Google Maps is undoubtedly among the most valuable tools the tech-giant Google has offered the world. When traveling to an unfamiliar place, you don’t have to resort of paper maps or ask people for directions. You simply open your Google Maps, indicate your destination, and you are good to go.
Google Maps is the most-used navigation app by mobile users. It ranks first in the US among the most popular mapping apps. In April 2018, Google Maps record 154.4 million unique users. Google Maps ranks fourth after YouTube, Facebook, and Google Search in the list of leading smartphone apps in the US. In May 2019, an estimate of 64.5% of mobile users in the US accessed Google Maps.
Google Maps is not just a navigation app; it is great for locating businesses. For instance, using Google Maps, you can find a business like a car wash, plumber, barber, or restaurant near you. As a business, Google Maps have numerous benefits for your business. You can use Google Maps advertising in your digital marketing strategy to help customers locate your business.
What is Google Maps Advertising?
Google Maps advertising refers to harnessing the power and functionality of Google Maps to make your business easier to locate. It is useful for not only large organizations but also small businesses. Today, using Google Maps will spice your marketing strategy and give you results, because nearly every person looking for services locally needs the help of Google Maps.
Benefits of Google Maps for Businesses
As the owner of your business owner, you can enlist your enterprise to be added to Google’s platform so that it is located on Google Maps. It is an easy process because you only need to provide your business details on Google My Business. This way, people searching for the name of your business or the services you offer can easily locate you. Also, your business location is mapped for easy access. Among the benefits of Google Maps include;
Improve business visibility: customers can locate your business and even get directions to get there. Increased exposure for an enterprise means more revenue for the business. For instance, when a user searches for a restaurant near them, and your restaurant appears in the search results, the user visiting your restaurant increases sales.
Offers an online presence: Google Maps provides an excellent way for your business to get an online presence. Even if your small business lacks a website, Google Maps lets people know you and where you are located.
Ranking well for SEO: listing on Google Maps helps your business to rank well for SEO. It increases the likelihood of your business getting a first-page ranking on search results. Google Maps are essential in local SEO.
Increase competitiveness: Google Maps helps your business to stay competitive because it maps your business for all to see it.
Changes in Google Maps
Google is committed to continuous improvements of Google Maps to enhance its users’ experience. The tech giant spends much time and effort refining and improving the app to make it better. Advertising agencies recognize the importance of you getting your business found. Any feature and change that encourage people to use Google Maps are good for business because they promote brand discovery. Here are some prominent changes to Google Maps and how they help your small business.
1. Explore Feature
Although this is not a new feature on Google Maps, an updated Explore tab will improve this feature while presenting more top options. The Explore tab allows users to search for nearby restaurants, ATMs, barbershops, and pharmacies quickly and conveniently. The restaurant, pharmacy or grocery users are looking for maybe your business.
2. Voice actions
This is an effort to make the user interface easier to navigate. For instance, a customer can find out how long it will take to get to a business or the current traffic situation without using controls. This feature is great when customers are driving to your business because it increases their safety.
Unlike in the past, where customer experience started when a customer walks in your store, currently, things are different. Customer experience begins when a customer searches for your business and the process of getting to it. The seamless the journey to your business, the better the experience you deliver.
3. Proximity-based Google Maps Results
Google allows for proximity-based Google maps results whereby results depend on your location. For example, if you are in Denver, Colorado and search for a plumber, you will get results of plumbers in or near Denver. The plumbers will be organized into positions based on your location. The closest to you will be given the first position. You don’t get one result of plumbers but several so that you have numerous options. If your business is listed on Google Maps and a customer near you searches for your services or products, you are given priority. Such a customer is a qualified lead who has a high likelihood of converting.
4. Google lens, Street view Integration, and AI technology
Google lens and street view use the power of AI technology to help users get directions on where to go and decrease the probability of getting lost. AI technology guides the user on their destination and assists in choosing the best routes. Google Lens allows a user to identify street signs and landmarks.
5. Alternative-method travelers
Not all customers will drive to your store, others will use alternative methods like cycling. Google Maps has made several changes that benefit bikers. It has elevation data for bicycle routes and bikers can compare different routes. Also, Google Maps allows your customers to connect with private drivers like Uber and Lyft. All these alternative travel methods are valuable for modern travelers.
You may be nostalgic about the old-fashioned paper maps, but they were never as useful for businesses as Google Maps today. Businesses should capitalize on the changes that Google Maps make to improve user experience and make a company’s information accurate and accessible. Importantly, enhancing your business visibility and advertising on Google Maps takes time and effort. Google Maps don’t give you the quick fix to your marketing woes but is a long term strategy that bears fruits. You must be patient if you want to reap the rewards. Contact us to learn more about digital marketing ideas that work.
As a solopreneur, you’ve got work up to your ears and the pressure is high because you’re doing everything alone. From generating leads to retargeting, you find it hard to keep up.
To keep your solo business afloat, you must multitask and do more than one job all at once. With just one person (you) doing the marketing for your business, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and maybe even a little unmotivated. That’s why it’s so important to take advantage of the many marketing tools available so that you can save time and reduce the headache from running your business alone.
A SOLORPENEUR’S MARKETING TOOLKIT FOR INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY
There are so many things that come with running a business without the help of others. Marketing is only one of them. Allotting so much of your time to marketing can take away from the valuable moments you can be spending on other important tasks. With the below tools, you’ll not only become more organized, you’ll also be able to focus more on creativity and growth.
As a business owner who wants to convert as many leads to customers as possible, you likely spend lots of time sending emails. With Reply, you can email hundreds of people in the time it usually takes you to email just a few people. This means that you can really maximize your time and take on other marketing tasks you wouldn’t normally get to in that amount of time.
Below are just a few of the features Reply has to offer:
Send tailored, personalized emails and follow-ups
Send an onboarding series to introduce new subscribers to your business
Re-engage inactive subscribers
Get stats on your email campaign performance such as deliveries, opens, and clicks
Get early-stage product feedback from potential customers and influencers
Google AdWords is a really powerful tool to launch you right into page one search results without waiting for your site to rank. But it’s super complicated for the solopreneur. As Bash Foo only takes clients who can budget $1,500 or more on ad campaigns per month, what about the solopreneur that can only budget say $200 a month? Adwords Express makes getting new leads easier and more affordable, without requiring you to study up on how to create a killer ad. It’s a smarter, automatic version of AdWords.
With AdWords Express, you just choose the category of your ad by entering a general keyword and Google automatically creates a keyword campaign based on search trends related to that category. This allows your ads to automatically show for up to thousands of keywords related to the one you entered.
Let’s say that you’re a plumber and your keyword is “emergency plumbing services”. Your ad will still show up if someone uses a related keyword such as “emergency plumber near me” or “24/7 plumber”. This gives you great flexibility with gaining exposure to your business. Once you’ve chosen a business category, written an ad, and set your budget, AdWords Express will automatically manage where and when your ads will appear.
Every solopreneur needs a social media management system. Because you have little to no help marketing your business, your valuable time is likely taken up with so many marketing tasks, including managing your company’s social media accounts. That’s where Hootsuite gets its value, by keeping track of and managing various social media channels.
Using Hootsuite, you can monitor multiple social media networks in one place. They include:
You can even add more than one of the same network. For example, if you have more than one Facebook page or have multiple Twitter channels, you can manage them within Hootsuite. Plus, you can post on multiple channels at a time. So if you create a post and you want that post to be on other channels, you can use Hootsuite to publish them all at once. This can be very useful if you’re in a rush and need to get things done more quickly and efficiently.
Another one of Hootsuite’s many features is the weekly Social Analytics Report that contains a summary and statistics on your social campaigns. With the report, you gain insights into the number of daily clicks, geographic location of users that click through, your top referrers, and most popular links.
Overall, this tool has perennially appeared on our list of “must have’s” for those who want to monitor and keep track of their social presence, as well as schedule posts daily/weekly/monthly with finesse.
Finding the email addresses of the right prospects can be a difficult and time-consuming task to undertake on your own. Interseller is a smart email outreach tool that allows you to reach out to candidates without needing to use multiple tools at once. Switching from one tool to the next to find and manage email contacts can take up a considerable amount of time all on its own.
Using Interseller, with just one click, you can find anyone’s email address and automatically send them initial emails and follow-ups all within one platform. This can help simplify the sales process and save you lots of time.
Interseller is our favorite cold outreach tool. The Chrome add-in integrates directly with LinkedIn so that you can run a prospect search there, select the contacts you find to be most “interesting” and then add them to a list of contacts you want to either call or send one of your cold “welcome” email sequences to. It’s by far our favorite way of selecting our next client.
Taking advantage of this marketing toolkit is marketing made easier for the solopreneur. For more information, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
Geofencing is a buzzy mobile app capability that’s been around for at least a decade; however, developers are only now seeing the full potential of geofencing for building a great user-first experience. While geofencing received some attention in relation to user privacy, new tools are considering how geofencing can better surprise and delight customers – and in the future, radically change the way companies deliver location-based experiences.
From sending a tailored promotion when a customer enters a retail store to powering order-ahead food delivery, geofencing plays a key role in making mobile apps contextually aware. How does geofencing work, and how can mobile app developers better deploy this technology? Here’s what you need to know about geofencing.
Geofencing: What is it?
Geofencing is a location-based service in which an app or other software uses GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi or cellular data to trigger a pre-programmed action when a mobile device or RFID tag enters or exits a virtual boundary set up around a geographical location, known as a geofence.
What does it mean in practice? Think about it like this: geo-fencing is like an electric fence for your dog but in the real world. Geo-fencing allows for the setup of virtual fences or areas, wherein the entering and exiting through the areas triggers a response or action by the individual or company monitoring the geo-fence. So, instead of alerting a pet owner when Fluffy wanders into the neighbor’s yard, geofencing triggers alerts for a business owner when key things happen: a customer visits a store, for example, or the store of a competitor.
How does it work?
To make use of geofencing, an administrator or developer must first establish a virtual boundary around a specified location in GPS- or RFID-enabled software, which can be as simple as a circle drawn 100 feet around a location on Google Maps. This virtual geofence will then trigger a response when an authorized device enters or exits that area, as specified by the administrator or developer. Put simply, picture virtually unfolding a paper map, taking a virtual pencil, and then drawing a virtual circle around a desired part of the map. Then, whenever someone or something enters or exits that area, you are alerted.
What is it used for?
Early geofencing projects revolved around using GPS to track herds of livestock or using ankle monitors to keep an eye on criminal offenders. This tracking then developed into keeping track of truck drivers on their routes as well as using “smart cards” to track employee movements in a building.
Today’s use of geofencing has evolved beyond simply tracking where a target customer (or a herd of sheep) is at any given time. With privacy concerns challenging companies to rethink their use of geofencing, companies like Radar are leading the way in innovating how geofences can improve the user experience.
Take, for example, Burger King’s Whopper Detour Campaign. Burger King ran a promotion to sell Whopper burgers for $0.01 – but only to customers within a 600-foot radius of a McDonald’s. Customers could download the Burger King app and head to their nearest McDonald’s. When they were within the geofence, the app would redirect them to their nearest Burger King to redeem the promo.
This is just one way brands are thinking creatively of how to use geofencing to surprise and delight customers – without invading their privacy.
Geofencing: A Matter of Privacy
As expected, not all individuals are comfortable having their location data shared via geofencing. In fact, in 2017, Massachusetts was one of the first states to enact a consumer protection law that objected to the use of location-based advertising. The Attorney General blocked an ad campaign from Copley Advertising, which was hired by a Christian organization to set up a geofence around women’s health clinics that would target women in the waiting room or nearby with anti-abortion ads.
While many ad-tech companies use geofencing to collect data on customers, new pioneers in the geofencing space, like Radar, are careful to put the user experience at the forefront of innovation. In a space dominated by ad tech and data monetization companies, Radar’s privacy-first approach means they do not sell any data they collect, nor do they share location data across customers.
Geofencing: 2019 and Beyond
The geofencing industry is expected to grow over 27% by 2022, citing “technological advancements in the use of spatial data and increasing applications in numerous industry verticals.”
While retail and travel are two industries already invested in geofencing, there’s a lot of potential for this technology to grow to government, healthcare, and more. Surprising and delighting customers is just the first step to integrating geofencing more thoughtfully in nearly every aspect of life. Over time, users will come to expect, rather than be surprised by, the way companies use geofencing. We expect to see companies use geofencing more strategically to send contextually relevant messages, build contextual experiences, and understand location data more thoughtfully.
One of the trickiest parts of Search Engine Optimization has always been having a physical domicile in a state, or region of the US where you choose to do business.
Google REQUIRES you to have a brick and mortar where you operate, and it cannot be a USPS Post Office box.
BUT…
It can be an address at the Bash Foo Entrepreneur Center! You can use our address here in Tipp City, Ohio to register your business or the location of your business. All it takes is completing USPS Form 1583 and presenting a valid form of ID to get started! We’ve partnered with Anytime Mailbox to provide you with a mobile app where you can review the mail that has been delivered for your business, set the disposition of your mail and notify you when important mail arrives.
Mailbox Packages
Silver Package – $19.99/mos
Our Silver package provides the same level of service as Bronze, however, you get to receive up to 60 mail pieces per month with no additional charge.
Gold Package – $29.99/mos
Our Gold package provides the same level of service as Bronze and Silver, however, you get to receive up to 125 mail pieces per month with no additional charge.
Silver Package – $69.99/mos
Our Unlimited package provides the same level of service as Bronze, Silver, and Gold, however, you get to receive unlimited mail pieces per month with no additional charge.
Annual discounts are provided for each package.
Contact us today if you’d need additional office services, reception, shipping/receiving, etc.
When you invest your advertising and marketing dollars, it’s important to focus on specificity. You want to make those dollars go as far as they can. That means looking for innovative ways to streamline and spread your message with a targeted group of individuals whom you know need the products or services you’re offering. One way to do that is through geofencing. Geofencing is a creative, geospatial marketing strategy; it takes advantage of new technologies to get your message in front of the right people.
In this post, we’ll examine what geofencing is and all the ways it can help you take your digital marketing to the next level.
What is Geofencing?
Geofencing is the use of global positioning or radio frequency identification to identify a virtual, geographic area. Once you have identified this area, you can establish a system that sends notifications when a mobile device enters or leaves the area inside that defined boundary.
Forget Marketing to “Everyone.” Market to People at a Specific Location
Geofencing allows you to target a specific area. This level of specificity helps you streamline your message to the right audience.
From a marketing perspective, geofencing allows you to drill down to target people who are in your defined geographic location. Rather than marketing to “everyone,” you’re now marketing to people who have literally come to you. They’ll find your message useful and are therefore much likely to accept any call to action because of that.
One-Up Your Competition
Imagine a technology that allows you to speak directly to the customers of your competitor. Think about being able to highlight your product’s features, benefits, and advantages over your competition. To take it a step further, imagine highlighting all these great advantages of doing business with you while the user is in your competitor’s building.
With geofencing, you can make this a reality. Geofencing enables you to target your competition’s customers, sending a direct comparison to their mobile devices about how superior your product and services are.
Rather than run general ads talking about how you have an edge over the “leading brand,” you can attack your competition’s base on their home turf. You can speak directly to people who need your services; give them a reason to switch to a better brand – namely, yours.
Geofencing Helps You Retarget
Spreading your message to the mobile devices of anyone who walks through your building is a powerful capability. It gives you the ability to share your pitch with people who you know will be interested in your services. It’s not necessarily comprehensive, however. While you can attract lots of customers this way, you won’t necessarily get all of them on the first round. Some customers may leave without a sale.
Geofencing gives you the ability to retarget these customers. You can establish a preselected time frame – say, for example, 30 days – and retarget potential customers who walked through your doors with additional messages.
This reinforces your initial value proposition. You give your prospect time to consider your offer and follow up with an additional offer which solidifies the value you can provide the customer with.
Retargeting users allows you to cast a wide net and ensure that no potential customer falls through the cracks. It gives the ability to send a second wave of marketing materials towards customers you know are interested in your product or services.
Geofencing Gives You Access to Additional Data and Apps
Individuals walking through your predefined location may be in possession of numerous apps on their device with loads of data. If they enter your fence, you can use this to your advantage.
Geofencing lets you explore additional data you may have access to on a customer’s devices. You can use probabilistic or deterministic technologies to gain access to additional apps the user has. This could potentially give you access to more of the user’s data, depending on the device in question.
Target Multiple Devices
Geofencing allows you to target multiple devices your intended audience may be using within the boundary. Smart phones, laptops, tablets and any other type of mobile device can all assist.
As one device enters your boundary, you’ll now have the ability to access the user’s other devices to serve ads. This creates redundancies that increase the likelihood the user will see and process your ad’s message.
Conclusion
Geofencing is a versatile tool in your digital marketing toolbox. It allows you to spread your message far and wide with individual users over multiple devices and apps. It also helps you gain a substantial leg-up on your competition, allowing you to speak to their customer base directly.
Bash Foo is a digital marketing agency that builds the online reputations of small business in affordable and inspiring ways. We use cutting-edge technology to offer innovative solutions. For more on how we can help you revolutionize the way you do digital marketing, contact us today!
Taking the road not taken: When the crowd wants to zig, you move to zag. Driving in the empty lane. Better yet, driving off-road. You are always swimming upstream. Running into the wind. That’s what taking the road not taken means.
In the advertising world the river is flowing a certain direction in 2019. According to Ad Age, GroupM, one of the major ad forecasters, is predicting slower advertising growth in 2019, and has reduced its projection from 3.9 to 3.6 percent. There are a number of factors involved in the slowing growth; but with the decrease in the growth rate of overall spending money for advertising, there is also a golden opportunity for contrarian companies to seize the initiative. This could be your chance to zig when other advertising companies zag. To stick your foot in new doors. Here are 5 digital marketing ideas for the year 2019.
Online Video Ads
This is a hot trend right now, and will only get hotter. Targeting your consumer base through online video ads can be a slick way to drive home your brand message without a lot of wasted energy or resources. In fact, search engines love videos as much as consumers do, and adding video content to your site can potentially boost your SERP ranking considerably.
Furthermore, videos play on consumer psychology by engaging the viewer’s emotions more effectively than the printed word. And even more awesome: videos are highly shareable.
Personalization
Right now web design is all about UX; and what better way to add value to your consumer’s experience than by personalizing your brand message on a microcosmic level?
The great thing is, it doesn’t have to be big or flashy. For example, some companies have designed their landing pages to ID the user’s location, and then offer a customized greeting with the name of his city or town inserted in. It’s a little flourish that adds unique value, and can positively shape your customer’s perception from the beginning of the interaction.
Pay Per Click
This is the digital marketing equivalent of plucking that low-hanging fruit, and then plucking some more, and more, and more… PPC marketing can be an effective strategy in itself, but as a supplemental initiative it can do wonders for your company’s market presence. After all, why spend all your time guessing which websites are suitable magnets for potential customers, when you can go further down the funnel, and cherry pick your leads from the narrow end? This is a strategy that can, in effect, turn Google into your ally and business partner; and who wouldn’t want that?
Social Media Marketing
This can be the means to engage your consumer base at the most visceral level. People want to hear stories; and they want to be able to put a “face” to the faceless corporation. When your employees share their personal tales, their triumphs and heartaches, and then connect their stories back to the bigger narrative of the brand, then you will be able to drive customer engagement and loyalty like never before.
Social media is, by definition, a shareable commodity; so your stories will germinate and spread across the market. And the topping on the cake is how easily this can be a low-cost solution to some of the tougher advertising challenges out there. You can target specific subgroups, and yet enjoy wide exposure at the same time.
Leveraging Mobile Apps
With so many more users engaging via mobile technology (well over half, and perhaps as much as 2/3 of US-based Internet traffic is coming from mobile devices) it is critical to leverage mobile apps as at least one channel of your advertising campaigns.
Of course, there is a right way and a wrong way to market via mobile devices. Formatting differences are important to consider when designing advertisements for smartphones and tablets. Content should generally be simplified, and calls to action kept to a minimum. However, initiatives such as promoting your company’s app, or targeting apps that are used by your desired demographic for focused advertising campaigns, can open up doors to a consumer base that is growing broader and more diverse by the month.
Sticking to the Road
Back in the day, Google took the road not taken. “Stickiness” was supposed to be the be-all end-all metric of online search engines; users were supposed to stay a while on the page. Google was too fast, too good. Its users found what they needed and left too quickly.
Google stuck with the road not taken… and the rest is history.
If you’d like a boost on your journey through the world of digital marketing, or maybe a tip on that back road that will shave 5 minutes off of your trip, check us out at Bash Foo. We are the Creative Brand Provocateur for our clients; we can push you along that road not taken, and get you to your destination.
Whenever the topic of website system integration (SI) comes up, many CTO’s will reach for the Pepto Bismol. Just the thought of the subject stirs thoughts of their venerable site strewn in pieces on the ground like a plane wreck. Yet, the truth is if your site is not fully integrated, you may be siphoning profits from your bottom line. A truly integrated website lets the left hand know what the right hand is doing. The result is fewer snafus in inter-departmental communications, a more cohesive portal that disseminates information in a user-friendly environment, and fewer lost opportunities.
Integration Complexity is Determined by the Number of Disparate Systems
An integrated website need not be tantamount to open-heart surgery. It could be as simple as exporting data from one place and importing it somewhere else. Simply put, integration builds a conduit that funnels the disconnected components into a system that will function as one. An example of this kind of re-engineered platform is a system that permits the marketing department to access information located in the sales department. This kind of cross-reference capability reveals opportunities that may otherwise get lost in a non-integrated system. Another example of a malfunctioning system is shipping product on an online web store that cannot communicate with the inventory application. This type of disconnected database creates lost opportunities and unsatisfactory customer experiences.
The level of complexity in web integration is largely determined by the level of flexibility one wishes to convey into the system. The greater the number of disparate subsystems involved determines the complexity of the project. A more complex integration may require customized architecture along with updated hardware and software. Specific chores may involve a myriad number of services including project management, the use of application programming, and web services. One of the biggest challenges is found in the need to establish interoperability between two stand-alone systems. This may require cooperation between separate entities such as the sales office of one company connecting to the product distributor platform of another.
A Happy Customer is a Loyal Customer
A major advantage of integration is a vastly improved customer satisfaction score. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications thrive in an eco-friendly environment. By employing a more user-friendly system. Cross-departmental access to data collected from disparate systems is the gold standard for analyzing customer behavior and anticipating future needs. Information funneled from CRM pipelines provide a road map for ways to attain growth and enrich the company’s coffers.
Integration tools have proliferated throughout the digital landscape as of late as companies realize the benefits of incorporating their platforms into a more unified data system. The phenomenal growth of the cloud has contributed to the popularity of data integration solutions. Automated data integration tools have become a growing resource for companies wishing to update their often fractured platforms. Open source data integration tools are now available for companies that desire to avoid more costly proprietary systems enterprise solutions. Open source also has the advantage of maintaining complete control of data in-house.
The Cloud Proliferates Integrated Systems
The data integration platform market is growing by around 10% per year. Providers that offer integration platforms include Informatica, Information Builders, Microsoft, and Oracle. However, the big dog in this market segment is none other than IBM. The best integration platforms as an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) software includes A variety of data integration platforms are available, but the market is led by IBM, Informatica, Information Builders, Microsoft, and Oracle. Other vendors that dominate market share includes Pentaho, SAP, SAS, and Talend. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) have dramatically dummy downed the build and use of integration platforms.
It’s important to differentiate enterprise application integration which has a focus on supply chain management, logistics, and distribution. Data Integration involves the building of data-sharing among application platforms in a seamless platform that permits data-sharing capabilities. There are methods that can be deployed to detect weakness in your current system. For example, when a timely business opportunity may weigh on an unopened email, the moment may be lost. The ideal integration system is robust enough to avoid such an unforeseen event.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms, on the other hand, functions as a business process management software that provides an integrated approach that automates many back office functions such as technology, services, and human resources. ERP software interconnects diverse applications to one unifying platform that replace dated legacy systems into a single source of enterprise applications. If your business scales smaller, there are integration solutions that serve small and medium-size businesses as well.
Naturally, digital agencies vary in the scope and complexity of Integration services. When selecting an Integration Specialist, be sure to determine their ability to best serve your integration needs. Bash Foo exemplifies the high standard of expertise required to successfully integrate your disparate digital compartments into a well-oiled, seamless communications powerhouse. Bash Foo takes a holistic approach in all of your digital needs. Services include marketing plans, web design, integration infrastructure, email campaigns, graphic design, social media, and PPC ad placement. Bash Foo’s seasoned staff is ready to increase your footprint in today’s highly competitive digital landscape. For more information on how Bash Foo can revitalize your business, contact us.
How WordPress Gutenberg will Impact Websites and Design Expectations
WordPress’s first-year anniversary of the Gutenberg CMS editor is here and reviews are a mixed bag. The release has been greeted with great fanfare as the first significant addition to WordPress’s quiver in more than a decade. However, it’s reception has been met by many WordPress purists with dismay. After all, in some circles, changes to the venerable open-source platform is tantamount to sacrilege. Many are concerned that if Gutenberg becomes ingrained into its ecosystem, the new editor will be incompatible to existing WordPress websites.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that the editor is still very much in beta and will evolve over time. Never-the-less, Gutenberg’s roll-out will dramatically impact on how the back-end functions. The new editor will be wrapped up in the new WordPress 5.0 version. A number of early adopters have argued for it to remain as a plugin. The Gutenberg editor has thus far logged more than 200,000 downloads and has been installed on about 10,000 sites. That’s enough to garner some feedback as to its popularity and performance.
Although it would be a misnomer to describe Gutenberg as simply a page creator, the new editor has a feel similar to the WordPress-centric DIVI. That popular theme platform by Elegant Themes employs the intuitive front-end editor that has impacted how many websites are created. DIVI has been used by developers and designers who need to build a website fast. I’d estimate that 60% of DIVI is incorporated into the new editor. As is with Gutenberg, DIVI is capable of making changes instantly. There is no waiting to find out how the content looks. It happens instantly right in front of your eyes! The challenge for DIVI users trying out Gutenberg will be that “all the functions aren’t where they are supposed to be”. Many new Gutenberg users have reported it to be non-intuitive.
The moniker “Gutenberg” was not lost on the developers. The famous inventor brought the movable type printing press to fruition more than 500 years ago and the invention is a precursor to the digital landscape we enjoy today. The Gutenberg label acts as a metaphor for the new technology that the editor represents. The first change you’ll notice is the older, recognizable interface is history. In its place is a clean writing environment populated by great typography and plenty of space in which to showcase your content. At first, its unfamiliarity embraces you like a cold shower. Once that phase passes, take a breath and give it a shot. You won’t be disappointed in the absence of custom post types, embeds, widgets, and their weird interfaces.
Using the Gutenberg Press simile, traditional content blocks have no purpose once they are used, much like the movable type blocks employed more than five centuries ago. The Gutenberg blocks have the capacity to revitalize themselves permitting the adjustments and changes to be made with the “movable type” needed for a reprint. Gutenberg’s primary objective is to simplify the website-building process by eliminating the shortcodes and HTML currently required in the open-source web-building universe. The goal is to make the technology available to everyone, regardless of skill levels. The heart of Gutenberg is composed of reusable blocks that allow you to focus on content rather than being weighed down by a myriad number of configuration options. The project is in its first of the three-stage reveal. It begins with the redeveloped editor, followed by page templates development and, the final stage as a fully developed customizer.
Before Gutenberg, the content existed in one massive HTML file. Now Gutenberg allows for content to be created from one source. Detailed instructions are derived from three concise documents: the “Developer and Designer Handbook”, the “Gutenberg Handbook”, and “The Language of Gutenberg”. The new editor imbues the user with each block articulating its own layout and settings. With WordPress 5.0, the user has full control over all individual blocks. Developers are biting at the bit to take advantage of these great features rather than be enslaved by many of the editors currently out on the market. Gutenberg will supplant TinyMCE as the default content editor. WordPress will have succeeded if it makes adding rich content an enjoyable experience.
The new release will move the needle in making WordPress a true visual editor. Additionally, downloading the WordPress editor is not deleterious to your site’s health and well-being. The special HTML comments are stored in the content permitting you to reactivate Gutenberg without sacrificing previously arranged blocks.
In order to enjoy a reputation as an exemplary web design company, you first must be remembered as a great listener. It is this single auditory activity that distinguishes a mediocre web designer from an excellent Dayton web design company. Unfortunately, too many web designers put the cart before the horse by trying to fit a business into a preordained formula.
In fact, every business is unique with its own set of objectives, profile, even its own personality. Very often, your first meeting with a web design company will entail a questionnaire that’s designed to capture as much information about you and your business as possible. This process helps to formulate an outline that best describes your goals, marketing objectives, personality, target audience, and of course your budget.
With these factors grasped firmly in hand, design objectives begin to be flushed out. Regardless of the nature of your business, a well-thought-out website will help delineate any successful digital endeavor.
Responsiveness
Responsive design entails having the right solution for every application. Whether it’s desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile smartphone, the right design elements must adapt to the way it is being displayed. Regardless of the device being employed, over 60% of web searches were being conducted on a mobile device. Responsive Web Design (RWD) provides a system permitting a site to interact with various screen sizes without losing clarity.
As more mobile devices come onto the digital landscape, issues like resolution become more important while still maintaining a single URL. As browsing on mobile devices become more ubiquitous, web responsiveness is no longer a luxury. An effective mobile presence is becoming more vital in search visibility as well. A good web design company will provide this option to you.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) provides greater visibility on web searches. Simply put, the higher the ranking a website is in a search engine, the more frequently it will appear in search engine results. The greater the ranking a site enjoys, the greater number of conversions will be attained. Therefore, a sound SEO strategy, particularly in organic searches, goes a long way in making your site more visible to the public.
Keywords are the mainstay of SEO. The more keywords are employed, the more responsive Google’s algorithms will be in pointing back to your site. For example, if your business is involved in home aquariums, keywords such as “fish food”, “saline tanks” and “aquarium home maintenance” might be useful to improve visibility for your products and services. Your web design company should prioritize your search engine ranking in this way.
Ask your web designer if they are also Google Partners. Just because you can design websites doesn’t mean you’ve bothered to study, test and become certified by Google. Here at Bash Foo, we have, and we are.
Calls to Action
A call to action (CTA) is a technique employed to entice a visitor to make an actionable response. Typically, scripted as a command, it is usually articulated as a button on the site that allows the visitor to respond. It might announce a “50% off sale” or “press here for more information”. Essentially, it gives your company an opportunity to capture more information. That can be applied to enhance marketing efforts or to increase conversions. A CTA is important in instructing a visitor what action is required in order to learn more about a product or service. If you’re not sure what to use, your web design company can come up with something compelling.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is key to your overall marketing efforts. It involves the sharing of online material that is particularly relevant to your business. Content marketing comes in the form of blogs, social media content, or other material that is written or produced to create interest in your company. Web content is crucial in order to increase visibility and to result in positive responses from Google’s algorithms.
Once your web content has been established, blogs are a great place to start to constantly introduce new posts in order to optimize the content. Studies indicate that 73% of visitors have made a purchase after reading the content. While constantly updating quality content can be time-consuming, there are a number of content services that are available to provide quality content specific to your business. This is another service a good web design company like Bash Foo can provide.
Video Content/Rich Media
With the advent of 5G media, videos will become interactive. This allows for an unprecedented opportunity for companies to integrate their ad message directly to the public in ways that were not possible before this disruptive technology came along. Imagine a TV commercial as a two-way conversation and you begin to envision a new wave in interactive advertising.
In time, this technology will employ two-way cameras to “read” your emotional response and change content in real-time based on your response. Best of all, this” new reality” will be available on next year’s generation of mobile phones. 5G promise of zero latency will mean no lag time. It’s been estimated that 5G will catapult total revenues to $67 billion dollars within in 10 years! Additionally, it is expected to triple the mobile media market globally by 2028. Part of 5G’s secret is in being able to handle huge amounts of data in milliseconds. Welcome to the media revolution!
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do”
Carl Jung
About Bash Foo
Bash Foo is a reliable digital marketing agency that is committed to the digital needs of your middle and small-sized company. Our experienced staff has successfully served the needs of Dayton’s businesses for more than a decade. Bash Foo functions as a “Distributed Agency” which brings together the best WordPress development and inbound agency talent available. Be assured that Bash Foo is home to a seasoned team of stakeholders who are committed to making your business dream your reality. We’re much more than a standard web design company. For more information on how we can work with you to build your brand, contact us.
In today’s business world, the competition is more fierce than ever and the struggle is on the develop top of the line marketing strategies that will speak to the masses. World class businesses are funding advertising campaigns that add an emotional aspect to their products and are more likely to be shared on social media sites. While, as a small business owner, you may not be able to fund huge global campaigns or test numerous styles of advertisements, there are a few online marketing tactics that can accelerate your company’s growth and reinforce your marketing strategy.
Marketing Strategy vs Marketing Tactic
Marketing can be a difficult subject to understand as there are so
many different aspects to building a successful marketing strategy.
However, to begin, you need to understand the difference between a
marketing strategy and a marketing tactic.
Marketing Strategy
A marketing strategy is your destination. It’s an outline or goal that states where you want to take your business over the course of the next year, five years, or even ten years. The goals you decide upon should be specific and quantifiable, like achieving 100% more in gross annual sales. You should be able to use data to determine whether or not your company is on track to achieve your goals or if adjustments need to be made.
Marketing Tactic
Just as a marketing strategy is your endpoint, marketing tactics are the steps along the path to reach those goals. When thinking of marketing tactics, they should be tailored for your ‘perfect customer,’ the partially fictional consumer whose needs or wants are perfectly fulfilled by your product.
Online Marketing Tactics
There are many different types of marketing tactics, but online, the
options become even more limitless. From locally owned businesses to
world renowned companies, everyone uses at least one type of online
marketing tactic. Each one has a list of benefits and draw backs,
depending your company’s ‘perfect customer.’
E-Mail
While e-mail may seem like a lost art to some, many people still
prefer receiving e-mails over using social media. Plus, e-mail usage is
ever growing. In a study from July 2017,
e-mail usage for consumers between the age of 13 and 50 years old is
expected to increase by almost 48%. If consumers are using e-mail more
frequently, then sending promotions, newsletters, and even friendly
reminders via e-mail could be the perfect way to get in touch and make a
lasting connection. With e-mail, you can really let your creativity
soar, but be sure to keep your messages clear, concise, and devised with
the consumer in mind.
Facebook
Of all the various forms of social media, Facebook is by far one of the most well known. For those whose business is geared towards the millennial generation, its the perfect platform. According to Statista.com, 25% of consumers who frequent Facebook are between 25 to 34 years old. While the users that fall within this age range may not be your target audience, the versatile posting methods and built in ad service make Facebook a wonderful starting point for any company seeking to leverage marketing tactics. You can connect with potential customers through videos, GIFs, articles, and so much more all in a shareable format.
Social Media
There are new social media outlets being developed almost every day,
each one offering something different and catering to a different age
group. From Snapchat and Instagram for those whose business focuses on
consumers between the ages of 13 and 25, to YouTube, which pulls views
from all age ranges. The sharing structure for each varies. However,
depending on the ‘perfect customer’ you have in mind for your business,
each one offers different benefits and opportunities to make a personal
connection with potential clients.
Blogs
Blogging, much like e-mail, can seem a bit antiquated, but lately
this marketing tactic has gotten a revamp. Instead of focusing on what
you as a business have done, blogging is now more about creating content
that is useful for your ‘perfect customer.’ If your business
participated in a fundraising event, blogging is still a great way to
showcase what your business has to offer the community. However, your
blog should be written with the consumer in mind. For instance, a local
florist shop might blog about floral arrangements for weddings or
centerpieces for a sweet sixteen celebration. The topics should be
relevant to your business while still being intriguing enough to catch
potential customers’ attention.
While this isn’t a complete list of all online marketing tactics available, these options are some of the most common. Here at Bash Foo, we pride ourselves in helping small businesses achieve big goals. Our expertise in online marketing combined with outstanding customer service allows us to boost our customers to new heights. Whether you are wanting to increase your sales or just to make your business known, we’re here to help. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you join the ranks of the elite.
Do
you remember the way medieval castles protected themselves? All of them
had walls, and some had double walls and moats to make them even more
impenetrable. There are some castles that were built on a cliff or
within a mountain to make them hard to attack, but not everyone has
geography going for them. The reason we are discussing castles is that
the importance of SSL in search engine marketing is comparable. In
medieval times, people would flock to castles that were safe. They
wanted to be protected and live out their lives in peace. SSL fills a
similar role by protecting websites and users against spam, viruses and
malware attacks. This protection is the main reason that all websites
need SSL protections these days.
What is SSL?
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a standard security protocol for
establishing encrypted links between a web server and a browser in an
online communication. Using SSL technology keeps all of this transmitted
data encrypted between originator and receiver.
Why You Need SSL
Security
Everyone that uses the internet is familiar with at least some of the
scams, attacks and malware that occur online. If you haven’t received
an email from a Nigerian prince asking for a donation, then you have
probably contracted a computer virus from an unfamiliar site. There are
numerous ways that people try to steal from us online, and
unfortunately, there is no way to stop them completely from creating
unfriendly software to do so. The only real way to stop them is to block
them from reaching us in the first place, and if they do reach us, then
filter them out. That is what email filters do, separate the real
emails from spam, but still some come through. And unfortunately, as
software in general becomes more sophisticated, malware and other attack
software does too.
Keeping your website secure a few years ago was simpler. You would
just protect against spam users and some low-level viruses and malware.
However, with the new sophistication of attack software, we need to do
more to secure our websites. The SSL protocol is that new level of
security. It protects you, your website and your users. It protects the
transmission of data to and from the internet and your website.
Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization
Search engines have also become a lot more sophisticated over time.
They can now understand content from context, tell if your site is
mobile-friendly and whether you have an SSL Certificate. The search
engines know how secure your website is, and if it has been attacked. In
fact, if you are having trouble with malware or a virus and the search
engine detects such when it scans your site, it will ding you in the
search engine results. And that ding can last for quite some time.
It is important to keep your website as updated and healthy as possible to maintain a good rating on search engines. There are several search engines that you should be concerned with, but for the space of this article we are going to discuss Google, the largest search engine. You should keep in mind that other search engines have their own technology that you should be aware of, search engines such as Bing, YouTube, Pinterest, Yahoo, ASK, DuckDuckGo. However, let’s focus on Google.
The Trust Factor
Google continues to refine its ranking factors and how it determines
the health of a website. Part of the algorithm is determined by UX, user
experience, or how much users like a site. It makes sense that if a
user likes a site, then other users would too. Google will rank sites
higher by good UX, including security. And why wouldn’t a user be
happier to use a site that is more secure? They would. Because they
would feel confident knowing that using a secure site wouldn’t threaten
their own security.
This situation is exactly where security comes into play with SEM.
Your site with an SSL Certificate will rank higher than without one. You
have probably noticed over the last two years that more and more site
URLs start with https instead of http. Https is the indicator of an SSL
Certificate. It’s easy to redirect traffic from the http URL to the new
https URL. Some users never even notice.
Google notices and so do sponsors and vendors. They prefer more
security, especially with the massive increase of mobile technology.
Mobile technology leaves users even more vulnerable to hackers. SSL
combats that vulnerability.
Some Things Never Change
It is sort of like the old adage that “as much as things change, they
stay the same.” Remember that we discussed how medieval people flocked
to those safe castles? Well, the same can be said for safe websites.
People want to keep their private information safe, so if you have an
SSL Certificate, Google and ordinary users will rank you higher because
they deem your website safe. To learn more about how to install the SSL
protocol, contact us.
Targeted marketing can be a powerful tool, gaining new clients and keeping your current ones intrigued. We’ve all heard the age-old advice that says, “If they’ve bought from you before, they’re likely to buy from you again,” so you should keep your current and past clients at the top of your mailing list and keep them interested in your products and services.
As useful and accurate as that advice may be, it’s only the beginning of your email marketing campaigns. You must acknowledge the possibility that your current and past clients may not continue to purchase from you. Grow your business and prepare for the future by continuously searching for new prospects, gaining new leads, and building up your clientele. One of the best methods of identifying new leads is to enter account-based marketing (ABM) lists.
What is ABM and Why Should You Use It?
Rather than marketing to the masses and treating each customer the same, account-based marketing strategically targets clients based on their individual needs. It personalizes marketing messages and techniques to each customer or customer segment to gain more interest and higher ROI. By targeting your efforts to specific accounts, you also have the advantage of choosing the customers that you really want to sell to, meaning that you’re likely to spend more time and effort personalizing your sales techniques for each of these companies.
Highly-targeted marketing tasks that are required to build an ABM framework include more than sending emails and calling potential clients. It involves an investment of time to take a hard look at your organization and evaluate what your goals are and who you want to purchase from you. It means updating your website to ensure that your message is clear and relevant to those companies that you want to sell to and creating ads that are targeted and specific to the goals of your clients rather than generically applicable to a thousand different companies. It means personalizing marketing emails so they’re specific and relevant to your targeted clients.
Three Steps to Build an ABM List That Works
Once you’ve evaluated your organization and have a thorough understanding of who you want to purchase from you, it’s time to begin building your account-based marketing lists. These are lists of companies and clients (accounts) that you are specifically targeting.
Step 1
Begin by identifying ten prospects that you would truly love to work with. These should be companies that you honestly believe will benefit from your products or services -that you know you can do an amazing job for. Targeting companies this way helps ensure that you’re working with valuable clients and that you’ll maximize your time and efforts to win them over and keep them interested.
So, how do you go about finding clients you want to target? You need to develop a strong strategy and analyze each prospect. Search within all the resources at your disposal and analyze the potential client as much as you can. Search social media and LinkedIn, run a competitor analysis, take a look at their core values and compare them to yours. Spend some time to really analyze and get to know them.
Step 2
Find the contact information for each prospect that you’ve identified. Check listings, make phone calls, and review their website. Identify the names of key players within the organization and find their phone numbers or emails and their areas of expertise. Research these people and familiarize yourself with them. When you finally begin to make contact, you should know who you’re addressing and what you can say to initiate a response.
Step 3
Send highly targeted messages to the prospects from your new account-based marketing list. Think about why you chose these companies. Why did you want to work with them? Who are they? What are their goals and obstacles and exactly what can you do to address their specific needs? Use this information to your advantage by editing your message so it’s applicable to the person who will be reading it.
Think about the kind of contact that you’ll be making. If you’re sending emails, ensure that you have the right strategy in place to create effective business emails. Spend some time getting the wording right, keeping in mind that they’re busy people without much time to read through their emails. If you are making phone calls, remember to listen, decode their tone of voice, and be ready to edit your message if the situation calls for it.
We are expert strategists with the skills and abilities to perform in-depth industry and competitive analyses, assist in the creation and promotion of brand identity and inbound marketing and marketing automation services. The Bash Foo content marketing team constructs campaigns, develops content, and hosts and design high-quality websites. Our professionals are more than equipped to assist with your ABM implementation, from updating your website to helping you build your ABM list and create a strategy that will benefit both you and your new prospects. Contact us today to find out how we can help you succeed.
Sources:
Smart Insights: How to build an account-based marketing (ABM) target list
American Marketing Association: Ditch the Traditional Funnel: ABM Proves Marketing ROI
American Marketing Association: Best vs. Next Practices: Account-Based Marketing
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One of the trickiest parts of Search Engine Optimization has always been having a physical domicile in a state, or region of the US where you choose to do business.
