Saba Digital Marketing

Does Email Marketing Still Work?

These days, with social media and other methods of reaching customers, you may be reconsidering email marketing altogether. Often, organizations are concerned their emails will end up in spam folders, so they avoid efforts at marketing through email. Is email marketing still a viable option? The marketing experts at Saba SEO, a leading San Diego SEO and marketing firm, offer this advice on how to achieve effective marketing with email.

Maintain Control with Email

As social media formats like Facebook and Twitter change their algorithms, your business page and message have to work harder to get into your customers’ feeds. Email gives you the control you need to ensure your customers are getting your latest information. Building a solid mailing list gives your business options.

Keep Emails Out of Spam Folders

Create something of value for free, such as an infographic, tip list, calendar, or other item your website’s visitors will find valuable. Let these potential customers know they’re signed up for your email list, and give them basic instructions on how to keep your emails from going to their spam folders.

Send Newsletters

A regular newsletter is a great way to share knowledge related to your business. Make it fun, interesting, and easy to read. A list is an easy format for your subscribers to digest. Write the newsletter as if you’re writing to a close personal friend. Invite your email subscribers to visit your site by previewing your latest blog post. Offer links to video and other interesting visual information related to your business. Don’t forget to include links to your latest news, online webinars, and publications.

Include Calls to Action

Offer a call to action. Include testimonials, high-quality photos, and information on your latest products. Make it easy for customers to find the buy button.

Offer Surveys

Offer a survey specific to your niche. You can even create a survey about your business and ask what your customers need. Publish the results of the survey and implement some of the ideas suggested.

A comprehensive marketing strategy should include several modes of communication, and emails can be quite effective. If you need expert assistance with creating an email marketing strategy or revamping your existing one, the professionals at Saba SEO, one of the top San Diego marketing companies, are here to help. For more than a decade, we’ve helped businesses of every type maximize their marketing efforts, build loyal customer bases, and boost revenue. Reach out to one of our marketing specialists today at 858-277-1717.

4 Essentials for Building a Successful SEO Strategy

SEO is more than just three simple letters. Search engine optimization is a concept that involves pretty much everything you do online to attract the right kind of attention from both searchers and search engines. It’s surprisingly easy to overlook some optimization essentials as you put together your brand’s SEO strategy. The professional web design experts at Saba SEO, a premier provider of SEO services San Diego businesses rely on, offer these key building blocks that can get you on the right track with your brand’s SEO efforts.

1. Crawlability

With crawlability, most retail brands overlook robots.txt updates, which tell crawlers which pages to scan and which ones to skip and then submit them to Google. Be aware that Flash and Silverlight content, which is invisible to crawlers, needs to be converted to a format like HTML5 or JavaScript so crawlers can read it. Your sitemap also needs to be updated to help search engines ID URLs related to your brand’s site.

2. Content Optimization

Having well-prepared content that’s relevant to your intended audience is a good start, but it also has to be properly optimized to catch the attention of search engines. In a nutshell, content optimization involves:

  • Researching keywords diligently—Google’s Keyword Planner tool can help you out with this
  • Identifying your top-performing pages as well as your underperforming ones—use Google Search Console to do this
  • Making sure the content you want to rank well includes relevant keywords that line up with your target audience

3. Link Building with Influencers

Google pays attention to things like whether or not people are finding their way back to your site from your social media pages, blog posts, and other external sources. One way to snag high-quality relevant links back to your site is to reach out to influential bloggers or social media users who fit into your niche. However, it can sometimes be time-consuming and costly to go solely after high-profile influencers. Consider also reaching out to some micro-influencers—individuals slightly less in demand who are active within your niche and have some degree of influence over your target audience.

4. Content Creation

Just because your content is great doesn’t mean there aren’t gaps. You’ll also need to provide a steady influx of fresh relevant content to keep both search engines and searchers happy. Make the content you create more appealing and beneficial to your brand by:

  • Using a tool like SEMrush to discover popular search terms you can leverage in your content
  • Prioritizing your keywords so you’ll know which terms to focus on more than others
  • Researching the questions people are asking in relation to your products or services so you can provide answers with your content

Setting yourself up to succeed with your SEO strategy is more important than ever today, since a third of U.S. consumers start their online purchases with some type of search tool. If you’re mindful of the building blocks discussed here, you’ll be more likely to develop a personalized search engine optimization strategy that will ultimately benefit your brand and your bottom line.

If you need help creating or fine-tuning your SEO strategy, reach out to the experts at Saba SEO, one of the most experienced marketing companies in San Diego. Our top-notch specialists can help you with marketing campaigns, social media management, web development, search engine optimization, and much more. To find out more about our high-quality SEO services, give us a call today at 858-277-1717.

Lessons to Take Away from Unsuccessful PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a form of paid advertising that allows you to connect with your target audience in a very personal and direct way. Many PPC success stories are certainly inspirational. However, there are just as many things that can be learned from a PPC failure, which is broadly defined as any campaign that fails to meet expectations, often in a way that produces very little return on the initial investment. The experienced professionals from Saba SEO, the trusted experts in Internet marketing, PPC, and SEO San Diego businesses rely on to increase targeted traffic and boost revenue, offer these suggestions for learning from a PPC failure.

You Need a Realistic Baseline

It’s possible to have success with less costly keywords, but there are times when you’ll need a certain cost-per-click minimum to get the kind of exposure you want for your ads. Do some research ahead of time to find out the average cost per conversion for your industry or niche so you have a better idea of what kind of baseline to keep in mind when you plan your ad budgets.

You Have to Know What Sells and Which Keywords Work

Even if you have a limited budget to work with, you can still turn a PPC failure into a success if you focus on the right products. Take a look at your existing shopping ads to find out what products are selling best. This way, you’ll be able to leverage a smaller budget by focusing on more profitable products. With keywords, PPC failures may be due to:

  • Failure to identify which keywords are leading to conversions
  • Not doing proper competitor research to see which keywords your competition is effectively targeting
  • Not paying attention to the keywords that aren’t generating sales—you can always use these as negative keywords that are purposely excluded from your PPC ads so you’re not presenting your ads to searchers who aren’t likely to be interested

Real Data from Real Queries Matters

A PPC failure can leave you with more than just a painful budget deficit. Use the data you got from queries real people and customers typed to get a better idea of where to focus your efforts with your next PPC campaigns. Tools such as Answer the Public can also give you an idea of what kinds of questions people are asking about your products or services so you know what to emphasize in your ads.

Finally, another thing you can learn from a PPC failure is the importance of testing ad copy. If this is a step you overlooked with a failed campaign, take the time to present a few different versions of your ad copy in your next campaign. Pay attention to which words or phrases perform best (e.g., “best-selling” vs. “top-quality”) so you can use them in future campaigns and the related landing pages linked to your ads. While nobody likes to fail, take comfort in knowing PPC missteps can sometimes lead to future successes.

If you need expert help with your online marketing strategies, call on the experts from Saba SEO, a premier SEO company in San Diego. Our AdWords specialists know the top PPC strategies and how to create high-converting directed ads that appeal to the customers who need your product or service most. If you want to find out if pay-per-click is right for your business needs, give us a call today at 858-277-1717 and schedule a complimentary consultation.

7 Ways to Make Your Headlines More Clickable

Most people are habitual skimmers, especially when it comes to choosing which piece of online content to click on and read. If a headline doesn’t catch a searcher’s eye within seconds, it’ll likely go unclicked no matter how awesome the accompanying blog article, social media post, email, or other piece of content happens to be. Luckily, there are some steps you can take to make your headlines and titles more appealing and clickable. The digital marketing professionals from Saba SEO, one of the leading content marketing companies in San Diego, offer these tips for creating irresistibly clickable headlines.

1. Keep It Simple

The most effective headlines are simple and direct. An easy way to streamline your headlines is to start brainstorming. After you have some “first draft” headlines, go back and tighten them up.

2. Be Specific but Honest

Most people skip over generic or broad headlines. Increase your odds of getting clicks by making your headlines more specific instead (e.g., “3 Ways to Write Better CTAs to Get More Conversions” instead of “3 Ways to Get More Conversions”). However, avoid making outrageous claims or promises you can’t deliver on. This is considered a form of clickbait, and it will only leave you with a high bounce rate and a not-so-good reputation.

3. Generate Instant Interest

It’s perfectly fine to get a bit creative and bold with your headlines as long as you keep your target audience in mind at the same time. Consider the following attention-grabbing headline additions:

  • Witty alliteration
  • Compelling statements
  • Numerics
  • New information or insights

4. Be Mindful of Character Length

In general, your headlines and titles should be as short as possible without losing their meaning. However, the best specific character length will depend on what type of content you’re presenting. If your goal is to have titles that generate clicks on search engine results pages, shoot for 70 or fewer characters. Just remember to include your main keyword/keyword phrase close to the beginning. With email headlines, do some experimenting to see how your titles show up on mobile devices to make sure important details aren’t being cut off, since most people check email with their various devices. With social media, optimal character length depends on the platform. For example, titles with about 10 words tend to work well for Twitter, while 12-word titles typically perform better on Facebook.

5. Address Common Problems

For this particular tip to be effective, you’ll have to tap into your data and really get to know your target audience’s common problems (“pain points”). For example, if you’re running a blog all about healthy eating, you might use “5 Ways to Avoid Bad Carbs” to target readers concerned about making healthy meal choices.

6. Pay Attention to Formatting

“Formatting” for headlines simply means using certain techniques that tend to inspire clicks. Research suggests the following formatting “tricks” help headlines stand out:

  • Odd numbers for a list
  • Hyphens/colons to add depth
  • Time-sensitive titles

7. Use Online Title Generators

For times when you’re stuck for headline ideas, use an online title generator. With most of them, all you do is enter your subject and/or description or a few keywords to get suggestions. To get a better idea of whether or not you have a winning, or “clickable,” headline, you can also do some A/B testing, which involves presenting two versions of a headline or title and then comparing the results.

Following these tips can help you boost your click-through rate, generate high-quality leads, and enhance your overall marketing strategy. For assistance with all aspects of Internet marketing, San Diego businesses trust the experts at Saba SEO. We have more than a decade of experience in digital marketing, SEO, and web design and development. For help with your online marketing, give us a call at 858-277-1717 today.

Top Off-Site Tactics for Boosting Local Search Visibility

One of the most important search engine optimization (SEO) strategies is local search. Even if your organization’s reach is international, local searches comprise over half of all mobile searches. Most importantly, strengthening your local SEO improves your overall ranking. Here are the best off-site optimization strategies for local search visibility, brought to you by the search engine optimization experts from Saba SEO, an industry-leading San Diego SEO service provider.

Verify Your Listings

Register your business on online sites such as Google My Business, Bing, and even Yahoo. Make sure you’ve filled out your complete listing, from address to phone contact. Don’t forget to include your website and social media information.

Utilize Customer Reviews

Positive reviews can boost your ranking and influence potential customers to visit. Facebook has business reviews, as does Google. Make sure to positively address negative online reviews to show your business does care and that you have good customer service.

Enhance Google My Business with Posts

Google My Business is still quite new, which means being an early adopter can increase your local search visibility. If you’ve filled out your contact info and the basic description of your business on Google My Business, this is just a start. Creating a post will further establish your organization’s expertise and give out more information about your business that the basic facts don’t reveal. Post a high-quality 750×750 image that includes your business keywords in the meta description. Include 100–300 words of text that describes your business or a product or service you have to offer. You don’t have to create an entirely new message from your website message. Using your main keywords, you can repeat the same sort of company message to further establish your brand and expertise.

Use Local Social Media

Using social media to increase your local search visibility is also helpful in increasing your SEO. Post about your organization’s events in conjunction with a local event, holiday, or perhaps even weather. Share photos of your business, employees, or historic company events.

Become the Local Darling

Participate in local events, donate items for local auctions, and be willing to go on television or radio to discuss news that relates to your expertise. This strategy will create backlinks from high-quality local sites and increase your local SEO.

You’ll be amazed at how much optimizing your local SEO can enhance your overall SEO strategy and boost your business’s rank. For further advice on state-of-the-art SEO practices and how to maximize your marketing dollar, rely on the SEO specialists at Saba SEO, a top-tier San Diego SEO agency. We’ve been helping businesses create and execute successful digital marketing strategies for more than 10 years. Call one of our SEO specialists today at 858-277-1717.

5 Tips for Optimizing Your Guest Blogging Strategy

Guest blogging can be an effective way to increase your brand’s visibility and give your credibility a nice boost in the process. Plus, it’s an inbound marketing strategy with the potential to drive more traffic back to your site, help you secure relevant and top-quality backlinks, and generate a bunch of viable leads. Keep reading to discover five of the best ways to up your guest blogging game, brought to you by the marketing professionals from Saba SEO, a premier SEO company San Diego businesses rely on for expert advice when they want to optimize their online visibility and boost revenue.

1. Build Relationships with Influencers First

Influencers are so named because they manage blogs that are popular within a particular industry or niche, so it should come as no surprise that it’s not always easy to catch their attention. Increase your odds of getting on an influencer’s radar before you submit blog posts by:

  • Commenting on existing posts
  • Sharing the influencer’s posts with others in your social circle
  • Introducing yourself on the influencer’s social media platforms

If you do build a relationship with an influencer ahead of time, you’ll be in a better position to make a pitch. Influencers are also more likely to show some love to guest bloggers if they’ve already seen some active engagement on their part.

2. Be Mindful of Your Target Sites

Some businesses assume guest blogging just isn’t working for them. Oftentimes, the reason for lackluster results is because the wrong sites are being targeted. Avoid this misstep by zeroing in on sites already being visited by a target audience that will likely be interested in your topics.

3. Prepare a Great Pitch

Don’t be surprised if an effortless pitch falls flat. Increase your odds of making your pitches winners by:

  • Finding out the host’s name and double-checking the spelling
  • Including links to your existing blog posts
  • Making sure your pitched topics are relevant to the site
  • Checking your spelling and grammar
  • Adhering to any listed writers’ guidelines

4. Offer Publish-Ready Customized Posts

Before you submit a post, do your homework and use free tools like BuzzSumo to find out what your target site’s top-performing posts are, then model your submission after those posts. Go a step further and check out their existing posts to see if there are any content gaps (e.g., topics they haven’t fully addressed or related topics they may have overlooked). Also, use a backlink profiler so you can discover your target site’s favorite external link sources and incorporate some of them into your posts.

5. Throw in Some Extra Resources

Further increase your odds of standing out from the crowd by offering a complimentary resource along with your post submission. For instance, if your post is about installing new kitchen cabinets with supplies available from your target site, you might include a “before you get started” checklist of what’s needed to perform this task. Some other possible options include:

  • Lists of related resources to encourage readers to get more info on your topic
  • PDF versions of your posts
  • Case studies, reports, white papers, or other forms of more in-depth content your blog post readers can explore if they wish to do so

One way to track guest blogging results is to compare your Google Analytics data from just before you get started to the data from a month or so afterward. Further filter your reports to see if you’re getting an uptick in engagement in the form of traffic, leads, and conversions related to the places where you regularly guest blog. Then you’ll have a good idea of whether you’re on the right track with your guest blogging efforts.

Guest blogging is a great content marketing strategy that can establish your industry authority and generate high-quality leads. If you need help creating high-quality content or developing your overall online marketing strategy, call on the experienced professionals from Saba SEO. For expert advice on SEO, social media, and Internet marketing, San Diego businesses rely on our expertise to boost online visibility and increase revenue. Give us a call today at 858-277-1717.

7 Tips for Optimizing Content for Your Business Website

Creating great business website content isn’t like creating any other sort of business content. Some of the rules are totally opposite. Online content requires some organization and planning to make your content more appealing and easier to read on a screen. Here are seven tips on how to write great business website content, brought to you by the experienced marketing professionals from Saba SEO, a premier choice when it comes to marketing companies San Diego businesses rely on for expert advice and high-quality service.

1. Divide the Content

Dividing content with bullet points or a numeric list is an effective way to easily display your information. This approach allows for a lot of white space around the content, making it visually appealing.

2. Separate Paragraphs with Headings

Separate paragraphs with short descriptive headings that refer to the information in the paragraph below. Some of the readers visiting your site may have a particular question or interest, and a heading can quickly lead them to the information they need.

3. Use Visuals

Include high-quality photos or infographics to break up text and make the page look more attractive. This is also an opportunity to incorporate branding by using images related to your product or organization.

4. Consider Readability

Your sentences should be short. The language on your site should reflect your product or organization. If you’re offering technological or scientific information, language at a third-grade level would be inappropriate. At the same time, describing your mainstream app in highly technical terms might instantly turn your potential customers away.

5. Include Sources

Always use reliable sources when introducing new or controversial information related to your offering, and link to the original source.

6. Put the Conclusion at the Top

Start out with the conclusion of your blog post or page content and then tell the story of how you got to that conclusion. Most website viewers will start at the top and won’t make it to the end like they might with traditional print publications. Starting with the conclusion may keep more curious viewers on your page.

7. Double-Check the Spelling and Grammar

You’re a professional who provides a good product or service. The best way to demonstrate your organization is an authority is to have perfect spelling and proper grammar on every piece of content on your website. Double-check your new content to make sure it’s error free.

With these tips, you can retain viewers’ interest, boost SEO, and gain new customers for your business. If you’re looking for more detailed advice on how to optimize your website, call on the web design experts at Saba SEO. Whether our clients need assistance with SEO, social media, or Internet marketing, service is our number one priority. For help with your website content, call one of our friendly team members at 858-277-1717.

5 Simple Ways to Create SEO-Friendly Blog Posts

Although blogging is often a website afterthought, being consistent with your website’s blog is essential for search engine optimization (SEO), which means you need to post regularly and provide relevant content. Are you doing everything you can to optimize your blog for the greatest success? Here are five easy tricks to optimize blog posts for SEO, brought to you by the digital marketing experts at Saba SEO, a leading provider of San Diego SEO services.

1. Scatter Keywords

Keywords should be scattered throughout your blog posts. Your main keywords should be in the title, preferably at the beginning. These same keywords should be in the first sentence of your post as well as in the final paragraph. Headings and subheadings should include the main keywords, but your main-keyword usage shouldn’t end there. Make sure to tag photos with your main keywords, and use your keywords in your SEO description and URL. However, just because you should repeat your keywords in these places doesn’t mean you should overdo it with keyword stuffing. Make sure to identify and use complementary keywords in your text, which are words that will add value and demonstrate expertise to your reader.

2. Utilize Social Media

Posting your blog posts to social media can bring new viewers to your site, which is why your keywords matter. If you have keywords social media users are searching for, your post will show up in search results. Also consider your social media when crafting introductions to your post. For example, Facebook has its own search engine, so including a full description of what the blog post is about and including keywords will help those social media users find your post.

3. Answer Questions

Make sure your blog posts answer questions readers ask. One tip is to check out your competitor’s site and see what questions their readers ask on social media or in the comment fields below articles and blog posts.

4. Use Natural Language

These days, readers are increasingly using voice commands to search for answers from Siri, Google Home, or Alexa. Consider natural language when creating blog titles and choosing keywords.

5. Offer Subscriptions

Offering blog subscriptions will alert interested parties that you have something new to say and content they want to read. Subscriptions are especially useful if you don’t consistently post blogs every day.

Offering valuable content in regular blog posts is one of the most effective ways to boost your SEO rank. If you need assistance creating and optimizing your website content for SEO, reach out to the experts at Saba SEO, a premier SEO company in San Diego. With more than a decade of experience in search engine optimization, website design and development, and social media management, we provide businesses with the tools they need to compete in today’s evolving digital marketplace. Give us a call today at 858-277-1717 to speak with one of our SEO specialists.

Best Content Strategy for Both Users & Search Engines

It’s quite possible to create content that will both attract users and rank on search engines. Creating an editorial calendar to schedule your content strategy will ensure both users and search engines rank. Even if you created a content strategy years ago, it’s time to tweak your strategy now. Your business and audience have evolved, as have the search engine criteria. Here’s the best content strategy for both users and search engines, brought to you by the content marketing experts at Saba SEO, one of the premier marketing companies in San Diego.

Research Your Audience

Do you know who your audience is? What are they asking from you? Check your social media and gather up the frequently asked questions. Next, plan to create content that answers these questions.

Find Out Which Content Is Performing Best

Which content is working best for you? Look at your analytics to see which posts perform the best. Look for opportunities and keywords to expand on these popular topics. Consider changing or deleting underperforming content.

Evaluate Content Formats

There are many ways to disburse your valuable information. Tech or science-based companies publish white papers, while organizations may publish case studies or surveys. Many sites publish blog posts, e-books, and directories. Some even host podcasts. Figure out where you’re getting the best results from users and search engines. If some content formats aren’t doing well with either users or search engines, you may want to consider discontinuing those formats.

Make Posts Longer

Search engine optimization now rewards sites that publish blog posts around 2,000 words long. The content within the blog must be of value to your reader and include well-researched information, citations from experts, and links to reputable sites, all of which leads to improved search engine results and happy users.

Go Evergreen

Evergreen content is timeless. Avoiding any reference to the time of year or weather is a must. Instead, create content that applies to any time in the present or the future, no matter what time of year. This is the content that will keep performing well in search engines, and viewers will read it because it applies to any time period.

Look Organized

Making your content look organized is pleasing to the eye and keeps viewers on your website longer. This type of content includes bullet points, numbered lists, and paragraphs that are two to three sentences long. The white space around the content is aesthetically pleasing. It directs the reader’s eye to the words, making it easier to focus on the text.

When it comes to high-quality Internet marketing, San Diego businesses rely on the experienced marketing professionals at Saba SEO for content that ranks well and offers value to users. For more than a decade, we’ve provided businesses with exceptional SEO, website design and development, and marketing services. To take your content marketing strategy to the next level, call one of our marketing specialists today at 858-277-1717.

9 Ways to Produce Great SEO Content for 2019 Viewers

Search engine optimization (SEO) will continue to change in 2019, requiring more attention to detail. Every piece of well-researched information you share on your site educates your viewer, demonstrates authority, and ultimately boosts your SEO. The SEO experts from Saba SEO, a premier San Diego SEO agency, offer a few suggestions for creating your best SEO content in 2019.

1. Blogs That Take Deep Dives

Switch out brief blog posts of 300–400 words for in-depth features that are 2,000 words long. Sites that take deep dives into topics and write the definitive blog posts on them consistently rank higher. How do you achieve this? Create original, evergreen ultimate guides. These timeless pieces demonstrate your expertise and establish your authority. The blog posts should include comprehensive and well-researched material worth sharing.

2. High-Quality Writing

Not only is writing a longer, fact-filled blog post going to improve your SEO, but doing a good job writing the post will also help you rank. Well-organized and intriguing content will keep viewers on your page instead of going back to Google to find a better piece. The longer viewers stay on your page, the higher your site’s SEO ranks.

3. Speed

Site speed is key to a high-quality user experience. Nowadays, if a site is too slow, there are plenty of competitors for a viewer to switch to. Upgrade your provider package and go over your site to ensure viewers don’t encounter any speed issues.

4. Unique Content

Create your own point of view and carefully research your material to offer new ideas or information. Anything original and unique will improve your SEO and establish your site as a leader.

5. Lists

Create lists or step-by-step instructions on anything related to your content. Lists are useful to viewers, and Google could feature your list at the top of its first page of search results.

6. High-Quality Photography

Good visuals are key to the beauty of a site. Using high-quality photographs demonstrates that your site is authoritative, and your SEO will rank. Make sure to label your photos with information about what’s in the photo for added SEO benefit.

7. Citations

Always cite reliable sources and experts when stating a fact, as this gives your site authority and credibility.

8. Testimonials

Feature a page with testimonials for your product, a story about how your site inspired a viewer, or any other opportunity to share your customers’ positive experiences.

9. Detailed “About” Info

Share information about your business. Create a contact page, and have a bio written up for when you’re on a podcast interview or even guest blogging.

If you need expert assistance creating high-quality SEO content that boosts your ranking, call on the experienced professionals at Saba SEO, a premier provider of SEO services San Diego businesses rely on for expertise delivered with integrity. Our wide variety of services include search engine optimization, social media marketing, and website design and development. To optimize your SEO content, call one of our SEO specialists at 858-277-1717.

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