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The Effects of Quality Content and Your Website Redesign

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We have become a culture of impatience. Everything from instant meals, ready-to-eat, pre-chopped, pre-cooked everything, all the way to fast-loading websites, we are no longer willing to wait too long for certain pleasures of life. If the page isn’t loaded in less than a second, we’ve already left the site, and if our smartphone cannot load it at all, we won’t come back at all.

With such high expectations, it’s no wonder that brands everywhere aim to improve the quality of their content and the website alike. So, what happens when you invest in continuously improving the quality of your online game? The following list summarizes the most noticeable changes you can expect from boosting your digital presence.

Speed equals traffic

Remember the statement that a page should load in less than a second? Well, that was no understatement, because modern audiences truly have zero tolerance for the lack of proper speed. Almost half of the surveyed users expect for a page to load in less than two seconds, while Google aims for less than half a second. With that in mind, can you afford not to have a website that loads fast enough to keep your visitors’ interest?

After all, without them staying on your website, they will not be greeted by that splendid content you’ve so diligently posted on a regular basis. They will be annoyed by the slow loading speed and leave, or even if they stay, they will not enjoy your presentation as much as they usually would. Keep your visuals in check for optimal loading speed, ensure quality hosting, and of course, mind all the plugins you use so they would not disrupt your loading ability.

Brand consistency means recognition

When redesigning a website, many brands, especially less experienced ones, get lost in a sea of ingenious ideas. Diversity is always welcome, and by all means, use versatile visuals and topics for better engagement, but consistency is another piece of the puzzle that needs to be taken into account when you design your website.

Everything from your font, colors, all the way to your content should be consistent across all channels. Your customers need to be able to recognize that it’s your brand, both through your image and your voice, no matter where they are or how they are communicating with you. Whether it’s the social media, your website, or its mobile version, they all need to inspire the same emotional reaction and ensure cross-channel recognition.

User-friendly enables better conversion

Both in terms of visual design and actual content on your website, your brand should always be client-centric in its presentation. Of course, relevant topics and relatable language are both crucial for retaining customers, but your conversion rate also depends on the manner in which said content is presented.

With that in mind, many experts in website development in Sydney and other tech hubs across the globe strive to blend both the form and the function into a single branded experience. They understand the importance of implementing an all-encompassing design strategy, so as to preserve the core of your brand values and give your customers precisely what they need – an exquisite online experience.

Mobile means omnipresent

Nowadays, no one can afford to merely focus on their desktop-friendly website versions, which were once the only and predominant source of engagement. The ones who don’t invest in their mobile presence basically declare themselves nonexistent, not just in the eyes of their audience, but also in the eyes of search engines.

Quality content and quality design are intricately connected to the idea of mobile devices, simply because we now experience life on the go via these portable gadgets. On the bus, waiting in line, and sitting in a café often involves hours of scrolling and searching, so putting your name on the mobile map is pivotal for success. Let your visitors have unimpeded access to your sublime content even on their mobile devices, and they’ll fall madly in love with your brand even more.

Quality translates to loyalty

Whether it’s the HD imagery you use to vivify your visual identity or the incredibly cool infographic you’ve created to educate your audience, great content in every shape and form is the lifeblood of your brand. It not only connects you and your customers but allows for an emotional bond to arise even after a single encounter.

Both the eye-catching visuals and the storytelling should be intertwined into a unified brand experience, one that invites your customers to engage through sharing, commenting, giving their feedback, and the like. After all, the quality of your voice and your appearance should reflect the quality and uniqueness of your brand – use them wisely, and your customers will stay on board for the long haul.

Benefits of Blogging: Boost Search Engine Rankings

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Just as Google loves valuable content, the search engine also loves meaningful content. It is not about keywords anymore. It is about creativity in using keywords in the context and topic. The more you dispense valuable content, Google ranks you higher. The question is, how do you build search engine optimized content that will incorporate all your users?

Blogging is the Key to User-Friendly SEO

Getting an improved search engine ranking entails having many indexed pages regarding your products or services. Having a single page for the services is not enough. As the renowned expert, Hubspot said; more indexed pages guarantee more opportunities for you to appear in search engine. By this, you generate enormous traffic to your site in organic search. The strategy is ensuring that you don’t replicate your content. Therefore, it requires creativity to come up with different topics related to your products and services. Here, it is possible to shed light on readers’ questions relating to your post.

Are you trouble about how to create blog content that is search engine friendly and that which server your readers? Worry no more since all you have to do is:

Get a Grip on the Logistics of Blog Optimization

Mastering the Google algorithms is a daunting experience. However, it is possible. The keyword is an essential aspect of attaining the gateway to Googles world. It is therefore advisable that you bookmark and check in regularly. You can optimize the content of your blog in many ways. Here are some top-notch aspects of getting you up the ladder.

Start with a Topic and a Long-Tail Keyword

After deciding on the niche you want to explore on your blog, attach a longtail keyword to complement it. Do not put many keywords on your blog whatsoever. Google won’t recognize you for that. When adding keywords, you should not let your post lose the natural feel. Using long tail keywords garners you qualified visitors to your site. Unlike when you use small keywords. A long-tail keyword separate onlooker from people who will convert.

The keywords should feature in:

  • Page titles
  • Headers and body
  • URL
  • Meta descriptions

Optimize Images for Google to Index

For Google to recognize you, you should employ the following guidelines:

  • Stick Google image formats- google supports images that are in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, and SVG. However, for blogs, it is advisable that you use JPEG images.
  • Relate your filenames to the image- sometimes the images may fail to load for a user. Therefore, relating the name to the image will save the reader the hassle of having to guess the image. Google uses image filenames as snippets to search the image.
  • Update image alt text- search engines won’t recognize an image. Therefore, you have to give an in-depth description of your products or services. You should make your content easy to understand. Hence, it is advisable not to flood the content with keywords.

Build with the right links

When creating your blog, you should join it to the correct links. Creating links is essential especially when you want to prove your authenticity with search engines. However, you have to do the linking effectively. Link your blog post to web sources that relate to your post. Therefore, you should reach out and know your category. By this, you will not mislink your post. You get discovered by many when you associate your blog page with specific links that have authority. The links will give your content significant exposure that will generate substantial leads to your site.
However, links from Joe Shmo on Blogger are not authoritative. You should not use them whatsoever.

GIVE IT TIME

Just as in all things connected to Search Engine Optimization, you have to exercise patience. You have to give it time to get stable. Many of the sites took decades to get a grip on search engines. They did not give up. Some are reputable in producing converting traffic every month. There, it is not time to give up when you don’t get enough audience or even positive responses. You should remain dedicated to the course and post consistently. Remembering that many started where you are should give you strength to carry on. Your persistence will undoubtedly yield to something remarkable.

Looking for more information in regards to SEO?  Contact Canada West I.M. today!

Canada West Internet Marketing
10050 Jasper Avenue #2020c
Edmonton, AB T5J 3R8
(780) 628-7535

Five Tips for Content Planning with Topic Clustering

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With the invention of topic clustering, Search Engine Optimization patterns have changed. If you are a content creator or a planner, these changes affect your work. Topic clustering is the most recent advancement in search engines. It is capable of fighting mechanical keyword optimization.

Abiding by the rules of search engines will not be enough. You have to give relevance to your content. The big question remains, how do we incorporate topic clustering into content planning strategies? Below are tips that will help you improve your ranking and also help you maintain traffic for your site.

website optimazation techniques

Topic Clustering 101

Topic clustering is about to take the SEO world by storm. It entails the creation of organic content that is logical and gives sense to the audience. Forget about keywords and SERP parameters your content must carry some meaning. Example, when creating a pillar page for marketing, you can include topics that complement the pillar. Any topic that you add gets considered as an independent topic.

However, with topic clustering, you can link your content using interlinked hyperlinks, for higher ranking. Search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo have incorporated topic clustering to give meaningful results to their users.

Benefits of using topic clustering in your content planning

• It provides relevant topics to your audience, unlike algorithms and keywords.
• Enhances a stable bond with search engines due to topic clusters.
• Sustains a long-lasting relationship with the audience.
• Every content on your site is valuable and thus relevant.

Topic clustering is an awakening call to action. With the benefits it comes along with, your site will stand distinguished from your competitors.
Tips to implement to propel your content to topic clustering

Focus on the Point

The pillar of your content is the most crucial aspect of topic clustering. An initial topic has to trend in your niche. Your topic should be versatile. That is; it can get approached from different points. The comprehensiveness of your topic makes it easy for you to branch out and cluster your topics. Unlike many content creators, you should use many topics to grab the audience’ attention.

That is; if they miss out on one topic, the next provides viable information.

Use Keywords in Titles and Subheadings

Even though keywords hold less important as they used to before, they still have their role in SEO. Incorporating Keyword to the pillar topic and subtopics exposes your content to greater SEO capabilities. You should have a word that runs every title and subtitle.

Marketing can be your pillar topic. It should, therefore, feature in the topics to give a valid connection to the subject. By this, you rank highest in SERP ratings. Google AdWords’ will help you figure out the trending keywords to employ. However, the keyword needs only get focused on titles and subtitles.

getting website on search engines

Mind Map Your Topics

Mind mapping is the art of developing different words and phrases that relate to your pillar topic. It is an impressive way to enable you to come up with a cluster of topics. For example, you choose the word marketing to feature in your titles and subtitles. Other phrases that may connect to marketing include profit, digital marketing, and social media marketing.

The different words are essential in getting a cluster. However, you have to ensure you remain on the topic. Mind mapping way may easily take you out of topic. Your interest should remain on the phrases that can get associated with the initial word. A repetitive process acquaints you with more content to build a cluster of topics. Thus, you will obtain an epic content strategy and planning.

Think Long-Term

Remember that clustering your topics is a long-term content plan. Ensure that your topic runs long enough to garners you sustained traffic for your site. Using short-term content plans may require changes in future. Thus, it will ruin your ranking and reduce your visibility on topic clustering search engines.

Therefore, when creating pillar topics, ensure that it can support a variety of subtopics which connect to the initial topic. By this, your audience will easily adapt to your style, and, the search engine will post you content many times. Stick to your initial topic clusters. Changing the topic clustering plan mid-cycle may confuse your readers and the SEO.

Don’t Settle for Good

Topic clustering affects not only your planning but also your tracking of the existing content. But, it does not change your content creation from the roots. Therefore, once your content works with content clustering on your site, try to understand why it worked. And still, determine how it should work better.

When creating new pillars, introduce it at intervals. Ensure that the content is exciting before handing it to your content creators. Your content should surpass goodness. Good content should not make you comfortable. That is a comfort zone that you should walk away from; Endow your content with insightful information. By doing so, your site will stand differentiated from the rest.

Make sure you keep on evolving your topics to obtain an exceptional content. Who knows? Some of the subtopics may even rise to become pillars in your next content cycle. The more time you take pampering your content creation foundation determines your success.

Relevance Over Keywords

Again, the emphasis is on relevance. It is evident that within no time, topic clustering will consider relevance to keyword using. By this, you can communicate to your audience to know their preference. Identifying with your audience needs in the future is the aim of topic clustering. The satisfaction of the readers comes fast.

Readers are endowed with useful tips pertaining the content you post. Through topic clustering communication system, the readers can give you tips that are beneficial in creating content. Acknowledge their opinions, and you may never know, a pillar topic may come from them.

You should not overlook implementing topic clustering despite it being in the developmental stage. Websites that are the co-founders of the technology are benefiting from it. Therefore, it is upon you not to take chances. You should trend with the most recent Search Engine Optimization changes.

Contact Canada West I.M. today!

Canada West Internet Marketing
10050 Jasper Avenue #2020c
Edmonton, AB T5J 3R8
(780) 628-7535

Maximize Video Content Through Strategic Placement

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Video is now perhaps the most valuable content marketing strategy. Video viewing requires minimal effort from users, and when done well, video can convey important information in a new format that increases conversions on your site. Studies have shown that visitors are up to 85% more likely to purchase after viewing video content on a website.

Creating unique video content requires extensive time and resources, meaning a successful video marketing strategy is not easily within reach of every business. Given the value of this content, however, it is becoming ever more essential for businesses to invest the resources into developing their own content. If your message is impactful, informative, and easy to absorb, it will bring you results.

Making videos for the sake of making videos will do little to increase conversions or site experience. The type of video content and its location on a website are related, and both are dependent on where a visitor is in the sales funnel.

This post will cover the intersecting factors to be considered in developing a new video marketing strategy, with real-life examples from businesses who are doing it right.

Where Should Videos Live?

Before we examine the stages of the sales funnel, let’s explore the options for video hosting, as this is often an overlooked element of crafting a video marketing strategy. For those new to video marketing, YouTube may seem to be the obvious and only way of hosting and sharing videos online. But third-party video hosting services and self-hosting videos on your site are also possible. While more complicated and costly, they are the only options if you are creating video for SEO.

YouTube and similar sites like Vimeo certainly have their place in a video marketing strategy. Since YouTube essentially functions as the video-only search engine of Google, the videos hosted there will get a ton of exposure and will more easily show up in Google search results. But, if your video is hosted there and a different site embeds it, the information is on YouTube and not on your site. To counter this, include the text of the video as a blog post or informational page on your website. This is especially important when the video is posted to YouTube but is good practices regardless of where the video content lives.

Third-party or self-hosting allows greater flexibility in how video is displayed while also providing your site with all the SEO benefits of having original video content. It also makes it more likely that viewers will convert into leads or customers since they are already on your site.

Many businesses leverage both of these options, uploading some content to YouTube but offering exclusive or expanded content on their site. As we go through the stages of the sales funnel, we will discuss what kind of content to create for each stage, as well as where and how to share it to maximize its effectiveness.

What Content Should You Create?

Perhaps the most challenging decision to make is what type of content to share with your audience. The content you create depends on where your customers are in the sales funnel. For video content creation, we will look at three broad stages of the sales funnel: awareness, consideration, and decision and action.

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Awareness

At the top of the funnel, people need to know who you are and what you do. This kind of content can be similar to traditional television ads, or it can be more creative and unusual – its purpose is to make your brand more visible to the public. Tell visitors why they need your product or service and what distinguishes it from the plethora available in the market. Audiences love videos that answer questions, are funny and engaging, and show your business cares about customers.

This kind of content works well on YouTube and similar sites. Seattle Coffee Gear has built an extensive YouTube following with their how-to videos on making different coffee and espresso drinks. Their video descriptions and content then direct users to their website, where they can learn more about coffee products and processes and make purchases.

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As visitors move into the consideration stage of the sales funnel, focus on directing them to your site where it is easier for them to take action.

Awareness video can also be displayed on the homepage or landing page, like in this example from TransUnion’s new ShareAble for Hires. Here, they have a simple video that gives an overview of their service directly on their homepage so visitors can absorb this information easily.

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For more ideas on content for the awareness stage, check out this resource from Skeleton Productions.

Consideration

If a visitor converts into a lead through your awareness content, provide more detailed information about your product or service. This can include products reviews or comparisons, step-by-step videos for how a product or service works, or testimonials from satisfied customers.

For example, Renovate America creates videos that feature customers talking about their experience with their services. This lends credibility to the product because it seems more genuine than typical, highly branded content.

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In this example, the video is hosted by a third-party on the website and shares the page with blog content and images.

Decision & Action

Customers who reach the decision and action stage already trust your company. Now, focus on providing even more information about your brand that satisfies their curiosity while building customer loyalty. Videos that show behind-the-scenes of the company, such as a process or company culture, or videos that tell the story of the company’s founding are great content for this stage.

In this example from BambooHR, the short video highlights the core principles of the company culture – namely, work-life balance – and features their company mascot. While company culture videos are often used as recruitment tools, in this case, it serves a dual purpose: since BambooHR is a workplace-focused product, knowing the company background can influence a prospective customer’s decision to purchase their services.

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Videos for the decision and action stage are also ideal for placing directly on your site and can serve as blog posts or additions to a resource library.

Test & Adapt

When creating a video for social media platforms, consider how videos are viewed on that platform and adapt your video accordingly. For example, Instagram’s default video setting is muted sound, so don’t rely on audio to convey your message in an Instagram-targeted video. Ideal video settings and content vary across social platforms, so be sure to consider these maximize the effect of your videos on these sites. BufferSocial has a great resource listing considerations for creating video content for different social media sites.

Videos for different social platforms, or even YouTube versus your company website, do not have to each be their own production. Consider making one long video and editing shorter versions with different shots, with each version intended for a different platform. This is also a great way to leverage YouTube’s reach to direct more visitors to your site: post a teaser video on YouTube, and direct them to your website for the full version.

Finally, the key to any marketing strategy is to test it constantly and adapt where needed. With video content, this can include testing video placement on the page, seeing which social platforms garner the most video views, and measuring views based on video length. When beginning a video marketing project, these tests will be crucial to determining where your resources and efforts should be focused.

As video content becomes ever more necessary for digital marketing success, small businesses and startups must learn to navigate the tricky balance of what to create for what visitors and where to place them to maximize their investment. It takes a broad perspective and a willingness to be adaptable, but a successful video marketing strategy is possible even for those with limited resources.

Resources for further reading:
Creating an Online Video Strategy from Moz
How to Make a Video Content Strategy that Will Engage Your Audience from CoSchedule

value of seo for home improvement companies

The Value Of SEO For Home Improvement Companies

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value of seo for home improvement companies

In order to gain success, home improvement companies must continuously gain new projects. But as all those in the business already know, acquiring the right customers can be and is quite challenging.

The fact of the matter is that in this day and age, the road to success lays in making your business as visible as you possibly can in that place where you know they are already looking and that is, Online.

Search engine optimization is the best way to get this done. It is so important you make every effort to improve your site for search engines such as Google to best understand your pages and in their search results feature them.

Continue to see just how hiring an SEO consultant can be of assistance to your home improvement company and just what are the best ways to get this accomplished well.

For home improvement companies, just why does SEO matter so much?

Just take a moment and give some thought to what you did the last time that you were seeking a service or a product for yourself. You probably went to Google and entered a phrase such as “car insurance Edmonton,” or “hair salon Edmonton,” just like virtually everyone else does these days.

Your next effort would have been to scan the results, then go to the one that sounded best by clicking on it so that you could get more information. You then most likely repeated this with one or two other sites and then got in touch with what you believed to be the best candidate and made an appointment to see them, or perhaps got a quote from them.

Just know that your customers are going to use this same process and SEO is going to be the way that they are going to see your home improvement phrases and related words.

Keep in mind that even though you have an understanding of SEO, you may not be entirely up on how to handle it on your own so that it works best. The good news is that we are giving you some beneficial information below and also, for a free evaluation, you can contact us online today!

Home Improvement And Home Renovations SEO And It’s Benefits

Take a look at just three of the significant benefits for your business when you use web page optimization for search engines.

1. INCREASED VISIBILITY

For keywords related to home improvement, SEO is a great way to get your site ranked well in search engines. You can and will significantly increase your brand awareness, and customers who may never have ever heard of you before will become aware of who you are.

2. MORE QUALIFIED LEADS

You are going to become a part of the research process of your potential customers with the help of SEO. This way you can explain what sets you apart from your competitors and all about the services that you offer.

3. HIGH ROI

As you continue to improve your online reputation by continually improving your SEO, you are going to keep making more. And entirely unlike those strategies of traditional advertising where only for a specific time your ad runs on third-party platforms, the efforts you put into SEO on your site will go on indefinitely.

Your site is going to continue bringing in new leads for many years to come, once you have established your rankings. And the other great news is that price increases for ad space is something you will never need to be concerned about!

Home Improvement SEO And Just What Does It Involve?

To rank well in search engines, there are many different factors involved. This is why SEO takes several different tactics to get best the job done. Take a look now at four that are so important.

1. KEYWORD RESEARCH

It is so important that you have an understanding of the phrases and words that potential customers will put to use in seeking out home improvement services before optimizing your site to rank for any particular keywords.

Identifying the best keywords for your business is what keyword research involves. Also, determining just how difficult they will be to rank for is also so important. The rest of your strategy is going to lay on this critical foundation.

2. ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION

After determining just which keywords are the ones you want to target, each of your pages will need to be optimized for a specific one. This is accomplished by using on the page that keyword in title tags, meta descriptions, headers and body copy.

Search engines are helped by this in understanding your site’s pages topics and for relevant searches, rank it in the results.

3. CONTENT CREATION

SEO also involves the creation and the publishing of new pages of original content, in addition to optimizing your site’s existing pages.

You can write pages, as a home improvement business, which will answer common questions addressing frequently heard customer concerns, provide ideas for remodeling projects and answer common home improvement questions as well.

You also have an opportunity to rank for additional keywords beyond your services, when these pages are optimized for search engines. Doing so gives your readers the confidence that you are indeed a reliable resource to call on.

4. LINK BUILDING

Reliable information is what search engines are seeking to provide, and the best way the credibility of the site may be determined is an examination of the links leading to it. The higher you are going to rank in the search results will be defined by the more links that you have from reputable sites.

Such an essential part of SEO, but also a challenging one, is building links. You are going to have to reach out to bloggers, journalists, editors and other owners of sites and show them that readers will find interesting the content that you have.

With content creation, this all goes hand in hand, because the more reputable sites will link to yours, the more interesting content that you publish!

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