Tips to “Sleigh” Your Holiday E-Commerce

 

 

From the latest Google Livestream on October 16, 2019, we learned some tips in order to spruce up our holiday marketing plans. The holiday season is a great time for small businesses to attract new customers and bring back previous ones and following these tips for your businesses Google my Business can help.

1. Update Your Holiday Hours — During the holiday season the search rates for “open now” and “store hours” are at an all time high. In fact, on Christmas Eve, searches for “store hours” is the highest of the year. Updating your seasonal store hours on your Google my Business is an important tool in order to direct traffic to your store.

2. Create a Short Name — You can create a unique short name for your business. This short name will be connected to a URL link for your business, making it easier for customers to learn more about your business.

3. Add Photos (Use your Phone) — Adding media to your Google my Business listing is made easy, by using your phone to upload photos and videos. Businesses that have photos on a search results page are 90% more likely to have customers visit their business.

4. Write a Post — Creating a post for your business will make you more appealing to potential customers and helps you in Google search rankings.You can write 4 different types of post for your Google my Business page:

    • What’s New – Create a post about anything new going on in your business that will help customers learn more about what you offer.
    • Event – If your business is hosting an event, posting it on your Google my Business page is a great platform to get it out to customers.
    • Offer – Any current offers or promotions that would be interesting to potential consumers can be posted here.
    • Product – Popular or new products that your business is offering can be displayed here in order to easily show up in Google search results.

5. Set Up a Welcome Offer — When people follow your business on Google, they will see your updates, offers, and photos across Google and in their “For You” stream in Maps.

Search engines are a huge driving force behind holiday shopping, 83% of last-minute holiday shoppers use a search engine related to their shopping. It is also shown that 78% of holiday shoppers turn to online searches before visiting a store in person. Google my Business could be a huge driving source for your e-commerce this holiday season. If you are looking for any more tips or help in order to increase your Google ranking and improve SEO for the upcoming holidays, contact 3PRIME today!

Digital Marketing Tips for Artisan Coffee Shops

Artisan coffee is a growth industry. Millions of people are rediscovering their love of freshly ground coffee and on every street in every town, there is at least one artisan coffee shop staffed by cool hipsters. With growth in this niche phenomenal, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd, so a great marketing plan is essential. You can’t afford to sit back and wait for customers to find you and learn to love your dark roast espresso or super smooth flat white. Sure, organic traffic will come, but it’s better to kick-start the process with a smart digital marketing campaign.

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Build a Website

No matter how amazing your coffee shop is, you need a website. Customers tend to look for a website when they learn about your brand. They want to find out more about you. Coffee junkies are interested in different beans, roasts, and anything coffee related, so it’s essential that you have a fully functioning website open for business at the same time as you open your coffee shop doors.

Use your website as a content marketing hub. Tell your customers more about the types of beans you use and where they originate. Offer hints and tips about the perfect blend and post videos of your finest coffee moments. Little details like this that will help you attract and retain loyal customers.

It’s easy to create a website. Content management systems like WordPress offer a simple drag and drop interface anyone can use. However, you should start with a good hosting package so page loading speeds are not compromised, as this will affect your business. You can sign up for Blue Host with coupons to save money, which is perfect for a startup with very little money left in the budget.

Social Media

A strong social media presence is critical. People love to share content online with their friends and family. Create a Facebook page and encourage customers to join you online. It’s also worth creating a strong presence on visual social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest. Show off your latte art skills and post videos about how to make the perfect cappuccino.

Forum Posting

Many coffee enthusiasts love to chat about coffee online, so join a few coffee forums and become a trusted source of advice. You can share your coffee stories and promote your coffee shop at the same time. It’s also a good place to source new coffee beans and equipment for your coffee shop, as many people in the trade will frequent popular forums.

PPC Advertising

In the early days, PPC advertising is a good way to build up a clientele. Social media PPC advertising is cheap and effective, as it directly targets your ideal customers. Use social media PPC to spread the word and drive footfall to your website and coffee shop.

You don’t need a big budget to market a coffee shop. Once you have customers through the door, your amazing coffee should be more than enough to keep them coming back.

Ways to Use Press Releases for SEO Purposes!

seoWhen a company has some news that it wants to share with the media, it uses a press release. For decades, this method of disseminating company news has been utilized successfully. Thanks to the Internet, press releases can be conducted on a digital platform and contribute positively to the SEO effort for a website.

How can press releases be valuable to you from an SEO perspective?

A press release is indirectly and directly valuable to your website. It can add value to your website directly when Internet users click on the press release link in the search engine results and arrive at your business website. In this way, your website gains an increased number of visitors. The press release helps your brand value to increase by creating some buzz and awareness for your business.
Indirectly, your press release can give you benefit by being quoted or presented in another website or blog. If it is posted in an influential website, the readers will go through it and head on to your website. If they find that it is unique, eloquent and beneficial, then they will recommend it to other websites and your business brand value increases exponentially. As a result, your business becomes more well known on the Internet and everywhere else. As such, it is clear that press releases normally give you some SEO benefits. They include:

  • Real and natural backlinks from other websites or blogs
  • Increase visibility and readership for your website
  • A stronger brand
  • Increased number of traffic to your website

Strategic targeting when you write press releases

Your press release should be written for online readers. You should ensure that your PR firm in San Francisco firm does not write it for search engines. Some PR companies write releases int his way by stuffing too many keywords in the content. When they do this, the overall product does not effectively communicate the company message. As such, you should use keywords carefully. Here is how to do it.

Strategic keyword placement

First of all, ensure that you pick out the most ideal keywords and keyphrases for your press release. These should be words and phrases that clearly describe your business, your product or your service. After you identify these keywords and phrases, you should use them sparingly in your press release. If you put too many of them, then it will be flagged by the Googlebots and your website can be demoted in the ranks. As such, it is important to place keywords sparingly in the press release for maximum impact.

Conclusion

It is very possible to use press releases for SEO purposes. If handled properly, these releases can inform Internet users about your business. Simply follow the above tips and tricks while using the press releases for this purpose and this will help you to achieve SEO for your website.

Bio

Fetty Schuman is an SEO expert. She works with one of the top PR firm in San Francisco firms and delivers exceptional work for her clients. She is considered an authority on how to utilize press releases on the Internet for SEO purposes. Her opinion is presented in magazines, websites and blogs.

Considerations when reviewing Analytics Data

analytics (1)Questions to Ask of Analytics Data
Do you know how to succeed in business using SEO? One must have a fair idea about how search engines operate. Using the data reporting and analysis efficiently and responding to it is of utter importance. With a proper response to the analytics report, you can build a strategy which suits your business. This article delves into the questions you can ask of your SEO data.

Brief Intro about SEO
Search engines go through websites in detail. They use an algorithm to deliver the most relevant and helpful search result for the users. The rank of a site on SERP is based on a number of factors like title, link, and more. The higher the rank of your website or web page, more are the chances of search engine users visiting them. This helps in the marketing and growth of your business. This is the reason why there is so much buzz about SEO in the online marketing segment.

It’s All About Data
SEO is all about getting your data right and work on it instantaneously. Data reporting and analysis should be the major building block of your SEO strategy. They help you by providing information to monitor the performance of various fields of your business, as well as bring out meaningful insights that can be used to understand and optimize your business. You should respond to these data in order to improve the performance of the business.

Working Out the Strategy
Your SEO strategy is the prime factor behind successful online Internet marketing. You must obtain enough information and devote enough time for constructing your strategy. A variety of factors and stuff are needed to be looked into, analyzed and implemented.
What you want is important information to determine the strategy. Your goals, the type of traffic you are aiming to get, etc. are essential data.
Understand the Targets: You must be clear about the target. You should clearly define the targeted audience in your strategy. For example, a flower business would clearly be meant for the local residing people.

Questions to Ask
How far have you succeeded in attaining your goals?
You must take a look at the organic traffic you have gained in a month’s time. If you had hoped for a certain amount of traffic in a year, the SEO expert will keep an eye on the analytics
.
How much have things improved?
In this phase, the SEO expert looks at other aspects of analytics. You can observe the changes that you had not expected. The bounce rate on your site may have increased instead of decreasing. Or, a page on the site may have gained popularity. This type of information can tell you how a recent change you made has affected the behavior of your audience.

How are things different from what you had hoped?
Knowing the difference between the results you had expected to receive and the results you have actually received are important to determine strategies. This may prove that your assumptions had been wrong and you may have to adhere to more useful techniques.

What are the notable features in the change?
Getting detailed information about the changes is also a significant factor in determining further strategies. In the event that you notice a rise in traffic, you should try to identify the demography of the increase in traffic.

With the right question, you can understand where you have gone wrong and what improvements you have made. The question can assist you to determine the measures you can take to design better strategies and improve your traffic count. So, prepare the right questions and get improved results.

4 Reasons Most SEO Experts are Proficient in Using Microsoft Excel

If you’ve ever spent a little while reading some of the many SEO blogs, journals and magazines online, you’ve undoubtedly seen at least one or two guides showing you how to use special Excel spreadsheets to streamline all sorts of analytical, organizational and strategy-related tasks.

 

The widespread usage of Microsoft Excel in the SEO industry is far more than a trend. It is a practical a necessity. Spreadsheets and their formulas give SEO professionals the highest level of control over campaign-critical data analysis and reporting.

 

If you’re still not sure why Excel is considered by many to be a must-have tool for SEO, consider the following:

1. It Saves Time and Effort

First and foremost, Excel is mostly loved for its ability to save the user a tremendous amount of time and effort. With all data centralized into a highly flexible and customizable interface consisting of rows, columns, and cells, it is possible to gain the most complete view of every campaign’s most important attributes in the quickest and most convenient manner possible. Excel makes sorting and interpreting data about as easy as it can get.

2. Most SEO Firms List Excel Proficiency as a Job Requirement

If you’re ever browsing for jobs in the SEO field, one of the main requirements you’ll notice that most firms have is proficiency with Excel. In basic terms, if you don’t know how to use Excel, good luck getting a job in SEO. That alone should tell you just how beneficial Excel can be in your own SEO endeavours. If you truly aspire to reach your full potential in SEO and marketing, it is strongly suggested that you read up on using Excel, especially articles with an SEO focus.

3. Spreadsheets Make it Possible to Centralize and Organize Data

Excel is so widely used in the SEO community because it can import data from a wide variety of sources. SEO professionals often use multiple analytical tools to keep track of keyword and linking stats (i.e – OpenSiteExplorer, Google Analytics, Etc.). Instead of having to switch back and forth between interfaces, the best solution is to export the data from each tool in the form of a .TSV, .CSV, or other Excel compatible format. Once exported, the data from each different tool can be imported into a single “master spreadsheet” for maximum efficiency.

4. It Will Make You a Master of Strategy and Planning

Another huge advantage Excel offers is the ability to brainstorm and create robust content and keyword strategies. You can put together lists of titles, topic ideas, URLs, site names, notes and any other useful components that will help you develop a more enveloping strategy. Excel can also be used to quickly build amazing keyword lists.

Remember that Excel is Only as Capable as the User Controlling It

Excel is one of those tools that can be practically useless to someone who has no clue what they’re doing. On the other hand, for the person who is diligent enough to learn how to use all of its features, Excel will reward with unparalleled level of data control and analysis.

Google’s Mystery Announcement is a mystery no more!

Well folks today our fearless internet overlord Google made some fresh announcements.

NEW Nexus 7 tablet  will be available in 3 models: the 16gb Wifi for 229, the 32 GB wifi model for 269, and 32 GB LTE model for 349. The Wifi Model will start shipping on July 30th, with the LTE model shipping in “coming weeks”.

Upgraded specs from the last one (which ran pretty damn nice for the $$):

Also announced today brand new version of jelly bean.  Version 4.3 is available today for all google devices and the samsung galaxy.

Key Features:

  • New to Android 4.3: advanced multi-user support, bringing in “restricted profiles”. Restricted profiles lets parents limit what their child’s account can do. (Same thing the kindle has recently been advertising.  Why you say? Cause kindle is android based silly.)
  • Bluetooth Smart, or Bluetooth low-energy.
  • OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics system, allowing for considerably more detail in games; according to Hugo, they’re the first to support it.
  • Watching 1080p content on a tablet is great, but most of the content you get today is actually standard definition. This is because the lack of DRM. With Android 4.3, Google’s introducing hardware-level encryption for DRM. The first group Google’s partnering with this is Netflix, allowing you to stream 1080p netflix content to your Android device.
  • The original Nexus 7, the nexus 4, the galaxy nexus, and the nexus 10 will start to get Android 4.3 today.

Another important update comes to the Google Play store which will begin carrying a comprehensive collection of text books from all 5 major publishing houses. Books can be purchased, or rented for 6 months at a time. Text books will be available in early august.

BUT, the biggest announcement is Chromecast.  Chromecast is a tiny, itty-bitty dongle that runs a simplified version of Chrome OS.  Chromecast integrates into the apps you already use on your tablet, phone, or PC. You push a chromecast button, and it pushes that video to your TV. It’s like Apple’s airplay.  Chromecast will play friendly with the iPhone, not just Android.  You can continue to use your phone independently; once the video is playing on your TV, you can use your phone for other tasks. Even if you sleep the phone, the video keeps playing. You can pause/skip videos from the lockscreen.  If you’ve got multiple devices all connected to Chromecast, Chromecast won’t be tied to any of them. You can pause on your iPhone, for example, pick up your tablet, and immediately take control and begin playing from the same place.

On a side note to the Chomecast stuff.  Myself and another of other dev’s I work with spent a good hour today chatting about this part of the announcement.  The conversation was a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride.  At first we were all stoked simply because we had postalized that Google might announce this type of functionality because its been sorely missing for far too long.  But as we spoke more about how it worked and read in between the tech lines our excitement faded as a feeling of “MEH, its pretty cool but what about this, what about that..” set in.  Its a HUGE step up from the ill fated Google Q that was a major POS but the Chromecast is still missing actual screen mirroring.  WHY GOOGLE WHY!!!!!  So at this point your gonna have to wait for ALL of your favorite app developers to add the Chrome Play button to their apps BEFORE you can play Angry Birds on the big screen but hey for $35 its worth it if you don’t already have a smart TV, playstation, Xbox or Apple TV hooked up (Which covers about 90% of the population).

All that being said, I will let you know in three days time after mine arrives….HA