SEO: Search Engine Optimization Techniques and Types

SEO: Search Engine Optimization Techniques and Types

by | Apr 3, 2024 | Analytics and Reporting, Blog, Content, SEO, Strategy

What is SEO and why is it so important?

Welcome to the ultimate guide on SEO – the secret sauce behind boosting your online presence and driving more traffic to your website. Whether you’re a digital marketing enthusiast or a business owner looking to up your online game, understanding Search Engine Optimization and Marketing is crucial in today’s competitive digital landscape. So, buckle up as we dive into the world of Search Engine Optimization and uncover its best practices, techniques, and types that will help you climb the ranks in search engine results pages!

The success of search engines as businesses relies on the public perceiving their results to be tailored to their needs. As a search engine, such as Google, discovers more links from a certain type of content to a specific resource, it gains confidence in the relevance of that resource for related search queries. This leads to the determination that the resource should receive a high ranking when those queries are made. To aid in this process, there are four main categories of SEO: on-page, off-page, local, and technical. These work together to assist search engines in discovering, crawling, indexing, understanding, and ranking your content.

Best practices and techniques

When it comes to SEO, staying ahead of the game means keeping up with best practices and techniques. One key aspect is optimizing your website’s loading speed – a fast site not only improves user experience but also boosts your search rankings. Another important practice is creating high-quality, relevant content that resonates with your target audience.

Utilizing proper heading tags and meta descriptions can also enhance your site’s visibility in search results. Additionally, incorporating internal linking within your content helps search engines navigate through your site efficiently.  Then reporting on why and how a site moves through search results is critical.

Don’t forget about mobile optimization – ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly is essential for ranking well in mobile searches. Lastly, monitoring and analyzing performance metrics using tools like Google Analytics and SEMRush can provide valuable insights for refining your SEO strategies.

Types of SEO such as technical, local, on-page, off-page

When it comes to SEO, there are several different types that play a crucial role in boosting your online presence.

SEO and types of search engine optimizationTechnical SEO focuses on optimizing the technical aspects of your website to improve its visibility and ranking on search engines. This includes factors like site speed, mobile-friendliness, and structured data.

Local SEO is essential for businesses targeting local customers. It involves optimizing your online presence to attract more foot traffic and leads from specific geographic locations.

On-page SEO revolves around optimizing individual web pages to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic. This includes keyword optimization, meta tags, and high-quality content creation.

Off-page SEO refers to strategies implemented outside of your website to improve its authority and credibility. This includes link building, social media marketing, and influencer collaborations.

Each type of SEO plays a unique role in enhancing your online visibility and driving organic traffic to your website.

Keyword research and four types of keywords

Keywords are a fundamental aspect of Search Engine Marketing that cannot be overlooked. By conducting thorough keyword research and strategically incorporating relevant keywords into your content, you can boost your website’s visibility and attract more organic traffic.

  • Informational: A person wanst to find information
  • Navigational: Includes searches for a specific site or page
  • Commercial: A person wants to investigate brands, products, or services
  • Transactional: The searchers want to complete an action (e.g., buy something or sign up)

In the world of Search Engine Optimization, staying up-to-date with the latest best practices and techniques is crucial for success. Whether you focus on technical optimization, local SEO, on-page strategies, or off-page tactics, implementing a comprehensive strategy tailored to your specific needs is essential for improving your search engine rankings.

Overall, mastering the art of SEO requires dedication, patience, and continuous learning. By following these guidelines and adapting to the ever-evolving landscape of search engine algorithms, you can enhance your online presence and drive valuable traffic to your website. Remember: SEO is not just about ranking high on search engines; it’s about providing value to your audience and delivering an exceptional user experience.

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NEWS: iCita Launches Search Analytics Reporting

NEWS: iCita Launches Search Analytics Reporting

by | Jan 27, 2024 | Analytics and Reporting, Press, Strategy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  January 27, 2024 – Spokane, WA and Longmont, CO. iCita launches much awaited search analytics reporting set of products  called Marketing Insight Search Reports for Businesses after being refined and researched for the past ten years.  Marketing Insight Reporting is a series of organic and paid search analytics in the form of custom and pre-built reports that give great insight for companies that want to get and stay on top of how they are ranked in search results.  Through the extensive use and training, iCita is finally at a stage to allow subscriptions to different levels of monthly analytics reporting.

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Marketing and Content Strategy Budgets

Marketing and Content Strategy Budgets

by | Nov 29, 2023 | Strategy

Marketing and Content Strategy Budgets

Table of Contents

Why you need a marketing budget

Marketing strategy vs. marketing plans

Marketing budget as a percentage of revenue and by industry

Content marketing strategy

Tips for using your budget wisely

 

 

 

Marketing and Content Strategy

Why you need a marketing budget

Developing a marketing budget not only provides structure and organization to your overall marketing strategy, but it also serves various crucial purposes. Firstly, it helps you prioritize which projects to invest in by allocating funds accordingly. This ensures that the most important and impactful initiatives receive adequate resources for successful implementation.

Additionally, having a well-defined budget allows you to earmark funds specifically for software license purchases, enabling your team to leverage advanced tools and technologies that can enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Furthermore, comparing year-over-year progress becomes significantly easier when you have a comprehensive understanding of how much was allocated each year across different projects. This analysis enables you to identify trends, patterns, successes, or areas where adjustments might be needed moving forward.

Finally, calculating the return on investment (ROI) from your marketing endeavors becomes possible with a well-planned budget in place. Being able to determine the effectiveness and profitability of various activities gives valuable insights into resource allocation decisions going forward while ensuring accountability within the team.

Marketing strategies vs. marketing plans

While marketing strategies and marketing plans both play a crucial part in your business’s success, it is imperative to understand the significant distinctions between them. The main differentiating factor lies in their respective time horizons: a marketing strategy encompasses long-term intentions, whereas a marketing plan primarily addresses short-term goals.

Think of the strategy as the overarching framework that guides all your marketing efforts towards achieving specific objectives and fulfilling your brand vision. It involves carefully analyzing market trends, identifying target audiences, establishing competitive advantages, and determining key messaging themes that resonate with customers over an extended period.

On the other hand, a marketing plan focuses on tactical implementation within a defined timeframe—typically ranging from three months to one year—and acts as a detailed roadmap for executing strategic initiatives effectively. This includes delineating specific campaigns or promotions, allocating budgets across various channels like advertising or social media platforms while ensuring seamless coordination among different teams involved. By recognizing these contrasting yet complementary aspects of nullmarketing strategies and plansnull , businesses can strike an optimal balance between long-term visioning and short-term execution for sustainable growth.

Basic marketing channels include:

  • Web sites
  • SEO projects
  • Content marketing (pillars, keyword focus)
  • Advertising (billboards, SEM, TV, radio, etc.)
  • Public relations
  • Social media marketing (SMM)
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Email campaign
  • Text/SMS campaign

Marketing budget as a percentage of revenue and by industry

In 2021, marketing budgets as a percentage of gross company revenue were as high as 13%, but in 2022, marketing budgets declined to 8.6%. The decrease can be attributed to a how companies were preparing for 2023 and 2024.   2024 is showing that companies are having more faith in long-term solutions such as SEO and content marketing.  They see the benefits of a plan that is authentic and rich in experiences.  Generally speaking, in a marketing study, marketing budgets for 2024 could increase based on 42% of the respondents, while 32% are decreasing their budget.

In terms of overall trends, it’s interesting to note that for the years 2022-2023, marketing budgets have increased as a percentage of company revenue compared This suggests that businesses are recognizing the importance and value of investing more heavily in their marketing efforts and are planning the same changes for 2024.

After two years where digital spending dominated nearly 70% of marketingbudgets, the allocation of spending between digital and offline channels has now shifted towards a more equitable split. This shift can be attributed to people becoming more engaged with events and seeking more personal interactions post-pandemic. More than half (50%) of digital spending is being allocated to paid channels such as social media and advertising on search engines.

Marketing Budgets by Industry

Banking, Finance,Insurance, and Real Estate 9%
Communications media 12%
Consumer packaged goods 8.5%
Consumer services 6%
Healthcare 18%
Manufacturing 13%
Retail wholesale 14%
Service consulting 21%
Technology 21%
Transportation 8%

As a marketer, it’s important you use these percentages as benchmarks, especially for industries allocating low marketing budgets. It could also mean this is an arena where you and your team can shine following strategies that are effective.

Content marketing strategy

Content marketing is an innovative and dynamic marketing strategy employed by businesses to captivate, involve, and sustain their target audience. By generating and disseminating pertinent articles, captivating videos, insightful podcasts, and various other forms of media content, companies effectively establish themselves as authorities in their respective industries. This approach not only fosters brand awareness but also ensures that null customers keep the business at the forefront of their minds when they are ready to make a purchase.

Through content marketing’s multifaceted nature, businesses can not only attract potential customers but also nurture existing relationships with current patrons. This strategy enables brands to consistently deliver valuable information and engage with consumers on a deeper level while simultaneously building trust and loyalty within the market landscape. Content marketing thus serves as a powerful tool for organizations seeking sustainable growth and long-term success in today’s highly competitive commercial sphere.

On average, small businesses paid between $467 – 5,024 per month for Search Engine Optimization activities.  Companies in general reported these statistics:

  • 47% research their audience
  • 46% perform search engine optimization (SEO)
  • 45% are publishing more content and publishing more frequently
  • 44% said improving the quality and value of their content has led to success
  • 42% said updating existing content has boosted their content marketing value
  • 41% said analyzing their competitors influenced the success of their strategy
  • 40% said creating more visual, and video content improved their content marketing

In addition to these necessary content marketing components, respondents had a lot to say about which tactics boost content ranking the most:

  • 55% create more content and post more frequently
  • 53% are focusing on improving the quality of their content
  • 37% are prioritizing research-driven content
  • 36% said they are improving their technical SEO

Tips for using your budget wisely

1. Customer journey must always the focus
2. Marketing agencies can help
3. Support and get and inhouse team
4. Repurpose and update content
5. Evaluate underperforming channels
6. Re-evaluate your strategy regularly

Information in this post was derived through research in blogs and resources from SEMRush, Hubspot, WebStrategies, Google, and BrightEdge

Related: Small Business Solutions, WordPress Web Site Developer, eCommerce Web Site Company,
Similar: Digital Marketing Agency, iPhone App Developer, Mobile Application Company

Leadership Styles We Need To Know

Leadership Styles We Need To Know

by | Mar 7, 2020 | Commercial, Non profit, Strategy

THE THREE STYLES OF LEADERSHIP –

This concept is taught in marketing and business degree studies and is important. Born leaders are not those that are always at the front of the pack, because it depends what the pack needs that determines the leader. Good leaders know this because it isn’t about being a leader, it is about making the pack successful together.

There are three leadership styles developed by psychologist Kurt Lewin that are considered to be among the “classic” methodologies used by business leaders. Each has its strengths and drawbacks – here are more details on each of them:

1. Laissez-Faire Leadership
This type is the largely hands-off with minimal direction and supervision from the manager to the staff. The key to using this method is having well trained and efficient directors who can work as intermediaries between you and your employees.

2. Autocratic Leadership
This is a leadership style that has become something of a relic in today’s business environment. The reason is that most employees work better without the overbearing presence of their boss around at all times. However, there are some who would argue that the Autocratic methods are still as effective as they were in Feudal Europe – but only if properly balanced with feedback and face time.

3. Participative Leadership
The third approach is to find a happy medium between the above two methods. These managers back-off more to allow people to tap their creativity and think independently using their own initiative, while still maintaining enough control to guide the overall vision of teams without imposing their own vision on their decisions. In short, you’re giving them a much greater lead and will need to be more trusting of decisions made by your directors.

These three leadership types form the foundation of most styles used by corporate leaders today. However, they do not necessarily encompass every philosophy on the nature of a business and how leadership skills should be developed.

Fundamentals of Keyword Research

Fundamentals of Keyword Research

by | Jan 12, 2020 | Content, Digital Marketing, Strategy

Good keyword research and analysis is a cornerstone of any SEO strategy, yet it can be a daunting thing to learn.  People may find it intimidating due to the plethora of information available.  It is a big subject, but not as overwhelming as it at first appears.

Keyword research is not some arcane art, understandable only to those with a Masters in marketing.  Rather, it is something you can learn to do yourself, for every page or post you create.  There are many approaches to keyword research, but it all starts with understanding the fundamentals.  So let’s start with the ever-popular question:

What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research, in a nutshell, is about finding the words and search terms being used by the kind of visitors you wish to attract.  It’s about matching what you have to offer with what users are searching for.  Pretty simple, right?  Hold on to your hat!  Things will look a lot more complicated before they look simple again.

Guidelines for Keyword Research and Strategy Planning

Getting ranked for a keyword or key phrase, of course, depends on how many others are trying to rank for it.  That is why single-word keywords are the most difficult to rank for, while phrases of four words or more (also known as long-tail keywords) are much easier and typically yield higher conversion rates.  We’ll go into more detail on this later in the article.

Another major factor to consider is keyword search volume.  How many people are actually searching for it?  Just as too much competition on a popular search phrase is a bad thing, so is a phrase nobody is even searching for.

Keep in mind that getting ranked for a keyword or key phrase depends on how relevant the content is around it, and of course how well the search engine can understand it.  That’s called on-page-SEO.  Google has very sophisticated methods by which it analyzes a page.  It looks not only at keyword density, but for related words, and can analyze the quality of writing as well.  Having well-written copy with targeted content is imperative.  However, don’t get distracted from the main target – your customer.  It’s always best practice to write to the customer first, and the search engines second.

What you are promoting and what potential visitors may be looking for should always form the core of your keyword strategy planning.  This is an important point to consider carefully.

If you are promoting a product, for example, which has already been strongly promoted to the point of recognition, then certainly the product name would be a likely keyword.  However, good search engine marketing strategies seek to leverage the more generic terms which describe a product.  Ranking high for “Acme Soap Friend” would not be nearly as valuable as ranking high for “soap holder for shower.”

Anticipating questions is an excellent approach to keyword strategy.  As search engines become more and more sophisticated, users are learning to ask in more sophisticated terms.  Common search terms these days are not just simple phrases, but often in the form of a question.

Remember not to overlook your competitors.  Study the keywords they are trying to rank for.  Perhaps you want to try to outrank them, or maybe you can find something even better.  Staying on top of the keywords they are using can also yield peripheral information, such as early warning of a campaign or new product.

Keyword Research Techniques

The methods and tools businesses use to conduct their research vary greatly, and depend on many factors.  Business size is certainly a factor, but more important are things like business model and overall marketing strategy.  Generally, however, the process follows these general steps:

  • Brainstorm a list of all possible keywords related to your site and business
    • These are also known as seed keywords
  • Refine this list to those which are most relevant
  • Consider all variations of your keywords
  • From these keywords, create phrases (long-tail keywords)
  • Analyze your keywords using a tool like Keyword Explorer
    • Check the search volume of the keywords
    • Check the difficulty in ranking for the keywords
    • Research related search terms
    • Perform competitive keyword analysis to see your competitor’s most important keywords
  • Check your results over time to determine the effectiveness of your strategy

Remember that search volume for some keywords may vary due to season or other factors.  Effective tracking of results will greatly improve your understanding of which keywords are most beneficial to you.

Keyword Terminology

Here are some simple definitions of some of the jargon you will encounter in keyword research:

Head keywords

These are single-word keywords that are great in building your brand if you find a way to rank high for them.  However, head keywords are extremely competitive.

Body keywords

These keywords are a step narrower than the head keywords.  They’re mostly comprised of two or three terms.  Many searches consist of only two or three terms.  Body keywords are mainly targeted by established businesses that are well-known.

Long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords, also known as key phrases, contain four or more words.  Competition is generally lower, and they are ideal for connecting newer sites to their target audience.  Typically, they also result in higher CTR because they are fairly specific.

Keyword Research Tools

One very popular tool is Google’s Keyword Planner.  However, it is only available through Google Ads, which is premium and will not suit everyone’s needs.

Rest easy, because there are many good keyword research tools that are free.  These can be great ways to explore and learn without investment.

Keyword Explorer is an excellent free tool.  Just using it and reading the documentation will teach you much of what you need to know.  It is packed with features often only available in premium versions of tools.  It is also part of the premium Moz Pro SEO analytics platform.

Keyword Tool is another highly promising free keyword research tool.  The free version of Keyword Tool generates up to 750+ long-tail keyword suggestions for every search term.  It’s easy to try out, because you don’t even need to create an account.

Google Search Console is certainly worth using as well.  With it you can learn a lot about which phrases are sending you the most traffic, the click-through-rates (CTR), and more.

There are certainly plenty more out there, some broad and some highly specialized.  Joshua Hardwick’s excellent article has some great suggestions, with useful details on what they do and how to use them.  Might we also suggest, ahem, a Google search?

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Social Media Advertising Trends and Ad Template for 2018

Social Media Advertising Trends and Ad Template for 2018

by | Jan 7, 2018 | Digital Marketing, Social Media, Strategy

Social media advertising has become pervasive for online marketers because the audience size and quality on leading social networks.

Through social advertising, you can target specific audiences and buyers and deliver your message on the platforms that your buyers spend time on—like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram to name a few. Advertising on social media platforms has changed tremendously. Recent updates to many social networks’ algorithms give users a better experience—one with less promotional content and more relevant content that they want to see. This means that, as a marketer, you need to supplement your organic posts with paid promotion to get your posts seen by your audience.
Social Media Platform Stats
This has led to an explosion in digital advertising on social media platforms. In fact, eMarketer reports that in 2017, social network ad spending will reach $35.98 billion worldwide. As marketers increasingly spend more on social platforms, it’s more important than ever to have the right strategy in place, track all of your paid social campaigns, and gain insights into what’s working and what’s not. Only then can you understand the return on ad spend (ROAS) from your campaigns. So, where are marketers spending the majority of their advertising dollars? In a recent SocialBakers study, marketers revealed that they are looking towards Facebook as their main advertising platform— 92% of marketers surveyed use Facebook as their primary social advertising platform.

PPC ad size reference

Derived from the Marketo Definitive Guide to Social Media Marketing.