Marketing to Seniors
Most professional SEO services, small business SEO providers and internet marketing agency professionals are relatively young people. They have grown up with the internet, social media, and mobile devices as constant companions. Because older adults were relatively slow to adopt these innovations, these professionals have concentrated on their peer groups, younger people.
That was yesterday. Today, the use of social media and internet services has grown among all demographic classes, but some of the most significant increases have been seen in older age groups. This is especially true of the “Boomers,” aged 55 to 75. While this audience has evolved, the people who develop internet branding strategies devise SEO techniques and run internet marketing agencies have not. As a result, there is a large hole in the skill sets available to many of these internet marketing agency pros: digital marketing solutions aimed at seniors.
Senior-specific digital marketing solutions can tap into a huge market of underserved buyers and consumers. The Neilson Company, a very well-known name in market research and consumer behavior reported this six years ago in 2012-
- Consumers aged 50+ numbered 100 million people.
- By 2030, the 50+ segment will expand 34%.
Here are two facts that scream, “Opportunity!” Internet marketing agencies and SEO strategy builders have spent their young lives devising branding strategies and digital marketing solutions for people their own age, and they are very good at it. At the same time there is a vast, untapped market right in front of their eyes: seniors! AXIOM Administrative Services sees that opportunity clearly.
Axiom is based in Florida’s Fun Coast, the Volusia-Flagler County area, home to one of the largest senior populations in the United States. As providers of local SEO services and digital marketing solutions, we must be aware of the importance of the senior market to any client. One of our most important clients is the very fine organization, OurSeniors.net, also based in the Fun Coast area. OurSeniors.net has recognized the critical importance of the senior consumer to any marketing effort. From medical and dental practice to home maintenance to auto sales and repairs, penetrating the senior market is essential.
Take a look at this Axiom-produced website, OurSeniors.net. This site is an all-things-senior directory and source of information about senior living, senior challenges, topics of special interest to seniors and providers of services to seniors. This production from Axiom connects business owners, service providers and professionals directly to the senior market. Seniors go to OurSeniors.net because it provides them with engaging, frequently updated content and dependable advice on solving senior-related problems. Both parties win!
Digital marketing solutions aimed specifically at the senior market should be considered a sub-specialty of search engine optimization services. In order to do it right, you must have knowledge of and experience in the senior marketplace. The OurSeniors.net site offers its readers specialized services like the Senior Transition Pro Team, the Approved Vendor Directory, links to senior-related services like Grace Manor Assisted Living and even an online version of its printed magazine, “OurSeniors.net Magazine.” In each of these areas, Axiom played a key role in developing the concept and producing the final product. This is the kind of specialized, professional outcome that cannot result from amateur or cheap web design.
If you are searching for an effective way to put your product or service in front of the senior audience, turn to Axiom. Axiom Administrative Services, has the specialized digital marketing solutions and branding strategies needed to make your business or practice stand out in the senior marketplace. You deserve 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.
Visited by A Bot
If you have a website, even a personal page on Facebook or Google+, you have certainly been visited by a Bot. “Bots,” short for robots, are also known as “crawlers” or “web spiders,” and they are simply software programs that do repetitive tasks over and over. Day and night, every day of the year, millions of bots crawl the internet looking for bits of information, and transmitting it back to their creators. Bot activity is so great that it accounts for about one half of all web traffic.
Many people think that all bots are malevolent invaders looking for passwords, personal data or private messages. Indeed, some are, but bots also perform functions that are essential to the internet. Without them, navigating the billions of webpages on the web would be a hopeless task. They are the explorers, sent to search out information critical to anyone who is trying to find your webpage (or a similar one).
The best-known creator of these web crawlers is Google. ‘Googlebots’ originate in one of numerous locations and thousands of computers all around the world; they use an algorithm (a secret algorithm) to determine what websites to examine, how often, what material to look for and how many pages to look at. Some large websites may contain thousands of pages. This kind of information allows Google, Bing and other indexers to classify and rank the site. That is what is important to the website owner; they want as much favorable attention from these bots and their ranking algorithms as possible.
As the bot examines each website or URL, it looks for information like page titles, location data, graphic image titles, refresh dates and links (or broken links – see our 3/26/18 Blog Article, “Broken Links, Lost Opportunities”). Googlebots, Bing bots and others are like bees, buzzing around the internet and bringing back nectar for the queen bee to process. That queen bee is the ranking algorithm that determines your page ranking.
To extend the buzzing bee analogy, the HTML code elements on a webpage are like flowers trying to attract the attention of friendly bots. They are saying. “Rank me, rank me, please rank me high.” Search engine optimization (SEO) services, the workers in internet marketing agencies and the designers of SEO strategy all devote their talents and efforts to getting that attention. Branding strategies, local SEO services and even entire business plans are built around these efforts.
How active are these bots? If you have a website, even a static, unmaintained site it is likely that a bot from one of the major indexers will visit at least once a day just to see if anything has changed. Some types of websites, like breaking news or financial data pages will be visited literally every few seconds. They must do so in order to keep results from search terms like “Amazon price” current.
For the typical webpage owner, the world of HTML code, page titles, linking and back-linking are far removed from their core interests. Cheap web design without proper attention to SEO techniques will not get the ranking they want and deserve. A professionally designed SEO strategy implemented by a solid search engine optimization company, and combined with traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising will achieve the results you need. If you are searching for a digital marketing solution that works and a branding strategy that gets your business to the top, turn to Axiom. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design.
Axiom Administrative Services has the professional small business SEO skills needed to attract the favorable attention of those buzzing bots. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.
Have You Read This? “We Are Updating Our Privacy Policy…”
You have probably received a number of email messages lately with a subject line that reads something like this: “We are updating our privacy policy. Read about the new changes to our privacy policy.” These messages have come from big names like Amazon, Facebook and Google as well as small local organizations, even non-profits.
Why are you getting these from so many sources, all at once? It is because the European Union has a new law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that became effective on May 25, 2018. The GDPR applies to all business and non-commercial groups that collect personal data on European citizens. The GDPR sets a new global standard for data protection.
Technically, global organizations like Facebook could have tried to comply with the new law only in the 28 European nations that make up the EU, but they have decided to adjust their policies worldwide. Scandals like the Cambridge Analytics fiasco in Great Britain have made web users acutely aware of the possible misuse of personal data.
For individuals, these changes will mean that commercial enterprises (i.e. Amazon, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), government sites, like Medicare and Social Security, and even non-profits will make changes such as –
- Increased transparency with more detailed explanations of what personal information they collect, how they go about this, what they do with it and with whom they share it (if anybody).
- Greater control, giving users more choices about the information they give out and specific measures for stopping or limiting the uses of that data.
This is probably a very good thing for the long-term health of the internet and web commerce. Keeping the confidence that users place in a website is essential to its continued success. Although U.S. companies are not legally bound to abide by the GDPR guidelines inside the United States, many are doing so anyway. They realize that it is just good business to keep the customer satisfied.
What about your website privacy policy? Do you even have one? Think about the Value of Your Mailing List. It has real value to your business and it should be protected. Most small business operators want to keep their customers, clients, patrons and patients secure, as well as themselves. At the same time, few professionals, service providers or business owners have the time to do this.
Customer security should be an integral part of your branding strategy; it is a key element in all digital marketing solutions. The security of your data and that of your customers is just as important as SEO strategy, SEO link building, and other search engine optimization services. The fact is that most business operators do not have the time to see to these matters, even if they do have the technical ability.
If you are stressed by developing digital marketing solutions and branding strategies and have no time for SEO strategy, Axiom Administrative Services has the professional and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency.
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.
Thinking of Memorial Day
Today is Memorial Day, the one day of the year set aside for remembering the sacrifices made by the men and women who have served our nation in its military. Axiom Administrative Services is proud to recognize all those who have served, and especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice while giving that service.
Our nation has been blessed not only with material abundance, but also with a wealth of spirit and character that has sustained us. The brave men and women who displayed that spirit and character deserve our respect and gratitude. If you know of a family or an individual who lost a loved one in the service of their country, please set aside a few minutes today to think of and comfort them in any way you can.
Tomorrow, we will return to our world of work, striving to serve the needs of family, clients and friends. Right now, let’s pause and think of those who gave their lives so that we can remain free!
Google AdwordsAdWords and Google Maps Advertising
You may have considered, or even used, Google’s “AdWords” or Google Map’s “Promoted Pins” in trying to direct traffic to your website. Many amateurs have given this a try (or a half-try) and concluded that it is just too complicated or confusing. The fact is that these are very powerful tools, but they are not easy to master.
Put simply, AdWords is a Google service in which advertisers pay to display a small piece of advertising text (a “snippet”) along with a web address at or near the top of the results page that is generated by a specific search term. The advertisers pay only when users divert their browsing to click on the advertising copy. AdWords can enable a small business to set an advertising budget which cannot be exceeded, to reach an audience that is interested in their product or service and even to determine the time of day this happens. The AdWords customer pays only when their site is clicked and can set a limit to the amount of money they will spend.
To say the least, AdWords has been a success for Google, generating a huge part of its multi-billion-dollar revenue. This continued success tells us that many people and companies are using AdWords successfully.
To illustrate, let’s use a real-life example. You have a friend or relative, and a special occasion is coming up for that person. You need the services of a florist in Daytona Beach, Florida. This need sends you to the first place most people go today, the Google search engine. Entering the search term, “florists in Daytona Beach” immediately returns a list of results called a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). If you look at the top four to five results, you can see that each of them has a web address preceded by this small icon that says “Ad.”
The whole thing might look something like this-
Ad www.yourflowerbiz.com
We deliver 24/7 in Daytona, Port Orange, and Ormond
Same Day Delivery, Satisfaction Guarantee, $12.99 Bouquet.
These results are the paid ads (Search Ads) featured by Google. The business owners whose information is in this list have paid Google to place their web addresses at the top of the SERP, where the most people are going to see and ‘click’ on them. Typically, they consist of the web address followed by a few lines of text called a “snippet.” For a florist, the snippet might contain terms like, “Same Day Delivery, Satisfaction Guarantee, $12.99 Bouquet.”
Below this list of AdWords is the Google Map showing the map locations of several florists (and perhaps some unrelated businesses). On the map there will be icons called “promoted pins.”
The promoted pins give searchers a graphic idea of the physical locations of businesses that might be able to meet their requirements. Clicking on one of the promoted pins will cause a pop out window to appear with essential information about the business (hours, website, phone, etc.). The Google Maps and their promoted pins are meant to take advantage of several known facts-
- Most consumers do at least some local searches.
- 75% of people who search for nearby merchants use smartphone queries and visit the store within a day.
- Between one third and one half of all mobile device searches relate to location; location-related searches have been growing much faster than mobile searches overall.
- 1 billion+ people have downloaded the Google Maps application to their mobile devices.
Every year, searches on Google.com and Google Maps steer consumers to 1.5 billion destinations. Being on Google Maps is like having your own billboard in consumers’ smart phones.
Perhaps the most common question asked about AdWords and Google Maps is about how much it costs. The answer is, “It depends.” It depends on the geographical area, the keywords in the search term and market forces (the price is responsive to demand). Retailers like Walmart or Amazon can spend up to $50 million per year on paid searches in AdWords. The most expensive keywords in AdWords can cost as much as $50 per click, but these are high-end businesses or services whose customers have very high lifetime value (for example, some law firms or insurance underwriters). The average cost per click (CPC) in Google AdWords is about one to two dollars.
So, how do you go about taking advantage of these tools? It is possible to educate yourself and to devote enough time to branding strategies, to SEO techniques and to finding your own digital marketing solutions. However, most small business owners or service providers do not want to do this. The best choice for most web users is to turn to a professional internet marketing agency, a local SEO services provider who can coordinate direct mail advertising and local SEO services to produce an overall branding strategy that works.
If you are struggling to find those 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.
SEO Link Building
The algorithms used by Google, Bing and other search engine operators are complex, dynamic (always changing), and they are well-guarded secrets. Any internet marketing agency or search engine optimization company that claims to have “cracked” the Google, Bing or other search engine algorithm is foolish. Those complex processes are among the best-kept secrets in the world, and they are always changing, sometimes daily.
That said, there are some key aspects of SEO techniques that are involved in any variation of SEO strategy. One of those standard SEO techniques is SEO link building. Put simply, SEO link building is the process of getting other internet pages to link back to your website. SEO link building is important because it is such a big factor in how search engines rank web pages.
Internet marketing agencies and search engine optimization companies should be interested in building links to other sites to direct referral traffic and to increase their site’s gravity. There are a number of SEO link building strategies that can get external websites to link to yours. Unfortunately, none of them are easy and none can be accomplished by cheap web design. They all require time, skill, involvement and knowledge of SEO techniques, especially SEO link building.
Here are some building blocks to help your SEO link building –
- Links from Business Partners, Networking Organizations or Professional Groups. Many businesses and professional people belong to civic groups, professional organizations, networking clusters or just plain social clutches. Ask associates you refer customers to, buy materials from, or know in any business or personal way to link to your website.
- Reviews, Mentions and ‘Likes.’ Get your service or product in front of opinion shapers and influencers. This might be a review site like Angie’s List, TripAdvisor, Yelp or YP. Ask customers or clients who have experience to review and link to your site. There is a caution here: search engines are becoming better and better at detecting material left by “bots,” automated programs that crawl the internet leaving ‘Likes,’ links or reviews. If you are linked on another site, make sure it is accompanied by original, readable text.
- Content Creation. This might be the most important point. High-quality, compelling and unique content will make your website an attractive link target. This means material that viewers will find useful in solving problems or filling needs. If you do not have the time or inclination to do this yourself, pay someone to do it. This must be an integral part of your branding strategy.
- Remember that it will take time to form a lot of SEO link building connections, so be patient and keep at it. Shortcuts like buying links from ‘bots’ violate many search engine guidelines and will actually hurt your page ranking.
The bottom line is this: SEO link building is an important part of your overall branding strategy and your SEO strategy. If you do not think you have the time or expertise to do this, get professional help. Axiom’s business marketing team can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services and SEO link building to build your branding strategy.
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.
Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.
What is Organic SEO?
Most internet users have heard the term, “SEO” and possibly “organic SEO.” Are you sure that you understand these terms? Knowing the ins and outs of SEO strategy and how to execute good SEO techniques is an essential part of digital marketing. Let’s make sure that we understand exactly what we are trying to accomplish.
SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is a very basic concept. It is the process of managing a website’s code in a way that makes it most visible to search engines. Although the process seems clear and simple in the abstract, executing actual SEO techniques and the development of a good SEO strategy can become quite complicated. In truth, this task is best left to full-time professional SEO services. Still , it helps the small business person, service provider or professional to know the vocabulary and some of the basic concepts of SEO techniques and SEO strategy, and how this fits into your overall branding strategy.
Let’s start with the difference between organic SEO and paid SEO. SEO techniques that lead to your webpage ranking highly in Google, Bing or other search engine results without purchasing AdWords (from Google) or Bing Ads (from Microsoft) constitute organic SEO.
Let’s take an example, say the search term, “plumbers in Daytona.” Entering that exact search term in Google and Bing will yield two different pages of search term results. At the top of both pages, you will see results that are labeled as ads. Here is an actual example –Ad · www.mrrooter.com/DaytonaBeach . Directly below, is the Google or Bing map with a graphic representation of locations. You need to toggle down a bit to see the organic SEO or the unpaid results. This is where good SEO techniques can place your web ranking without any ad expense at all.
This pattern is repeated for almost any search term related to a business, product or service. Try it with the term, “medical clinics in Daytona.” You can see that this applies even to professional practices like medicine. The advantage of using professional SEO services from an internet marketing agency like Axiom is that your page is more likely to be found on that first results page.
If you struggle 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.
Digital Marketing Solutions Today
The exceptional thing about our time is not change itself; that has always been with us. The new and unique element is the speed of change. In a single decade, things that we may never have heard of previously have become central to our lives, and today they are an absolute necessity for building a successful branding strategy for any small business or professional practice.
Internet technology and digital marketing solutions especially, have changed a lot over the last decade. Today, internet use, digital marketing solutions and branding strategies revolve much more around social media than ever before. New technical abilities have made it possible for customers or clients to “check out” a business or professional practice from their laptop or mobile device without even leaving home.
“Word of mouth” is still an effective form of marketing, and it is an essential part of a good branding strategy. But today, that word can be spread faster and farther by platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Yelp or even specialized tools like Zillow. Now is a good time to think about some of these changes and ask if your digital marketing solutions and branding strategies are keeping pace. How is your business or practice relating to new realities like these?
Online Reviews. A decade ago only about a quarter of online users would check a review for a local business. In 2017, 97% of consumers looked online for local businesses, with 12% looking for a local business online every day! 53% of potential customers search for a local business one or more times per month. Old-fashioned customer service is still a key to success, but the way that customer service is reported to others is changing.
Video Is Now Essential. Ten years ago, online video was considered something of a novelty, an amusement that was not part of any branding strategy or digital marketing solutions. Now, many experts predict that more than 80% of all internet traffic will be video by 2021. This is a tsunami, a trend that has changed small business marketing and branding strategy forever.
Mobile Is Your ‘New Best Friend’. Internet traffic originating from smart phones and other mobile devices surpassed traffic from computers four years ago. For any branding strategy, it is time to think mobile first. This is a major trap for users of cheap web design; so much of it looks at mobile compatibility as an afterthought. It is not! Mobile appearance should be one of the first things on an internet marketing agency’s checklist. Get it done professionally.
Facebook Is Still King (and Queen). Maybe Facebook sites are not the best places to go if you are looking for hard news, but this has not affected the site’s usefulness in building branding strategy and fashioning a digital marketing solution. Ten years ago, most businesses did not have Facebook pages. Small businesses have hugely increased their adoption of Facebook.
2018’s consumers expect to get customer service support, location and contact information, customer reviews and other important information from social media, and Facebook is still the dominate social media force. If you do not have a Facebook page, the time to get one is now.
If you are struggling to find digital marketing solutions that work, branding strategies that make your business stand out and social media presence that keeps you in the customer’s mind, 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. Axiom pros can produce the quality video, graphic and written content you need to dominate local small business SEO.
Axiom Administrative Services understands the needs of small businesses, professional practices and nonprofits. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.
Digital Marketing Solutions for Senior Markets
Seniors (ages 65 and over) have been the age group that adopted all digital technologies and responded to digital marketing solutions most slowly. Virtually no seniors were among the first cell phone users 30 years ago, and they have continued to lag the general population in the use of desktop, laptop, tablet, smart phone and other digital devices. This is a fact, but it is a deceptive fact. Think about this.
A man or woman aged 65 today was in the digital tech “early-adopter group” 30 years ago. Today’s 65- to 70-year-old people were the young adults who popularized cell phones and desktops. Believe it or not, there was a time when children just did not have cell phones or computers of any type! A Pew Research Group report issued in May of last year revealed some important distinctions about seniors and their response to digital marketing solutions.
Pew reported that 34 percent of Americans aged 65 and older use social networking sites, a lower percentage than any other age group except very young children. But within the senior age group, there were striking differences; younger seniors are far greater users of social media than are their older friends. In fact, the use of social media and digital tech in the 65-70 year age group has started to closely reflect that of all adults.
Marketing to seniors has been considered a ‘niche area’ for decades, but as a greater and greater proportion of the population ages into the senior grouping, it is bound to become very mainstream. Politicians have known for years that seniors vote. Professional SEO services, creators of branding strategies, internet marketing agency operators and even users of direct mail marketing had better take this to heart. Your marketing and your SEO strategy cannot ignore the senior market, because seniors consume products and services as well as vote.
Axiom Administrative Services knows this better than most internet marketing agency designers, branding strategy experts, logo design services, direct mail advertising operators or search engine optimization companies. For years, Axiom has been associated with Ourseniors.net, a premier provider of information and services aimed specifically at seniors and their loved ones.
The marketing experts at Axiom worked with OurSeniors.net to produce unique services like the OurSeniors.net Senior Transition Pro Team, the online publication, OurSeniors.net Magazine and the OurSeniors.net Approved Vendor Directory. Axiom’s logo design services helped to create the logos for OurSeniors.net itself as well as the Approved Vendor Seal of Approval.
Working with the senior market is just like other digital tasks; your web design, search engine optimization services , branding strategy and SEO strategy must all work together to produce the digital marketing solutions and web presence you deserve. If you are struggling to find those digital marketing solutions and the special branding strategies that work in the senior (or any other) market, 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.
