategy. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.

ByJulianC

A Word About Keywords

keywordsActually, entire books have been written about keywords, but the subject is still poorly understood or not grasped at all by many. It is not possible to build a successful online branding strategy, or SEO strategy without proper keyword grounding. Keyword research is an essential part of any SEO strategy.

Let’s take a little time to make some definitions. A keyword is a significant or descriptive word, one that is used as a reference point for finding more information. Keyword research is the work you do to come up with a list of keywords for which you wish to rank. A key phrase is a group of words that conveys an idea, an answer to the search intent. In most SEO strategies, the terms keyword and key phrase can be used interchangeably; they mean the same thing, but a multi-word key phrase is often the more useful tool.

In fact, key phrases are more common and usually more effective than a single word. Consider this example – Right now (it is early October, 2018), and entering the search term “senate” in the Google search engine brings forth a torrent of results with titles like, “Republican Senator says he will miss confirmation vote” or “Supplemental FBI background file for Judge Kavanaugh…” In more normal times, the same keyword query would probably lead first to the Wikipedia article titled, “United States Senate.”

The presumed intent of searching for the word, “senate” has changed. It will keep changing, too. If you were the searcher, a more productive key phrase might be, “senators from Florida” or “Florida Senators,” which yields a SERP (search engine results page) headed by images, biographies and articles about Florida’s two United States Senators (what you really intended)..

Search intent is the art and science of discovering what a searcher actually wants and supplying it. It is not about just keywords, but the underlying reasons for the search. A search for “football” issued in Europe will give very different results from the same single word search originating from Atlanta, Georgia. However, if a German citizen visiting Atlanta was to enter the key phrase, “European football,” he or she would probably come much closer to the desired result.

Keyword research is critical; you must make certain that the search terms your target audience use match as closely as possible the key phrases you include in your branding strategy and SEO techniques. Do not try to be ‘cute’ or to overthink the audience. It is a common mistake to use one set of words or phrases when describing a product or idea while the target audience uses a completely different set of words. The website cannot be found by their potential customers because of a mismatch in word use.

Here is a practical example – You are a rental agent for a group of lakefront vacation homes. One of your associates has described these houses as “adorable bungalows.” That phrase sticks in your mind and you begin to use it as part of your branding strategy and as a keyword/key phrase in your SEO strategy. “Adorable bungalow” might be a good term for a 19th century novel, but it is not a term that most people use when trying to find a good vacation rental.  You are not going to rank.

There are actually professional people who spend a good deal of time in determining what keywords or key phrases are used at a specific time of year, for a particular occasion (a wedding or a vacation), in a given geographic location or by a defined ethnic group. This kind of research requires access to paid databases and the skill needed to use them. If you are a small business person, a professional practitioner or service provider, your best bet is probably an informal poll of friends and associates. Just ask them, “How would you try to find a (name your service or product) in this town?”  The most common answers you get from a moderate number of associates and acquaintances will most likely be your best keywords.

That is good advice, but if you do not have the time or inclination to do keyword research of any type, it will pay you to turn to a professional search engine optimization company and internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional digital marketing skills needed to guide your web presence to the rankings it should have. Axiom understands the needs of small businesses, professional practices and nonprofits. Please visit Axiom’s small business services or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.

ByJulianC

Digital Marketing to Seniors

SEOThere is a huge hole in many branding strategies, SEO techniques and internet marketing agency targeting. That hole is the senior market. This market represents a vast resource that is largely untapped by otherwise savvy internet entrepreneurs, as well as internet marketing agencies.

This may be due to the fact that most of the highly successful and famous names in the web, or social media are themselves comparatively young.  Search the internet for a picture of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook or Jack Dorsey, who started Twitter. You are going to see relatively young-looking faces for people who have a net worth of billions of dollars. In fact, both Facebook and Twitter were ideas that occurred to their inventors when they were college students, not that long ago.

Most of the people working today in the field of digital marketing are at most in their 40’s. In Silicon Valley, there is a code word for the age group born after 1985; they are called “digital natives.” The name implies that these young people have a natural affinity for the digital world that older individuals just cannot develop. This is false.

In fact, younger seniors (age 65 to 70) have digital use patterns that are very similar to the population in general. Recently, a Pew Research Center study found that 82% of Americans aged 65 to 69 and 75% of those in the 70 to 74 year old group are online. When they are online, they are reachable. The people who develop branding strategies, SEO techniques or any form of digital marketing solutions, must take note of this digital reality.

The most common use that seniors find for digital media is simple: the web search. This means that they look to the net for help finding a doctor, an attorney, real estate, travel advice or a good pizza. Beyond that basic function, 69% of seniors (according to Pew) visit social media sites. This market is a huge opportunity waiting for digital marketing solutions directed specifically to its constituents.

Search engines are now the primary way mature consumers are gathering information. To be effective, your digital marketing solution needs to include strong search engine optimization (SEO techniques) and branding strategies, ensuring that you are being seen and remembered by your prospects. One of Axiom’s clients, Ourseniors.net, is directing its focus straight at this under-served market. Its website covers a range of the subjects that are of concern to seniors.

Ourseniors.net offers seniors a website that is rich in useful content and engaging in presentation. Because it is focused on senior issues and concerns, it is followed by a market segment that has specific needs. It concentrates on putting specialized professionals like elder-law attorneys, senior real estate specialists or senior financial planners in touch with their natural consumers. Its printed publication, OurSeniors.net Magazine, is also made available online.

If you are a small business operator, a professional practitioner or an entrepreneur, maybe this is a way to put your products or services before the senior market. Axiom Administrative Services can put your branding strategy and existing digital marketing solutions into this already functioning web vehicle. If you would prefer to create your own web presence aimed at this rich market, Axiom can do that as well.

Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom understands the needs of small businesses, professional practices and nonprofits. Our digital marketing and business marketing teams are able to combine traditional marketing techniques like printing and direct mail with creative web services. Please visit us to find out how Axiom Administrative Services can fill your digital marketing needs, or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.

ByJulianC

Putting Sound to Work

mobile phone with headphones
Axiom’s blog articles have often ‘spoken’ of the increasing importance of graphics, audio and audio-visual material on the web. Various fortune-tellers of the web’s future have told us that by this or that year, the web will be nearly all graphics, animation, live-action webcasts or video presentations. The internet of the future will be watched or listened to far more than it is read like a book or newspaper.

Right now, this is beyond the technical or time resources available to most amateur webmasters. If they are running a small business, professional practice or non-profit, they will have little time to devote to producing video material. However, there are ways to put sound to work on your website without a lot of technical skill. You have almost certainly seen someone listening to an audio presentation on their smart phone or mobile device. Producing an audio version of a blog article is within the technical ability of most people.

If you are not familiar with Audacity, the free audio recording and editing software, you can download it from audacityteam.org. Many people feel that Audacity is the best piece of free software available anywhere. There are numerous free lessons available on YouTube and the Audacity site to teach the basics of making your own audio material.

Once produced, this material can be placed on the web in a number of ways, each contributing to your overall branding strategy and digital marketing solution. The directions for doing this are available at various social media platform sites, including Facebook and YouTube. If you are using the most common web content management system (that is WordPress, by far), you can find extensive instructions for uploading and embedding audio into your website at WordPress Audio Instructions. The WordPress content system will produce a neat looking player app that can be embedded in your website.

If you are not up for recording your own material with Audacity, there are a number of free or reasonably priced applications for converting text to mp3 or other audio format files that can be uploaded to your site. Check out the free on-line service, fromtexttospeech.com or the downloadable software, “Dragon NaturallySpeaking,” both of which convert text to mp3 files. The free or inexpensive programs use the standard Microsoft voices of “Microsoft Mike” or “Microsoft Vera.” Other software provides a range of natural sounding voices, but the quality of free programs has improved dramatically and the extra expense may not be worthwhile.

There are some cautions to using this technology. Axiom does not think that it is a good idea to have an audio presentation load and play automatically when you download a webpage. The unexpected sound can be annoying to the user and those around him or her. Also, audio is not a substitute for quality content. Quality content is still the heart and soul of a good webpage (see Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, Axiom 9/10/18).

Audio can easily become a key part of your branding strategy, helping your website to achieve the digital marketing solution you need. Unlike professional video, most people can master this technology in a few hours and post their first audio in a day or two. Nevertheless, any effort like this requires time and effort. If you do not have the time or inclination to devote to this, Axiom can provide digital marketing solutions that work and branding strategies that make your business stand out. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves.

Our business marketing team can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services to build your branding strategy. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page by or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.

ByJulianC

We will always remember

Remember 9/11Today is the anniversary of September 11. We pay tribute to the people who gave their lives in the terrorist attacks and to those who died trying to help them. Take a moment today to pray for them and their families.

ByJulianC

Google Updates Its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines

Google searchThe algorithms that Google uses to rank search engine results are closely guarded secrets. It is said that those procedures are changed almost daily to insure the best possible response to the “search intent,” producing exactly the information the user wants. You have to admit that they are usually pretty good at this. A user located in Birmingham, England, searches for “football scores” and gets a list of British Premier League teams. They play a game we call “soccer.” The same search term issued in Birmingham, Alabama, will surely return a list of real football teams like the Crimson Tide or the Auburn Tigers.

Google’s ranking algorithms take into account user location, search history, local meanings and numerous other factors. As searches narrow down by location or subject matter, it becomes harder and harder to discriminate between (and rank) web pages. How does a website get to be at or near the top of a Search Engine Results Page, the famous SERP?

There was a time when Google was very mysterious about this, but it has adopted a more enlightened and open policy. In fact, anybody can now view these guidelines at this link – 2018 Page Quality Rating Guidelines. The big news for 2018 is that there is no change, at least for the types of websites which most business and professional people need. Content is still the king. Good content has been, it still is and it will continue to be the key to high ranking.

Google’s page quality guidelines define a special set of websites known as “YMYL,” Your Money or Your Life pages. YMYL pages give advice or information about life changing decisions or important economic topics. They ask you to spend money, invest time, make a financial decision, choose a surgeon or take some other action of consequence. Evaluators are asked to look for useful and accurate content, as well as high levels of E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness).

There are many websites that are not in the YMYL category.  Here is an example – Cute Cat Names for Girl Cats. While this page may be entertaining to some people, it does not ask the viewer to make a YMYL decision. The quality of the content is not critical to the entertainment value of the site.

Websites that give tax advice, medical information, ask for donations or help to choose a senior assisted living facility are all examples of YMYL pages.  For those pages, a very high standard of content is required. Choosing the wrong name for a cat has little consequence, but opting for an unproven diabetes treatment could be disastrous. Most of Axiom’s clients are professional practices, non-profit organizations or small businesses. These are certainly YMYL pages, and they must have high-quality content to rank well. Here is what the Google manual says –

“The quality of the MC (main content) is one of the most important criteria in Page Quality rating, and informs the E-A-T of the page. For all types of webpages, creating high quality MC takes a significant amount of at least one of the following: time, effort, expertise, and talent/skill.”

One of Axiom’s clients, OurSeniors.net, is an organization that provides services and information to the senior community in the central Florida area. Many of the topics covered by this site certainly fall into the YMYL category; they give advice or help people make life-changing decisions about matters, such as care giving, estate planning and senior housing. Axiom provides this organization’s web pages with the types of expert, authoritative and trustworthy material that viewers need.

This content includes links to trusted and knowledgeable professionals through the site’s Senior Transition Pro Team. The website is kept current with frequent blog articles on topics of interest to seniors such as “Preparing to Be a Caregiver.” Its material is original, not cut and pasted from other sources, and it is relevant to the viewer or reader. Those are the marks of a quality, rank-worthy web page.

There is a problem with this straight forward advice from Google: time. If you provide a service, operate a professional practice, business or non-profit, there is very little time to produce this material. This is true even for those who have some web programing knowledge. If you are struggling to find the digital marketing solutions and branding strategies that will make your web presence stand out, turn to Axiom. Cheap web design, will not get your web pages the ranking they deserve. More than just an internet marketing agency, Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to provide the content and create the SEO strategy you need to succeed.

Our business marketing team can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services to build your branding strategy. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.

ByJulianC

Have a great Labor Day!

Labor DayToday is Labor Day in both the United States and Canada. The hard working, enterprising people who make our economy go, Go, GO deserve a pat on the back. If you are operating a small business, a service organization, professional practice or even a non-profit, at Axiom Administrative Services, we know how hard you work! That’s because we are in the same boat.

We work hard every day to keep our clients satisfied, and we don’t mind telling you that our Labor Day is important to us too. We will be closed on Monday, September 3rd for some R&R but back “up and at them” the next day. Please think of us when you need help with branding strategies, SEO techniques, local SEO services, logo design services or search engine optimization services.

Don’t struggle alone with your internet marketing and online advertising problems. Turn to a professional online marketing consultant. Axiom Administrative Services  has the professional digital marketing skills needed to guide your web presence to the rankings it should have.  Our digital marketing and business marketing teams are able to combine traditional marketing techniques like printing and direct mail with creative web services. Please visit our home page to find out how Axiom Administrative Services can fill your digital marketing needs.

Axiom understands the needs of small businesses because we are one! Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.

ByJulianC

Google My Business

This articled refers to “Google My Business,” not as a request or as a wish, but as an ‘app’ for managing how your website will look and perform in the Google search engine. The website for this app is https://www.google.com/business/.  After a small business, service provider or professional practice has set up a ‘Google My Business’ account, it can be used to optimize the way your website displays Google Maps locations, Google+ pages and organic search engine results.  It is a powerful tool for achieving the best possible SEO strategy.

How do you get started with Google My Business? We think the best way is to hire an internet marketing agency like Axiom Administrative Services, The professionals at Axiom can guide you through this process, merging the Google My Business optimization with your overall branding strategy and search engine optimization services. Briefly, this is an outline of what’s involved.

You or your internet marketing agency has to open an account and claim your business listing. You will be asked for the standard NAP information (name, address, phone number) that should be on any good business or professional website. After filling in details, you will get an old-fashioned ‘snail mail’ postcard from Google, sent to the address you’ve specified. This card is the physical proof that the owner of the organization listed is really at this address.

Once you are verified, you can fill in the details of your business, service or profession including terms selected to fit your SEO strategy. Everything you add must agree with the information you provide on your business website. When filling out this information, keep these guidelines in mind:

  • Claim a listing using your exact business name.
  • Choose a category as accurate as possible that matches a search term. For example, “sports bars”, “family practice” or “publisher”
  • Your profile has to be 100% correct including full phone numbers, operating times and exact address.
  • Review your website graphics and photos – can you improve them?
  • Create links and citations on other sites, business listings, review sites and directories.
  • Keep your data up to date

The example below shows one of the top results from a Google search for the term, “sports bars Daytona.”

Google searchYou can see how effective this is for people searching the term, “sports bars Daytona.” By clicking one of the search engine results, they have access to name, address, phone, hours of operation reviews and other useful information. If you have not claimed a Google listing for your business, you should do so as soon as possible.

The ‘Google My Business’ app is not the full digital marketing solution you need. Your website should be well constructed, not a cheap web design, it should be updated frequently with useful content and it should reflect a well thought out branding strategy and SEO strategy. This is what the professionals at an internet marketing agency like Axiom do best. If you are struggling to find digital marketing solutions that work and branding strategies that make your business stand out, turn to Axiom. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves.

Our business marketing team can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services to build your branding strategy. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.

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