Saba Digital Marketing

How to Create a Simple Marketing Plan for Social Media

Communicating with your customers via social media is the most popular way to achieve regular communication. The social media experts at Saba SEO, a leading marketing, web development, and SEO company in San Diego, offer these amazing tips to help you create a simple social media marketing plan.

Determine Your Audience

Revisit who your audience is, what they want, and how you can communicate with them. Who are your customers, and how do you want to reach them? You most likely determined who your audience was even before you created your first product.

Now is a good time to tweak what you know about your audience by using your current social media analytics. What is your audience sharing? What current social media outlet is sending customers to your site who make purchases?

Don’t forget to look at your competition and see how they’re engaging with your ideal audience. Are they missing out on opportunities hiding in plain sight?

Choose Social Media Channels Thoughtfully

Determine the channels your audience prefers, and amp up your overall marketing strategy. Figure out ways to expand on your current successful social media. Evaluate what is failing in low-performing social media.

Pick two or three platforms and focus on building up those social media audiences. Freshening up sites, whether they’re successful or not, is useful. Get current on what each platform has added. Make sure to update your profiles and solidify your branding with beautiful photography.

You may want to try some new features on your current social media. Publish an Instagram Story each week. Perhaps you have the most engagement on Facebook. Maybe this is a good time to start a Facebook group to develop a community and further engage with your audience. You may even want to create a weekly Facebook Live broadcast and then publish that on YouTube.

Make a Content Calendar

Create a content calendar to plan when you’re publishing your social media. Consider trends, holidays, and other events that affect your brand. From there, create themes and content that might engage your audience and pique their interest. Next, determine who will be creating this content. The social media team can work with other experts within your organization to create content that is unique to your brand.

One easy rule of thumb is to divide social media into thirds. One third is promoting your company or brand. The next third is sharing information from others within your industry. The last third is all about fun, which could mean sharing information from behind the scenes at your organization, or it could also be an influencer taking over your site for the day. This is an opportunity to surprise your audience and even show a side of your business that brings them closer to your brand. Make sure to use your social media scheduling tools to post your social media at optimal times. As always, revisit your social media strategy after six months. You’ll need to either tweak or repeat because of audience or platform changes.

For the highest-quality advice on social media and Internet marketing, San Diego businesses turn to the professionals at Saba SEO. For more than ten years, we’ve provided outstanding service in several specialized areas, including social media management, SEO, SEM, web development, and web design. We’d love to help with your social media marketing strategy, so call one our knowledgeable consultants today at 858-277-1717.

Mistakes Small Business Owners Need to Avoid

Starting a small business can seem overwhelming. The biggest fear new small business owners face is failure. The best way to avoid failure is to learn from the mistakes of others and heed some advice from reliable marketing companies. San Diego businesses as well as companies all over the world need to avoid making the following mistakes.

Failing to Create a Marketing Plan

Create a marketing plan and use it as your guide to small business success. A marketing plan is your directional compass to refer to as you embark on your small business adventure. Without writing down your marketing plan, you’ll likely waste resources instead of basking in success. Know who your customer is and which social media platforms you want to use, and have markers for creating your infrastructure and milestones.

Mistaking Branding for Marketing

Brands are built by people, not logos. Get customers before worrying about building your brand. You need to test your ideas or products through many venues to see where your audience is. Monitor the reaction to each marketing attempt. In the end, your brand will be built by customer recommendations. If you market to a specific niche, the branding will quickly develop.

Not Testing the Market

Don’t spend your time, energy, and money creating your product before talking to people to see if they even need this product or know how to use it. Market it first. One of the most common mistakes small business owners make is making the product before marketing it to potential customers. Even if you don’t have a prototype, ask your friends if they would pay money for the product you’ve invented, then test it out. This feedback is essential to pinpointing some of the features and benefits of your product or service so you can promote it.

Choosing the Wrong Social Media Outlet

Social media may look daunting when you begin your small business. Deciding which platform to focus on and creating a plan is key to social media success. Certain audiences gravitate toward certain social media platforms. Know everything there is to know about your audience, and you’ll know which platform to focus on.

Trying to Market to Everyone

Pick a single audience to market to. Even if your product can be marketed to many different audiences, sharpen your focus on one audience and dominate that niche. Later, you can expand your market to include other audiences. To market to a second audience, you’ll need to create a marketing plan around them.

Many small businesses make mistakes when trying to tackle their own Internet marketing. San Diego is home to Saba SEO, a leading SEO company small businesses can rely on to help them avoid such errors. To find out how we can help your business thrive through SEO, social media, PPC, and much more, give us a call at 858-277-1717.

Tools You Can Use to Promote Your Content in 2019

Creating great content is only a small part of running a business. Finding influencers and readers to consume and promote is just part of the battle to get new customers to your site. How do you seamlessly promote your high-quality content to potential customers in 2019? Marketing companies in San Diego such as Saba SEO suggest using tools to build your social media audience, find influencers, and utilize best SEO practices to uncover customers you have yet to reach. Here are some great tools to help you promote content in 2019. Best of all, they’re all free.

Medium

Chances are, you’ve read a Medium post or two. This massive blog has over 100,000 million monthly engaged visitors you want to attract. The best part is you can republish posts on this free site.

BuzzSumo

How do you find influencers who are willing to work with you? BuzzSumo can help you find these well-connected influencers who can bring their traffic and customers over to your platform. This isn’t all BuzzSumo does. They can help you find trending or about-to-trend content, allowing you to be at the forefront of trends.

Triberr

Triberr helps you connect with your tribe and get more shares. They work with bloggers and influencers of similar communities to support each other with the content they create and promote.

IFTTT

If you’re tired of tweeting a photo from one social media platform only to get a photo-less link on Twitter, IFTTT can solve that problem. This free service boasts that it can connect all your apps and devices so they work together, not against each other.

Viral Content Bee

Viral Content Bee connects like-minded content promotion groups. In turn, these communities share each other’s content.

Zurb

You have your customer’s email address. Now, how do you get the customer to open the well-researched, trending content you’ve sent? Zurb gives you a glimpse into what your message looks like on a mobile device before you send it. You can step into your subscriber’s shoes and see your subject line and the pre-header text in the email feed, which means you can tweak it before you send it out and give your email a better chance at being read.

If you’re looking for fresh ways to get your content read by potential customers, Saba SEO is here to help. We are a leading San Diego web development company with over a decade of experience in search engine marketing, optimizing content, and social media management. To schedule an appointment with one of our SEO experts, give us a call today at 858-277-1717.

Content Marketing Statistics Every Business Should Know About

In today’s world, it’s a given that a content marketing strategy is no longer optimal for most businesses. However, an effective strategy involving content marketing is one that evolves and changes to reflect trends and embrace emerging technologies. Results from a recent report based on input from marketers around the world can give you a better idea of what content marketing stats you need to know about as you plan or fine-tune your own strategy. The trusted content marketing experts at Saba SEO, a leading provider of San Diego SEO services, share some interesting statistics related to content marketing.

Realizing the Power of Content Marketing

Approximately 70 percent of B2B content marketers surveyed believe their strategy is “much or somewhat more successful” than it was a year prior. This particular stat suggests more B2B marketers are seeing the power of effective content marketing firsthand and are allocating more time and resources to it. In fact, half of the respondents said they expected their content marketing budget to increase over the next year.

Content Marketing Commitment

A content marketing strategy is only going to be effective for businesses if there’s a strong commitment to making it work. Luckily, there are compelling stats suggesting more businesses are becoming aware of this fact. Illustrating this point is the fact that 93 percent of the most successful B2B content marketers say their business or organization is “extremely or very committed” to content marketing.

Lack of Documented Strategies

Approximately 65 percent of successful content marketers have a documented strategy in place. However, only 39 percent of all marketers surveyed were able to say the same thing. Part of the reason for this may be because some businesses prefer to discuss their strategies without formally writing them down to allow for some flexibility.

While it’s understandable to have this attitude with content marketing, there are some compelling benefits associated with having a documented strategy, including:

  • Getting everyone on the same page quickly
  • Avoiding redundancies with content preparation and distribution
  • Minimizing the risk of having different marketing teams focused on different goals and objectives

Content Marketing Distribution Methods

As for how marketers prefer to present their content to the intended audience, 61 percent of B2B content marketers reported increasing their use of social media over the past year. What’s great about social media is the ability to tap into data to target messages to the right audience at the right time, and apparently more marketers are realizing this. Here are some additional stats related to content distribution:

  • Approximately 66 percent of B2B content marketers distribute content with paid methods, suggesting more marketers know organic promotion alone isn’t enough. Most B2B marketers are using paid methods to attract a new audience, generate more traffic, reach a niche audience, and give new life to old content.
  • Nearly 74 percent of B2B content marketers say they’ve developed or used long-form content within the past year, which seems to go against conventional wisdom that suggests content has to be short because of reduced attention spans. People tend to appreciate more detailed content as long as it’s relevant and well prepared, suggesting what’s included in content is more important than sticking to a strict word count limit.

There’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach to content marketing. Still, there are some key takeaways from these stats you can apply to your own strategy. First of all, look at how well your current strategy is working. Also, consider your budget, your ability to adapt to new technology, your business’ maturity level, and your content marketing goals. Lastly, factor in your ability to track results and accurately measure your ROI. Roughly half of respondents say they measure ROI, but any business diving into content marketing should be doing this on a regular basis by focusing on clear goals and objectives.

If you’re looking for a trusted solution to your content marketing concerns, reach out to Saba SEO. We are a leading Internet marketing, SEO, and web design company. San Diego businesses and companies across the globe rely on us for good reason. To schedule an appointment with our SEO experts, please give us a call today at 858-277-1717.

Classic SEO Tactics That Never Grow Old

For years, old-school SEO tactics have been considered disastrous for anyone who wants to build an online business. However, there are still some old gems you can benefit from. Here are the top classic SEO tactics that never get old, brought to you by the experts at Saba SEO, a premier San Diego SEO agency.

Make It Obvious

Have you ever found yourself wondering why sites with bold used car lot–type pitches are so successful? Odds are, these colorful sites are easy to navigate for the normal person. Most of all, customers can see the “buy” button because the site isn’t ashamed to admit they want your business. Don’t be afraid to be old-school bold and make it easy for customers to buy from you with easy-to-find buy buttons.

Always Follow Google’s Rules

Even if you aren’t sure whether Google can catch you cutting corners, still follow the rules. Always create rich content and link from authoritative sites. This old-school hack prevents you from panicking when it’s confirmed that Google can see you shirking on best SEO practices.

Keep Your Code Lean and Mean

One important old SEO tactic was to keep your coding lean to maintain site speed. Nowadays, site owners add extra plugins and/or code scripts for a lot of fancy website features, and they often end up slowing down the site. Go old school: avoid the extras and watch your speed increase.

Be Selective About Sharing Links

Sharing links between your websites can backfire on you. All of your sites could be negatively impacted, so protect yourself by avoiding shared links among your webpages.

Use Tact

Recently, many successful online business owners have been more than open about the easy financial rewards from their sites. Their six-figure boasts may even seem a little excessive. This is where discretionary tactics may be best. When similar businesses analyze your success, they may find your weaknesses and perhaps improve upon them as you continue to rest on your laurels. Keeping your cards close to the vest is an old tactic that doesn’t get old. Privately enjoy your success, but don’t let it be an incentive for hungrier competitors to find your weaknesses.

Just because an SEO tactic is old doesn’t mean it’s not still useful. If you need help deciding which SEO tactics to employ for your business, call on Saba SEO. We’ve worked for more than ten years to become one of the leading San Diego SEO companies. We offer a variety of services, including Internet marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, online reputation management, and website development. To maximize your SEO strategies, call us at 858-277-1717 to talk to one of our SEO specialists.

Simple Ways to Enhance Organic Video Results

More than half of all online users watch video content every day, and it’s predicted that video will soon make up more than 80 percent of all Internet traffic. These stats show how important video content is today. Google has even replaced their video boxes with a video carousel to make it easier for desktop users to view videos. Plus, more than 90 percent of mobile video viewers actively share this type of content. If you’re looking to boost your organic video results, you first need to cover your bases. Here are a few tips for driving more traffic to your videos, provided by the experts at Saba SEO, a leading San Diego SEO agency.

Assess Your Current Video Library

Before you start budgeting for new video content, look at what you already have. You may not be getting the expected results because of some basic oversights on your part. Have you categorized, identified, prioritized, and optimized everything? If the answer is no, here’s what you can do:

  • Look at your video metrics to see what’s getting viewed and what platforms are producing the most video engagement (e.g., views, shares, likes, comments)
  • Do some keyword research to see what terms or phrases from your video content can be used as keywords, or better yet, make an accompanying transcript of your video content so you can optimize it even more
  • Look at search engine results page results for your target keywords to see what kinds of videos show up prominently to get an idea of what searchers expect

Address ID Video Content Gaps

Check out popular search queries to see what kind of questions searchers are asking in relation to your products or services. Answer the Public is an excellent tool you can use for this purpose.

For instance, let’s say you have plenty of videos showing all of the amazing benefits associated with your biggest selling product. However, you discover that many searchers are looking for guidance with initial setup and installation. If this is the case, you can fill the gap by producing some how-to or FAQ videos related to this product.

Put Relevant Videos in Your Website Content

Looking for opportunities to add relevant videos to your various webpages is a great way to get more page views, which can also keep visitors on your site longer. You may even be rewarded with more conversions and a boost in brand awareness. Embedded videos can be used to:

  • Highlight new products
  • Get visitors curious
  • Make big sale or discount announcements
  • Provide an overview of your business so you don’t have to rely so much on text alone

Expand Your Keyword Focus

Don’t default to using the same keywords from your website for your video titles and descriptions. Instead, look for opportunities to use some keyword variations. For example, instead of “XYZ Company office management software” you might use the keyword variation “XYZ Company office management software implementation” for your video description to target searchers looking for ways to use your software.

Also, see what kind of video content your competitors are producing. Dig a bit further to find out which keywords they’re targeting. Don’t copy their video content exactly, but you might get some ideas about how you can engage your desired audience more effectively. Don’t forget to include clickable links within your video content to give viewers access to more information about your brand, products, and services.

Visual content has taken over the entire digital space, and the competition to stay on top gets fiercer every day. If paid marketing doesn’t seem like a viable option, you must rely on organic results. However, organic marketing can be challenging to navigate without the assistance of experienced SEO experts. If you’re looking to enhance your organic video results, turn to Saba SEO. As a pioneer SEO company in San Diego, we have over ten years of experience in website development, search engine optimization, and social media management. To learn about our results-driven strategies, give us a call at 858-277-1717 today.

Google My Business Mistakes to Avoid

Google My Business (GMB) is a handy free tool that makes it easier to spread the word online about all of the wonderful things your business offers. Because GMB listings appear in both search and Google Maps results, there’s a lot of visibility potential here. However, if you’re making some common GMB mistakes like the ones discussed below, you’re not going to reap the rewards associated with a properly optimized GMB listing.

No matter if you’re an enterprise level business, an SMB, or a startup, having GMB ensures your business profile appears in the local search. However, setting up a profile or optimizing it requires technical knowledge. The digital marketing experts at Saba SEO, one of the leading San Diego SEO companies, have put together a list of mistakes businesses often make while setting up their profiles on Google My Business.

Unclaimed Listings and Closed Businesses

The biggest mistake you can make is simply not claiming your GMB listing. If you fail to do so, you run the risk of competitors claiming it or potential customers seeing information that’s misleading or inaccurate. Claim your listing by going to the Knowledge Panel in your Google Account and selecting “Own This Business.” If your business closes, mark it “permanently closed” in your GMB dashboard.

Missing or Incorrect Information

The second biggest GMB mistake you can make is to have a listing with missing or incorrect info. Commonly overlooked details include:

  • Website URLs
  • Business hours
  • Phone numbers

If you make changes to your business hours, get a new phone number, or relocate your business, don’t forget to update your GMB info. The last thing you want is angry customers who show up when you’re no longer open to leave you a bad review and turn to one of your competitors instead.

Not Responding to Reviews, Comments, or Questions

Even some businesses with perfectly optimized GMB reviews make the mistake of ignoring all reviews—both good and not-so-nice ones. Since online searchers tend to zero in on the reviews that show up with business listings, a lack of response may unintentionally suggest you simply don’t care about your customers. You can also turn customers off by ignoring general comments and questions. Remedy this problem by:

  • Having a policy in place for responding to negative reviews/feedback
  • Using the new Q&A feature to answer questions concerning your business*
  • Thanking customers who post positive reviews

*You can also post your questions, so take advantage of this ability to present answers to FAQs pertaining to your business

Not Utilizing Photos to Your Advantage

Some businesses limit their GMB listing photos to the default street view and whatever customers submit. The problem with doing this is that you have no control over the quality of customer-submitted photos. Plus, Google sometimes pulls photos from related social media accounts, and they sometimes grab images from the wrong accounts. Instead, make your listing more appealing with:

  • A series of interior and exterior shots
  • Photos selected or submitted by your own employees and customers you personally approve
  • A 360-degree tour of your business location

Also, check “located in” references if you have a business that’s located within a mall, shopping center, or another business. Make sure GMB is showing the correct “located in” info so you can fix it if it isn’t right. Do the same thing with map points meant to show where your business is located. Finally, get into the habit of performing a Google My Business audit periodically to confirm everything is still properly optimized and listed.

By avoiding the mistakes mentioned above and listing your business profile in Google My Business, you can harness the power of local SEO. Whenever people search a local business, they will see your business in the local search bar. If setting up your business profile on Google My Business seems difficult, consult Saba SEO. As a premier internet marketing service provider in San Diego, we have extensive experience in search engine optimization, web development, internet marketing, and content development. To learn about our high-quality search engine marketing services, give us a call at 858-277-1717 today.

Things Google Wants on Every Website

Knowing what Google wants on your website can help your site rank higher and get more visitors, which is like a roadmap to online success. By doing the things Google wants on your website, you’ll be rewarded. Here are a few things Google wants on every website, listed by the industry experts at Saba SEO, a leading San Diego SEO company.

Sitemap

When you create a website, you need to file a sitemap to let Google know what your site is all about. A sitemap will help the Google bots crawling over your site determine your online authority.

Rich Content

Content that focuses on a primary keyword, as well as secondary keywords and long-tailed keywords, is rewarded by Google. Make sure to avoid keyword stuffing, which involves overusing your primary keyword. Your primary keyword should be included in the headline and topic headers and conservatively throughout the page. Using other related keywords solidifies your expertise and web authority.

No Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization is when you have more than one page that has the same primary keyword. It confuses Google, and your ranking could be affected. By making some changes such as choosing your strongest post, altering the other posts that include the primary keyword, and linking all of the related posts together, Google will reward you.

Speed

Sites and photos that load slowly get bad ratings from Google. Consider upgrading your web hosting to ensure your site immediately loads. Reduce the size of your images so they load faster. Also, make sure you fix your website’s sluggish code or excessive plugins.

Responsive Design

Mobile is becoming king, and Google rewards sites that have responsive design. Responsive design means your content can be adjusted as easily on a mobile device as it is on a desktop.

Links

Google wants to see backlinks from other high-quality sites to your site. It also wants to see internal links from related material within your own site. This spider web of links solidifies your online expertise, and Google will reward you with an increased ranking.

Social Media

Google bots want to see your brand outside of your site. Google rewards sites that regularly engage in social media interaction.


With regular updates and changes in algorithms, Google has ensured that only websites who follow its guidelines are going to make big in the SERPs. You need to show compliance to Google’s guidelines. No black-hat strategy is going to work now, since Google endorses white-hat SEO only. Websites that don’t follow Google’s directions are most likely to get penalized. If you want to stay in Google’s good graces, turn to Saba SEO. As one of the leading SEO companies in San Diego, we have been in the industry for over ten years. Our services include website development, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online reputation management. To get your website built or maintained according to Google standards, call us at 858-277-1717 to talk to one of our SEO specialists.

Tips to Leverage Pinterest for Your Business Growth

Pinterest is an often underused form of social media that can help your business grow and get traffic to your website. However, Pinterest isn’t just for recipes and art projects for women. Currently, men are about 40 percent of all users. This platform can help you showcase your product, or even your service. Rated as one of the most distinguished San Diego marketing companies, the experts at Saba SEO share a few amazing tips on how you can use Pinterest for your business growth.

Create a Fully Loaded Profile

A completed Pinterest profile is the easiest way to grow your Pinterest traffic. A profile includes a photo image of your company brand or your distinctive logo. Make sure to name your Pinterest site with your business name to solidify your online branding strategy. Always include information about your business that clearly explains who you are and what you offer. Don’t forget to include the URL of your business so Pinterest users can find you.

Post Regularly on Pinterest

Just as with your blog or website, your Pinterest views increase with your activity. Views vary when you pin, but you should pin often.

Utilize Pinterest as a Search Tool

Businesses often forget that Pinterest is a valuable search tool and indexing machine. Pinterest users can search for a variety of terms and keywords to find your product or service. By using the same rules of SEO, as you do for your website, you can lead customers to your products.

Tell Your Story

Your business has a story to tell, and Pinterest is an opportunity to do more than share photos of your products. This is an opportunity to showcase your employees, show beautiful photos of your company picnic, and even share the inspiration behind some of your most popular products.

Cross Pin

Re-posting pins onto different themed boards can increase your business growth. For example, you may create a sports-themed hat that is popular all year round but could make a good holiday gift. Create a Christmas board and pin your product. Now your pin will be included for both those searching for a Christmas gift or for a sports-themed hat.

Take Great Photos

As with other forms of social media, good photos are a must for successful Pinterest pages. Use good keywords when naming your photos. Make sure your pins are 2×3, 600 x 900 pixels. The long giraffe pins are now penalized by Pinterest.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags are helpful in including your pin to a search result. You can add up to 20 hashtags that relate to the pin. The key is to include each physical item or use hashtags separately. For example, if you’re posting a gluten-free chocolate chip cake, you would individually hashtag the words gluten free, chocolate, and cake. Make sure to note that hashtags are only useful on Pinterest if they relate to the items included.

Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest has been the best platform for businesses. Pinterest offers relevant results to users. Its features like brand promotion, search engine optimization, and analytics with actionable insights have been a must-have strategy for business growth. If you want to grow your business using Pinterest, then Saba SEO is the right fit. We are a pioneer agency specializing in internet marketing. San Diego businesses and companies all over the globe can talk to our marketing experts at 858-277-1717 to find out how we can help you grow your business.   

Dos and Don’ts of Meta Tags

Over the years, meta tags have been important in SEO ranking. Meta tags are the way Google and other search engines can quickly determine what your content is about. Although Google no longer uses meta tags for ranking, it doesn’t mean you need to ignore them. They are still key in search engines to determine the overall content on a page. The idea is to create meta tags that can boost your SEO. Here’s a checklist by the industry experts at Saba SEO, a renowned San Diego SEO company.

Meta Tag Titles 

  • Don’t create a title longer than 65 characters. Do write a title that has around 50 characters.
     
  • Don’t create a random title. Do your research and use your primary keyword at the beginning of the title. Do use a secondary keyword near the beginning of the title, as well as your brand or product within the first 50 characters. 
  • Don’t create a confusing title. Do try to make it concise and easy to read.

Meta Tag Descriptions

  • Don’t create a meta tag description longer than 240 characters. Do write meta tags that are around 155-160 characters long. 
  • Don’t insert your primary keyword at the end of the meta tag description. Do include your primary keyword in the beginning of the description.
     
  • Don’t include misleading clickbait in the meta tag description. Do include a concise and accurate description.
     
  • Don’t forget invitations to check out your product or site. Do remember to include a CTA (call to action) that solves a problem or gives a potential customer incentive to check out your site, like a free offer or shipping.
     
  • Don’t leave out punctuation. Do include a period or an exclamation point at the end of your meta tag description. 

Meta titles and descriptions can increase your click-through rate, a potential ranking factor. They’re used as a hook to grab attention and make people click your page. Meta tags are usually not visible to the readers, but they’re important for the search engine robots. Having meta titles and descriptions isn’t enough for SEO. Meta tags also include canonical tags, robot tags, and HTML tags. Optimizing a website requires technical knowledge and hands-on experience. At Saba SEO, our team of SEO specialists can create an SEO strategy to increase your online rankings. As a leading SEO company in San Diego, we have over ten years of experience in search engine optimization, content development, web design, and social media management. To talk to one of our professional SEO Managers, give us a call at 858-277-1717 today.   

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