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Author: Search Influence Alumni

A Spoonful of SEO to Nurse Your Rankings Back to Health

The Internet isn’t just where people go to find out whether they can self-diagnose a brain tumor. Increasingly, the Internet is where potential patients shop around for the best local clinics and medical services. Fortunately, there are a few SEO principles that can help make your website easier to find. Before you work on drawing traffic to your site, however, it’s important to make sure that your website provides high-quality, unique information. At the most basic level, you need original content, or text that hasn’t been copied from somewhere else.

Original Content

It may seem like your list of services should be self-explanatory, but a website is an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge by explaining different medical procedures and conditions. Having a page dedicated to a certain condition can help draw patients looking for treatment. What’s more, the search engines will recognize you as more of an authority if you have more content about the subject being searched.

It’s important that each page of your website have original content, which means text that hasn’t been copied from other websites or duplicated across several pages. If your website already offers original content about your key products and services, then you may consider starting a blog. A regularly updated blog keeps your business relevant and allows you to target more search terms.

On-Site Optimizations

While the quality of your original content will be visible to anyone who reads your page, it’s only one factor in the on-site optimizations that affect your rankings.

After content, title tags are the second most important thing to optimize on a given page. Title tags are visible as headers among search results and act as the label for the browser tab. Title tags are easy to overlook when first making a website, not unlike image optimizations.

The URL should also indicate the content of the page and its place within the website. Rather than just using a string of letters and numbers, a clear URL indicates the content of the page and often gives an idea of where the page fits into the organization of the overall website.

www.oakridgeplasticsurgeons.com/tt09874425
www.oakridgeplasticsurgeons.com/procedures/liposuction

As you can see, the second URL makes it clear what kind of content to expect on a page. A clear URL also makes the page more linkable across your website and for external links. The pages on your website should link to each other, but you also want links from outside websites.

Off-Site Link Building

Your website looks more important when it is referenced on other sites. Of course, not all references carry the same weight: a reference in a medical journal or newspaper carries a lot more weight than a link buried in an anonymous blog. To boost your website’s visibility, it’s good to have a lot of links, but the quality of those links also matter.

While distinct from link-building, you’ll also want to establish an active presence on social media. Regularly posting to Facebook and Twitter will give you opportunities to generate more leads and draw traffic. Your Facebook business page can be optimized for Graph Search, and Google+ Local will also help you show up as a local resource.

Local Search Optimization

Depending on the nature of your business, targeting the area you serve can make a big difference. Instead of competing with offices across the state, focus on becoming the leader in your city or county. Web analytics and Google AdWords can help you determine which search terms are most powerful in your area. Make sure your name, address, and phone number are consistent throughout your website, and get your business listed on local directories. If you have multiple locations, make landing pages for each one without duplicating content.

Encouraging patients to write online reviews can also improve your visibility. Since you already provide great service, the challenge is just getting satisfied customers to share their experience. Ultimately, most of the changes that impact SEO should also provide a better service to your potential patients, whether they make your website easier to navigate or more informative. Find out whether Search Influence may be able to help your business with our SEO services, or sign up to attend an upcoming free webinar to learn how you can enhance your search engine rankings.

January 4, 2016
From Europe, with Love: A Marketer’s Guide to Capitalizing on Tourism
I recently took my first ever solo trip and explored six European cities in two and a half weeks. On my trip, I realized the importance of tourism for small businesses. Every tourist needs places to stay, food to eat, and things to do while visiting—and that leaves a big opportunity for businesses, especially on search (and social)!

Let’s take a look at my search (and purchase) journey, starting at the very beginning.

Selecting a Destination & Finding Places to Stay

One of the most important parts of going on a solo trip is making sure you are going to the best places, and going in the most efficient order. At Search Influence, we help city tourism and marketing organizations, like New Orleans, and I can attest to the importance of the work we are doing. How else would I have discovered Milan, Zurich, Munich, Prague, Amsterdam, and Berlin!? Truth be told, I also used the recommendations of friends, Redditors (read: opportunity for businesses), and Rick Steves to solidify my plans. When it came time to decide, looking at the city tourism websites helped me to make my final decision.

The next toughest part of preparing for the trip was finding places to stay. Solo travelers feel a lot of pressure when picking hostels, or Airbnbs, because it can have a huge impact on your trip, and on your impression of the city. I have personally never paid so much attention to reviews in my life! The thought of picking a hostel that didn’t seem 100% right was frightening. I wanted to make sure they had Wi-Fi (everywhere, not just in the lobby) and were clean, in a good location, and recommended by other travelers on HostelWorld and Reddit (Pro Tip: if you search the city name + “hostel” you can find some awesome recommendations from Redditors). The most surprising thing for me is that after the fact, Airbnb was the only one to push for a review. While I am going to go back and leave reviews everywhere else, I thought this was a missed opportunity.

Searching Abroad & What You Can Do to Attract Tourists

Now, let’s find some organic online marketing opportunities using some of my search history, which I like to think of as representative of many travelers.
- should i get the berlin tourist pass
- van goh vs rijksmuseum
- indonesian restaurant amsterdam
- caridejuv ucen opera
- u modre kachnicky
- bike tours munich
- rashes on legs
- jungfraujoch trip from zurich
- malpensa to ostello bello
Based on this mishmash of tours, museums, restaurants, skin ailments, directions, etc., there are a few strategies you can adopt in order to acquire traveling customers. I would try to build trust with the customer in the organic search results, and to take it a step further, I would use paid ads to target them for likely-to-convert terms.

Organically, you can build trust and authority with potential customers. In the screenshot below, the restaurant dominates the branded search result, which can build a sense of trust with someone who doesn’t know much about the area. My favorite tactics include the ones below:
- Relevant meta data
- Large numbers of positive ratings (on trusted sites with Schema markup!)
- Local directories
- Clear photos of the front of the restaurant
- A correct map on Google+
- Features on travel blogs
- Active social media profiles (not pictured)
By showing authority online (on and offsite), you can capture and convert a tourist (with money to spend) into a customer. You may even have an impact on locals, tourists trying to be locals, and the special breed of traveler who goes around touching statues for good luck!
December 30, 2015
Search Influence Gets Three Special Christmas Gifts—New Influencers!

We are very excited to announce three new members who have joined the ever-growing Search Influence team this Christmas!

Alex Michael – Business Development Associate

Originally from Natchitoches, Louisiana, Alex graduated from LSU in 2011 and moved to New Orleans in 2012. He has worked in sales for three years and is excited to join the Search Influence team. He has a six-year-old Catahoula, Jabarkus, that takes up a good chunk of his free time. He enjoys staying active, critiquing LSU’s athletics in a relatively constructive manner, seeing live music, eating Chipotle, and spending time with friends.

Alex Talbot – Internet Marketing Associate

Born and raised in the New Orleans metropolitan area, Alex graduated from Loyola University in May of 2013 with a double major in marketing and economics. He has played in several different bands for the past 10 years, which has afforded him the opportunity to travel through most of the US as well as eight other countries.

Ariel Tusa – Account Associate

Ariel is a New Orleans native who grew up just north of the city in Abita Springs. After receiving her bachelor’s in art history from American University in Washington, D.C., she returned to New Orleans to pursue her master’s in art history. She loves traveling, foreign languages, and trying new cuisines. She’s always on the hunt for the Manhattan and will try to adopt every and any cat she meets.

Join us in welcoming these new faces to Search Influence! If your New Year’s resolution is to be a part of a great workplace that delivers powerful SEO to all, consider joining our team in 2016!

December 30, 2015
A Series of Influencing Events: Search Influence Pros Take to the Road

Search Influence’s reach is expanding around the country!

Whether you’re on the East coast or the West coast, there’s an Influencer coming near you this spring! CEO Will Scott and Director of Account Management Paula Keller will be representing Search Influence and imparting their local search wisdom in Williamsburg, Seattle, Portland, San Jose, and Nashville in 2016.

Read more below to find out which conference most speaks to your marketing strategy needs!

Seattle: MozCon Local – February 18 & 19, 2016

Diving deep into the world of local marketing and SEO, MozCon is hosting a local-focused conference, MozCon Local, at their world headquarters in Seattle. Gauged at the intermediate to advanced crowd, MozCon Local isn’t your average search conference. Moz has gathered a well-rounded crew of experts to provide you the opportunity to participate in live Q&A, meet and network with fellow industry players, and consult with expert publishers and analysts.

Moz has teamed up with LocalU to bring you workshops on Thursday and a full-day conference of hand-selected speakers on Friday.

Local Search Processes – Expert Panel/Q&A – 12:55 p.m.

Paula Keller, Director of Account Management at Search Influence, joins industry experts Darren Shaw of Whitespark, Mike Ramsey of Nifty Marketing, and Aaron Weiche of GetFiveStars for a panel discussion and Q&A on best practices and best processes to use in marketing your local business online. It’s a powerful info session you won’t want to miss!

Fake It Til You Make It: Brand Building for Local Businesses – Seminar – 2:05 p.m.

Paula will provide real-world examples and success stories about local businesses establishing brands that both customers and Google will recognize and reward! Learn what you can do to keep up in this changing world of ranking factors. As Paula strategizes with businesses on improving their search, social, and online ads results, she lends credible knowledge to the subject matter and will share tactics on how she manages her team’s 800+ local business clients.

Local Targeting of Paid Advertising – Workshop – 2:50 p.m.

Now it’s time to break out and ask your questions directly. If you run or want to run an AdWords campaign for your local business, you have or will very soon realize that Google puts a lot of options in front of you—but you may not be sure how to best leverage them. Paula will be ready to answer your AdWords strategy questions and share her tips for local targeting from choosing the right ad extensions to when to use increased mobile bidding.

Register now for MozCon Local!

San Jose: SMX West, Local Search Advantage Workshop – February 29, 2016

Heading to SMX West in San Jose this year? You will want to arrive one day early and attend the Local Search Advantage Workshop. Will Scott will be on-hand at this action-packed event to offer practical advice and best practices for digital marketers, brands and business owners of all sizes looking to be found by online buyers. Sessions range from local presence management and mobile SEO to localizing social media, reputation management and multi-platform attribution.

Register now to attend the workshop or get an all-access pass and stay for SMX West in San Jose.

Williamsburg: LocalU Advanced – March 5, 2016

Meet with all of the experts in the local search game! No matter the size or type company you work for, your search marketing questions will be answered at LocalU Advanced in Williamsburg, VA. Order your tickets for info-packed presentations featuring all of the most up-to-date information about what’s working and what’s not in local SEO. Join experts like David Mihm, Mary Bowling, Mike Blumenthal, Search Influence’s own Will Scott, and more for an informative and fun day!

Search Fundamentals: Inspired Local Linkbuilding Tactics – 9 a.m.

Will Scott joins Mary Bowling of Ignitor Digital, Mike Ramsey of Nifty Marketing, and Mike Blumenthal of GetFiveStars to discuss the power of locally relevant links that build value for your business. If you’re looking to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the power of link building in today’s algorithmic world, look no further!

Deep Dive: Competing And Winning in A Pay-to-Play World – 11:30 a.m.

After the joint session, Will’s going solo! “It’s been said time and again that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Learn what it means to join the pay-to-play world of social media marketing and come away with some key strategies for utilizing paid platforms to generate leads for your local business. Leave your preconceived notions about content marketing, social engagement, and lead delivery at the door, and get on the right track so you can stay afloat in the ever-changing world of online marketing.

Register now for LocalU Advanced!

Portland: SearchFest – March 10, 2016

Join the marketing experts at SearchFest, hosted by SEMpdx, at the Sentinel Hotel in Portland to experience multiple learning tracks, including workshops and panel sessions designed to provide direct insight into the most up-to-date strategies and advancements in SEO, SEM, and social marketing. You’ll find some of the biggest names in almost every niche of online marketing at SearchFest.

Lifting Your Local Brand Above the Internet Cesspool – 11 a.m.

Paula Keller shares the stage with Cori Shirk of Seer Interactive to educate us on how a local business can “act” like a big brand and how a big brand can “act” like a truly local business. No matter the size of your business, make sure you’re expressing your brand properly so you can attract the most qualified audience and enhance your ROI.

Beacons & Retargeting – 2:45 p.m.

Take a dive deep into the technology of the “Minority Report” society we live in. Will Scott will discuss the intricacies of retargeting the right audiences, and using actual beacons of technology to deliver your message. Don’t miss this one!

Register now for SearchFest in Portland!

Nashville: Hospitality Marketing Symposium – April 5, 2016

The HMS is a conference focused on Internet marketing and technology and purposely crafted to benefit innkeepers, owners, marketing staff, and vendors in the hospitality industry. Will Scott will lead a session on social media marketing trends, and will provide practical tips and tricks to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Register now to reserve your seat for the HMS in Nashville.

We can’t wait to see you on the road! However, if you can’t meet us in any of these locations, you may want to make plans to attend one of our new Search Influence University webinars, the first of which is on February 25. Click here to see a list of our upcoming topics.

December 29, 2015
How To Fix A Manual Action
In recent weeks, there’s been chatter about a large influx of manual actions. This got me thinking: how many people actually know how to fix manual actions? Stay tuned, ’cause you’re gonna learn today!

But First, the Basics: What Is a Manual Action?

A manual action is a manual penalty applied to a website by a member of Google’s Web Spam team. According to Google, there are a few common types of manual actions:
- Hacked site
- User-generated spam
- Spammy freehosts
- Spammy structured markup
- Unnatural links to your site
- Thin content with little or no added value
- Cloaking and/or sneaky redirects
- Unnatural links from your site
- Pure spam
- Hidden text and/or keyword stuffing
In today’s post, we’ll be discussing a few of the most common types of manual actions.

How Do I Know My Site Has a Manual Action?

SEO practitioners know that performance fluctuations are expected, especially since Google’s algorithm is constantly changing. If you’re beginning to see your website rankings drop consistently, that’s usually an indicator of a possible manual action (or partial manual action). However, if you’re unsure, check out Google Search Console (aka Webmaster Tools for those late to the name-change party)! Once in the Search Console, you will see one of two actions displayed on the Manual Actions page:
1. Site-wide matches
2. Partial matches
Each action will display a reason as to why your site received the action, as well as how the action will affect your site.

So My Site Has a Manual Action…What Now?

The good news: we can fix this! The bad news: fixing a manual action takes quite a few steps. The first thing you will want to do is determine what kind of manual action your site has. If you see this message, this means that Google has detected a pattern of unnatural deceptive or manipulative links pointing to your site. According to Google, here are the recommended actions to take:

First, review Google’s Webmaster Guidelines on linking.

Next, follow the steps below to identify and correct the violation(s):
1. Download a list of links to your site from Search Console. You can download your links arranged either by hostname (Links to Your Site > Who links the most > Download more sample links) or in chronological order (Links to Your Site > Who links the most > Download latest links).
2. Check this list for any links that violate our guidelines on linking. If the list is large, start by looking at the sites that link to you the most or links that were created recently (in the last few months).
3. For any links that violate our guidelines, contact the webmaster of that site and ask that they either remove the links or prevent them from passing PageRank, such as by adding a rel=”nofollow” attribute.
4. Use the Disavow links tool in Search Console to disavow any links you were unable to get removed.
Once you’ve removed or disavowed the unnatural links, the last step is to submit a reconsideration request. A reconsideration request is a formal request to Google to reconsider giving your site a penalty. You will want to let Google know about everything you did to clean up your site, including documentation about the links you removed or tried to remove.

Here comes the bad news: once you submit the request, you have to be patient.

I know, people. I know. Ain’t nobody got time for that! BUT it will all pay off on that beautiful day when Google sends you that wonderful message in Search Console and approves your reconsideration request!

FYI, this will be you:

Hacked Site…Uh Oh!

Google may give your site a partial manual action if it notices that your site has been hacked. If you check the manual actions tab in Google Search Console, you will see a notice called “Hacked Site.”

According to Google’s Web Spam team, there are a few steps you will want to take if you’re the victim of a hacking:
- Contact your host provider.
- Quarantine your site by taking your site offline (change all passwords and check new user accounts).
- Check the Google Search Console.
- Assess the damage. If your site was hacked with spam, the display warning will be “This site may be hacked.” If you’ve been hacked with malware, the display warning will state “The site may harm your computer.”
- Identify the site’s vulnerabilities and list them out.
- Clean up the website to prevent future security problems.
Once all hacked content is removed, “Request a Review” in the Google Search Console. Again, patience. Ugh.

Thin Content with Little or No Value

For the non-SEO practitioners, you might be thinking, “What does that mean?” In a nutshell, Google launched a quality update in May 2015, specifically for onsite content. This means Google is placing more of an emphasis on sites producing quality content and penalizes those with content that is not useful to visitors.

How to Fix Your Content, According to Google:
- Remove any duplicate content from your site that is found anywhere else on the Internet.
- Eliminate affiliate links on pages with little to no valued content, or add some value to the page’s content.
- Get rid of auto-generated content pages.
- Improve the website content to provide significant value for your site visitors!
Once again…cue the reconsideration request.
Remember, patience is a virtue!
December 22, 2015
Are You a Homer or a Lisa? Psychographics Demystified via The Simpsons

In marketing, half the battle is understanding your typical clientele. Understanding your customers is crucial in marketing directly to your niche targeted audience. That being said, understanding the ins and outs of your customers can often be daunting and tricky…But wait—hope is not lost! Look in the sky! It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s PSYCHOGRAPHICS!

What are psychographics?

Psychographics are “the study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. This area of research focuses on interests, attitudes, and opinions.” Huh? That definition is so ambiguous! It doesn’t help at all! Allow me to clarify with an example:

Let’s pretend that you’re a Chevrolet dealership in New Jersey. In getting to know your clients, you may try to determine who your typical customer is by asking, “Who do we usually sell Chevys to? What do our typical customers look and act like?” Your first thought may be, “We usually sell our Chevys to mothers between the ages of 30-45.” The answer you just gave is the demographic of your typical customer, not the psychographic. If you had gone a little deeper by saying, “We usually sell our Chevys to mothers between the ages of 30-45 who often seem stressed trying to juggle bringing their kids to various after-school activities, running errands, and finding time for themselves; in fact, they often chose to buy Chevys through us because of the brand’s incredible safety ratings. They always have their children’s safety in mind,” that would be the psychographic of your average customer.

Demographic: Mothers age 30-45

Psychographic: Who the mothers age 30-45 actually are…their buying habits, what attracts them to purchasing a Chevy, what turns them away from purchasing other brands, etc.

Why are psychographics important?

Understanding the ins and outs of your clients can help you tailor your marketing efforts to directly reach your average customer. Think about it: designing a customized marketing campaign for a mom between the ages of 30-45 is much harder than designing a marketing campaign for a mom between the ages of 30-45 who values vehicle safety ratings and needs a large vehicle to schlep her kids around but still wants a vehicle with luxury components for her own comfort. While demographics may give you a generic snapshot into your average customer, psychographics allow you to really hone in and understand your customers as well as their buying habits.

How do I determine the psychographics of my clients?

Ask investigative questions! When I work with my clients to help them delve into the psychographics of their customers, I find that asking questions that dig a bit deeper can range from, “Can you expand on what you mean when you say that your average customers are males aged 45-60 who like to fish?” to “You mentioned that your clients are males aged 45-60 who like to fish. Do your clients usually find themselves fishing only on the weekends? How much time and money would you say your clients usually spend weekly on fishing? Are they fishing in their free time on the weekends, or is fishing part of their daily routine?” By avoiding easy, quick responses through more investigative questions, you will be able to better understand your customers and in turn develop a more customized and effective marketing campaign.

Need some more context?

Below, I have included a chart of the main characters from The Simpsons. In the chart, you will find a breakdown of each character’s psychographic information, their buying habits, and how to best target each character online. When reading through the chart, ask yourself, “What things would I need to know in order to get more specific information from my customers? In knowing this information, how could I better customize a marketing campaign targeting an average customer like Homer Simpson, as opposed to strategizing my marketing efforts in hopes of targeting customers similar to Lisa Simpson?”

Disclaimer: for all you diehard Simpsons fans out there, I left out Maggie Simpson on purpose…because she is an infant…and she doesn’t have buying habits…

Image Credits:

Superman GIF

Simpsons GIF

December 18, 2015
This Is How We Do It! Search Influence Works Hard and Plays Hard

When I was hired at Search Influence, I knew I could look forward to an exciting company culture. Having watched movies such as The Internship and The Social Network, I was excited to be a part of a tech company with a cool culture and quirky traditions. I envisioned seeing my co-workers sitting on bouncy balls at their desks, cool art on vibrantly colored walls, and a super friendly team-environment—and that’s exactly what I got!

My first week, I learned more about SEO than I thought was possible, and it was awesome! Before I knew it, it was 5pm on Friday. I was getting ready to leave when I heard it: “This is how we do it. It’s Friday night, and I feel alright!” began roaring across the entire office.

If you stick around after Montell, the Account Management department keeps the after-party going with tunes from DJ Bene. Every Friday afternoon, Gabrielle Benedetto, a four-year veteran of the AM team, transforms into DJ Bene. Everyone at Search Influence knows Gabrielle for her charismatic personality and witty comments, which makes her not only an invaluable member of our team, but also an excellent DJ! Being a new member of the team, I wanted to find out how it all started, so I interviewed the DJ herself, and here is what she had to say:

How did you think of the idea of “DJ Bene’s 5 @ 5?” How long has this tradition been going on?

GB: I have a motto to live by: “There is nothing in life a martini, music, and little bit of lipstick can’t fix.” During the summer of 2015, our team experienced a higher-than-average workload. Let me just brag about our account management team for a minute. They are amazing and some of the hardest-working people I know, and I’m honored and proud to call them my co-workers. Our average account manager handles up to 40 accounts, supports in training new employees, and is constantly looking for opportunities to improve our internal processes and system, all with a smile and phenomenal attitude. I should change my motto to “There is nothing in life a martini, music, little bit of lipstick, and an SI account manager can’t fix.” #yolo

Back to that heavy workload. I knew our team had a higher-than-normal stress level, but naturally they didn’t complain. In an effort to boost morale and end the week on a high note, I so proudly launched DJ Bene’s 5 @ 5 Challenge.

DJ Bene (d/j ben-ie): A personality that arrives at 935 Gravier at 5:04 after “This is How We Do It”

I can’t take credit for the roar of Montell Jordan. “This is How We Do It” has been playing at 5 o’clock longer than I have been at SI. But after Montell drops the mic, DJ Bene picks it up.

What is the purpose of The Challenge?

GB: The idea behind DJ Bene is simple and much like any other DJ request. Give me a good reason to play your favorite song. I, however, am so much nicer than those DJs at bars that would always tell me and my friends to stop spilling drinks and back away from the DJ booth. #rude

With over 35 account managers, everyone wanted to hear their favorite song after a busy workweek. But I wasn’t so much concerned with “What song do you want me to play?” but “What amazing thing did you do this week that deserves your song to be played?” I created a spreadsheet for everyone to drop in their request and give a reason why their song should be played. I would only pick five songs, so the reason better be good!

Just like that, I started spinning the tunes with a mini speaker connected to my laptop. Congratulating team members on promotions, acknowledging members for going above and beyond, and welcoming new people to the team are just some of the requests we started to get. Some songs are themed to complement the reason (for example, “I’m So Proud of You” by Drake was requested to congratulate employees on a promotion) and others are just to hear their favorite band (i.e. anything 1D). And just like that, DJ Bene was born.

GB: The challenge has been a hit so far! Any Friday that I’m out of town and can’t DJ, the speaker is passed around to fellow team member to keep the beat.

DJ Bene’s 5 @ 5 Challenge has been a really enjoyable part of working at Search Influence. I love being a part of a company that not only works hard, but also plays hard!

Image Credits:

Montell GIF

December 17, 2015
The Easy Guide to Holiday Marketing: Four Tips to Help Land Last-Minute Shoppers

The Black Friday frenzy might be over, but that doesn’t mean people are done shopping. If your customers are anything like me, they’ll be walking through your doors at noon on Christmas Eve.

So how do you score the last-minute shoppers? Here are a few easy, last-minute marketing tips to help your business succeed this holiday season:

1. Go Mobile

According to Think with Google, 28% of all holiday retail sales were influenced by shopping-related mobile searches last year. Having a mobile-friendly site weighs heavy in user experience; users can better navigate your inventory, contact you, and see what kind of holiday deals you can offer them.

2. Utilize Social Media

Utilizing social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram can be a great way to draw customers into your brand. Showing them their shopping options and being easily accessible is a way to set your business apart in such a busy and competitive season.

3. Tailor Your Content

Tailor your content specifically for the holiday season. Your social posts should be helpful to the customer, something along the lines of “We’ve picked out the perfect gifts, so all you have to do is buy them!” Your posts shouldn’t add to the stress of their last-minute shopping. Website content should feature holiday hours, holiday shipping notifications, and anything else that might affect a customer this holiday season.

4. Make Your Business Stand Out

Offering incentives like free shipping, free gifts with purchase, and giveaways can help your business stand out among local competitors. Advertise these incentives on your site, social channels, and in your store. With so many ways to reach your business, you want shoppers to easily know why they should choose you over a competitor.

Use these four super quick and easy ways to better market your business this holiday season.

Image Credits:

Orange gift

Red gift

December 15, 2015
A Brand by Any Other Name: The Importance of Brand Consistency

In the world of SEO, consistency really is key. Any deviation from the norm can negatively affect you in search results and in the eyes of your potential customers. Consistency with your NAP (name, address, phone number) is important throughout your website, social channels, and on any directories you’re listed on. Your NAP isn’t the only thing you should be concerned with when it comes to being consistent, however. Branding consistency is also something everyone should consider.

Branding isn’t exactly something a lot of small businesses can budget to have concern for. The term itself implies hiring graphic designers, brand management firms, or other big-budget solutions you may not be able to even consider. For the sake of this blog, however, let’s assume branding only refers to your image and content consistency.

Your Image

For a lot of small businesses, branding ends at your logo. You may be working with WordPress or other do-it-yourself CMS systems that allow you to plug in your logo and make a few tweaks here and there to how things look, but that’s usually as far as it goes. Maybe you threw some of your colors in there too to liven things up a bit. Now, not all of us can be WordPress experts, but it can be worth the extra effort to make sure things look consistent throughout your site. Is your logo flat and modern looking? Make sure any elements, buttons, or boxes on your site are also flat and modern. If your logo is round and poofy, it might make sense to find some round and bold options instead. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but your logo and website should have the same look and feel.

The goal here is to have consistency throughout your site. When a potential customer clicks through your pages, you want them to always know where they are, what company they’re looking at, and to be greeted by pages that look like they go together. Much like consistency with your NAP, all you’re doing here is ensuring that the customer knows they can trust your business.

Your Content

Other than your image branding, another important thing customers factor into whether or not they’ll do business with you is your content branding. You want the customer to be able to search for something, see consistency with your brand being associated with that search, and trust you for that. Use your brand name as much as you can in your content. Not to the point where it seems spammy, but sprinkled in there enough for it to be associated with what people might be searching for.

When looking for someone to do business with, your potential customers are looking for someone they can trust. If they’re fumbling around a site that uses different color schemes than your uniforms or fleet, they might think they’re in the wrong place. Having consistency in your online presence is as important as your name these days, so get to it!

December 10, 2015
The CHARGED Culture: Kudos, Core Values, and Our Collaborative Workplace

My six months at Search Influence have been exciting to say the least. On my first day, I really had no idea of what to expect. I was so nervous about being the new person and fitting in, and on top of that, I knew very little about SEO. What if I had no idea of what anyone was talking about? Well, I soon found out that my new coworkers are some of the most genuine, hardworking people I’ve ever met. This was a big transition for me, but my team has made it incredibly easy. From my first day, I knew I picked the right company to be a part of. Here’s why:

Company Values

Once a quarter, we have a company meeting, which I love, because although we work pretty closely with each other, it’s not very often that the entire company is in one room. This is a time when we all get together and enjoy some really great presentations on industry updates, talk about company news, recognize some extra special kudos, and so much more. The last meeting was a couple of weeks ago, and in honor of our tenth anniversary, newly defined company values were introduced to the team: Collaborative, Hungry, Agile, Reliable, Genuine, Effective, and Dedicated. Together, the seven core values make up the word “CHARGED,” and I couldn’t have said it any better. I personally experience these values in my co-workers every day, from the friendly greetings and smiling faces in the morning to the constant dedication I see to both our clients and each other as a team.

Stories from My Charged Co-workers

To get to the core values that were chosen, a group of people from different departments in the company got together and shared their own personal experiences at SI. Some of these stories were also shared with everyone at the last company meeting. They were all happy, and some were even emotional. Since these stories came from the more seasoned influencers, I thought it would be interesting to see what some of the newer additions like myself had to say.

“I think what makes SI different from other companies is that we’re all young, hungry, and ready to learn. We’re working in such a niche and growing industry, and there’s always something new for us to learn or start practicing. We’re also very client-oriented, constantly looking for something new to give our clients and really dedicating our time to them.”

Jordan Smith, Account Manager

“You come into work knowing that everyone has your back. The entire team is so collaborative, and I know I can count on my co-workers!”

Mallory Richardson, Account Manager

Kudos!

Not only does everyone have your back, but we like to recognize when someone does anything to make our day better. At the meeting, new Kudos cards (we used index cards before) were introduced: one for each value, and one for “just being you.” We definitely didn’t hesitate to use them! Whether it’s as small as sending your first client email or as big as completing a three-month project, your efforts never go unnoticed! I was especially impressed with this because I’ve never had coworkers who are so collaborative and supportive of each other. There might be almost 100 of us, but it definitely doesn’t feel like it!

December 7, 2015