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Month: November 2015

What Can You Do to Protect Your Website from the Growing Number of Hacks?

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Hackers are invisible predators intent on stealing customers’ and businesses’ information from any vulnerable website. Unfortunately, as fast as new security procedures and software are being developed, hackers are not far behind in their ability to gain access to websites. However, as a trusted SEO agency in San Diego, we understand that a functional, well-designed website is essential to every thriving business, and these five tips can help prevent easy access to your website’s information.

1. Update Immediately

Although it is easy to dismiss update messages in the middle of the workday or delay implementing them until a more convenient time, immediately proceeding with the updates is essential for keeping information safe. Some updates are security updates and fix security vulnerabilities. Hackers are fast, it takes only hours to sort through thousands of websites looking for vulnerabilities. By updating your software promptly, you ensure that you have the latest protection available for your website.

2. Reduce or Eliminate File Uploads

Never allow users to upload files directly to your website. File uploads are one of the easiest ways into your system no matter how thoroughly they are inspected by the security procedures in place. Instead of allowing direct access to your files or the ability to upload files, store files out of the root directory. You can then use a script to access them when you need to.

3. Use SSL

Websites enable a fast and effective transfer of information from the client to the business. No more jotting names, phone numbers, and addresses down on sticky notes necessary. However, customer’s personal information can be stolen as it transfers from the website to your database. Using an encrypted SSL protocol will protect this information as it is being transferred.

4. Install a WAF

Web application firewalls are one of the best ways to block hackers and bots. The WAF acts as a barrier between your website server and the data connection. It scans every piece of data that goes through it. The easiest way to install a web application firewall is to pay a small fee for a cloud-based subscription service.

5. Stay Up to Date

Knowledge is power. Stay up to date on the latest news in the hacking world. If you know what hackers can do then you can take steps to prevent it. This is especially critical because the pace of technology development is so rapid.

Saba, Inc. is a trusted online marketing company based in San Diego that specializes in SEO, social media marketing, PPC management, and web design and development. Give us a call at (858) 277-1717 to learn more about our services or request a complimentary consultation.

What to Do When You Get Hit with a Google Penalty

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Even if you practice white hat search engine optimization, your website might still get dinged by an algorithm update or a change in Google policies. So, what do you do when Google penalizes you?

1. Assess the Impact

Find out exactly what traffic you’re losing and when you started losing it. If you know the impacted areas, then you can diagnose the problem.

Ask:

  • When did traffic start declining?
  • Is it specific pages or all pages?
  • Is it brand, non-brand, or both types of keyword traffic?
  • How significant are your losses?

2. Find the Issues

Google’s penalties are usually based on something that you did. It may have been accidental or something that was previously acceptable, but your penalty will be explainable with some research.

Review your Google Search Console data and use a link checker to find crawl issues, then look at your server logs, and talk to your web team about recent changes.

3. Correct the Issues

Your issues might come from anywhere. For example, you might need to update your SSL certificate if it’s security problem or remove paid links. Whatever the problems, take the time to thoroughly clean and fix all issues.

4. Ask Forgiveness

Once issues are fixed, you need to have Google review your site. Resubmit your site to Google via Search Console once you’re sure that all issues are fixed.

If it was an algorithm penalty, then submitting your sitemap should be all you need to do for Google to recrawl your site. If it’s a manual penalty, then you’ll need to submit a reconsideration request.

In either case, you won’t see an immediate change, so expect 5 to 7 days before either your traffic returns or you get a response from Google.

Learn more about SEO best practices by reaching out to Saba, Inc. and speaking with one of our San Diego internet marketing professionals. We offer complimentary consultations, free website analysis, and are happy to answer any questions you may have. Give us a call today at (858) 277-1717.

Content Marketing and SEO: The 1-2 Punch

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As a business, one of your primary goals should be to acquire more customers.

The problem is that the obvious methods seem to be too competitive. Search engines have trillions of websites competing for the top three positions in any given results page. Content on its own doesn’t attract new customers.

The solution is glaringly simple: combine search engine optimization (SEO) with content marketing. You can establish your website as an authority while reaping the benefits of ranking at the top of search engine result pages.

The Synergy Behind Content Marketing and SEO

On their own, content marketing and SEO are relatively straightforward subjects to understand.

Content marketing involves publishing content that expands your website, establishes your business as an authority, or pulls visitors from other websites to your own. Blogs and guest blogging are two fine examples of content marketing.

SEO focuses on making your website and your digital properties rank high on search engine results page. This involves creating content, retooling existing content, and focusing on ranking for specific terms that seem most profitable for your business.

Given the nature of these two marketing approaches, they form an incredibly strong strategy when combined. One strategy complements the other to produce results that neither strategy could necessarily attain by themselves.

Taking Your Results Further

The best part about a one-two strategy that uses content marketing and SEO is the way it aligns with other methods of marketing.

You can utilize social media marketing, paid advertisements, community creation, and more to drive traffic towards your content. This allows you to generate buzz, which in turn creates off-site links that point back to your content.

This allows content marketing and SEO to establish your website as an authority in your field. You will drive visitors to your content from search engines and other websites, which enables you to turn those visitors into happy customers.

Hard Work with Great Results

While content marketing and SEO can be hard work, they produce amazing results. Strong content enables your SEO gains to remain stable across search engine algorithm updates, and SEO drives new visitors to your website who will hopefully share your expert resources with other people.

Content marketing and SEO forms the one-two move that businesses need to form a strong foundation for their digital marketing efforts. Learn more about making your company more visible in the online world by reaching out to Saba, Inc. at (858) 277-1717. We offer a full range of online marketing services including social media, PPC, and SEO in San Diego. Reach out today. We look forward to your call!

 

Should You Use PPC If You’re Site Is Ranking Organically?

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When it comes down to it, there is one common question every business owners wonders in regards to digital marketing. How do I know decide between pay-per-click (PPC) or organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Since both of these are powerful facets of digital marketing, it can be difficult to distinguish whether implementing PPC is worthwhile if your site is already ranking organically.

PPC Versus SEO

With PPC, you are able to pay for traffic using platforms on Google Adwords or Yahoo. They work by presenting your site’s advertisements in the sponsored results section on the SERPs. What PPC costs depends on how competitive your keywords are and how many clicks your ads garner. In highly competitive industries, like insurance or loans for instance, keywords can cost as much as $50+ per click.

If you are on a tight budget, you do have the ability to increase visitors to your website for free by achieving high ranking with search results through search engine optimization. Keywords, phrases, and crawlable backlinks will enable search engines to find your blog when a person inputs a similar set of search terms.

While this method does often take longer to generate heavy traffic, the expenditure is next to nothing and you can learn to do it yourself through the myriad of free guides or reach out to an experienced SEO company in San Diego for a little extra guidance.

Maintaining Traffic with SEO and PPC

Using SEO and PPC in tandem can help increase profits, by as much as 4.5 percent according to one NYU study. Having a page that appears high in the search results makes your company appear more trustworthy, but seeing a PPC ad offers consumers a “second opinion”, which ultimately reinforces their decision to visit your site or select your services over a competitor.

If you choose to use both, make sure your site’s content is reflective of the keywords being shown in your ads and will pique the interest of your target market. You’ll also want to keep in mind, PPC needs to be utilized correctly because people are usually on guard when they see an ad. Sponsored links on Google have come to be viewed as product placement by consumers. Most don’t want to be sold something directly but want to discern for themselves whether or not they’re interested.

Considering one or both methods of online marketing? Let Saba, Inc. help! Give us a call at (858) 277-1717 for a free website audit and to learn more about our SEO and PPC management services in San Diego. We look forward to hearing from you!

What You Need to Know About Creating Eye-Catching Infographics

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As visual content marketing gains in popularity, more online marketing companies in San Diego are using infographics as an effective way to drive traffic and establish authority. If you’re venturing into the world of visual marketing, here are a few tips to create a killer infographic.

1. Gather and Structure Your Data

One of the most important aspects of creating an infographic is to pull pertinent data and ensure that it aligns with the project’s objective. The goal is to organize and present this content in such a way that it forms an easy-to-comprehend, visual narrative. Before putting numbers and stats on the graphic, however, make sure you double check information and verify sources.

2. Create the Story

Every infographic tells a story about specific trends through movements and processes in a clear and concise manner. Rather than throwing a bunch of numbers and graphics on a page, be mindful of how each item flows to the next. Good flow will keep the reader’s attention and help him or her remain interested in what’s being presented.

3. Build a Hierarchy of Elements

The main goal when creating an infographic is to avoid boring the audience by providing them with a thoughtful, illustrated graphic. One way to accomplish this is to maintain consistency with how the visual elements are presented. Establish the fundamental point first, followed by supporting research and facts.

4. Play with Elements to Guide the Eye

To create a cohesive infographic, utilize line, shape, and color. These basic design elements will establish a visual guide for your audience. For instance, placing numbers within circles or using dotted lines to lead from one section of content to the next are clear ways to keep the eye moving through the data. Variations in color can also be used to make essential information stand out, but take care to avoid clashing or visually abrasive hues.

5. Keep It Simple

It’s easy to get carried away when designing an infographic. Like most other things, infographics are best when kept simple. Stick to a limited color palette, opt for similar styles with images, and remain consistent with your font choices.

To learn more about visual marketing, call (858) 277-1717 and speak with a friendly marketing specialist at Saba, Inc. We help businesses increase visibility through SEO, social media, and San Diego PPC services. Give us a call. We are looking forward to speaking with you!

Facebook Ad Targets for SMBs

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It used to be that Facebook was the holy grail of free online marketing opportunities for small businesses, but Facebook reconfigured its advertising algorithm, decreasing organic reach and page visibility. While getting your business seen will cost you now, there are a few ways to target current customers and reach new ones.

Start with Your Current Customers

Why reinvent the wheel? Take the list of customers you already have in your database and ad them into Facebook as targets for your ads. It makes sense to continue to engage with this group, as they’ve already shown interest in your business and are more likely to respond positively to campaigns.

Pursue Your Website Visitors

Targeting visitors to your website who didn’t make a purchase is a good idea because this group has already shown interest or need in your offering. You can take this approach a step further by choosing specific website pages to target and gearing your Facebook ad toward the interests of those specific visitors.

Use Your Email List

Another target group you already have access to is your email list. Targeting adds to this group after you’ve sent an email increases their exposure to your business. People tend to trust companies that are familiar to them and may feel compelled to click your ad.

Take Advantage of Local Events

If you are planning to set up a booth at a local community event, you can search for attendees on the event’s Facebook page. Target ads to this list both immediately before the event to encourage more visitors to your table and after the event to bring continued awareness from the brand.

Reach International Customers

If your business appeals to international customers, it’s easy to utilize Facebook to reach this audience. It’s also inexpensive. Target ads to the locations most likely to convert in order to increase your prospects.

Marketing your business on Facebook will take a little creativity, a little trial and error, and maybe some outside help from an SEO firm in San Diego—should you need it. We also offer AdWords campaign management and website design and development. Call us at (858) 277-1717 and request more information today!

 

Why Even Small Businesses Need a Websites

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If your company plans to be a success in the 21st century, it needs a website. It is the ultimate tool to connect with customers, enhance brand awareness, and market to consumers without breaking your budget. Experienced San Diego SEO company Saba SEO takes a closer look at some other reasons why every company needs an online presence.

1) Everyone Shops Online

In 2015, online sales are projected to increase to $347 billion from just over $304 billion in 2014. A little over $76 billion in sales are projected to come from mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. Companies that don’t have a website, especially one that is mobile-friendly, won’t have access to these customers.

2) Organic Traffic Expands Your Reach

A small business or a niche business may not have the money to advertise regionally or nationally through television or radio spots. However, small or niche companies can create a website that anyone in the country can find and place an order through. This gives them a chance to increase brand awareness and business even if they don’t have a large marketing budget.

3) Keep Track of Your Marketing Efforts

Internet marketing is unique because it gives companies the ability to see in real-time how a marketing campaign is performing. For instance, you can see how much it costs per click on an online ad or how much it costs to acquire a customer. You can also A/B test to determine which ad or landing page gives you the best return on your marketing investment.

4) Interact with Customers With Ease

If customers have questions or concerns, they can send an email or chat live with a customer service representative almost instantaneously. You can also include an FAQ section, a map, directions, links to social media pages, and customer testimonials.

5) Nobody Wants to Visit the Mall Anymore

Even if you have a physical storefront, it is still worthwhile to have a website. This is because online shoppers have cited the ease of comparing prices, increased choice of retailers, and not having to battle crowds as major reasons to shop online. Therefore, creating a website meets a basic demand in the marketplace that will keep your company competitive in the long run.

Over half of all small businesses don’t have a website. In today’s marketplace, not having a website is not an option. If you don’t have an online presence, customers who shop online or find out about retailers online won’t even know that your company exists, which is not good for the bottom line.

If you could use some help with website design and development, we have you covered. We can also help you implement online marketing campaigns to reach your target audience and boost traffic to your site. Give us a call today at (858) 277-1717 to learn more!

Understanding Latent Semantic Indexing & How to Use It to Overcome the Competition

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Search engines constantly implement new algorithms and techniques for evaluating the endless amount of data that humans produce. Understanding how to leverage these new techniques will put you ahead of the curve, which in turn means you can outsmart other businesses.

Let’s take a look at latent semantic indexing before exploring how you can use it in your next online marketing campaign.

What Is LSI?

Latent semantic indexing (LSI) may seem like a mathematically complex subject, but it’s incredibly easy to understand. It is a mathematical way for machines to evaluate how words in a string are related to every known word.

It’s worth noting that LSI is not simply searching for synonyms. It searches for words that are related to the subject. For example, “Car dealership” may be related to “Toyota”, “Used Cars”, “Places to Buy Cars” and other similar terms.

How Can You Use LSI?

There are two main reasons you should incorporate tactics that appeal to LSI into your content creation campaigns:

  1. It helps to differentiate your word usage, which makes your pages look more natural and less like spam.
  2. It allows you to rank for similar words that you may otherwise miss.

The way you use LSI is relatively simple. You just need to use words that are related to whatever you may be writing about while varying your word choice enough to make your content appear natural.

This Means:

  • Deriving lists of LSI keywords from Google and other LSI tools
  • Including variations of keywords in the headers of your page
  • Using similar terms that are related to your main terms throughout your text
  • Incorporating alt text and other accessibility markup to describe things machines may be unable to incorporate, which includes images
  • Interlinking your pages to point to one page using both your main and LSI keywords

Looking for other ways to get a leg up on the competition? Turn to Saba SEO, the SEO agency San Diego companies trust for their online marketing needs. Give us a call at (858) 277-1717 and ask about a free website audit. We look forward to talking to you!

How Businesses Can Increase Facebook Likes

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Establishing a social connection with customers is an essential part of effective online marketing these days. With Facebook, this means getting more likes and convincing people to check out your page on a regular basis–and enticing them to share what they find with their friends. Achieving this goal takes a little creativity, some fresh, engaging content, and careful monitoring of results.

1. Add Some Bells and Whistles

You’re not going to inspire likes if you don’t add some pizzazz to your page. In addition to your company logo, a blurb about your business, and necessary contact info, include:

• Links to your website and other social media pages
• Appropriate video clips and product photos
• Selected categories and subcategories best describing your business

2. Don’t Hit People Over the Head with ‘Salesy’ Content

Okay, so you know that you need fresh, engaging content–just don’t make it all about getting sales. You’re more likely to get likes if you post content that includes useful tips or information related to your services or products along with other content that’s not a direct sales pitch.

3. Be Consistent and Be Seasonal

If it’s appropriate for your business, pay attention to seasons with your content. Such content is often appealing to customers who are randomly browsing. The key to generating more likes is consistency, which includes:

• Establishing rules for what type of content is appropriate if you have employees helping out with posts
• Setting up a schedule for posting new content
• Reviewing comments and using the content of user comments as the basis for new posts, especially if there are relevant topics you’re not addressing that are being discussed by visitors to your page

4. Make Sure People Know About Your FB Page

A “Like us on Facebook” tagline can easily be added to your website, email newsletters, print ads, and even your business cards. Facebook also has social plugins you can use to promote your page on your other online platforms, including a handy “Comments” plugin that lets others comment on your FB content via their account.

5. Offer Coupon Codes, Discounts, Sales Alerts, and Contests

There’s no easier way to encourage likes then to offer customers a discount or make them feel like an “insider” by offering sale alerts prior to adding such info to your website. Contests tend to be especially appealing–and a great way to encourage visitor participation.

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the tools Facebook offers to keep tabs on what’s going on with your page. For instance, you can improve audience targeting with Facebook Audience Insights, refresh your URLs with Facebook Debugger, and fine-tune your headlines with Headline Analyzer.

Want to know more? San Diego SEO firm Saba, Inc. can help! We specialize in content development, social media, website design and development, and AdWords management, using our skills to connect businesses like yours to their target audience.  Call us today at (858) 277-1717. We look forward to hearing from you!

How Facebook’s New Buttons Could Impact Businesses

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After receiving requests for years to include a “Dislike” button on posts in addition to the “Like” button, Facebook has developed a new feature call “Reactions” that will allow users to show their feelings for certain posts beyond the basic “Like”. Although it won’t be called a “Dislike” button, users will have more options to express how they feel about a post, including “Sad” and “Angry”. Beyond personal posts, the new scope of emotion buttons could have large effects on the social media marketing efforts of both small and large businesses.

Branding Efforts

Businesses working to create a particular image for their company often publish posts outlining their stance on certain issues. With Facebook’s new buttons, followers will be able to interact with these posts in a way that may not necessarily be beneficial for the business. For example, American Eagle frequently delivers messages about their American-made products. If Facebook users decide they no longer appreciate these messages of American patriotism, they will be able to express their discontentment with these posts. Once a post receives a high number of negative reactions, other followers may become skeptical of the information that American Eagle is distributing. If a large quantity of Facebook users criticize a company’s message using theses buttons, the company’s branding and internet marketing efforts could be seriously harmed. Over time, this could result in decreased business growth.

A Reactive Audience

The new feature will also offer opportunities for data analysis and growth. In the past, business owners could judge the success of their company’s branding efforts by how many Facebook users liked particular posts. Now, business owners will be able to see how many people actually feel upset, humored, or happy about their posts. By knowing exactly what social media posts customers positively respond to, business owners will be able to better tailor posts for their audience and satisfy customers.

Ultimately, the new buttons could put more accountability on businesses and improve the overall satisfaction of consumers. Facebook is currently testing the expanded buttons in Ireland and Spain, no word on when they will hit the American market.

For more information on using social media marketing effectively, give Saba SEO a call at (858) 277-1717. We are an experienced San Diego SEO agency helping clients in the U.S. and Canada improve their branding efforts and connect with their consumers through social media and online marketing.

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