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Optimize Your Whistler Business For Mobile

Google recently announced that at some point in 2018 they will be switching to mobile-first indexing. This huge change means that Google will now determine SEO rankings based on the quality of businesses mobile sites, rather than the desktop version. If you want your business to rank effectively for local searches, it’s important you start focusing your efforts on the mobile-friendliness of your site. We’ve outlined for you the difference between desktop and phone searches, and how you can adjust your mobile site to improve your local SEO ranking.

What’s the different between desktop and mobile?

Most laptop and computer searches have delayed search intent. This means that users may be searching for your business from home or work to see if you have what they need, but don’t plan to visit you straightaway.

This can also be true for mobile searches, as people usually grab the nearest device to them to look something up. However, most mobile searches come with immediate search intent, as people are already out and looking for places to visit in the area. Focusing on this immediacy, and having simple, readily available answers for mobile users, is crucial to optimizing your local SEO.

How do I optimize my local business for mobile?

 

  • Focus on Voice Searching

Phone users tend to avoid lengthy searches, as typing on a small device can be frustrating. Using audio is becoming the easiest and most popular way to search online, thanks to the rise of mobile chat bots and devices like Google Home, Amazon Echo and Apple Homepod. This means searches have become much more conversational, as customers actually say what they are looking for. By optimizing your site for shorter keywords, and common spoken phrases like ‘near me’ or ‘where can I find’, you can tailor your site to provide an optimal mobile experience.

  • Increase your Speed

Rather surprisingly, people are typically more patient on mobile than on desktop. That being said, 19% of people will abandon a page if it takes longer than 5 seconds to load. To create a frictionless experience, you should really attempt to improve your site speed. This can be done by tweaking your site to reduce the amount of redirects you include, and by grouping assets like JavaScript and CSS, so the browser has fewer files to load. You can also optimize and scale your images, and use browser caching.

  • Create a Mobile-friendly Design

Ultimately, if you design a mobile site with the user in mind, the results will speak for themselves. There are some great websites that can test how phone-friendly your site is, but you can first try clearing all the clutter and pop-ups from your site. Adjust your typography for a small screen, and make sure you leave enough room between clickable elements for fingers and thumbs. You can also try having a responsive design that can adapt to all screens: this means your site is all on one URL and will be easier for Google to index.

With mobile traffic now eclipsing desktop traffic, it’s important to improve your mobile site to keep up with these changes. If you need some help optimizing your site for mobile, our team at Cloud9 Marketing would be more than happy to help.

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build-email-list

Blog your way to the top & improve your SEO ranking

When fighting in the battle against established website giants to rank on Google’s first page, blogging for your company may fall at the bottom of your to do list. However, blogging can be one of the most effective (and cheapest) ways to master SEO and establish your website as truthful and reliable. It allows you to build upon your internet presence and increase interactions with other respected websites, and the everyday user, to get those all-important clicks. Below is a breakdown of how regular blogging can help your company triumph in SEO rankings and maximize your organic traffic.

 

#1: Blogging shows you’re relevant

First of all, maintaining and updating a blog shows search engines, and users, that your company is alive! The search engine spiders that crawl through the internet love fresh, updated content: similar to a singer with no new tracks, if you fail to keep a steady stream of new content, search engines could miss your site and assume it is losing its relevance. It’s all about elevating your internet presence, so don’t be afraid to include images and videos in your posts too, as these will give search engines even more ways of finding you.

 

#2: Blogging builds your reputation

Having a blog is the easiest way to demonstrate your in-depth knowledge of your field, and helps you to gain the trust of potential company followers. You can also associate your website with established and trusted sites through backlinking. By including related links in your writing, you not only give search engine algorithms big hints on what your page is about, but you also show users you really know your stuff. Guest blogging can also be a great way to boost your SEO, as working with writers who are experts in a similar field to you can really help your company’s repute.

 

#3: Blogging makes it easy to use SEO tricks of the trade

Keyword optimization is one of the most well known ways to drive traffic towards your site. But as everyone seems to know this already, it makes it impossible to compete with trusted mature websites using the same terms, right? While this may be true for obvious keywords, having a blog allows you to use long-tail keywords that can be tied back to your company. Here’s a great website that generates long-tail keywords suggestions for each search term.

 

#4: Blogging creates that all-important social media buzz

Though some companies still struggle to see the point of having a strong social media presence, Google actually returns social media search results. Connecting a blog to platforms such as Facebook and Twitter will give broaden your online platform so both search engines and users can find you. What’s more, the great thing about blog posts is that they are easily shareable. People are far more likely to share an interesting blog post over a company’s service page, and blogs shared move up in search rankings, so spreading your company across social media will really help elevate it.

 

#5: Blogging increases your online **sprawl**

A new blog post can be one of the easiest ways to optimize your website. This is because, each blog posts counts as a new indexed page on your website, which are basically pages found by search crawlers that have been deemed to have enough quality for relevant search phrases. The more posts you write the wider your overall online presence will stretch, and the longer users will stay on your company’s site as they hopefully get drawn in by other posts.

 

#6: Blogging is free

That’s right, setting up a blog and reaping all those benefits can be completely free. Even if you don’t have the time to do it yourself, paying for help can be one of the cost effective and most rewarding ways to improve your SEO quality.

Here at Cloud 9 Marketing our team of writers specialize in producing interesting content that drives traffic and brings results. For help, contact us today.

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marketing-resolutions

New Years Marketing Resolutions to Stick To

Did you nail it with your marketing in 2017, or did you leave a lot to be desired with your online presence? In a world where marketing is changing as quickly as Trump’s latest piece of bad press its important to prioritize your marketing while being strategic in your approach. Although it’s hard for us to understand, not all business owners love marketing, some find it frivolous or  down-right cringe-worthy.  Whatever your blocks, fears or distractions with marketing may be, it is in your best interest to prioritize your marketing in 2018, here are some marketing resolutions to stick to.

Thou shall engage in live video

It’s all about live video in 2018, whether that be Facebook Live, Instagram Live for live streaming on Youtube, the story-telling and engagement possibilities with live video is beyond any other form of messaging at the moment. You may be hearing a lot of virtual reality and machine learning, these things are coming too but for now, the most interactive experience you can give your current and potential customers is the experience of live video.

Thou shall delegate my marketing if I’m unable to prioritize

Many businesses start the year gung-ho with marketing which slowly takes a back seat as the year goes on while other, more pressing business matters take priority. Just because marketing doesn’t scream and wave for your attention, doesn’t mean it isn’t important. If you find you’re constantly being called to other areas of your business, or are too busy to give marketing the creativity and attention it deserves, it’s time to delegate your marketing to someone else who can give it all the love it needs.

Thou shall understand my web analytics

So many businesses have a website and an online presence but have no idea how effective either are. Understanding your web analytics will be hugely insightful as to how your online marketing efforts are performing and ways to tweak and optimize current performance to be even more effective. Being able to navigate Google Analytics should be the very basic step of understanding web analytics. Having a clear picture of your online position, including a solid grasp of search engine optimization (SEO) will help your business immensely in 2018.

Thou shall invest in digital marketing

In the new year make sure to prioritize digital marketing, and by prioritizing it we mean, allocating money to this very valuable aspect of your business. In a world where social media dominates content and engagement you must pay to play to really reap the benefits. If you’re not ranking well on search engines for important key words you may want to consider Google Adwords pay-per-click advertising to get those coveted click throughs to your website. You can’t ignore the return on investment with digital marketing, it’s measurable, tangible and undeniable in 2018.

Thou shall be clear about my 2018 marketing strategy

A clear marketing strategy is the starting point for a successful year of marketing in 2018. Define your marketing budget, outline your marketing goals and create a strategy to help you achieve these. Your goals may want to consider revenue, customer acquisition, engagement and/ or brand awareness. The beginning of the year is the perfect time to get crystal clear on your marketing goals, schedule time to do this in the next few weeks right now.

As mentioned, marketing isn’t everyone’s jam however almost everyone understands the importance of a solid online presence backed by a goals-driven marketing strategy. If you’re ready to up-level your marketing game in 2018 and need help, contact the team at Cloud9 Marketing, we’ve got your back.

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