All posts by Samuel Lozano

Walking in the dark without website analytics?

March 5, 2015Online Marketing, Social MediaAbout Google Analytics, Google Analytics, Google Analytics guide, How to Google Analytics, web analytics, website analyticsSamuel Lozano

Most businesses fail to recognize the importance of metrics especially when building web presence. Without metrics, how would entrepreneurs gauge and find loopholes in their online business?

Metrics help identify patterns, trends, problem areas and forecast successes. Before making major decisions, startups consult their metrics. However, with millions of websites out there, tracking growth and competition on the web can be a real challenge.

Thanks to Google Analytics, collecting and analyzing data, monitoring and managing a site is made easier. This powerful, free tool is meant to clarify and shed light to businesses or Internet marketers by providing insight from keywords, design elements to any bit of information needed to improve online presence.

Newbies get a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure Google Analytics out. If you’re one of them and feel dumbfounded or your website has been walking in the dark for some time now, it’s time to be enlightened. Here’s our guide to the basics of Google Analytics:

Google Analytics Home

Once you have your Google Analytics account set up, the next step is to embed the code on your website.

Establish a profile for the website that you’d like to monitor and manage and the step-by-step process will automatically generate a script that you can copy/paste. If you’re using blogging platforms like Blogger, Tumblr, or WordPress or a content management system you only need to install the code once to your theme or template.

If your website is custom-built, you’ll need to manually embed the code on each page or get help from your web developer to assist you with it.

Copy and paste the code from Analytics to just above the <head/> tag in your page or template. Embedding this code will not affect your site’s visual appearance.

What Metrics can do for you

After successfully connecting your website to Google Analytics, click “View Report” on the initial screen. This will redirect you to the main dashboard. In the left column, you’ll find different types of data Google Analytics provides:

Visitors – This tells you how many people come to view your website including location, language, how often they visit, and the browser or computer they log in from to get to your site.
Traffic Sources –From here, you are able to trace which keywords direct people to your site and which sites link to your webpage.
Content – This tab provides information into specific pages on your site. It can tell you what type of posts are most popular and help give answers as to how people enter and exit your site.
Goals – In this tab, you’ll find relevant information and significant data on desired actions from users, registrations, purchases and download hits.
Ecommerce – This tab is only useful if you’re selling products online as it displays all inventory and merchandise information.

These tabs mainly provide insights about certain divisions of your website, including top content, audience engagement and loyalty.

Whatever data you choose to monitor depends on the concerns you have for your site. For example, if your site is heavy on text like a news site, regularly update with keyword searches to help boost your online presence.

The key to easing in with Google Analytics is figuring out where you would like to focus on most.

Setting up the dashboard

The Google Analytics dashboard will provide you a visual outlook of a summary report to your site’s data. If you wish to customize the dashboard with whichever reports you want seen upfront, just go to the left column, click on the type of report to display and click “add to dashboard”. You may also position reports on the dashboard by dragging and dropping or even deleting whichever you choose.

You can dig in deeper into information established by hitting “View Report” located underneath the report graphic on your dashboard. A full report on your chosen topic will pop up.

Adjusting the Calendar

Before analyzing information from your reports, don’t forget to tweak the date range found in the upper right hand corner. Note that it defaults to a month long range, ending the day before the day you’re viewing the report. For instance, on March 3, the timeline for the report would be from Feb 3 to March 2.) Hit on the date range box and a calendar will appear. You have the option to adjust it to track or monitor data on a daily, weekly, quarterly, or whatever time frame that works best for you.

If you’d like to compare reports from 2 weeks ago to last week or whatever time frame, just click “Comparison” underneath the date range tab. A second calendar will pop up for you to adjust the time periods you want to consider.

Data Reports and Graphs

You will discover that most of the reports in Google Analytics such as page views and conversion rates are presented in linear graphs with the topic and date range chosen. Hovering your mouse over the dots will allow you to see measurements for that day, week or hour.

If you want to change the metric you wish to see, you may do so by simply clicking the tab above the graph on the left. You will then be presented with the option to compare two reports against each other. You can also compare against the site average. This is especially helpful if you’ve established objectives, as you can compare conversion goals to site activities.

Just below the graph, you’ll see more information displayed with summaries and scorecards showcasing overall metrics including pages per visit and time on site. A detailed metric report can be found in a table below. You can choose to see the report in a pie chart or bar graph by hitting on the icons just above the and to the right of the scorecards. You also have the option to make the data more accurate through the “Find Source” box and just type in the keyword relevant to your search.

If you’re skeptical about a certain measurement term, hit the question mark icon next to it and an explanation box will appear.

Sharing Reports

You’ll find an email icon at the top of the reports. You may send the report immediately, set or preschedule reports to send or if you’re presenting the report, export it as PDF (Google Analytics recommends this best), XML CSV or TSV file.

With the help of our Google Analytics guide, by this time you are able to find out for yourself if this tool is something you would prefer to live with or live without. The question is – how do you intend to make your online presence grow and survive? Tell us your thoughts!

Beginners Guide To Online Marketing

February 24, 2015UncategorizedSamuel Lozano

A wide range of marketing strategies are implemented by companies to attract potential customers, build brand image and stay competitive in their respective industries.

Businesses often rely on traditional marketing mediums like broadcast advertising and print. With the latest technology, many owners are also investing on online marketing.
But why should you do too?

In today’s cut throat online competition, having a domain and an attractive website design is not enough to get more clients and higher visitor traffic and conversion rates.

It is also crucial to market your URL for search engine visibility.

Internet marketing is relatively younger than traditional marketing tools. It has been around for over 15 years. Given its short existence, it can be challenging to understand it. That doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of its power – you just need to understand the basics and work your way up from there.

There are many on articles about internet marketing that can you access for free. Unfortunately, there is one little problem – information overload. Even infographics are too much to digest.

For a beginner’s guide to online marketing, you can use this article to learn the basics . It is an easy to follow content that discusses everything you need to know in internet marketing, written in the simplest way.

Understanding your customers

Any kind of business relies on customers to make a profit. Disregard them and you’ll be better off closed. This also applies in internet marketing. You need to evaluate your customers.

What do they like? Why do they choose you? How do they respond to your advertising efforts? Understanding your customers can give you an idea on how to develop a more effective marketing strategy.

You should always build a strategy, whether online or offline, around your clients’ wants and needs. Remember marketing is knowing your customers.

Interests can vary from one person to another. You can narrow it down by identifying your business’ target market. What is the age group? Where are they located? Other important details that you need to look into are their interests, necessities and what will make them choose you over your competitor.

Aside from understanding customers and prospects, you should also learn how to keep them. It is ideal to have some talk with your current list of customers. This can prevent you from making premature online marketing decisions.

Developing a tangible marketing framework

Once you understood your customers, the next step is to create the framework of your online marketing strategy . The development stage can be frustratingly challenging. You will learn which you should invest in and determine if it is profitable.

A successful marketing campaign is based on strategic marketing positioning that yields to great ROI. Take a look of your customers’ buying behaviors and other valuable information. Putting yourself in your customers’ shoes is one of the most effective and simplest tools to understand purchase behaviors.

Brand development

Aside from gaining profit, a successful online marketing plan should also build your company’s identity. This step can also be a big challenge. You need to solidify what your brands stands for and tell it to your customers.

One of the best ways to tell your brand’s story is through copywriting. An engaging content is not all about grammar and spelling; it is about authenticity.

Just think about it fake photos, false guarantees and questionable advertising can send the wrong message. This can badly hurt your brand and reputation. As much as possible, be real and tell your story like you are having friends for dinner.

You won’t bombard them with too much information, would you? Keep your tone conversational and friendly. But say what you mean to say. Beating around the bush will only give a wrong impression to your clients. Remember telling your brand should entice human connection and interaction.

Tell a real and good story through videos, blog posts and other types of content strategies. A good brand story should be effective even offline.

Start Building Website Traffic and Conversion Optimization

Having an amazing website design, the best products and most courteous customer service won’t get you no where if you are not generating traffic. Your business will most likely lose its way.

So how will you move your website outside of the digital dark corner where traffic doesn’t exist? Simple, you need to look for ways to get more visitors. From using SEO, content marketing to paid online advertisements, there are many ways to get more traffic.

Before you hire a SEO specialist or a PPC expert, you need to make sure that the generated traffic will yield to long-term conversion. This means don’t just target anyone in the internet. Go back to step 1 – you should know your customers.

You need to track potential customers. You can use Facebook, LinkedIn and other social platforms with large audience. You can even share your blog posts to websites with the same niche as your business. But don’t expect success overnight. It takes time to build more traffic.

When building traffic, make sure that you are also developing conversion optimization. Conversion optimization is concerned with converting visitors to customers.

Build better content
If you think content marketing is just blogging, think again. Content is very powerful in online marketing. It attracts customers, build traffic and even improve brand awareness.

Content can be anything from articles, videos, podcast and even infographic. No matter what you choose, your content should be able to establish better business and customer relationship. Make sure to also use metrics on content. Great content also generates ROI.

Paid advertising

Online marketing can be free or paid. Paid advertisements are Search Engine Marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) and online advertising. PPC is one of the most popular, if not, one of the most expensive paid channel marketing.

So how does it work? For every click on your online business ad, you will pay. The price is already determined by your desired keyword or expression. Large businesses usually use this type of paid advertising because it involves significant amount of money to optimize the keyword.

Although it its expensive to start and to main, PPC has its strengths such as measurable clicks, allows budget placement, real-time modifications, only pay for clicks or traffic and traffic builder.

So how do you get started? PPC is overwhelming. You need to have some basic experience with Adwords if you wish to transition your business to paid online marketing strategy.

Email marketing

Email marketing is one of the best online marketing channels that you should try. It is incredibly powerful when properly planned and executed. Although emails are automated, adding a personal touch will build stronger customer-client relationship.

To build better relationship through email marketing, don’t rely on spreadsheets. Use email marketing software such as MailChimp, Marketo and Infusion Soft.

To get started with email marketing, you need to build your subscribers. You can do this by including a pop-up subscription form upon opening the website. To make it engaging, include exclusivity to your business’ latest offers and sales. When you have a list, evaluate your strategy. Look into the email’s layout, subject line and content.

Social Media

Social media only for personal use? Not anymore. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are used by many businesses for their online marketing efforts.

Social media is a powerful traffic driver. With so millions of online users, what could go wrong? Well, the fact that there is a large audience makes it hard to determine your target market. There are also so many social platforms that it can be hard to keep up with everything.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is one of the most used online marketing channel today. So what does it do? Well, SEO is involved with improving website standing in search engines like Google and Bing.

Why do you need it? Well, you can get traffic from social media, but let’s admit that Internet users prefer search engines to look for a website. If your business is involved with offering services and products, providing content or anything else, you will most likely need SEO.

Although Google are updating their system or algorithms, search engines are still not that smart. SEO helps make your website’s content visible to search engines. It can also help with search rankings. SEO specialists use keywords. These keywords are link-build. It can be done through blog commenting, directory submission, guest posting and more.

Online marketing can be a whirlwind experience especially when you are a beginner. You can fall to the traps of misinformation and trying to do everything all in one go. If you are an online marketer beginner, starting from the basics and working your way up to complex strategies can bring more good to your business. Once in a while, take some risks – you will learn more through experience.

A Miami SEO Company That Drives Revenues

December 1, 2014SEOMiami SEOSamuel Lozano

Every business needs to partake in SEO. It’s by far the cheapest and most effective form of online marketing available – and plus, what’s the point of having a website if no one can find it?

Do you have a website but aren’t getting any visitors?

The problem is Miami SEO companies have gotten a bad rap over the few years, and rightfully so. The used-car salesmen pitches, the empty promises and the long term contracts are all common practices that have kicked dirt on this industry’s name.

The good news is that there are Miami SEO companies out there that can deliver on their promises and deliver a tremendous results to your business. So how can you find these companies?

1. Selecting The Right Candidates

Organic Search:

Begin your search with Google, Yahoo and Bing. Not only are search engines a trust worthy source for referrals, but any SEO company worth their salt should be able to rank their own website.

It’s kind of like taking diet advice from someone who is overweight – would you really want to work with a company that can’t even deliver results for themselves? Look for a company that ranks multiple content sources – YouTube videos, info graphics, blog posts – theses are the companies who truly understand the ins-and-outs of search algorithms and deliver the same sort of creativity to your business.

Social Media:

Search engines can no longer ignore the power and importance of social media. Google’s search algorithm reflects this by allowing sites like Facebook, Twitter and [of course] Google+ to show up on the first page for search results.

A reputable SEO company should understand the importance of social media and it should be reflected in their presence. At the bare minimum, look for a Facebook and Google+ page with a strong following and consistent updates. Building a social media presence takes time and patience – its important to select an SEO company that is paying attention to the details of their own business and taking the time to do things right.

Content:

Google puts out a number of releases stressing the importance of content to help boost your rankings organically. For this reason, almost every search engine optimization company will have a blog on their website. However, most search engine optimization companies will cut corners by outsourcing their blog or writing short articles simply for keyword related rankings. Stay away from these companies! You want to select an SEO company that has a content rich blog that provides in depth information on how you can improve your website without their help.

2. Asking The Right Questions

Now that you’ve gone through and identified a few candidates, you’re going to want to talk to them on the phone (or in person) and ask them the right questions. The following is a list of questions you can ask and some answers you’ll want in response:

How will you select which keywords to optimize? Keyword research is a long and arduous process. For this reason many SEO firms cut corners and select the wrong keywords for your business to optimize. It is extremely important to understand their research process and how the keywords they select will drive traffic to your website.

What aspects of SEO will you provide? SEO is much more than just setting up a blog and checking the keyword density of your posts. A good SEO firm will have a checklist of everything they need to push your site up the rankings, including social signals, link building and original content creation.

Will you help optimize traffic for conversions? A good SEO firm will be able to analyze your website to determine if it is ready for an influx of traffic. From coding to color schemes, if your website isn’t optimized to capture the traffic and turn it into sales leads, then SEO is a waste of your time. A good firm will be able to provide this analysis and recommendations and no extra cost. Remember, the goal of SEO for your business shouldn’t be to increase traffic, it should be to increase sales.

How will you generate content? Content is a huge part of Google’s algorithm and any good search company will tell you this. If you’re paying a large monthly sum then you should expect that company to handle your content as well. Make sure to ask for blog samples to make sure the content is clear, impactful and more importantly original.

3. Follow Up With Details

After you’ve had conversations with a couple of firms make sure that you follow up and get some important information in writing. You’re going to want to make sure that they have a good track record and can demonstrate results with previous clients. Ask for:

References

Samples of their work

Tenure working in SEO

Exactly what their services entail

How they are going to help increase your top line

4. Make Your Selection

At this point you should have enough information to make a selection. Even with all this information, don’t lose sight of [what should be] the ultimate goal: increasing sales. Almost any SEO company can help improve your Google rankings, increase traffic and structure your keywords – only the best ones can increase your revenue.

I really can’t stress this enough. Increasing visitors to your website just isn’t enough – simply doing so could be flushing money down the toilet. A good SEO company isn’t cheap – they require a significant investment on your part. However, if you make the right choice your investment will pay lucrative dividends for years to come.

The Money Is In The List – Hybrid Connect

October 13, 2014Email, Marketing, Online Marketing, Online Marketing StrategySamuel Lozano

As you have probably have heard by now when it comes to making money on the internet regardless of your industry is ” the money is in the list”

What do people mean by that?

The money is in your email list… and if you are not capturing emails on your website then you are leaving a ton of money on the table.

One of the reasons why getting an email so so important is because regardless of how well your website converts, most people are not ready to buy

right then and there. An email is always the first part of the sales funnel. In order to get people to opt-in (sign up) to your email list you need to provide

them with something truly of value. Maybe something like 7 tips on how to mow your yard (if your in landscaping) or a whitepaper that answers a problem

for your audience.

3 Different Ways To Get An Email

pop-up
siderbar
under blog post

With Hybrid Connect I was able to easily add this opt-in form on the sidebar of the blog:

So what is my final say on Hybrid Connect?

I think it is an incredible tool that makes it easy to quickly build and customize opt-in forms and squeeze pages. I would highly recommend this product
to anyone with a website. You can buy it here (affiliate link) or through here (non affiliate link).

Keep in mind that we set-up hybrid connect on all of our clients websites for FREE. We do this because we know that at the end of the day traffic is only as good as you can monetize it.

The Company That Tries To Steal My Ideas | Marketic.co

June 22, 2014Online Marketing, SEOmarketic, marketic.coSamuel Lozano

Would you do business with a company that blatantly copied all of First Page HQ blog post to try to compete because the owner Ryan Stewart can not think of any niches or keywords to target on his own lol. imitators can always try to run an SEO company but in the end only the best will prevail. 🙂

Check this out: 1.

When you google Miami SEO Company you can see me on spot 4. Take a look at my blog post Url: http://firstpagehq.com/seo-company-miami/ Description: Struggling to get traffic to your website? Get a flood of leads and sales with a Miami SEO company. Call 1-800-672-6974 | First Page HQ. ok now… let’s take a look at Marketic…

Url: http://www.marketic.co/miami-seo-company/ Description: Marketic is a Miami SEO Company that gives it to you straight up. Hire us and your business more … [email protected]marketic.co; (305) 901-6392. Menu.

2. When you Google Crossfit Marketing you can see me on spot 1 Take a look at my blog post.

Url: http://firstpagehq.com/crossfit-marketing/ Now look who i found on page 2

Now there about 3 other blog post he is trying to copy like Attorney SEO. Honestly I am very flattered by the owner of Marketic.co Ryan Stewart but why would you consider hiring a company that can not think of any ideas on their own?

Lastly… Ryan is claiming on his website http://www.ryanstewart.org/ he claims to have generated $350,000 in sales in the past 3 months when reality is its closerto $12,000 LOL.

Is this guy for real?

Here is something else quoted on the about page “through these meetings I started working with a fellow marketer and we teamed up to form First Page HQ, an SEO agency. We experienced tremendous growth in a short period of time, but eventually I decided it was time to open my own shop.”

That fellow marketer is me… and I started First Page HQ in September of 2013, It was not
until March of 2014 that I met Ryan.

Ryan is claiming to have started First Page HQ is when the reality is all he was
is a sales rep.

A Boca Raton SEO Company That Delivers

May 23, 2014Online Marketing, SEOSamuel Lozano

A recent study showed that there are over 2.21 BILLION indexed pages on the internet – with that much competition, your business needs help to be found. Here at First Page HQ, we’re a Boca Raton SEO company with a combined 50 years of online marketing experience. From local bakeries to large e-commerce stores, we’ve ranked over 1,500 websites on the first page of Google searches and we can do the same for your business as well.

Most Boca SEO firms will take an approach to drive more traffic –we don’t even waste our time pitching that to clients. Our methods will increase your traffic, that’s a given. We separate ourselves because of our 3 tiered approaches to getting your more business.

First, we fix website errors.

This means the internal structure as well as the design and aesthetics. If your website looks sloppy, people will think your work is sloppy. Our team of designers will help you craft a beautiful and high converting website that will wow your customers.

Second, we select the right keywords.

We spend a lot of time selecting the right keywords for your campaign because it makes or breaks SEO campaigns. If you own a jewelry store, we’re not going to optimize the keywords “jewelry for sale”. Why? Because large companies like Zales spend over $1M a month on SEO. Instead, we’ll hammer down into your inventory and find ways to divert that traffic to your website in a manner that will fit your budget.

Third, we set our metrics to increase calls and sales.

As I said above, we don’t aim to increase traffic. What good will 1,000,000 monthly hits do if you don’t make any more money? Our end goal is always your end goal – increase your top line.

What Google is Looking For

Nowadays, Google is working its best to refer users to websites as well as deliver content that is relevant to their search terms. Below are a few factors that help to determine how relevant your website is.

-Quality Content

This revolves around Meta titles, Meta description and the body. It’s always good to have a catchy title and a Meta description. Don’t forget to make them related to the body of the articles.

-Performance and Loading Speed

How is your website loading? Does it have broken links? You should take care of the loading speed and make sure there are no programming errors.

-Authority

Your site needs to have great content which other people, as well as other webmasters from your niche, can use as a reference. This will prove to search engines that your website is relevant.

-User Experience

You need to take care when you are designing your website. You should care a lot about how your website looks. A good design should be easy to navigate and should yield high conversions.

What if Today Was Your Google’s Birthday Day

If you were to give Google a birthday cake, do you think they would choose cake B? Wouldn’t they rather have a cake that looks good and delicious? Your content, information architecture, content management system, and infrastructure act as the frosting on your cake. Without it, your cake is dry, boring, and gets passed over in favor of the tasty frosted cake.

Busting SEO Myths

There are a lot of Boca Raton SEO companies out there. Some are good, while others are incompetent. Being in the business for almost a decade now, I have come to realize that some digital marketing firms will use fake claims to trick you into using their services.

–Paying for Organic Listings

Organic listings are free; you don’t have to pay any fee to get organic listings. Search engine optimization companies should only charge you a consultation fee or charge you for working on your website in an effort to rank higher on a particular keyword.

-It Is Guaranteed

I have heard some people who call themselves search engine geniuses promising #1 placement on major search engines like Google and yahoo. When you encounter such providers, just rule them out and don’t risk buying from them. According to Google’s head of webspam Matt Cutts, Google’s ranking algorithms are so complex that even Google employees would not figure them out. You also need to remember that your competitors are trying to get that top position as well.

– It’s a One-Time Job

It’s definitely not a one-time job. Google ranking algorithm keeps changes frequently. What made you rank today will not keep you ranking tomorrow. You cannot stop your campaigns because then your competitors will outrank you due to their continued campaigning. With that said, you will need to steer clear of those providers who promise to provide SEO service that will work for the future.

Do you need SEO services for your site? No need to worry as you can do it yourself or hire someone to work on it. However, you have to remember that it is a hard process and takes a lot of time. In this digital era, you find that tutorials are available on digital marketing for free and anyone can call himself a search engine optimizer as long as he/she has a computer. Once you decide to buy these services, make sure you are in a position to differentiate between a professional and an amateur. Most providers over-promise, so be sure you always ask them pointed questions to probe their expertise.

Give us a call at 1-800-672-6974 or [email protected] , stop by the office or reach out on the live chat (yes, we’re real and we’re ready to answer all of your questions). After working with us, the only regret you’ll have is that you didn’t start sooner.

Are People Searching For Your Business?

April 22, 2014Online Marketing, Online Marketing Strategy, SEOSamuel Lozano

I can’t tell you how many times potential clients tell me this:

“Ryan, we rely on word of mouth [or social media, networking, etc.] to build our business. People just aren’t using Google to find our business”.

Let me just go on record saying this: MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE USING GOOGLE TO FIND BUSINESSES LIKE YOURS EVERY DAY…YOU DON’T KNOW THAT BECAUSE THEY ARE FINDING YOUR COMPETITORS INSTEAD!

Whew – that felt good.

But how can you find out how much people are searching for your business? At First Page we have software that shows search demand, but Google has a free tool called Keyword Planner which shows you the average monthly search volume for a given keyword.

You can access it here: https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

I want to give you a quick overview how to use it and interpret the results for your business.

Step 1: Log In
If you don’t have an AdWords account you can create one in a few seconds. All you need is a Gmail account to get started.

Step 2: Searching for Keywords
To really drive home my point I am going to use a small unassuming business model as an example; I will show you the demand for a Miami flower shop.

Simply type a keyword search related to your business into the first box. For example, if you are a realtor you could type in “realtor Miami” or “Brickell condos for sale”. If you are a limo driver you could type in “limo driver Miami”, etc.

Step 3: Interpreting the Results
Make sure you click on the tab “Keyword Ideas” (circled in red below). You will see a page that has a long list of keyword searches and their average monthly search volume.

In my example, the keyword search I typed in “flower shops in Miami” gets searched for an average of 390 times EACH MONTH.

Google also pulls up a list of related searches (highlighted in blue) to give you an idea of total demand. You might not be able to see from the screenshot, so I’ll summarize:

Flower shops in Miami – 390 searches
Flower shop in Miami – 110 searches
Flower shop Miami – 90 searches
Flower delivery Miami – 880 searches
Local flower shops – 1,600 searches
Flower shops Miami – 40 searches
Flower shops in Miami fl – 40 searches
Flower shops in Miami Florida – 20 searches
Total monthly search volume: 3,170 searches

That’s over 3,000 people searching for their exact service EACH MONTH!

There is a massive online demand for every business – all you have to do is be present in the search results to capture it.

That’s where we come in. We will put your business on the first page of these searches – GUARANTEED!

Posted By Sam Lozano

Does My Website Really Need A Blog?

April 2, 2014Marketing, Online Marketing, Online Marketing StrategySamuel Lozano

YES!!!!

I can list cliche reasons like Google favors sites with fresh & relevant content or it gives you a chance to establish expertise with your customers (both of which are 100% true), but I want to tell you the real reason why your website needs a blog.

No, I want to show you.

If you get a chance, head to Google and type in “crossfit marketing“. What you will see is the same results as below:

The first result is an article from our company blog on simple ways to market your CrossFit gym.

Well, so what?

Ranking on the first page of search results for “Miami SEO company” is extremely difficult (even though we own TWO of those positions **shameless plug**). So instead we attack sub niches that are less competitive.

Instead of ranking our home page and having potential customers get innudated with information, we crafted a targeted blog post that:

1. Shows them we know what we’re talking about.
2. Generates interest in our services.

This post alone drives over 250 hits a month to our website. While that may not seem like a lot, think about the quality of that traffic. The chances are the person searching for “crossfit marketing” is a gym owner/employee seeking help. This blog post alone has generated over 30 high quality (and high coverting) leads in the past 45 days.

So how can you apply this to your business?

1. Niche down. The first mistake people make is trying to tackle overly competitive markets. If you’re a real estate agent, blog about hot neighboords or zip codes. If you’re a clothing store owner, blog about a popular or exclusive item that you feature.
2. Write, write, write. Blogs are a pain; they take time and patience. However, when done correctly they are a great way to boost your online business organically.

There is a little more that goes into ranking a blog post – if you’re interested to find out how or you have any questions please feel free to reach out directly:

[email protected]

Posted By Sam Lozano

How Attorneys Can Build Their Client List With SEO

March 11, 2014Online Marketing, SEOSamuel Lozano

Attorney SEO

If you’re an attorney, you are already aware that networking is a tried and true way of increasing your client list. However, networking, especially after a long day at the office, can be just as exhausting as having a second full-time job – it can only be done for so long until you physically and mentally burn out.

While networking is important in obtaining clients, it shouldn’t be the only way of growing your client list. When it comes to acquiring new clients, you should ask yourself the following questions:

“How do you find your clients?”

“How do your clients find you?”

While I understand the importance of networking and participating in networking events in the process of landing clients, I can assure you, you won’t find me at one anytime soon. I’d rather spend time with my friends and family while my clients find me and my services.

Rather than going out and looking for clients, all I have to do is check my email – I no longer have to spend hours networking, and neither do you.

How? Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

When prospective clients are looking for an attorney, 21.9 percent of them start with a search engine (see Lawyernomics). Optimizing your website for keywords related to your business (or SEO) is critical in converting online searchers into prospective clients and is the easiest way of growing your law firm, as well as.

Think about it – when you go to a networking event you talk to every person in the room, analyze their situation, give your sales pitch (listen to theirs), then follow up and hope they’re interested. Think about how much effort you put in to generate just one lead!

On the other hand, when people go to a search engine they’re looking for your exact services. All you have to do is be present in the search results to capture that traffic and convert them to clients. You can generate dozens of targeted leads each day – all while enjoying a nice glass of wine in the comfort of your own home.

So how can your law firm take advantage of SEO?

1. Go local

If this article is a surprise to you, let me just blatantly state: SEO for attorneys delivers an astounding Return on Investment (ROI). This has inevitably made the ranking of legal keywords extremely competitive (in other words: expensive).

The best way to combat highly competitive verticals is to niche down to local. Let’s say you are a defense attorney in Miami, Florida. Instead of trying to use general global key words for your website such as “defense attorney,” you are going to want to target long-tail local keywords like:

“criminal defense attorney miami”
“Miami criminal defense law firm”
“dade county criminal defense law firm”

2. Google Places, Local, and Other Location Based Directories

Since law firms are a brick-and-mortar business you are going to want to make sure potential clients can find you. Optimizing online directories such as Foursquare, Google Local, Facebook, and Yelp (to name a few) will help search engines index your page in local listings.

Having these directories set up will not only help potential clients find your law firm’s website personally, but will also help in building an online presence and increase your website’s traffic. For example, the screenshot below is of the local listings for “boston law firm”. Of the results listed, which one are you most likely to click on?

attorney seo

The ones with the 5 star ratings, right? These websites are optimized in Google Local and are pulling reviews through to the listings. Doing so can increase clicks to your website up to 150 percent.

3. Analyze Your Website

Simply ranking first in Google is not enough–you want to make sure you are turning that traffic into opt-in leads. If your website is not configured with the information easily accessible, your website’s visitors will leave and head to the next website.

When planning your website, keep in mind the end goal. It should not just be an online business card; rather, you want your website to generate leads. There are two main things you want your website to do:

Large and clearly visible “call to” action with your phone number (i.e., CALL NOW!)
Large and clearly visible “lead form” to capture prospective clients’ information.

Undoubtedly, receiving a phone call right away is the ultimate goal. However, at the very least, we want to capture that person’s information (name and email) to re-market to them at a later time.

About Our Attorney SEO Service

We have worked with a number of law firms in helping build an online presence, as well as driving highly targeted traffic to their websites. If you are interested in finding out how we can help grow your law firm with SEO, please call us at (305) 450-4831 or email us directly at [email protected]

How To Get Started With Google+

March 3, 2014Online Marketing, Online Marketing Strategy, SEO, Social MediaSamuel Lozano

Some people don’t believe in big foot – others don’t believe that Google+ is a relevant social network. This post is for the latter.

Why Do I Need To Use Google+?

Google wants you to. Social networks are a multi-billion (trillion?) dollar a year industry, and Google wants in the action. The search engine is putting heavy emphasis on growing the network by allowing it to affect search results.

The power the network is having on search results can be summed up in the following scenario:

You own a crossfit gym and you’re looking for some marketing tips. So, like everyone else, you head to Google and search for ‘crossfit marketing’. If you aren’t in any of My Circles on Google+ you see the following results:

The article shows up in the third spot – not too bad.

However, if you’re in one of my ‘Circles’ on Google+, the same search would yield the following results:

Not only does the search result move up to #1, but a Google+ post I did shows up on the first page of results as well. This means that even if your blog post is completely un-optimized, your Google+ post will still show up on the first page of search results!

So now that I’ve sold you on Google+, let’s get started on setting up your profile.

Upload a Profile Picture

I always recommend using the same picture that you use for Facebook and Twitter accounts. Make sure the picture is a clear cut head shot, because it will show up as your Google Authorship photo in search results as well.

Fill Out Your Profile

What are you using Google+ for? Make sure that your profile does a good job encapsulating not only who you are as a person, but incorporates your business into it as well. Don’t go overboard and spam people with sales-e lines, but make sure that if someone were to stumble across your post that they could figure out how to get in touch with you.

Share an Update

I like to keep a 50/50 rule when sharing updates: 50% work related and 50% personal. I live in Miami so I like to post pictures of the beach, palm trees, etc. – anything to water down the rest of my posts.

You generally want to share with everyone – ‘Public’, ‘Your Circles’ and ‘Extended Circles’. Doing so ensures that your posts get shown to the maximum amount of people.

Create Some Circles

Building Circles can be a challenging feat to most Google+ beginners and this is where people usually exit the network and head back to Facebook. The problem with Google+ is it doesn’t have the same following as a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram – it’s kind of just there. This means that there are millions of people on the network, but no one really uses it.

What you will often see are skeleton profiles that were set up and abandoned. You’re probably not going to find your friends on Google+ and interact with them like you would on a Facebook or Twitter. The key is to find other active Google+ users and Circle them.

How do you find them? Circle shares. Simply go to the search and type in the hashtag #circleshare. What comes up is thousands of people who are looking to grow their Circles as well. Simply add them to your Circles and they will almost certainly add you back (as long as you keep your profile updated).

+1 Posts

+1, +1 +1!

Another great way to build a following is to +1 your own posts and others’. The best way to do so is to head to the search and type in a keyword related to your business. Realtors are very active on Google+ so I like to interact with them.

Simply type ‘realtors’ into the search and then click ‘communities’. Google+ Communities are a great way to interact with like-minded people, build your following and even solicit some services (ever so carefully). Go through the community and leave a +1 on posts and some scattered comments as well. Doing so will help drive traffic back to your profile and build active Circles.

Google+ Is Not Facebook

As I mentioned earlier, Google+ is not Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even LinkedIn. As of right now the network is a weird combination of Facebook and LinkedIn – it’s full of people who understand the importance of the network, but don’t really get any enjoyment from using it.

I can’t promise that you’re going to enjoy using Google+ because honestly, I don’t. What I can promise you is that giving just 5 minutes of your attention each day will pay off in the long run for your business.