In this blog post, we'll cover what SEO is and how you can use it to increase traffic to your website.

One of the best ways to do that is to optimize your site for search engines and we'll cover everything you need to know to get started with SEO. By following the tips in this blog, you could easily add 1,000 more visitors to your website in a month.

If you've done research on how to increase traffic to your website, you've probably seen everybody talking about "Improve your SEO" on your site, but what does that really mean? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. The effectiveness of your site’s SEO determines how easy it is for Google to find your website. There are several different search engines out there. You have sites like Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex but 90% of searches are done on Google. So that's usually what we're talking about when we say search engines. Basically, search engines just go out and scour the web to find pages and index them in their catalog. It's very similar to when you have a book and at the end of the book, you have an index where it tells you where everything was talked about and the location.

The Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS)

Let’s take a look at an example. Now, this is a typical search page with results. You can see that there are ads at the top. Most search engine results pages show a few ads at the very top. After all, that is how Google makes most of its money. Then below the ads there are sometimes map results, depending on the search query.

Then below all of that, you have organic results. Typically, there are ten organic results on one page and organic listings simply mean that these results aren't paid at all. They show up on Google because they've done a good job of telling Google that this page is about this particular query. Then you have a “suggested searches” area and this simply shows the related searches that people will do on this topic.

Now, fewer than ten percent of people will actually ever click on the next page. If they don't find what they're looking for on the first page they'll simply adjust their search criteria and that's why Google added in the “Suggested Searches” area. This is also the biggest reason why SEO is so important for your website.

The top three organic results get over 70% of all the clicks. The first position usually gets the bulk of the clicks. Between 35% and 40%. The second will get between 15% and 20% and then the third position will get around 10%. So, that's why it's so important to make sure that your website is first on Google.

How Does Google Determine a Website's Position in the Search Engine Results?

How does Google even determine what should go on the first page? The biggest factor is relevancy. You want to make sure that your website is exactly what the searcher is looking for when they're searching Google.

Now Google uses over 200 factors to determine what's relevant in their algorithms and there's no way that we're going to be able to cover all of those but if we can concentrate on a few then we have a fighting chance to get seen in the search results. In addition to relevance, you'll also want to make sure that your site is useful. All that means is that when a user clicks on your site, the information that they're looking for is easily found. Think about the last time you did a search. If you went to a page that you thought had the answer, but you had a hard time finding it on the page, did you stick around? Most people will click back and go look for a different answer.

Make sure that your site is also useful and that you've arranged the answers for the topic in a meaningful way that's easier for readers to find what they're looking for. There are two main ways that you can work on SEO on your website and they're called on-page SEO and off-page SEO.

On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO is simply telling Google and the reader that you have everything that they're looking for. You have all the indicators that they're looking for and really, this just means you have all the right keywords on your site. Now, on-page SEO is easier to deal with because most of the changes needed are within your control. For instance, if your site is about barbeque then you want to make sure that your site has the right keywords in the title, in the body, in the image descriptions, it also means you have supporting keywords in it like BBQ recipes, grill temperatures, types of meat, best BBQ grills and everything else that is related to that topic.

And the cool thing is, if you already have a website with some articles on it then you may be just a few tweaks away from seeing massive results with your traffic, without writing any new content.

Off-Page SEO

With Off-Page SEO, that simply means that you are making sure that other websites are linking back to you. These are called backlinks. Off-Page SEO is a little bit more out of your control because you're relying on other people to believe that your site is worthy of a link but if you're writing great content and networking with your industry or your topic area then it shouldn't be a problem.

It’s important that you know that as you go through this SEO process, just realize that search engine optimization does take time and sometimes it can be a little frustrating when you're not seeing the results fast. But if done properly, the results from your SEO efforts can last months or even years depending on the topic you're in. In future blog posts, we will go more in-depth into ways you can perform both on-page and off-page SEO.

Contact us at 800-280-2749 for more information about how our SEO agency can drive more traffic and more sales to your business.

And every few months, humans are rethinking how we create and serve content based on user behavior - and we are.

With Siri, Google Voice, Alexa, and Google Home, the rate of adapting to these recent features has been crazy and by 2020, it is expected that 50% of all the searches will likely be carried out via voice.

What is Voice Search?

Voice search actually allows users to speak into a device as opposed to typing keywords into a search query to generate results and find out what they are looking for.

Voice technology uses speech identification to understand what users are trying to say with extreme accuracy. After a few moments, it will deliver results spoken orally to the user.

Although it seems like a fresh idea, voice search technology has been used by most users for a while. Programs such as speech-to-text and voice dialing are great samples of voice search.

Additionally, programs such as Google Assistant, Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon Alexa are all utilizing voice search capabilities.

Although particular devices can be optimized for voice search, mobile brands, platforms and websites can be optimized for it as well.

How Voice Search Impacts SEO Rankings?

Voice search largely improves user experience and because of that, by the year 2020, half of all online searches will be made through voice search.

Due to its prolific use, search engines such as Google are placing a higher emphasis on voice SEO.

After all, the point of SEO is to rank websites accurately so users can find the best information for their search query as quickly as possible. User experience is, ultimately, at the forefront of search engine optimization.

Last January 2018, an estimation of one billion voice searches was tracked every month, which proves that voice search is really on the rise.

By 2020, half of the searches will be carried by voice. So by 2020, half of your potential shoppers won't see your website even if you're ranked fourth in the SERPs.

But it is necessary to remember that voice search SEO and traditional website SEO are two different methods.

Therefore, some circumstances that affect website rankings may or may not have the same impact on voice search – and vice versa.

Luckily, there are some suggestions that can help you match the two SEO strategies and rank your website for search listings and audio search.

Why Should We Optimize for Voice Search?

First, we have to recognize how popular voice search is actually becoming.

As stated above, voice search is projected to be 50% of all searches by 2020, but what’s more stunning is that 30% of web browsing sessions will be done without a screen in 2020.

Can you imagine that?

This means not only do we have to show up when people are using voice search, but our content has to be optimized for users who search without a screen.

But you don’t have to wait until 2020 to see how successful voice search is.

In 2016, Google announced that 20% of mobile queries were by voice. Since then we have seen that number increase.  There were 1 billion voice searches in January of 2018 alone.

Saying “voice search is coming” has quickly become outdated.

What Makes Voice Search Unique?

We are living in a world where we are completely surrounded by devices that support voice assistants and always-on microphones that are just waiting for their trigger words to answer our most burning questions.

We live in a digital world and it is important to keep up with the trends, especially for marketers and entrepreneurs like you.

The popularity of Voice Search Assistant

Voice assistants are everywhere which means voice search is everywhere.

Because of this, we are seeing users search using different queries, and asking questions in different ways.

Searches are becoming more human and queries are longer, with more conversational words.

So here are our Top 5 Strategies for optimizing your website to be voice search-friendly.

5 SEO Strategies for Voice Search

Understand the Potential of Voice Search Users

Audio Search significantly improves user experience – and because of that, by the year 2020, half of all online searches will be made through voice search.

Due to its prolific use, search engines such as Google are placing a higher emphasis on voice search optimization.

After all, the point of SEO is to rank websites accurately so users can find the best information for their search query as quickly as possible. User experience is, ultimately, at the forefront of search engine optimization.

Use Long-Tail Keywords

When users use voice search, they are usually hoping to complete an activity – such as playing a song or purchasing a product – or wants to get information on a particular subject.

When users search for content on desktop or mobile, they tend to communicate in short, almost bullet-pointed phrases.

Just like if a user wanted to find a great web designer, they could type “top web design companies” into Google.

But if they used voice search, a user might say “Who are the top web design companies in the world?”

To ensure that your content is optimized for voice search as well, include those long-tail keywords that sound more natural as opposed to shorter, more active keywords that perform well in desktop SEO.

Optimize Your Website Speed

Just like traditional search engine optimization, Google voice search supports websites that load quickly.

Admit it. Even to ourselves. When the wesbite loads like a turtle, we hit the back button and search for better results that can give us the details quickly.

Website speed is really important.

When you evaluate the speed of your website,

Ensure that:

1. Your site is responsive and works well on mobile devices.
2. Images are optimized.
3. Files are compressed.
4. You utilize website caching to improve page speed.
5. Your server’s response time is reduced.
6. And other tasks that speed up traditional websites.

Analyze Searcher’s Intent

Keep phrases short and simple. Voice search results are typically written at a 9th-grade reading level at most. So, although your information may be high-level, break it down in a way that is easy for anyone to comprehend.

Listen to Your Customers

22% of voice search queries are looking for location-based content. Therefore, brands have a higher chance of producing voice search content if they invest in local content.

Try using phrases like “near me”

Why You Should Keep Up With the Trend in SEO?

“I really don’t understand why I need to keep up with the trends in SEO”

Well your customers and your potential customers are also searchers in the web.

Keeping you in-the-know when it comes to what to do and not to do when it comes to optimizing a site can be rather tedious.

This is because you will need to constantly search the web for updates, news, and even rumors about algorithm changes, new best practices, and so on.

But know that it will be worth it.

The ones who rank are those who are always being up to the game.

Of course, you will still need to know whether or not the trends that you are reading are indeed worth implementing on your pages.

Besides, all these are for your website, for your brand, for the quality fo your content and for your living.

In fact, one study found that voice search eCommerce resulted in $1.8 billion in Amazon revenue. That figure alone is expected to increase to $40 billion by the year 2022.

You can check out our Guide to Voice Search Optimization for more information on this topic.

The main keyword is a general term that lots of people use for searching.
Example: SEO

A long-tail keyword is a more specific topic or subtopic of the head term.

Example: Best SEO Strategies, On-page SEO, Why SEO is important?

Usually, fewer people create content about the topics that use long-tail keyword.

But, these will greatly help your website rank.

How do they help you rank?

Pretty simple.

As mentioned above, there is less content on the web about long-tail keywords, because less people have used and written about them.

Less content means less competition!

Since the competition isn’t that tough, it’s easier to beat other web pages or your competitors with content about long-tail keywords in the google search engine.

Now you might say:

“I want my blogs and content to rank for the main keywords with the highest volume and traffic.”

That’s possible. But you will need to invest a great deal in paid ads.

The average small business using Google Ads spends between $9,000 and $10,000 per month on their Google paid search campaign.

Here’s how long-tail keywords can help you!

When you’ve written numerous articles about your related long-tail keywords and you rank for those, you can target a term that is most related to the main keywords.

This way Google will determine that you have quite a bit of mastery and specialized content on this topic.

You need to build a reputation before you can rank on the main keywords.

If you link all this knowledge in one cornerstone article, for instance, and make sure you build a strong internal link strategy; you’ll increase your chance of ranking for the main article and keywords.

5 Reasons to Focus on Long Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific keyword phrases that your audience is more likely to use when they want to buy something online or when they're using voice search.

Long-tail keywords involve using search phrases that are more like how people actually speak in the real world. They are less robotic and more practical.

Managing long-tail keywords is simply creating a better connection between your business and the customers who are already out there, actively searching and shopping for your services.

At first, you’re going to pull less traffic with a long-tail keyword because of it’s lower traffic volume compared to the amount of traffic from general keywords.

Just think about the value of traffic.

Yes the traffic is less, BUT...

The traffic you can draw will be better: more focused, direct, inline with your business, more committed, and more interested with services.

Outranking Competition Through Long Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are your weapon to overtake your competitors.

If I want to buy a phone, I’m not searching for the generic term such as “phones.”

Instead, I would be searching blogs for the “Best Phones to buy on a budget” or “Latest Phones in 2019”,“Best Android Phone of 2019”. This is to help me decide which one I should buy.

We can tighten SEO strategies and compete in our niche by looking for more refined keyword queries.

Long Tail Keywords are Real Search Behavior of Audience

The entire point of Google’s search business is to present users with the right information based on their searches.

With extra words displayed, long-tail keywords are an even more vital part of mobile site optimization.

Just keep in mind that people are normally searching for one of three reasons: to do something, learn something, and go somewhere.

It Gives High Conversions Too!

Long tail keywords have a higher probability of conversion. Namely, because they are specific and almost telegraph what stage of the buying cycle your potential customers are in.

They are much more realistic searches and are proven to be far easier to rank for than generic umbrella topics.

Long tail keywords help you rank for single keywords

Long tail keywords will help you rank for short tail keywords as well. Not everyone can rank high for short tail keywords.

But a collection of high ranking pages from a collection of long tail keywords will bolster your overall rank. For businesses such as news sites, it’s their bread and butter to have the best ranking for hundreds if not thousands of pages.

Long-tail keywords fuel your content strategy

A blog is the best way to rank in the SERPs.

Content is king.

It’s the benchmark of any content marketing strategy. Period.

To be effective enough, long-tail keywords need to be used in the correct manner within the URL, title tag, and body text.

The Long Term Benefit

Keyword relevance and appropriate use will benefit you in the long run over keyword density. Bounce rates and click-through rates are also valuable metrics indirectly connected to good keyword research.

Because long tail keywords specify high intent, you can use the user pathways through your site to analyze what visitors were looking for and see where your relevancy strays.

Also, because sentence keywords are high intention searches, you can take advantage of Google SERP features such as structured data and local SEO.

In Summary, don’t ignore long phrase keywords. They can be a crucial part of your overall SEO strategy and lead to more traffic, more conversions, and more sales.

Firstly, a landing page is totally different from a home page. To make things clearer, a landing page is a page that someone “lands” on right after clicking on one of your ads. Similarly, a landing page serves a specific purpose, typically promotes a specific product or service, and has a clear Call-To-Action. On the other hand, a homepage is the starting point to the rest of the site’s content. In other words, a homepage typically serves many purposes and includes navigation to other website pages. Basically, there are two kinds of landing pages: microsites and standalone landing pages.

A microsite landing page is a small or condensed website usually created as a supplement to the main website. It is usually focused on one product or service line as opposed to all the products or services offered by the business.

Another is a Standalone landing page include; Click Through, Lead Capture, Lead Gen, and Squeeze Pages.

This guide from Highmark Digital is written for anybody who is searching for ways to improve landing page strategies.

Why You Should Optimize Your Landing Pages

To start off, a landing page has a sole purpose --- to gain sales or to keep the potential customer glued to your site until he/she decides to subscribe to your mailing list or purchase your product/service. So how do you achieve that goal? I’ve got one answer for you!

Start optimizing your landing pages.

By definition, landing page optimization (LPO) promotes lower customer acquisition costs while achieving a higher acquisition rate and maximizing the value of your ad spend.

To get you started with this topic, why don’t we start talking about the DON'TS of LPO.

Landing Page Taboos

NEVER SEND TRAFFIC FROM AN AD TO YOUR HOMEPAGE

That’s right! Don’t waste your money by sending traffic from an ad to the home page. It’s a big NO-NO. Why not focus on the single-goal landing page for your promotional campaigns? This is much more effective than bombarding your visitors with far too many questions right at the outset.

"CLARITY" AND "RELEVANCE" CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOUR LANDING PAGE.

Never ignore the clarity of purpose as well as the relevant content of your landing page. When you overlook these factors, visitors are most likely going to leave the site confused, dissatisfied or annoyed. Every ad holds a purpose. So make it count.  Hence, help your visitors find exactly what they are looking for. You must be able to answer the questions running on their mind in a split second.

What questions are we talking about? Here:

1. Does this site possess the information that I am looking for?
2. Do I comprehend what I am reading and what’s being offered to me?
3. Is this page trustworthy or is it just going to waste my time?

Furthermore, having good lead magnets (i.e. free trials) in return when you need them to share their email addresses is a good technique.

So how to build one? Read on if you want to learn more!

Landing Page Structure

1. Open with a benefit-oriented headline.

To begin with, your headline should be attention-grabbing. This section is your top priority because this is where you create that “first impression” for your visitors. Certainly, if the headline isn’t that attractive, visually and content-related itself, then the rest of the site will likely be ignored.

2. Write clear, relevant, and concise copy.

Next, your copy should be reasonably short but must be enough to educate your readers about your product or service. A bulleted list of the needed information never fails.

3. Focus on getting visitors to take one specific action.

Then, if you want your visitors to get a free trial or subscribe to your newsletter, make that as the only button available on the page. As a result, this would enable them to focus on that button alone.

4. Remove all extra clutter—links, menus, buttons—that have nothing to do with the particular ad or campaign.

Moving on, do the previous step (No.3) without any other distracting options that might potentially sidetrack the visitors or might discourage them further. To cut it short, make everything as simple as possible.

5. Make the form or checkout option prominent.

Now, make use of bigger font sizes or better yet, display a good lead magnet (a discount offer or free trial) to lure them into clicking the checkout button.

6. Maintain your brand.

Finally, the overall look of your landing page design must be consistent. This is to make sure visitors immediately identify and associate what they see with your brand. What we’re trying to say is, you should use the same color hues and other design elements from your homepage to your landing page.

Planning Phase

In this section, let’s discuss the 5 planning stages of a landing page before handing them over to your designer.

1. Identify your audience.

Initially, if you want to boost your conversion rate, you must first know your targeted audience. How? You can identify them by doing surveys or interviews. In this way, it would be easier to carve out your other plans because you already know the profile of your targeted audience.

2. Define your most-wanted action (MWA)

What does MWA mean? For everybody's knowledge, this pertains to the one action visitors should take when they are on the landing page. Particularly, this action is really all up to your product and approach. Pretty sure, if you’re selling a quite expensive product/service, it is best to collect contact information first (email perhaps) and cultivate the relationship right then and there. However, if you’re offering something that’s generally affordable and uncomplicated, you can go ahead and sell it directly perhaps. But if it’s technology-based, you can do free trials first.

3. Define your message.

So, you’ve got all the basics. Primarily, you now know who you are advertising for and which solution to offer. At this point, it is time to draft your message. Likewise, these are the words you put into the page. Hence, keep it simple and easy to understand.

4. Design your landing page.

Moving onto the visuals. Straight away, sketch it all out on paper or anny editing tool. Yet, don’t overdo this. Because if you do, only fewer visitors will fill out the form if you’re asking for too much information. Besides you’ve put too much navigation on your page, this would utterly confuse visitors as a consequence. Nevertheless, if you keep a streamlined process, you  have higher chances of getting the forms filled out.

5. Put it all together.

It's just like building your whole lego house. You’ve got all the needed blocks in your hands and all you have to do is fuse them all together to make a solid lego structure. In the same manner, all the steps are presented to you, all you have to do now is connect all the dots. The correct message, the visuals and the preview are all done. At long last, launch it on the web!

Structure Design Phase

Step #4 can be challenging for some, as designing is not everybody’s forte.

To back you up, here are the most important characteristics an Optimized Landing Page should have:

•     A headline that speaks to the target audience;
•     Company logo;
•     A quick explanation of your offer above the fold (i.e. visible without the average user having to scroll down);
•     A longer explanation of the offer below the fold (if the offer is complex);
•     Image of the product being offered;
•     Simple form, ideally with just 1–3 fields (usually just name and email, but do you really need the name?);
•     Buy or sign-up button depending on your MWA (most-wanted-action);
•     Link to your privacy policy (load it in a pop-up window to keep people on the page).

What You Should Omit On Your Landing Page

•     Navigation menu—focus only on your offer;
•     Links to other parts of your sites, such as “About Us”;
•     Pictures or images that don’t relate to the offer; these are distractions;
•     hard-to-read text
•     “Clear fields” button;
•     Links like “Click here to subscribe” or “Click here to read more.” If you can’t cram all your content above the fold, let the user scroll down. Scrolling is almost always better than clicking to another page.

Be a Master of Testing

Even more, if a landing page only has very few components, each part should be carefully built.

Why you should dedicate time for testing

Testing your landing pages are important!

Definitely, it's not going to be a walk in the park, but it’s all worth it.

You have to spend a significant amount of time determining discrepancies on your landing page, at the same time, think of a better and more effective alternative.

How to test your Landing Pages

Naturally, there are three kinds of landing page testing that you can do.

You can do Split Test first, then A/B test, and lastly Multivariate Test.

1. Split Test - In Split test, you have two different designs then you split the percentage of visitors in half. You now have a control sample and variation sample. You use the results to determine if one design is more effective than another.
2. A/B Test - Whoever wins the Split Test, use it as a control sample for A/B Test vs another new Variation Sample. The A/B test will test one landing page versus another making a change to only one variable of the page. For example, testing a headline change to compare results.
3. Multivariate Test - This is used to test multiple variations of multiple variables on a single page.

A piece of advice about testing: Experiment with as many variables as possible and as often as you can to ensure the final version you’re offering is optimized for maximum returns.

Evaluating Sample Landing Pages

Let’s try to evaluate a couple of Landing Pages on the internet and see what we can do better.

CARFAX

PROS

1. Services are summarized in bullet forms.

2. A sample report is offered before purchasing.

3. Less navigation links.

4. Friendly looking mascot for added fun.

5. Company Logo is displayed.

PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS

1. Headline needs more emphasis. (e.g. Bigger font size, use a more catchy phrase)

2. Looks highly technical for an average visitor.

3. Bottom texts are too small to be read.

ZOHO

PROS

1. Call to action is prominent.

2. Clear branding.

3. Headline is simple but hits the bullseye.

PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS

1. Add an image product.

2. Get Started can be ambiguous. Use a more specific one. (e.g. Free Trial, Sales call etc.)

3. Put a summarized description of the product in bullet forms.

Conclusion

It’s not always enough that a visitor subscribes to your offer or email. It doesn’t end there. The ultimate goal is to fully convert these subscribers to actual purchasers. It’s not a guarantee that subscribers would even stay active after signing up forms.

However, what’s important is getting them started where they should be -- their willingness to share their contact information. That’s already a good start. And when you top it all off with some helpful optimization tips, you are more likely to have higher chances of conversion rates and increased sales prospects.

This is why you should pay attention to building your landing pages and we hope that this article helped you enlighten some of the most important components of an effective landing page.

A high-quality landing page that will convert leads has several major components that are similar to what you would see on a web page.

So take note of these tips and go build a page that is specifically designed to receive and convert traffic from your online marketing campaign.

Not only that it is free, but you also don’t have to rent out space somewhere, grab a portion of food and drinks and purchase other costly deals to make an in-person meeting possible. In a webinar setting, you can skip all of that. Additionally, customers only commit to one presentation per week, so it’s crucial to get to know these 10 best practictices on how to create a compelling Webinar presentation.

Let’s get started.

1. Create a plan.

Initially, you should put everything on paper or a whiteboard. Create an agenda that you and your team want to talk about or address.  In webinar planning, when you get a concrete basis for your demonstration, it will come out strong.

You should be able to answer the following questions:

• What’s the main subject of the webinar? 
• Who is your target audience?
• What are you offering? 
• How to deliver the content effectively? 
• How to get the audience to proceed to the next step?

If you incorporate each of these elements to your slides, you are on your way to yielding some successful results

2. Choose a Dependable Webinar Program.

Now you’ve got to sort it all out. The next step in creating a compelling Webinar is choosing a respectable webinar platform. A trustworthy webinar venue can build up your customer’s interest instead of annoying them with so many pop up ads.

Mobile versions and desktop versions should both be supported as not everyone has the same taste and preferences. Be watchful with the maximum limit of the audience too. The last thing you want to happen is losing a percentage of the audience population, not because of the presentation itself but because the maximum limit of viewers has been reached.

3. Choose the Best Time and Day to Host your Webinars

Early mornings are usually allocated for team huddles and email routines, while noons are for lunch break and in the late afternoons, people are most likely tired and want to head back home. Hence, 10-11 am is the perfect time to host a webinar! What about the which day? Well, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the most favored day of the week to attend a web conference. The clear indicator seems to be obvious, Mondays and Fridays are the busiest days of the week.

Bonus Tip: Consider the difference in time zones too.

4. Please Avoid Boring Visual Slides.

Focus on visualizations, rather than creating plain old bulleted lists. That's one of the keypoints people miss when creating a compelling webinar.

Instead of showing them this:

Why not try this?

3. Do a Series of Rehearsals.

Before the big day comes up, get everyone in one room to do a dry run because why not? Practice makes perfect ladies and gentlemen!Make sure to tick off all the boxes on your checklist! Don’t forget to eliminate distracting noises. You don’t want your audience to get sidetracked by some unnecessary sounds in the background.

6. What is your Product and Why do you Think your Clients Need it?

So you got all the previous steps done. Now, onto the actual delivery. Greetings were given.  So what’s next? An introduction to your product is one. You can start by explaining what your service or product is all about and why it’s an asset to them. Make it simple. Be straight to the point. Don’t leave vague details. If you fail on this part, it’s hard to keep them interested until the end.

7. Tell them your Story.

One way to engage with your audience is by sharing your story --  from your humble beginnings to where you are right now. However, if your personal account is not relevant to the company’s journey, you can instead share a client’s story as to how your business was able to contribute to their lives. You can do this by sharing a video of a client’s testimonial. 

Bonus Tip: Remember, not every experience works best for everyone so it’s best to admit that out front. 99% of the time, it works like magic.

8. Say the offer.

To successfully create a compelling webinar, you must be able to convert leads into clients. This is the part where you get to do this. Now, if they don’t seem to be interested at this point, chances are, they might never come back. Now is the time to reaffirm everything that you've said.

You can even make it more persuasive by giving an exclusive offer or freebies to webinar viewers only. This would give you an opportunity to make your offer stand out more. On top of that, you can add more special items to the package and note down as a limited offer. Be sure to offer a guarantee on your product, like a money-back deal, to maintain that level of trust you’ve already made.

9. Call-to-Action.

Let’s say your webinar proposal is producing good results. Now you can cap it all off with an invitation to visit a landing page on your website where a countdown timer is running so your clients would know exactly when the offer stops. You can also send a thank you email to all the viewers after the meeting. You can include a link to the offer with detailed instructions. For those who didn’t make it, you can send out a recording of the whole meeting.

10. A Q&A Portion at the End of the Webinar

If you aren’t that experienced in hosting Webinars, it might be difficult to predict the questions you’ll be asked. Sometimes, you won’t even hear any questions from the live audience at all. It’s not like they are not interested enough to know, it’s just that they prefer to listen than do the talk.

You can also prepare a set of FAQs that most of your customers inquire about your products or services. This might encourage some to think a question of their own.

Conclusion

We hoped we gave you more than the basics. Webinars don’t perfectly work out without any strategies. All of these best practices to create a compelling Webinar might just be put to waste if you don’t consider applying a friendly, conversational tone. If you need to invest in paid webinars, there are a lot of options available online too.

Your viewers’ time is valuable. So make every minute count!

Here at Highmark SEO, we never stop looking for ways to help you achieve your business needs.  We hope this article gave you another perspective about how Webinar can get you into the right track, well, if used effectively. If you want to learn more about some practical ways to shape up your digital marketing skills and the like, tune in for more Highmark SEO blogs!

Head on to our Facebook and Twitter page to be part of our online community.

1. Write High Quality Content in the Forms of a Blog or Article.
Blogging is definitely a top content marketing choice. In fact, it is by far one of the most effective tools you can have in your marketing plan. One of the most obvious reasons would be ---- it’s FREE! Not only that, there are a huge amount of SEO opportunities. That means, it is a great place to collect leads. Additionally, it can improve your website ranking and can help you build your exposure.

Effectively, when you are writing your blogs, try to make sure that you are writing about what the audience wants to read and learn about. Bare in mind, your audience would usually read to look for solutions, seek new information or just for the heck of reading something. Hence, it’s important to make the content as informative as you can and as specific as possible.

2. Start a podcast.
According to a recent study, 1 out of 3 people listen to at least one podcast every month. For busy bees, audio content seems to be a very convenient way to get in touch with the outside world. Your hands might be full but your ears aren't.

Apple and Spotify are two of the most popular podcast sources. They are a great and dependable medium to take your podcast anywhere around the globe. Here are some interesting stats that you should know about podcasts:

• Spotify has 200 million users worldwide.
• Apple Podcasts has more than 500,000 active podcasts, including content in more than 100 languages.
• 49% of podcast listening is done in the comfort of the home or in the car.

Once a podcast is done, passing around its recorded version wouldn’t be that hard. You can even showcase it in your articles and video logs. That’s a sure hit to integrate your podcast marketing!

3. Upload Videos
There is a good percentage of people who prefer videos rather than text reading when learning about a product or service. Just take a look at the massive success of YouTube in recent years.  So, if you’d like to tap into the power of video marketing, you have to contemplate what types of content and topics will appeal to your audience.

Particularly, the Millennial audience are quite fascinated over product reviews, travel vlogs, unboxing and tutorials. Short and thought provoking video content increases brand awareness. On the other hand, tutorial videos or product demos greatly influence the audience's purchasing decisions.

4. Promote Infographics
If you are on the verge of generating little to no relevant traffic, then infographics is a must-try! This highly graphical visual representation tool is an innovative way of displaying content. 

The science behind the catchy effect of infographics relies on how human brains function. We are visual creatures. Needless to say, we easily understand a certain subject by seeing the actual physical elements. That’s where infographics comes in.

Therefore, leveraging graphics to your content marketing strategy is a must! Do it creatively. Here’s a pro tip: you must pair them up with a well-written text. Now this is what we call a powerful duo. If both used correctly, you create a compelling tool to help you get out from the information wilderness and into your targeted audience’s brains.

5. Do a live streaming.
Live streaming is just like doing a live interview. The only difference is that this has a more genuine vibe. No scripts involved, just pure and casual speech. You don't have to hire an interviewer, you can just do it all by yourself. All you need is a reliable connection, decent lighting, a dependable phone and you’re good to go. This works great for those who are on a budget!

What streaming video does best is letting your brand display transparency. It has more of a human-to-human connection. It features live commenting capabilities, which allows users to participate directly to the stream.

But before going live, you have to figure out who you are trying to connect with first and ask yourself whether you are equipped enough to satisfy your audience. If not, you can invite someone else to join in. Most importantly, just be yourself. Bring out your funny or weird side to keep your audience hooked. Lastly, promote it. Tell your audience to share your recorded livestream video to their social media profiles in order to reach more viewers.

6. Conduct Case Studies
If you’ve never heard how case studies are implemented, let me explain it to you.

Case studies are basically online marketing campaigns fueled by your customer’s stories. What is more, they help leads to better understand how your brand can add value to their lives or businesses. Real-life examples are legit. Also, finding out some stories of success would help you build the trust that you need from your audience. Usually, people today appreciate more authentic stories.

You can launch your case studies on your company website, or your social sites. Don’t fret, case studies are inexpensive compared to explainer videos. Just make sure you work with customers or clients who are willing to provide not only their permission to be used as the subject of the case study but also some quotes and statistics that show how your business has helped them flourish.

7. eBook Downloads
For more complex and detailed content, eBooks are the most suitable material. To tell you the truth, they are more educational in a sense. Ebooks can also be gated, therefore you have the chance to collect some personal information about your visitors in exchange for free content. That’s a win-win situation right there.

However, it’s crucial to know that when you try eBooks for your content marketing, it does require a bit more of an investment. They take time to complete and a whole team of experts to arrange the ideas accurately.  However, don’t let this frighten you off from making effective eBook content. The leads that you will produce through this locked up content will give you an edge. It is going to be worthwhile in the end.

8. Join the Social Media Hype
In the first place, raising brand awareness should be your top goal.  Many digital age business moguls owe their success to social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and search engines. If they have done it right, you're no exemption. One thing’s for sure, there are about 2.6 billion social media users all around the world. That’s like 2.6 billion of chances to make or break your marketing campaign.

Essentially, social media content does not only influence the purchasing decision of customers, but it is also the key to lead nurturing. You can basically start conversations in your social media posts easily (e.g. commenting, tagging, direct messaging). Actually, engaging them right on the spot will make them feel valuable. In another case, tagging their names and saying thank you's goes a long way.

9. Whitepapers
Whitepapers may look like eBooks in many ways. Similarly, they are in the form of downloaded content via gated portals. What sets whitepapers apart is that they tend to be completely heavy in information, data-driven and detail focused. In addition, whitepapers are superb content for B2B marketing, particularly the ones who want to build thought leadership and gain more respect in their industry.

Generally, whitepapers are promoted through your landing page. If you want to know more about how to design a landing page that easily converts, check out our previous blog How to Build a Landing Page that Converts.  

10. GIFs and Memes
Last but not least, making the best out of shareable images, such as GIFs and memes. In case you weren’t paying attention to pop culture these days, a meme is a concept or catchphrase, often to mimic scenarios from films for humorous purposes. Meanwhile, GIFs (Graphical Interchange Format) are a series of images or silenced video that will loop endlessly without the need to press play all the time.

Moreover, you can integrate GIFs and Memes into your Social Media Posts, Blog Content or Email Invites. Besides, they are a playful way to communicate and resonate with the general public. Particularly, they bring that extra kind of excitement and attention that you never attain from person-to-person contact.

Final Say
Remember, not all types of content marketing strategies will work for your company. It’s always best to test each one, reevaluate, and continue to make improvements.

Which one of these content marketing types caught your interest? Fortunately, here at Highmark Agency, we've got you covered. If you have no idea how to start tweaking your marketing strategies, we’d like to help you out.

Feel free to contact us on our Facebook or Twitter page. Or head on to our official page.

#1. BE UNIQUE.
To begin with, you can’t build a personal brand unless you are willing to be unique. This serves as your starting point towards personal branding effectiveness. However, do you know how significant uniqueness is when you’re marketing yourself? Quite frankly, it should mean a lot, if you don't feel the same way, then that could hold you back from success.

Being unique turns you into a memorable personality.

Being different from everyone else help you stand out from the crowd, leaving a mark with your audience that’s hard to forget. Once they talk about your boldness, how you’ve decided to rise above the masses and reject status quo, people will start talking about you. It’s time to blaze your own trail!

Whatever you want to be --- an entrepreneur, a lifestyle coach, a blogger or a Youtube superstar --- being unique or different, add value to your whole package. Why become a mainstream mommy blogger when you can be a “mom of a picky eater son” type of blogger?

#2. FIND YOUR NICHE.
In SEO, you can’t just force people to search for your targeted keyword anytime. But when they do, your main goal is to position your website at the top of the search results through SEO strategies.

This isn’t far from personal branding.

Personal Brand innovators always find their niche and focus on it. 

For example, digital marketing gurus focus on growing sales by getting more traffic. If you’ve got the expertise, experience, attitude and dedication to solve this problem, then make it the center of your career. Continue to educate yourself about this subject. It doesn’t mean that if you’re good at it, you stop learning new things. Learning should be a lifetime activity.

Additionally, digital marketing won’t fail you. It’s a promising niche. It’s becoming popular because the percentage of internet users continues to grow everyday. In the same way, this increases the value of advertising online. Therefore, it’s best to choose a currently flourishing niche so you have higher volume of possible customers.

#3. INVEST ON IMAGES AND STORIES
Study shows that images and stories are found to be stimulators of emotions. And when emotions are felt, either good or bad ones, a human brain reacts to it. That plays a role in our mental health. As a collateral effect, you get emotionally connected customers.

With that being said, storytelling and photos play a major role in your overall branding.

When it comes to business, we tend to implement our brands more consciously and intentionally. That is why design is created. It is the most powerful tool that you can use to channel your personality, your taste and totality.

In your images or blogs, you can use your own choice of colors, themes, written styles, your wardrobe picks, and so many more visual and written elements. They serve as the cornerstones of your personal branding. Be genuine and consistent.

In addition to images, storytelling is another way to elevate your company’s brand. If you find yourself NOT getting any ideas to share on your stories, don't worry you’ll get there! In fact, there are so many things that you can talk about in your stories. For example, what are your inspirations and goals? Where did you come from? Why did you decide to tell the story? And more!

Focus on your real life story.

#4. STAY VISIBLE AND ACTIVE.
Having your own brand means getting out of the office a lot. The thought of spending a good amount of time presenting yourself in front of the crowd will pave a way for more opportunities to get connected to your target audience, potential customers and clients. At the same time, this will boost your brand name’s presence.

Your local community should be a great place to start. Become involved in outreach events or local groups that work around the same angle and profession with you.

However, if you’d like to try out bigger audiences, then conferences and networking events won’t fail you. Also, take advantage of social media live streaming like Facebook and Instagram. Social media live streaming lets you broadcast a live video out to your audience through your company page or personal profile. It features interactive chat functions where your audience can write in comments simultaneously. Some successful brands choose to do it right at their homes to be a bit raw and personal.

#5. GUEST BLOGGING.
Content marketing is no secret to personal branding. It’s already common sense these days that every personal brand maintains a company or personal blog. We’ve discussed in our previous article the 10 Savvy Types to Content Marketing and mentioned that blog works effectively in garnering high traffic. So, when you already have a blog that is up and running, then you can try out guest blogging.

Guest blogging is guest posting on other relevant blogs. Initially, you’ll be requesting to write blogs on behalf of popular websites. When you do it successfully, your guest blog posts will come out in searches under your name or the company your represent. What’s your cut? Well, you get to “borrow” and “attract” the audience from those well-known websites. At the end of the blog, you’ll likely be given the opportunity to feature your personal brand by providing a quick overview and links.

FINAL SAY
To be successful at personal branding, you need to be a BRAND NEW YOU. That is, be yourself, be as authentic as you can in a world of copycats. Personal branding is more than just marketing and promoting yourself. It is more on touching people’s lives and being an inspiration to their daily routines.

To be the “go to” person in your chosen niche, you have to take a significant amount of time and energy. Best to spend that time and energy in the best way possible!  Apply these 5 secrets to personal branding and ultimately, you’ll be able to build a personal brand that matches your personality and enjoy the inevitable success that follows.

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Better yet, most of those local clients already know what they’re looking for. They’ll be happy to hire you as soon as they see that you’re a good fit for each other.

But that might make you wonder—

How can you build your local SEO presence to target better local customers?

If you guessed Google My Business, you’re dead right. With a well-optimized profile, you’ll attract endless quality customers to your business.

In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about Google My Business. We’ll also share with you some simple tricks to help you optimize your profile and outrank your local competitors.

Let’s get started.

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business (GMB) is a free online listing by Google. It allows small businesses to manage how they appear on Google Search and Maps. 

GMB is an excellent tool if you want to attract the right customers to your business. And it does that by letting you optimize your business to target local clients online.

How Important is Google My Business for SEO?

The benefits of creating and optimizing a GMB profile are endless. It’s the first step any small business needs to take when thinking about growth strategies.

Here are two reasons why every small business should have a GMB profile in 2020:

1- Expand your local presence 

GMB allows you to increase your presence within local searches in your area.

As a start, all you need to do is create, verify, and optimize your business profile. And once done, your business will appear on the Local Map Pack, knowledge graph, and Google Maps.

If you dominate that by being the best at what you do, you’ll always appear first in the results. That will bring you a lot more customers than any of your competitors.

2- Interact more with your customers

GMB gives you the option to share news and posts. You can also upload images and feature customer reviews on your profile.

That allows you to interact with your customers more often. And doing that gives potential clients the sense that you’re an active, trusted business in the area.

How to Get Started with Google My Business

Now that you understand the importance of having a GMB profile, let's move to some practical steps. 

You'll create a profile, verify it, then optimize it for search. After that, we'll show you how you can get some reviews on how they can influence your online presence.

Let's get to it.

1- Create Your Account

To create a GMB account, you need a personal/business account to sign in to Gmail.

You may want to check out our blog post on Gmail productivity tips.

After that, go here, and click “Manage now”.

Enter your business name. Then, select “Create a business with this name” from the drop-down list below.

Be sure to check that your business doesn’t already exist in the system. Google doesn’t like duplicate accounts and profiles with the same business name.

Then click “Next”.

Now, select a category for your business from the drop-down list. 

Make sure the category is most relevant to your company because that helps customers find your business when looking for similar services.

The next step is adding a location to your business. 

If you have a location that your customers can visit, click “Yes” and continue with entering your address.

You’ll be required to verify your location later on by receiving a postcard via mail. So, be sure to enter the correct address of your business.

Many services don't require you to have a physical location. If you go to your customers' places instead of them coming to yours, you can click "No".

And instead, you'll choose to enter the area in which your services are available. For example, if you’re a travel agency operating in many locations across the US, you can choose “United States” as your location.

The final step is to enter a phone number and website URL for your business. 

You can move forward without a website, but a valid phone number is necessary for this process. It’s crucial because it helps you verify your business and gives you more credibility in front of your customers.

Click “Next”, and you’re done!

You’ve just completed creating your Google My Business profile.

2- Complete The Verification

There are several ways you can verify your business listing on GMB. For instance, you could receive a postcard, an email, or a phone call.

And sometimes, you may even verify your business using Google Search Console. All you need is to associate a verified GSC account with your GMB account.

Most local businesses prefer to verify their listing with a postcard sent to their mail.

Postcard verification:

Login to your account, then choose the business you’d like to verify. 

You’ll get a form where you have to enter your business address. This is where you’ll receive the postcard. So, be sure to check twice before you move to the next step.

Now, you can add a contact name to have the postcard addressed to you personally when it arrives.

Click on “Mail”, and your postcard will be on its way.

It may take up to two weeks to arrive depending on the estimation the system gives you.

Once you receive your postcard, click “Verify Location” from the menu on the left. Then, enter the code you received on the card, and your business is verified!

Phone verification:

Google will send a text message with a verification code on your mobile phone. All you have to do is enter the correct phone number, then click “Verify by phone”. 

Once you receive the code, enter it, and your phone number will be verified.

Email verification:

You’ll receive an email to your inbox with a verification link within a few seconds. Click on ‘Verify”, and you’ll be good to go.

Google doesn’t let all types of businesses complete the verification via email. If you can’t see this option in your account, you must use other verification methods.

Instant verification:

You may use this method if you’ve already verified your business on Google Search Console. 

But, not all companies are eligible for this type of verification. Also, make sure you’re using the same email address you used on Google Search Console.

3- Optimize Your GMB Profile

Optimizing your profile might be the most crucial step in this whole process. A business listing that’s not optimized may do more damage than good to your online presence.

The first thing to keep in mind when updating your listing information is to always use correct data. Also, be sure to keep your information updated and consistent across the web.

Phone Number

Your phone number can be the first means of contact with you for most potential customers. 

It's a factor that Google takes into consideration when assessing the credibility of businesses online. Thus, it should be consistent and accurate.

Also, try to use the same phone number whenever your business is mentioned online.

Description

Your GMB profile description can be up to 750-character long. It's the place where you tell your customers about what your business does, your story, and how you can help them.

Try to avoid promotional content and links in this section because Google doesn't allow that. 

Instead, show the benefits of working with you and why you're the best. And do that in an engaging manner. 

Business Hours

Be specific about which hours you're available to offer your services at. Also, make sure to specify holiday days and hours.

Photos

Lots of case studies have shown that images are a key aspect of any marketing strategy — and Google My Business profile is no different.

Photos make your listing more informative and appealing.

Q&A Section

It's natural for customers to have questions about your business. They'll wonder about your services before they decide to work with you. 

Unfortunately, you're not always there to answer them — especially if the questions are basic and repetitive.

As the business owner, you can ask and answer questions about your business in the Q&A section of your profile. 

These answers will pop up in the knowledge graph.

Try to provide short, clear, and precise answers to your customers. That enhances trust, credibility, and shows how much you care about your clients.

4- Gather Customer Reviews

The majority of online customers look for reviews before making a purchase decision. 

We all prefer to work with top-rated businesses instead of others with low ratings online. And testimonials help people make better-informed decisions because they serve as social proof. 

Humans aren't the only creatures to care about. 

Google algorithms take into consideration ratings when deciding which companies deserve more exposure.

So, this should be a top priority for your business.

To get more reviews on your GMB listing, you can simply ask for it from satisfied customers. 

All you have to do is explain the steps they need to take to leave a review. Briefly explain how it can help you grow and provide better services.

As you start getting reviews, be sure to respond to them as soon as possible.

Wrapping It Up

If you want to dominate local search in your area, an optimized Google My Business profile is a must-have. A GMB profile is a critical component of SEO strategy for local businesses.

Take advantage of all the amazing features and offers the tool gives you, provide quality service, and follow our advice from above.

You’ll be surprised to see the results these simple tweaks will bring you.

Do you need help coming up with a growth strategy for your local business? 

We’ll generate a unique growth plan along with an in-depth analysis of your traffic and conversions. Contact us today at 807-890-1909.

Leading your business to success requires you to take thousands of smaller steps — without error or delay. But that’s an impossible goal to set without any analytics or insights.

In today’s world, data optimization drives every business decision for big companies.

That’s why you need Google Analytics to improve your products and services.

In this post, you’ll learn everything beginners should know about Google Analytics. You’ll understand the importance of the tool, how it can help your business, and how to use it to grow your company.

Ready?

Let’s get to it.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics (GA) is a free analytics tool developed by Google. It’s the most popular web analytics tool and one of the essential tools every business should use to build its online presence.

As a webmaster, GA will give you the option to monitor your traffic and understand your visitors. It will also help you optimize your content and improve it to meet their expectations.

Do You Need Google Analytics to Grow Your Business?

The short answer is — absolutely.

Over 30 million companies are using Google Analytics. And that's not because GA is a bandwagon everyone decided to jump on.

Google Analytics will bring you proven results.

Aside from it being free and super easy to use, the tool offers a variety of features that no other online tool can grant you.

For example, it will collect data from your website then generate detailed reports that you can access through your account.

That helps you know if your marketing efforts are working and decide on the type of content you should focus on.

Want to know the best part?

Unlike dozens of other tools online, the integration process is as easy as pie.

You can integrate GA to your website with a few clicks. Then, you'll have the option to align it with other tools, such as Google AdWords and Search Console.

But before you can get access to all these great features, you must first set up an account.

How to Set up a Google Analytics Account

Go to Google Analytics sign up page, then click on “Set up for free”.

You must sign in to your Gmail account before you can continue with the registration process. If you don’t already have an account, you can create one in a few minutes.

The first step is to name your account — which isn’t that important.

You can enter your name or the name of your business (if you have many websites). But keep in mind that one GA account can have multiple tracking IDs for different websites.

Then, click “Next”.

Next, you have to select the property you’re going to measure.

In our case, it’s a website. Select it, and click “Next”.

Now, enter your website’s name and URL.

Be sure to select the right industry for your business. That allows Google to put you in the right category with your competitors. Therefore, it will give you more accurate data for comparison in the future.

Once done, click “Create”.

A small box will pop up, asking you to read and agree on the terms of service. When you finish, click “I accept”.

You’ve just finished creating your account!

Next, we’ll link your GA to your website.

How to Install Google Analytics on Your Website

Now that your account has been created, Google will give you a tracking code for your website.

In this step, you’ll use that “Tracking ID” to verify ownership of your property.

There are two ways you can verify your property. You can either:

• Use MonsterInsights plugin (if you use WordPress)
• Add the tag manually to your header file

How to Link Google Analytics to WordPress

Login to your WordPress admin panel, then go to Plugins >> Add New.

Search for MonsterInsights, and click “Install”.

Once installed, click “Activate”, and you’ll be taken to the launching process.

Pick a category for your website, then click “Save and Continue”.

Now, you’ll connect the plugin with your Google Analytics account.

Select the Gmail account you used to create your GA account.

Then allow MonsterInsights to access your Google account.

Next, select the Google Analytics account that matches your website. (Remember that you can manage multiple sites with one GA account).

Click on “Complete Connection,” and the authentication will be finalized within seconds.

On the next screen, you’ll see the plugin setup page. You have the option to make changes to the settings for your plugins.

Configure the settings as you want then click “Save and Continue”.

On the last page, you’ll get some recommended plugins with pro plans. But, the features offered there won’t make huge changes to your results. You can ignore them by moving to the last step.

Click on “Finish Setup & Exit Wizard”.

Your WordPress website is now successfully linked to your Google Analytics account.

The plugin may take up to 24 hours to generate data and insights — especially if your GA account is new.

Linking Google Analytics to WordPress Using an HTML Code

You can also add the code manually to your header file inside the “<head>” tag.

We wouldn’t recommend this method if you’re a beginner. (Making a mistake can break the structure of your website.)

To get started, copy the Global Site Tag from the Website Tracking window.

Then, go to Appearance >> Theme Editor.

Now, under Theme Files, click on Theme Header to get access to your header.php file.

Once there, paste your code between the two “<head>” and “</head>” tags, as shown in the picture.

When you’re done, click “Update File”.

Give it a few days, and you’ll start seeing data in your Google Analytics account.

How to Link Google Analytics to Any Website

The same technique applies to any other content management system you use.

All you have to do is get access to your header.php file. Then, paste the code with your Tracking ID inside the <head> tag.

Your GA account will be up and running within a few days.

Understanding Google Analytics Reports

Google Analytics will generate detailed reports for your website's performance using lots of metrics and KPIs. That will help you gain valuable insights about your target audience and how you can improve.

For instance, you can see how many visitors came to your website and the average time they spend on each page.

Other examples of key metrics you'll be able to track include:

• Active Users
• Bounce rate
• Sessions
• Pageviews
• Conversions
• Cart Abandonment

To get access to all these metrics, you must first understand the Reports dashboard and how to use it.

But don't worry!

These reports are easy to read and understand for any beginner.

In this section, we’ll cover the most essential three options.

Audience

The audience report gives you a detailed overview of your website traffic. It helps you learn crucial information about your website visitors.

Aside from the general overview, you’ll also see:

Demographics: gives you percentages for age, gender, and interests of your users.

Geo: shows the locations and regions your visitors come from — as well as the languages they speak.

Mobile: helps you improve your user-experience by telling what devices your visitors utilize.

Acquisition

This allows you to understand how you’re acquiring new visitors and where your audience is coming from.

You’ll learn which mediums work best for your audience and what marketing channels to focus your efforts on.

Your website traffic will be divided into four categories:

• Organic
• Direct
• Referral
• Social

Then, under each category, you’ll also get reports for sources and mediums.

For example:

• Google / (organic)
• Facebook / (social)

By getting all this data, you can devote more time to focus on marketing on the mediums that are already working.

You’ll also have the chance to revise your strategies and find new traffic sources.

Behavior

The Behavior report will provide you with essential details about how your users behave when browsing your website.

For example, you’ll get exact numbers for:

• Pageviews
• Bounce Rate
• Exit Rate
• Time on Page

By using all these metrics, the tool will sort out your top-performing pages and website sections.

You may then use that listing to double down on your best pages and create more similar content.

Want something more interesting?

Go to Behavior >> Behavior Flow.

You’ll find a complete chart presenting how users are moving through your pages. And you can even display starting points using mediums, pages, sources, etc.

Using this graph, you can work on your internal linking structure and improve your user experience.

Wrapping it up

You’ve created a Google Analytics account and linked it to your website. And, you also learned some of the basics of GA and what it can be used for.

Give the tool time to gather more data while you keep creating and improving your content.

Now, the real work begins.

You must learn to understand what the metrics are telling you — then look for ways to implement that information into your SEO strategy.

Looking to grow business online with analytics and SEO? We’re happy to help!

Give us a call at 807-890-1909.