Saba Digital Marketing

Essential Members of an Online Marketing Team

An effective online marketing team can be just as essential to the success of a business today as the individuals tasked with monitoring finances and managing HR duties. When you’re ready to establish such a group, there are a handful of must-include players to put on your online marketing team.

The Team Leader

Whether the title is Marketing Strategist or Director of Online Marketing, the role of the team leader is to coordinate activities among team members, assign tasks, monitor results, and establish priorities. Ideally, a team leader should fit within your company’s culture and have firsthand experience of the various aspects of online marketing.

The SEO Expert

Maintaining current knowledge of search algorithms and keeping up with Google updates with regards to SEO is often a full-time task. This is the person who will be testing relevant keywords and phrases, monitoring results throughout your online content, and identifying potential issues and any areas of missed opportunities.

The Content Writer

Once the SEO framework is in place, fresh, engaging content needs to be produced. If having a separate content writer isn’t in the budget, consider using reputable freelancers.

The Website Designer

For the technical aspects of online marketing, you’ll need a website designer. This is the person who will create and update existing websites and blogs and respond to any technical issues that could slow page load times.

The Data Analyst

Data is essential to any form of online marketing. This person will keep all team members armed with relevant data, generate forecasts, and help identify trends.

The Social Media Manger

The social media manager is someone whose responsibilities will include tracking social trends, monitoring competitors’ social media activities, and timing the distribution of content across platforms. It’s an optional position that’s dependent on how much of a role social media plays in your business.

Learn more about developing the right team for success by reaching out to Saba SEO in San Diego. For small businesses or businesses with a limited budget, it’s not always in the cards to fill every position listed above. That’s where we can help. Find out more about our online marketing services by calling (858) 277-1717 and speaking with a friendly marketing expert today.

How Can Hashtags Increase Your Online Presence?

Hashtags can effectively boost your presence online and help organize relevant online content. If you’re one of the many businesses foregoing hashtags all together, take a moment to consider how the pound sign may play a role in increasing visibility among your desired audience.

1. Becoming a Part of Trending Conversations

Adding relevant hashtags to your posts allows your comments to become a part of a greater conversation. Twitter, the platform most often associated with hashtags, displays the top trending tags. Trendsmap is an independent tool that allows you to see what’s trending based on location.

2. Encouraging Others to Share Your Content

Hashtags can encourage others following the same conversation to share it without too much effort. While search engine optimization can help increase the visibility of your content, hashtags help by further cutting through the clutter.

3. Running Campaigns Across Multiple Channels

The hashtag has become the most-used social media identifier now that most platforms are using it. Hashtags within your posts can place your content in front of your target audience regardless of what platform they’re using.

4. Creating an Engaging Story

Since content can be conveniently strung together with hashtags, you can easily tell a story with multiple posts and images. Your “story” can be anything from a promotion for an upcoming event to a current marketing campaign leading to a big reveal at the end. Many social followers you’ll pick up along the way are likely to become curious enough about your brand to want to check out what you have to offer.

You’re likely to get twice as much engagement through effective tweets peppered with well-researched hashtags than messages posted without them. As a tool for online engagement and organization, however, the hashtag is only going to be effective when coupled with fresh, relevant content.

Saba SEO is a trusted San Diego online marketing company that specialized in social media marketing, SEO, PPC management, and website design and development. Call us at (858) 277-1717 to learn more about our online marketing services and request a complimentary website audit.

How Neuroscience and Marketing Are Connected

Marketing companies in San Diego are more focused than ever on trying to connect with consumers. Technology once relegated to the medical profession is playing a role in achieving this goal. Welcome to the world of neuromarketing, a relatively new field of marketing using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate the brain’s response to marketing stimuli.

Common Tests

While experiments in neuromarketing can be all over the place, one of the most common studies involves eye contact. The goal with such tests is to determine where the human eye naturally looks first when seeing an ad or reading some type of marketing content. Other common tests involve:

  •  Determining how the brain reacts to familiar brand logos
  •  Gauging the brain’s reaction when viewing the same ad with subtle differences
  •  Evaluating the impact of subliminal messaging in ads

Interpreting Data

There is no gold standard for evaluating and interpreting data from experiments. For instance, research conducted by a car company suggested similar brain activity for car drivers and jet pilots. The resulting ad was based on how the company interpreted those results, but it was far from being a valid conclusion.

Mind-Body Connection

More serious experiments in the field of neuromarketing attempt to determine what influences the decision-making process in the human mind. The purpose of such cognitive research is to pinpoint what it is in the mind that convinces a person to physically make a purchase. One study evaluated electrical reactions in the skin to determine how physiologically arousing certain ads were for test subjects.

The field of neuromarketing is not an exact “science” by any means. Factors considered can vary widely from one study to the next, with data often being more subjective than conclusive. When you consider that the human brain unconsciously evaluates trust within a fraction of a second, however, it’s still an aspect of marketing worth exploring.

Saba SEO is a trusted online marketing company, helping local, national, and international companies improve their marketing effort with SEO, social media, PPC, and website design and development. Reach out to us at (858) 277-1717 to learn more about our services.

Must-Have Resources for Content Marketers

If your content marketing efforts are only a part of your overall online marketing strategy, it’s safe to assume you could use a helping hand with content distribution and management. Read on to discover resources you can use to gain valuable insights and access to useful tools and reliable support.

Content Creation

Get a better grasp of content creation by brushing up on the basics and catching up on current trends.

  • Content Marketing Institute provides news on recent trends
  • Exacttarget.com offers an introduction to the basics of content marketing
  • Contently presents tips for creating newsworthy content

Content Distribution

After you get into the habit of generating fresh, relevant content, the next step is to effectively distribute that content.

  • TapInfluence is one resource you can use to “tap” into influencer channels
  • Dynamic Signal offers employee advocacy software programs to online marketers
  • SocialChorus can help increase visibility with an employee advocacy campaign designed to encourage your employees to effectively distribute your content and amplify your brand message

Social Distribution

Reliable resources like Hootsuite and Likeable Local can help present your content to your target audience via your social media platforms. There are plenty of easy-to-use tools that can make distribution and management of social content less demanding.

Content Utilization

Ultimately, your content is meant to be used in a productive way to benefit your purchasing funnel. From a marketing standpoint, you want to get the most bang for your buck, which means leveraging your content across all online platforms. DemandGenReport.com offers useful tips on content value and utilization.

Marketing Automation

Find the support you need to manage your content marketing efforts by taking advantage of resources available from HubSpot and Ontraport. Companies like these offer access to on-call consultants and software programs you can use to track your efforts without having to invest in added technology on your end.

Discover additional resources and learn more about creating a strong content strategy from the marketing pros at Saba SEO. In addition to SEO, we also use social media and PPC management in San Diego to help businesses drive traffic to their websites and grow their customer base. Call (858) 277-1717 today!

Best Sources for Trending Content

One of the best ways to increase visitors to your site is to write articles about trending topics. Unlike evergreen content, these articles nearly always appeal to readers’ current interests. While they might not have the same staying power as evergreen content, articles on trending topics are an important component in many content marketing strategies. Here are a few places to find fresh and trending topics.

Reddit

While it is fairly easy to identify topics that are currently trending, your goal should be to find popular topics before they go viral. One of the best places to look for this kind of content is Reddit. Most of the content on Reddit is sourced by Internet users who truly care about their particular niches, and if you look in the proper subreddits, you can find content directly from industry leaders and other respected individuals. Setting up regular email updates from relevant subreddits is a great way to consistently find useful topics.

Facebook and Twitter

Pioneered by Twitter and continued by Facebook, the hashtag is one of the most useful tools for discovering content through keywords. Online marketers in San Diego can visit these social media sites to find trending keywords and topics that can be used to engage readers and optimize SEO campaigns. For SEOs in search of data and popular keywords, tools like Hashtagify can be very useful. Hashtagify aggregates hashtag data from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and reveals keywords and their relationships to events and other terms. You may benefit from using DrumpUp, a tool that searches social media sites for popular content based on keywords.

BuzzFeed, Upworthy, and Other Clickbait Sites

Websites that utilize clikbait headlines often know exactly what their audiences want to read. You can go scan the headlines of some of the most popular sites that use clickbait tactics to find ideas that will engage and expand your audience. This can become a very long process, but you can use the WordPress RSS Aggregator to receive a compiled list of headlines from BuzzFeed and similar sites at particular intervals. If you prefer to work from your inbox, you can use FeedMyInbox.

Google Trends

Google Trends is an excellent tool for identifying long-term consumer interests and top articles. While it is not updated as quickly as social media sites, Google Trends can inform you about major interests. Content writers can use this tool to find a wide variety of information, including a year’s top songs and holiday deals.

Looking for other ways to drive traffic to your site? Request a complimentary consultation with Saba SEO, a trusted SEO company in San Diego. We help businesses increase online visibility through SEO, PPC, and social media. Call (858) 277-1717 today.

 

Creating a Balanced, Effective Marketing Mix

It’s not all or nothing when it comes to marketing. Effective marketing is often a mix of both online efforts like social media engagement and PPC and traditional offline strategies. Creating a balanced, effective marketing mix is a task that involves weighing your available options and determining where to allocate your available resources.

Determine Your Weaknesses

It’s impossible to create a marketing mix if you don’t know where to focus your efforts. For instance, a good portion of your target audience may be aware of your brand but they’re hesitant to complete a transaction. Consequently, your weak point within the purchasing funnel is the point of making a decision.

Have a Method to Your Madness

Understand why you’re doing what you’re doing before investing in it. If, for instance, you’re re-targeting your ads to better reach your audience, are you trying to improve consideration and comparison against your competition or do you want to work on boosting conversions? Then ask yourself if your solution is really likely to accomplish that goal.

Weigh Resource Allocation Against ROI

Determine an initial mix of efforts like SEO, email, social media, paid searches, offline marketing, display ads, and other marketing resources. Periodically determine how much you’re getting back for your investment into each endeavor. You may find that, for instance, you’re investing too much in pay-per-click advertising and not enough in social media engagement. No marketing mix is set in stone, so don’t be afraid to shift your allocations.

Don’t forget about data tracking. Many businesses make the mistake of not putting enough time and effort into tracking results and diving deeper into available stats to get a better idea of what’s really working and what needs to be fine-tuned. Through careful observation and active engagement, you can find a marketing mix that’s right for you.

Saba SEO is a trusted online marketing company in San Diego that specializes in PPC, SEO, social media, 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 You Should Know About Influencer Marketing

It’s not unusual for businesses to actively seek out people who have a large, dedicated online following to promote their products or services. San Diego internet marketing experts are making the argument that this approach to engaging with customers, referred to as influencer marketing, is the next big thing in marketing.

It’s the New Word-of-Mouth

Long before the internet even existed, word-of-mouth was a powerful marketing tool. Influencer marketing is today’s version of the same concept. Consumer-to-consumer recommendations also tend to result in higher retention rates.

It Encourages Social Engagements

Thanks in part to influencer marketing, businesses have shifted away from talking “at” potential customers and towards engaging in real conversations. Since potential influencers can be anywhere, more businesses have an added incentive to drive conversations with engaging content.

It’s a Source of Motivational Content

Several influencers recently posted pics wearing the same dress, and it became an instant best seller. This is evidence that influencers can help brands know what’s really motivating customers through the images and posts they share and content that can be easily repurposed.

Consumers Are Burnt Out on Paid Ads

Paid advertising in one form or another has been the gold standard for advertising for generations. Influencer marketing presents a new method of presenting options in a way that’s less invasive than endless paid ads, which tend to have very low recall rates.

It’s Good for Your SEO Efforts

If influencers like something you’re offering, you’ll get plenty of attention online and a boon to your search engine optimization efforts. The added references to your brand increase both awareness and visibility.

There are many tools, such as Appinions and SocMetrics, that can be used to identify potential influencers by geographic area and other specific criteria. Forming a productive relationship with influencers isn’t that difficult. In many cases, all it takes is an engaging social post to catch the eye of an influencer.

The SEO Guide When Moving Your Business

Your business may have physically moved, and while your website hasn’t changed, a new physical location can make your company harder to find online. Unless you revisit your current SEO efforts, customers who routinely turn to search engines for local business information aren’t going to be directed to your new location, which could unintentionally direct local customers elsewhere.

Start with Your Website

Search engine marketing agencies in San Diego recommend updating all relevant parts of your website first. Other than your contact info, this includes your “About Us” section and anywhere else your location is referenced. SEO updates on your website can also include:

• Website headers and footers
• Schema markup in your website code
• Replacing photos of your old office

Mark Previous Listings ‘Closed’

Do a Google search and close any listings for the business that previously occupied your location by submitting the edit in MapMaker to avoid causing confusion for searchers. Your Google My Business dashboard info should also be updated.

Enable a Map on Your Location Page

Create an accurate location marker for your new location by updating your Google Plus business page. Doing so also allows visitors to access any Google reviews for your business.

Update Billing and Government Records

Search your state’s Secretary of State website to update your business license. Listings for your monthly business bills should also be updated since Google sometimes pulls info from these sources.

Update Niche Directories

If your business is listed on a niche directory, such as a directory for dental practices, make sure your address has been changed on those sites. Update your major data providers and directories as well to change location info on the most common directories.

Periodically check for duplicate listings with your old address and make sure driving directions to your business are updated. Taking steps to update location information can help ensure that local searchers will still be able to find you online.

Managing SEO efforts in-house can be challenging, especially for small businesses. The San Diego SEO experts at Saba, Inc. can help your business build a strong online presence and climb the SERPs, before, during, and after your move. Give us a call at (858) 277-1717 and request a free website audit today.

 

Essential Elements for a Social Media Content Plan

If you want to get the most out of your social media marketing, you’re going to need an effective social media content plan. According to local San Diego internet marketing experts, such a plan should consist of your basic goals and expectations along with ways to actually achieve and track those goals.

1. Create Social Objectives

Haphazardly venturing into social media isn’t going to do your brand any favors. Before you start distributing content socially, take a moment to:

  • Establish short-term objectives
  • Outline long-term goals
  • Determine your expected ROI

2. Evaluate Your Current Social Engagements

There’s no point in forming a new social media content plan if you don’t know where you stand with your existing social content. Start by determining the answers to the following questions:

  • Who’s already visiting your social sites?
  • What are your competitors doing socially?
  • How much of your website traffic is coming from your social platforms?

3. Improve Existing Accounts

After you know where you stand socially, spruce up your existing accounts. Some of the steps you may need to take include:

  • Removing outdated content and comments
  • Adding relevant visuals
  • Confirming links to related sites you include are still active and relevant

4. Create New Social Accounts

There may be some social platforms you’ve shied away from previously. Take a moment to check out what other platforms have to offer to determine if there are some accounts that might help you better connect with your intended audience.

5. Establish Content Guidelines

If multiple individuals will be posting to your social accounts, establish guidelines about what’s appropriate to post and what’s not. Set a schedule for posting new content and establish a policy for responding to comments, even those that aren’t positive.

6. Test, Evaluate, and Adjust

No social media plan should be cast in stone. Things change quickly with social media, so be prepared to adapt and make changes based on the results you’re seeing and the trends you’re observing.

Take your social media marketing to the next level with help from Saba SEO. In addition to San Diego SEO services and social media management, we also offer PPC management, and web design and development. Call us today at (858) 277-1717 and request a free consultation!

How to Legitimately Drive Traffic to Blogs

It doesn’t matter how well written or informative your blog is if your intended audience isn’t finding it. The secret to legitimately driving traffic to any of your blogs is to avoid the temptation to stuff in keywords that have nothing to do with your content and focus more on creating engaging, optimized posts. Here are a few other tips from local San Diego internet marketing pros.

Choose Engaging Topics

Unless you’re going after a small niche audience, your content should be centered around topics likely to generate interest. See what people are talking about on Google Trends, BuzzSumo, Feedly, or on your social feeds, and find some topics you can legitimately work into your content.

Promote Your Blog Socially

Your blog shouldn’t be a standalone entity. These days, everything you do online needs to be connected to encourage sharing and promote your product via social media marketing, which means using your social platforms to alert followers when you add something new to your blog.

Create Eye-Catching Headlines

Most people skim before reading anything on a blog, which means you need headlines likely to convince browsers to stick around. A headline analyzer, such as CoSchedule, will give you a headline score to determine its likely impact. A few relevant keywords in your headlines also help drive traffic.

Check Your Load Time

Online audiences have a notoriously short attention span. According to one survey, readers expect a load time of two seconds. Blogs that take too long to load are likely to drive traffic elsewhere. Improve your load time by:

  • Removing unnecessary add-ons and using an all-one-plugin
  • Compressing images
  • Minimizing HTTP requests
  • Enabling browser caching

Even if you reach a point where you’re seeing an increase in traffic and eventual conversions on your website, readers will quickly move on if the content doesn’t remain fresh and engaging. The solution is to develop a posting schedule that works for you and take advantage of any metrics your blog platform offers to track results. To learn more about increasing blog traffic, or to create a content marketing strategy for your business, reach out to the online marketing experts at Saba, Inc. Through a combination of PPC, social media, and SEO in San Diego, we help businesses gain visibility in the online world. Give us a call today at (858) 277-1717 for a free consultation.

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