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Businesses Need a Good Web Presence to Survive a Pandemic and Beyond

In this age of coronavirus pandemic, online presence management has become more crucial than ever before for small businesses.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has completely turned the world upside-down. With a global toll of 33 million cases (and counting), and no definitive vaccine, intense lockdowns and quarantines have become more the norm than the exception. Homes and rooms have now become the center of activity for practically everyone – with people both living and working from home. The business world has borne the brunt of this impact as well – many a great company have withered and died in the multi-faceted chaos that the coronavirus has caused. It goes without saying that in situations such as these, having a subpar web presence is not an option for any business, let alone small businesses.

All said and done, it does not always have to be this dreary – especially if you are a small enterprise. Despite the uncertain times, the one decisive factor remains – with more people stuck in place, more and more people are spending time on the internet. For small businesses especially, this can be a distinct advantage. Large-scale businesses need premium solutions and wide-ranging campaigns to stay relevant and consistent with their customer base. Smaller ones, one the other hand, can start converting by amping up their online presence with the right combination of free solutions and constant involvement with customers and prospects.

Here are 5 ways in which small businesses can ensure they have a good web presence:

Take Advantage of Business Listings

Getting themselves listed in business directories is one of the first and best steps any small business can take towards building up their online presence. Some of the major directories serve multiple purposes. First and foremost, they help customers find key information about the store in one place. This includes the location, areas served, products and services, and contact information. Secondly, these listings also have reviews and rating scores provided by past customers, which gives businesses their much-needed authenticity. Last but not the least, the more listings a business has that are consistent with accurate information, the better it may be for their website ranking and Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) efforts.

Many business directories such as Google My Business, Yelp, Better Business Bureau and AngiesList offer basic services for free. Any small business can and should immediately take advantage of this by claiming their place (i.e. if they haven’t already). As a rule of thumb, owners should regularly check and update their business listings with relevant information such as description, business hours, location, email, phone number, and social media handles. Adding new images of the business and asking customers reviews on these listings is also highly recommended especially on Google.

Amp Up Your Social Media Strategy

Social media has already been the center of online activity for most, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more so. This is a prime opportunity for small businesses to reach out to and engage with potential customers through social media platforms. In the event that you don’t have dedicated company social media pages, getting started is easy and is completely free to begin with. That said, most business tend to have accounts on major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram – this makes it a matter of keeping them populated.

Make sure that the social media pages are optimized for searching, have all the up-to-date business information, and a consistent supply of content. This can include website links (such as blog posts), business images and media (mainly videos), comments on current situations, and even interactive content such as giveaways and polls. If your product and/or service can be sold online, you can even integrate social shopping. Make sure to reply to comments and messages – this shows that you as a business are proactive and ready to engage with your followers – customer or not.

Make Sure You Have a Professional Website

In today’s day and age, a website practically functions as a business card. It will be a go-to resource for both current and prospective customers, making it critical for businesses to keep theirs completely up-to-date on all points. This can only be possible by having a professional website. Contrary to a standard website, which has basic design elements, supports basic texts and pictures, and has no SEO optimization, professional websites offer businesses the ability to add every feature they could possibly need.

Flexible in nature, professional websites support the latest and the best off-page, on-page and contextual SEO, which helps them rank higher on search engines -and helps the business stand out online. They can support any type of design aesthetic, along with interactive features such as photorealistic imaging, virtual tours, polls, contact forms. Last but not the least, you can also include the online sales of your products and/or services through these websites through ecommerce plugins and online ordering, both of which can be easily integrated here.

Be Proactive in Promoting Your Brand

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Having a great professional website with adaptive design, engaging social media pages, and high-end features are definitely the best way to start when boosting your online presence, but people do need to know more about them. In a world of competition and abundance, the only way for a small business to make themselves known is by proactively promoting their brand. The best way to go about this is through paid advertising. This is a technique that allows businesses to improve their online presence by promoting their business on Google, top search engines and social media.

There are a few types of paid advertising. One of these is Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) – these are the advertisements that typically appear on the right side and top end of search engine results. As the name suggests, these charge by the click made by a prospect. Another great method is online display advertising. These are featured on the top, side, and bottom of various websites. Besides the obvious, these advertisement methods help businesses collect important data such as behavioral and contextual metrics, which in turn helps them streamline their online marketing and advertising better.

Improving your web presence may seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The above-mentioned ways can help small business cement their place online, draw prospects and convert sales in the best way possible.

 

A Few Things to Consider Before Building a Business Website

They say “organization is the key to success” and, without any organization we are unlikely to achieve our full potential. This has never been more true than it is now in our fast pace digitally driven world. Most business owners and directors, whether mindful of it or not, use this mantra every day. From the planning of the business and opening to daily operations and management, organization is important. In this article, we will discuss how organization plays a key role in building a business website.

There are a few things you need to figure out before jumping into the process of building an online presence. If you are having a hard time making a decision, contact your representative at Leads Online Marketing who will be happy to help you understand your options and make the best choice.

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Business Branding

Branding is the way your business is perceived by others, and being consistent with the use of your brand will make it stronger.  Along with selecting a good logo, a business owner will want to determine the business’ personality and a color scheme. Consider what mood or tone you would want to convey to a potential customer with a first impression. Incorporate your final choices into your whole business plan and keep the branding consistent.

In addition to the brand personality and style, we also recommend writing out a slogan, mission statement, a general description of your company and team. This is not something to be kept to yourself in a file somewhere. Pass it along to your business website designer to be added as public content. Once that is done, any random individual should able to engage your brand and have a clear idea of what you do and what sets you apart from the rest.

Remember, your brand needs to remain uniform across its website, social media, and even in print.

Page Content

You will need more than a brand and about section to make a successful website. Any and all products and services offered should be discussed somewhere on the website. The more relevant quality content available the better. One reason for this being is that Google favors web pages with high standards of content. Also, and in some ways one in the same, users should be able to learn as much as they want about your company just be browsing the website.

It is not uncommon for users, also known as potential customers, to rule out hiring a company because they were dissatisfied with the website content. This can be due to a seemingly simple questions they could not find an answer to or a service not found listed, and that person is likely to hire the competitor with the website that was most useful. No need to worry about being a good writing. As long as you are able to provide a comprehensive list of service and/or products with as many details and resources as possible, our team of content writers should be able to put the information to good use on your site.

Text is not everything when it comes to webpage content as photographs and images are great attention grabbers and can help it stand out. Set yourself apart by provide plenty of visual references to products, on-site work, projects and even your team members.

Purpose

Is there another purpose to your website other than supporting your brand and promoting leads? Consider adding other useful sections to your website such as customer forms, appointment scheduling, instant price quotes, helpful links etc. Get a clear idea of what functions you want your website to perform, make a list, then call us to discuss how to make your ideas a reality.

Having these matters sorted out before building a business website can save you and your website builder precious time and resources needed to make your business successful. Leads Online Marketing makes the process easier by assigning you a personal representative who will continue to be available to address any questions or concerns even after your site is fully launched and ranking well.

Google and Apple Team Up to Combat the COVID-19 Pandemic

The year 2020 has been quite the tough year so far, courtesy the COVID-19 pandemic. The disease, which started from the spread of a novel coronavirus among a few locals in Wuhan in China, has now affected all but 15 countries, infected more than 20 million worldwide and caused the deaths of nearly 150,000. Included in the numbers are over 672,000 confirmed cases and more than 33,300 deaths within the United States. So, it seems sensible to find new and more effective ways to tracking and control the viruses spread. 
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For months, we have seen more markets, factories and trade centers shut down. Many businesses have either stopped operating, shifted to online, delivery and pick-up only, or a work-from-home model while millions of people have lost their jobs or taken cuts in their salaries – and all of this as most among the healthy remain confined to their own homes. Even with the virus peaking, the United States is preparing to loosen restrictions in order to get the economy stimulated again while still hoping to mitigate the spread of the virus. At such a critical time everyone should be following appropriate guidelines to try to ensure the health and safety of our communities but, as we know, this is not foolproof. And brings to light the importance of tracking person-to-person contacts when they do occur.

In an age when “social distancing” is the norm, the world got a new surprise when tech rivals Google and Apple announced a team up to create and launch a contact tracing system. The goal is to help the public and governments trace the activities of the people infected with COVID-19 and gather real-time data on the spread of COVID-19 while also alerting those that may have been exposed.

Beach Tracking

Contact tracing as a task is as straightforward as it sounds – it is set of processes followed in the event of the spread of various infectious diseases (such as the novel coronavirus) wherein epidemiologists and health care workers trace all the people the diseased had contact with. Once this location has been completed, the various persons in question are tested, and if required isolated so that they can be treated and do not end up spreading the disease further. The same process is repeated for each contact till no evidence of infection is found.

In the older years, this was extremely difficult, if not impossible – despite the fact that people did not travel at the pace at which they are now. Most notably used for measles, Ebola, and HIV, the process of contact tracing involved multiple phone calls and visits, along with long-drawn interviews. While the process is faster (and thanks to technology) simpler today, it still takes a few days at least to trace contacts for each patient. Wuhan in China seemed to have managed the situation with a team of 9,000 health workers who worked in teams of five. However, in other countries like Italy and United States, where the number of infected patients is much higher, hiring health workers exclusively for contact tracing is virtually impossible. The process is also tough in other economically challenged countries like those in Africa, South America and Asia, where resources are scarce to begin with.

Building upon these visible difficulties, the recommendations of various educational institutes and research bodies including (but not limited to) the University of Oxford and the European Data Protection Supervisor, and the success of similar contact tracing apps in curbing the spread of COVID-19 in countries like South Korea and Singapore, the app will maintain an automatic record of an individual’s whereabouts and contacts, and will constantly update areas that are most affected and most at-risk of developing the infection.

Such an app has some very key benefits to offer. Real time generated contact records will help health workers trace contacts without the drudgery of going through the process manually. This will help save vital time and bring in, test and treat the infected faster – preventing more deaths and infections. On the other hand, identification of hotspots and those generally at a higher risk will enable governments to enact proper testing and sanitization protocols, helping to curb the spread of the contagion.

With two tech giants working behind the project, no size or technical challenge will be too big. Given the fact that both Apple and Google have billions of users all over the planet, an app that works cross-platform unanimously will easily integrate into phones all over the world, irrespective of nationalities, languages and people’s lifestyle choices. So long as they have a smartphone, their movements can be traced.

If this were a few months ago, when the novel coronavirus wasn’t as much in the picture, such an app would be an appalling idea, with people rolling their eyes on governments’ desire to take surveillance to an all-time high. But now, this more than a tolerable idea because it isn’t just the governments but people who need to know where and how they can move safely. A large portion of the world itself is currently under lockdown, and while that does seem to be working, it simply cannot be a permanent solution. Moreover, even when the curve gets flattened and the disease does get contained, there is always a chance of a second wave of outbreaks. An app that traces the movement of people is more than the best way to avoid another unwanted outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus – it is the need of the hour.

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Help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus by maintaining a physical distance of at least 6 ft between yourself and others in public.

 

Core Principles of Online Marketing

I have been in the internet marketing field for 15 years and if there is one thing I have learned, it is that you must follow two fundamental rules to be successful marketing your company (or website) online. Online marketing is constantly evolving but these two staples will always remain strong.

 Rule 1

First, we need to make our customers happy. We need to offer them a easy way to access the information they are looking for whether looking for services they need or products they want to buy. Effective website design needs to function successfully on all available devices and platforms; including mobile phones, tablets and PC as well as browsers like Google’s Chrome, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox. With all the new technology in wireless communications it is imperative for us to have our message clearly displayed at all times.

Rule 2

The second rule we need to follow to be successful online is to keep Google happy. I don’t know what search engine you use but according to searchenginewatch“Google holds a staggering 67.6 percent of the U.S. search engine market share” and goes on to say that “Bing remained a distant second with 18.7 percent”. This, I believe is well deserved because simply put, Google brings back better and more relevant search results.
My personal opinion puts Google above all the competition on almost every search. When using other engines, I always feel like the results are not as tailored to my searched keywords and phrases. Google has figured it out; they know that if they keep users coming back to them every time they are looking for a product or service that they will continue to make over a billion dollars a week! That’s over five million dollars per hour according to MOZ.

Keep Google Happy – Don’t take shortcuts

I often see people finding new ways to rank at the top of the search engines using any means possible. Here is the problem, you have some of the smartest people in the world working for Google, so much so they are making movies about getting a job with Google! How long do you think it will take for them to figure out the next best shortcut? What we have seen recently when they do see too much manipulation with results is a software or algorithm update. 
They are usually named something cute like panda, penguin, or hummingbird but will you still think it is so cute when your site is penalized? Most experts are now saying that if your site gets one of these penalties you are better off starting over with a fresh URL and clean content. Every year you hear about a new animal joining the Google Zoo. My advice is to stay off the radar. If you are going to do your own marketing then be sure you avoid the shortcuts or use a reputable company.
Learn more about our services at http://leadsonlinemarketing.com/

SEO Tips For Success

Marketing – Search Engine Optimization

The best looking website or blog is all for naught when it does not include a quality SEO plan. It is also important to note that as the Internet changes, so does SEO. Here are some helpful SEO tips for success to help improve your web presence.

Localize SEO

Attracting local clients is very important to some businesses, which makes it an SEO priority. Client reviews are an excellent way to spread the word and it also helps to find a way into local directories while Google Places is a big must. Blogging about local events is also another way to improve localized SEO while geo-specific long-tail keywords and additional website markups are excellent assets as well.

Utilize Header Tags

A header tag sits atop a new paragraph and while it helps from an aesthetic standpoint, it also serves a purpose to SEO. Placing keywords specific to your business helps a great deal when it comes to SEO as search engines better recognize keyword rich header tags. Whether you are writing a blog or website content, effective header tags will improve the search visibility on that specific page.

Focus on Meta Data and Title Tags

All content should include Meta descriptions and title tags. The Meta descriptions should also not be the same on each page, but used to describe the specific content on each page. Good title tags will allow search engines to better interpret the content and relationships of your pages.

Use All Your Outlets

SEO is kind of like a wheel while its spokes are the various outlets through which your business does its marketing. Social media is part of what drives your SEO as outlets like Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Twitter and Pinterest need to be utilized to their fullest extent. After all, a wheel cannot move if its spokes do not turn or are not sturdy.

Content is King

You can pull off all the SEO tricks in the world, but once you get users to your site, it is up to you to keep them coming back. That can be done by putting out quality content. Follow Google’s guidelines since it rewards and punishes different types of content and diversifying content is also an excellent technique. That urges sites to use more photos, videos and various media, which in turn can better engage and educate your audience.

Leads Online Marketing utilizes numerous in-depth SEO strategies to help businesses achieve search engine rankings and generate more leads and this is just a small sampling of the many different services that we include in our packages for our clients.

If you are looking for quality search engine optimization, website development, and Internet marketing, Leads Online Marketing has a plethora of successful solutions that can work for you. 
Contact us today!

 

Leads Online Marketing LLC

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